Maiden mare confusing me

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ConnemaraFolk

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Hello everyone.
First time poster and happy to be part of the forum. Everyday is a learning day.

I have a 4 year old TB maiden mare 326 days in foal today. In foal to my Class 1 Connemara stallion. The mare showed first signs of a bag starting on January 27th. Has been developing very well. I don’t think she’s going to have a MASSIVE bag. She’s flat bred and also not the biggest of tb mares.

you can see the development of her bag in the photo. She doesn’t have the best teats but hoping baby will manage.

anyways in the last two days, her stomach has dropped 1ft. How long before foaling does this happen?
I’m trying to gauge when I should hear the pitter patter of little hoofs. I’ve foaled many mares but never a maiden.

thanks ? 4D3EB39C-9BFE-427A-A6D8-4AA2B42604F3.jpeg
 
I'd say she's still quite a long way off- at least a week. Though that can change quickly so keep up the regular checks. Do you have any milk testing strips? I doubt you'll get much out of that udder yet, but once it starts to fill a bit more you can test twice daily
 
As above, you may not see much of an udder with a maiden, or much in the way of waxing either. If you’ve foaled mares down before then you’ll know the signs to watch for, like softening around the tail head, cleaning (pooping a lot) right before things progress.
 
Cortez said:
As above, you may not see much of an udder with a maiden, or much in the way of waxing either. If you’ve foaled mares down before then you’ll know the signs to watch for, like softening around the tail head, cleaning (pooping a lot) right before things progress.
Click to expand...
Yes she has had some relaxation for a couple of weeks now. Still a SMALL bit of tension in the tail. She was totally in love with the stallion 3 days ago. Hormonal mess lol. Her Vulva is definitely not as wrinkly either. But I must say the biggest change this week is a ferocious drop of tummy.
 
My maiden didn't get such a full udder beforehand. This was 36 hours prior to foaling
Screenshot_20220228-144416_Gallery.jpg

And 2 hours before (dripping... fortunately foal got plenty of collustrum)

Screenshot_20220228-144514_Gallery.jpg
 
I had a maiden TB foal on virtually no bag so it's not unheard of. She waxed up one hour before foaling! If she has not got an abundance of milk when the foal arrives then be prepared to get in a vet to tube formula or donor milk to help the foal until the mare's milk comes in fully.
 
So today the pH is 7.8 but the milk is pretty white or at least nearly white whereas last week there was a yellowy/watery consistency. But the pH is contradicting it
 

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pH testing was absolutely spot on for me. i was willing the squares to go yellow... and when they finally did then she popped!
 
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