Mares Udders when not in foal.

[Evadiva1514]

Just looking for a bit of advice folks. We've recently bought a little mare who seems to have rather large udders. She had a foal as a 4 year old 2 years ago but comparing them to my two 4 year old maiden mares they look pretty huge.

Is it normal for them to stay large after childbirth or should we be preparing a foaling box shortly!

 

[KarynK]

I would keep your eye on her, my two who are not in foal for this year and who only weaned their 2008 foals recently have gone back to virtually normal, they are not as tight as when they were maidens, their nipples remain bigger but there is no filling in the milk glands themselves, they took about 3-4 weeks to deflate completely after weaning. Hope that helps!

 

[Evadiva1514]

Thanks KarynK, no, she really is rather big, her nipples are large and although there is crease in between them they are pretty huge. I'll have a little dig around on google and see if i can find a photo that is similar. I'll definitely take a photo of her tomorrow though. You really have to crane your neck to see my 4 year olds udders whereas you can view our other mares whilst she grazes....

...Oh crikey, i don't think i could cope with 7 horses!!

 

[Magicmadge]

Have a look on www.yellowhouseranch.com look on foaling and foals down left hand side and click on pictures to enlarge. There are lots of udder pics if you search through the site from 300 days or so, on there for comparison.

 

[Evadiva1514]

Looking at those photos i'd say she looks like the 312 day photo the most, however although she is a native pony and is fairly robust in her build, she certainly doesn't look in foal to my eye. She had a very thorough 2 stage vetting done a few weeks ago and this wasn't picked up then even though her udder was distended at that point. Could it be she is just well endowed in that department?? Ive never owned one before that needed to go to M&S for bra fitting! LOL!!

Here is a photo of her this weekend:

Some of our other photos you can clearly see her udder as she is walking but unfortunately i can't get them on here at the mo....

 

[mojito]

My mare had a foal in 2008 but wasnt put back in foal but hers havent gone back to normal at all they stayed quite big and shes back in foal now for 2010 so i dont think theyre ever going to go back to normal!! When i first brought her to the vet to get scanned in april this year he thought she was in foal because they were so big but she wasnt!!