Manual exam at 9 mo's - can it be wrong this far along?

Spyda

Spyda

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I had my mare (who was due to foal, 31st March'ish) palpated a couple of days ago. Vet said the mare was 'very tight' but that she couldn't feel anything remotely rugby ball shaped. She finished the exam with the conclusion that the mare was no longer in foal.

Can I safely assume that an about-9-months gestation foal is going to be too large to avoid being 'felt' during a manual exam.

I posted a photo of the mare last week and most people concluded she did look in foal, although people at my end who see her think she looks small. I'm left confused about what to think.

So, may I rely on the manual, performed by the vet, being reliable?

Many thanks.
 
some years ago I owned an ex brood mare who I brought from an auction.She looked very pregnant and I got the vet to come and take a look.She told me that my mare was definitely pregnant.As a result of that I ended up selling her on as the place I kept her told me that I wasn't allowed to keep a mare and foal there and they were keen for me to have one of their horses.I later learnt that the mare was not in foal at all.I was gutted to learn that I had sold a horse at a big loss for no reason. This was from a palpation and no bloods or scans were done.I would definitely recommend you get a scan as even blood tests cant be 100% reliable. It would be worth your while asking around different vets to see if any of them have a mobile scanner and would be willing to do it for you.
 
As far as I remember, but might be wrong, after the 7th month it is quite possible to miss the foal as it drops away and is harder to reach, that obviously changes closer to birth but I can't remember the timescales.
 
Yes, as I said on someone else's thread, my loan broodmare was rectally examined for a foal quite late on in the pregnancy and the vet (quite experienced) told me he couldn't feel anything at all.
The position of the foetus apparently changes, making it less accessible to the vet's reach.
I had my mare blood tested to be sure, and he then phoned me back to say that she was 'very pregnant'.
And indeed, she was
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My mare was palpated 6 weeks before she finally delivered and the vet could feel the foals feet! I would have thought at 9 months it would be a little large to hide?
Fingers crossed for you.
 
AndyPandy posted this for me:

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why-vet-cant-find-foal.jpg


OK - please excuse the poor diagram, but I thought I'd put do one quickly and put it up, because a few people are having the same problem.

As the foal develops, the uterine position changes within the mare, and drops lower into the abdomen.

On the diagram, the two distance markers, show the distance from the vets palpating hand, to the uterine horn. You'll see the distance on the right side (to the non-pregnant, or early pregnant uterine horn) is a good deal shorter than the distance to the 8-month pregnant uterus (the red dashed outline). So, for the vet to find the foal, they need a long arm, to be fairly experienced to be happy going that deep, and to be lucky enough to have the foal lying in a position where it can be easily identified.

Greygates is right, that an estrone sulphate blood test with provide clarification on the matter, so I'd definitely try to get one of those done!

Hope that helps - will try not to put too much more of my artwork up
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Really interesting and shows that a manual exam isn't necessarily reliable at late gestation. However, I am still curious to know whether or not the examining vet would be able to feel the uterus in it's non-pregnant position? If so, I guess that would be an indicator to her not being in foal. OR AM I TOTALLY INCORRECT ABOUT THIS?
 
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