My mare is bagging up - How long????? Long story, Sorry!!

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mastermax

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My wedding present was a beautiful Westfalien mare about six years ago now. She had a fantastic career with us and ended up hunting, which she loved. Due to an injury on her hock, we decided to give up her ridden work and put her in foal (she was 14 then). We AI'd her, we ran her with a stallion and we even had her served inhand. NOTHING. eventually after a very kind offer from a friend of ours, we basically "turned her wild". She ran in a natural herd for 8months with a stallion, mares and youngstock. As soon as we collected her from the field, we took her home and had her scanned...... She was pregnant. My husband and I both cried at this point!!!!. The vet couldnt tell how far on she was but we estimated that she had probably been served soon after we took her there, which was August of last year. She was a week off heat when she arrived and we think she would have been served either Sept, Oct or Nov as there were definately no cover marks from him in August.
Sorry about waffling... anyway this morning she has a DEFINATE swelling of the glands and her teats. As she is a maiden mare and I know they are all different but would anyone have any idea how long it is likely to be before she foals. We have introduced her to her foaling box as of now and hopefully she will have time to get used to it.
Any advice would be gratefully recieved.
Many thanks
 
I obviously can't help but aaaaaahhhh I'm sooooooo excited!!
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Thanks for all your quick replies. This is such an exciting and worrying time for us. We calf our cows down EVERY day and deal with all the associated problems of calving... but... oh my god, this is SO different when its your special lady. Thanks Twizzel, will you be as excited when you are on foal watch in the middle of the night on your sofa bed? I will have to keep us stocked up on fish and chips and a good book. Guess you will finally get to finish the dissertation??!!??
xx
 
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The vet couldnt tell how far on she was but we estimated that she had probably been served soon after we took her there, which was August of last year. She was a week off heat when she arrived and we think she would have been served either Sept, Oct or Nov as there were definately no cover marks from him in August.
Many thanks

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I must be missing something here - you think she was served in Sept/Oct/Nov 2008 and is only bagging up now??
 
Hi Xena sorry for confusion, we dropped her there Aug 08 and collected her June 09. she was then scanned as in foal. So she would have been caught anytime from the Aug (but think not) up to the June which is why we dont know if we will have a this year or next year foal!!! She is bagging up now so would assume that she was caught Dec/Jan sometime??. She has always been a 12 month season mare and never really had a break during the cold months. We genuinely thought that she would probably foal next year so were a bit gobsmacked to see a bag forming this morning. Sorry again for confusion.
 
Thanks The Carthorse, last Xmas eve we had three calves and one premature calf (we called her Mary!!!) This year we could end up with a foal as well. Oh well, no sleep again this Christmas!
 
I'm glad you clarified all of that! I was struggling to work the time line out. So you've experience calving, but not foaling? Correct? Well calves can present their own fair share of problems, it's years and years since I did any calving though. Do you have any books on foaling? I thoroughly recommend Foaling Simplified, by Sue Caldwell. An easy to read, good pictographic guide to foaling and the run up to foaling.

The size of the mare's bag is one guide to when a mare foals, however the best guide is to keep an eye on the muscles either side of the tail. As foaling approaches, these muscles relax and almost jellify to the touch (as in if you touch/feel/poke they wobble) and also the tail itself will no longer show resistance when you handle it.
 
When my maiden mare started to show it was about 8 weeks before she foaled ,after a month the udder seemed to shrink again before filling out 3 weeks before she foaled
 
My maiden mare ( age 16) started to develop a bag around day 290, by day 315 one side was bigger than the other and producing easily expressed white fluid. We thought we were in for an early foaling. However, in the end her udder didn't really fill until about 5 days before, when it evened out both sides. She eventually foaled day 359 almost 3 weeks late!!!!!
 
A huge congratulations to you!!!! How exciting!!!!!

All I would like to add especially as you calve down regularly is (although im sure you probably know) you can have all the same problems with foaling as calving but what is so different is when you see the bag presented do not walk away as you would with a calving you need to know straight away that everything is presented correctly and the time limit is set!!! Usually a mare will have the foal on the ground about 20 to 30 minutes from seeing the bag if not you are running into problems.

If not presented correctly I would say ring the vet straight away - you will know im sure how to deal with malpresentations and maybe would have sorted it in the time he got there but if not you would have kept the time limit down to help them both. You wouldnt want to use a calf puller either, have some ropes to hand (although im sure you will have doing your job!!!)

The majority of mares foal brilliantly and you will be amazed at how quickly!!!!
 
Hi and thanks again for replies. she was scanned at the beginning and was not carrying twins, which is good news. I havent had her scanned again tho. I have new calving ropes on hand and this morning I rang my vet (same one as for the cows) so he is aware of situation. This morning her udder was twice as big as yesterday so it is growing still. Her hind end muscles to me did seem very jelly like around the top of her dock but husband said "dont be stupid, they,re all like that!!" I feel she is definately falling away and although she is in her 24x24 foaling box she appears quite uneasy. She has a companion next door. I guess we will play the waiting game.
Thanks for all your help and I will keep you informed on her progress and hopefully be able to post some photos soon.
 
So if she was scanned for pregnancy, when was this done and how many days would she be now? That will give you an idea if she is actually due now - as premature bagging up (if indeed she caught this spring) is a sign of placentitis, and needs to be dealt with to prevent abortion.
 
Thanks Torchwood, thats very interesting. I may well get the vet out just to check her over. She is, very huge around the tummy now and has been steadily growing for months. We collected her in June this year and scanned her the same week. PD+. Vet coulndt tell how far on she was at that time. I would hazzard a guess that she is due very soon but I will check out if there are any underlying problems. Thanks for that advice. Its a very worrying time as it has taken so long to get her in foal but our main priority is her. Will keep you posted.
 
I think its worth getting the vet to check. By October scans (so approx 6 months pregnancy if they are served at the 'normal' time of year) you can basically see that they are in foal on a scan - detail is limited, it is also hard at certain stages to date them by size, as the pregnancy drops back into the uterus and is hard to see with a scanner. The worry of course is that scanning a mare at this stage means you cannot diagnose (or do anything about) twins - this should have been done 14-16 days after covering.

However, if she is very close to foaling, your vet can scan/palpatate her and he will know immediately that there is a full term foal in there, it will be very obvious!

If it is not yet a full term pregnancy, placentitis can again be picked up on a scan, and must be treated.
 
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