stormox
Well-Known Member
Looking at teats Id say just started bagging up and maybe 3 weeks to go.
What will be will be, take the colt away keep calm and dont fuss ....
What will be will be, take the colt away keep calm and dont fuss ....
Pictures Is my mare in foal? No one knows...
- Thread starter Kitty B
- Start date
Parrotperson
Well-Known Member
Gosh! This is exciting! All I'll say is that she'd better be pregnant now because otherwise it'll be very disappointing!!??
Equi
Well-Known Member
I would be expecting a foal within the next week or so based on how she is looking. Id be sleeping in the car ? shes maiden presumably so she may not be 100% bagged up before birth. Also just to add I’ve dealt with a maiden mare my stallion covered giving a phantom pregnancy when all the other mares were pregnant/foaling and her hormones made her basically be “about to foal” for 3 months. Same story with vet, could feel something one day, could feel nothing the next day, bloods didn’t make sense etc. She had literally every signal of about to foal and even a V belly etc but absolutely didn’t foal. Poor owner didn’t get any sleep that summer ?
Fransurrey
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm going to go with pregnant. Her vulva is noticeably slacker on the right hand pic and the teats are starting to point down. Going off PF's pics above, I'd say you've got 3-4 weeks, but I'm not an egg spurt.
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Merlin will be led out and exercised separately after last night's interaction between them, but as for taking him away, I'm not sure what that means. There is nowhere to move him, and he isn't bothering her in the barn. Last night was a first, and we removed him from the situation. I don't intend to fuss, but I do intend to watch her like a hawk. My aim now is to keep her calm and not stress her out, hence leaving it be when I attempted to have a feel and she tried to cow kick. My priority is Magpie, pregnant or not. I tend to be a person who enjoys injecting some humor into life's ups and downs, but I take my ponies very, very seriously. Magpie means the world to me, she's really held me together mentally over the various degrees of lockdowns, and I won't let her down, either. 
05jackd
Well-Known Member
I agree with this. I would go pregnant and can see the bum dropping off. On the left her bum is round and on the right you can see it starting to slope. I also think the vulva has lengthened.
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Going through my photos between the 31st of January and now, these are the closest I could find for front views, and an earlier, closer side view. Again, I'll get a couple while she is eating and chill this evening.
January 31st
February 6th
February 19th
January 31st
February 6th
February 19th
stormox
Well-Known Member
You dont want a colt around bothering her, or maybe he might tread on the foal if its born unexpectedly. Can you partition the barn so he cant get to her?
BaronSamedi
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Is she stabled in her own like it looks like she is in the pictures? With company next door?
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Ah, I get you now! He isn't in with her, he's in his own stall next door. I never leave them unattended together, we didn't want her to get... well, pregnant...
My husband has taken over leading him for added security, and their paddocks are across from each other, both with electric tape along the inside. Merlin has no access that we've not allowed in the past two months, and he'll have none at all now beyond seeing her across the aisle or through bars. Not until at least two months after he's been gelded. Longer if there turns out to be a foal.
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Yes, individual stables, individual turnout. Magpie has an older mare on one side and Merlin on the other, so he can see her but he can't get at her.
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Magpie and Merlin in the paddocks, and their stabling arrangements.
Lady2021
Well-Known Member
Can you get another vet to have look at her to confirm she is pregnant. My mare looks pregnant all the time because she carries her weight on her stomach especially in the summer?. I have to agree with the others she does look like she is pregnant . If you on livery than you might have to discuss with the yard owner because most yards won’t allow mares with foals. Please Keep us updated .
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dorsetladette
Well-Known Member
In your photo dated 19th Feb her belly looks angular. I'm gonna say preggers, but not sure how long you got left.
meleeka
Well-Known Member
This is just what we need, a foal watch thread ?
Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, I’d be a wreck, but it is exciting!
Sorry if I sound unsympathetic, I’d be a wreck, but it is exciting!
The Fuzzy Furry
Getting old disgracefully
I'd vote yes, v likely based on last photos
HeyMich
Well-Known Member
Yep, I'd bet on a wee bogoff arriving soon too - the last pic you posted of her side on 19th Feb looks like a wee elbow or knee sticking out! I remember the feeling from being pregnant myself, angular belly one minute, rounded and squishy the next ;-)
Very exciting!! Eeeeeee!
Very exciting!! Eeeeeee!
Equi
Well-Known Member
we didn't want her to get... well, pregnant...
this gave me a bit of a giggle, sorry!! ?
if a foal does plop out soon I would take the electric tape on her paddock away for a while. She may get very stressed by a colt being even visible to her so you might need a contingency plan. But you won’t know anything til it happens I suppose.
Another important question - have you done a ring test?!!
HeyMich
Well-Known Member
PS where are you stabling them? Your grass looks amazing and lush green already - our fields are still very brown and drab!
Shilasdair
Patting her thylacine
I haven't read the thread, sorry, but that picture in post 7 above convinces me she's pregnant.
Equine_Dream
Well-Known Member
I'm no expert but I would put my money on a little foal arriving shortly.....
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
The yard owner is the one who first asked if she might be pregnant, so she's aware and has been involved. She helped my husband and I with Mags when the vet came to check her, and she has experience with foals, as does another livery who bred ponies in the past. She's said that we'll take it one day at a time, and there are a lot of experienced people around us, so not to worry. I don't think she'll be kicking us out any time soon.
Oddly, with my particular mental illness, I'm usually a wreck about the unexpected, but for whatever reason, I'm actually not about this. I keep thinking I probably should be, but eh... I can't change it, all I can do is be prepared if she drops a foal.
Oh, I remember it, too! I've got four kids, and elbows and feet at all angles is one part I don't miss so much about pregnancy! I actually used my own pregnancies to help explain what could be going on in various photos of Magpie's stomach etc to my husband, and it suddenly made a lot more sense to him. He helps me with the ponies, but he is not a horsey person. It did feel a bit odd, comparing myself to my pony, but what are you gonna do?!
We have plans for the weekend, involving taking down the tape and the fence rails as well, then reattaching with fresh nails to the inside rather than the outside. She has a big love of leaning on the rails, and she has form for pushing them straight off. The yard owner is okay with that, too. She's being an absolute star, considering none of us saw this coming! We're also going to put down a thick straw bed just in case. I wouldn't want to land in miscanthus, personally, and if she's not pregnant, she's got bragging rights about having a straw bed when nobody else does.
As far as stalls go, there aren't any others I can put Merlin into, but there additional paddocks that we might be able to get permission to use on the opposite end of the row, closer to the barn if he starts to stress her out at all.
I'm assuming a ring test is the same superstition involving a ring on a string to predict gender? I wouldn't know where to begin on a horse!
The ponies have two paddocks each, and we move them back and forth as necessary so that nothing gets too overgrazed or overgrown.
Equi
Well-Known Member
Same test, just do it over her pelvis area. Another good predictor is to say whatever you want the foal to be, and it will be the opposite ?
ElleSkywalker
As excited as Kitty about to be a bridesmaid
Yay bogof foaly! She looks about 3 weeks off to me thinking back to my own foals, if you search milk testing on here it will save you a lot of sleepless nights. I didn't use it with my first but did with second and certainly will with any future foals
Lots of HHO Aunts and Uncles to help you through it all
Lots of HHO Aunts and Uncles to help you through it all
MuddyMonster
Well-Known Member
I'm hedging my amateur bets there's a foal coming too.
I'm sorry OP but this is the most exciting thread I've seen in ages What a Lockdown mood lifter a foal would be!
I'm sorry OP but this is the most exciting thread I've seen in ages
What a Lockdown mood lifter a foal would be!
Fraggle2
Well-Known Member
Another that isn't an expert but I think goal as well
Merrymoles
Well-Known Member
I have to agree with everyone else - think you are getting a bog off!
Many years ago I worked at a TB stud and her belly shape definitely says pregnant to me. But they can fool us!
Many years ago I worked at a TB stud and her belly shape definitely says pregnant to me. But they can fool us!
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Many years back we had a new livery, small pony about 3. She looked a little bit pot bellied but not pregnant. My sis went down one morning to feed the stabled ponies and had such a shock when she looked over the door to see a beautiful little bay filly starring back at her. They named the foal Surprise! I love your mare, she’s a pretty thing. Good luck and looking forward to seeing photos if she does produce ? xx
HollyWoozle
Well-Known Member
Ohh, I don't have anything sensible/at all knowledgeable to add but I would also guess that she is pregnant too. Sounds like you are taking it all in your stride though, bravo.
Kitty B
Well-Known Member
Thank you, we think she's a bit stunning, but then we would!
At the moment we call her the Floofy Panda Wookie. She's built up since we got her, and I can't wait to see what she looks like this summer once the floor is off!I stared at her this evening, and she let me feel her abdomen as she was eating and nothing else matters once she's got her Healthy Hoof, and I leaned over her like Dr Grant and the triceratops in Jurassic Park. There are pictures and a video, but so far I'm having trouble picking potential movement from breathing, so I need to watch it a few hundred more times. I got some front and rear photos, and a couple of angles showing the difference in one side from the other.
At some points, it felt like there was a solid sort of length higher up, towards the point of her hip, but then it seemed to be gone again, so I'm still on the fence, but my husband thinks he felt something similar at one point but can't say for sure. I'll have tonight's offering of photos up as soon as I can.