Pictures Is my mare in foal? No one knows...

[CanteringCarrot]

I've been following this thread with interest! I've seen a few of these over the years and its gone both ways. There were times when everything seemed so sure, but no foal. One person did get a surprise foal that turned out to be a mule (was jealous of that one).

I once asked OH how my geldings weight looked since he hadn't seen him for a month or so, and his reply, "Well, he doesn't look pregnant." ? ....ok then.

Either way, I'm tuned in! If she is pregnant, best wishes for a healthy mum and foal!

 

[Tarragon]

I've been following this thread with interest! I've seen a few of these over the years and its gone both ways. There were times when everything seemed so sure, but no foal. One person did get a surprise foal that turned out to be a mule (was jealous of that one).

I once asked OH how my geldings weight looked since he hadn't seen him for a month or so, and his reply, "Well, he doesn't look pregnant." ? ....ok then.

Either way, I'm tuned in! If she is pregnant, best wishes for a healthy mum and foal!

Now getting a mule would be a huge surprise! Naughty donkey!

 

[JJS]

Just took these photos of my sister's pony, any comments?

I guessed he was an older gelding right off the bat! Pregnant mares tend to have a markedly different shape to overweight ponies, IMO, especially from the side.

 

[JulesRules]

What a sweet mare.

So exciting. I love a HHO Bogof thread

 

[applecrumble]

does BOGOF stand for bought one got one free?

 

[HeyMich]

does BOGOF stand for bought one got one free?

Yep, just like in Tesco with tins of beans ;-)

 

[splashgirl45]

i am getting quite excited now. JJS we need more photos of your beautiful girl and an update on what you are doing with her, please i loved your BOGOFF thread and it looks like we may have another one..fingers crossed

 

[Sir barnaby]

The mare I’m looking after was put to the stallion last May so should be due in beginning April, have seen no seasons since I got her in June but hasn’t really put on a great deal of extra weight, but she has slowed right down now and when I feel right under to the middle of the belly I can feel some fluttering this is the last photo I took a couple weeks ago. She hasn’t been scanned by the owner though so we keeping fingers crossed it’s her first foal so don’t expect her to be big the stallion only 16hh

 

[JJS]

i am getting quite excited now. JJS we need more photos of your beautiful girl and an update on what you are doing with her, please i loved your BOGOFF thread and it looks like we may have another one..fingers crossed

Pictures will have to wait until my little girl is a lot less muddy! Nothing particularly exciting to update everyone on though. She’s still doing her thing in the field with no plans to back her this year.

I was initially thinking of sending her away for breaking this summer, but TBH, she’s still such a baby that I’ll probably wait until her five year old year. Besides, there was such a marked change between when I got Mary as a gangly, immature four year old and turning five that I’m much more inclined to let her mature a little ??‍ That being said, she’s not exactly weedy! ?

 

[Kitty B]

This morning I let Mags stop for a bite or several so I could try to see her in the sunlight. Position of the sun and pony were all wrong, but we had a go.

 

[Lady2021]

I don’t think she’s at all overweight even if she wasn’t pregnant. Compared to what the bum was like a few months ago she’s lost quite a lot of weight (which is not terrible)

I just going to be Honest if she was that far long the vet should be able to feel the foal. I asked my friend who breed horses and is also a vet she said that the vet would have no problem feeling it and a blood test should come back positive. So I think op is just wishful thinking.

 

[Lady2021]

Deleted

 

[Wishfilly]

I just going to be Honest if she was that far long the vet should be able to feel the foal. I asked my friend who breed horses and is also a vet she said that the vet would have no problem feeling it and a blood test should come back positive. So I think op is just wishful thinking.

The blood test isn't perfect though- I know a mare who tested negative twice during pregnancy and had a foal.

I can never tell from photos but the videos clearly show something!

 

[rabatsa]

I just going to be Honest if she was that far long the vet should be able to feel the foal. I asked my friend who breed horses and is also a vet she said that the vet would have no problem feeling it and a blood test should come back positive. So I think op is just wishful thinking.

I know someone who had the vet pd a mare who swore it was in foal as he was able to shake the foals hoof. The mare was not in foal. He also pd'd another mare the same day and declared not in foal, the second mare foaled the following week.

Vets are not infallable.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

In 2018, on having 2nd flu vacc done on a Tuesday in mid/late July I queried with head vet, you don't think shes in foal do you? On my purchase of 5 weeks..... an 8 yr old dry mare, never put in foal.
Lol vet said, up the work and cut the feed. Shes just a bit overweight.
I went xc schooling on the following Sunday, had a sj lesson on the Tuesday, hacked Weds and Thursday, arrived Fri early morning to find she had dropped a foal, a very nice filly.

It happens.
Vendor was mortified, vet embarrassed, (i told him she'd had one hell of a reaction 10 days after flu jab) and I thought it a little concerning. Mare came back into work in the late December, so 4.5 months off.

If she is, there isn't anything you can do, except be prepared and have a plan in place should you need it.

 

[ycbm]

This morning I let Mags stop for a bite or several so I could try to see her in the sunlight. Position of the sun and pony were all wrong, but we had a go.

Well from that video, if she's not you need to sort out her very odd breathing!

I know where my money is

 

[chaps89]

i told him she'd had one hell of a reaction 10 days after flu jab

???

 

[Kitty B]

The yard owner has been watching her abdomen move, usually early when she goes in and they all wake up and Magpie first drags herself off the floor. My entire family has seen it now, and my husband, eldest daughter, yard owner and I have all felt shifting of a mass I am pretty sure is a leg, so we are going to play it as if we know she definitely is. Safer that way. We've been told we can put a wireless camera up to monitor her from home as I can't make a 40 minute round trip every two hours or so as she progresses, my husband works nights and I have three of my four children still at home so we're going to spy on her remotely. Yard owner lives right by the barn, so we've got a pretty good plan already forming as quickly as we are able to. I'll let you know when there is anything new to report.

 

[Merrymoles]

Always wise to have a plan! And given the amount of movement there seems to be, you might not have to wait too long. Everything crossed!

 

[BaronSamedi]

My friend bought a mare off exmoor which turned out to be in foal, the vet did an internal and couldn’t feel the foal as the womb had dropped over the pelvis and he suspected she was 8 months along, he was only 3 weeks off and the mare foaled a huge colt 3 months and a week later. All went well and both mum and foal age 13 and 8 now are fantastic

 

[Shysmum]

EXCITING ???

 

[HashRouge]

Ooh I love a BOGOF thread!
Magpie's beautiful, bet you get a lovely foal

 

[Kitty B]

I just going to be Honest if she was that far long the vet should be able to feel the foal. I asked my friend who breed horses and is also a vet she said that the vet would have no problem feeling it and a blood test should come back positive. So I think op is just wishful thinking.

I really wouldn't call it wishful thinking. This isn't exactly something I'd been sitting and hoping for, but we're dealing with whatever happens. If she foals, we've got a plan, if she doesn't, we'll carry on with our former plans. I'm telling people what I'm seeing and feeling going on, and videoing what I can, trying to figure out what is going on so that I can do the best for my mare. Financially it would very much be better if she wasn't in foal. At no point was I wishful, I would rather not have my mare go through this when I never intended to breed any foals. I bought a trail pony prospect, not a broodmare.

 

[splashgirl45]

Pictures will have to wait until my little girl is a lot less muddy! Nothing particularly exciting to update everyone on though. She’s still doing her thing in the field with no plans to back her this year.

I was initially thinking of sending her away for breaking this summer, but TBH, she’s still such a baby that I’ll probably wait until her five year old year. Besides, there was such a marked change between when I got Mary as a gangly, immature four year old and turning five that I’m much more inclined to let her mature a little ??‍ That being said, she’s not exactly weedy! ?

thanks for the update, looking forward to some pics of your beautiful girl. how tall is she now?

 

[JJS]

thanks for the update, looking forward to some pics of your beautiful girl. how tall is she now?

I haven’t had a stick on her in a long time, but she’s bigger than her mum without being a giant, so a nice size for riding. She’ll be four in May, so hopefully that won’t change too much in the next four years or so!

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

My friend has an old mare who last year, at 27, produced a colt foal last year. I have suspicions that she is in foal again. ?

 

[Breagha]

Any update?

 

[bubsqueaks]

Sorry you may have already said - but why cant your vet scan her?
We had a similar scare with our coloured mare 2 years ago knowing she came from a yard with a stallion - paranoia set in - vet out & scanned to find empty!
Turns out she had a virus & was overweight.
Looking at your photos I would say - yes pregnant but a scan can tell for sure!

 

[J&S]

Not sure if it is the same with horses but a friend has a bitch, hopefully in pup, and the vets will only scan for an emergency right now. (Covid).

 

[Kitty B]

Not much of an update, I'm afraid! I'm not entirely certain why they wouldn't scan, she just said they either do the internal exam by hand or the bloods, and I had both done. People keep telling me that the bloods are notoriously unreliable, and the vet said she was too inexperienced to say after her exam, but did tell me that the uterus was not within reach and there was a lot of fluid, neither of which she would expect in an empty maiden mare.
Magpie herself has stayed about the same despite more walking out in hand, there has been no change in the size of her udder beyond a very small increase that is only noticeable if you are really looking. We've taken her off all hard feed for the next week to see if that makes any difference so that we can determine whether or not she is pregnant or having a reaction to something she is eating and simply lacks condition.
The vet is coming in the next week to give Mags her jabs so we will request they send someone who could give us a second opinion and inquire as to why scanning was not an option, or whether or not it is now so that we know what is going on for sure.
Personally, what I think changes daily, but we continue to monitor her carefully to be on the safe side.