Pregnant mares, foal gender, and the "nail test"

RedsandStud

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never heard of that before, might have to try that with my mares! =D
having said that it's so windy up here at the moment it might be classed as an unfair test!!!
 

cruiseline

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Anyone confirm the earliest it works at, ie can it beat the 16 scan & what it does when there is nothing. Am I right in saying it just sits there?

I have heard it being done as early as 7 days with results. If the mare is not in foal, the nail will do nothing, just hang there really :(

If you do it on a windy day, you might get a false reading!!!!
 

RedsandStud

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yea or the nail might take flight!
No doubting they're in foal as both foals are alive and kicking every night when the mares get fed! :)
not so windy today so might try it tonight!
 

Reindeer Rider

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The nail test for my mare says she is having a filly, as does the moon phase at conception. It's just a bit of fun, I know. I did the same with a ring when I was pregnant and it was right both times. Two girls. (perhaps I have a hand tremor that circles? ;) )

I really don't have a preference for either, but, Argghhh, i have two months to wait. It's so hard being patient. I want to start scrubbing the stable now!
 

toffeesmarty

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I tested my mare before her 16 day scan and got a negative response. I told vet I thought she wasnt pregnant before he scanned her and he laughed at me when he found out I'd done nail test. Scan confirmed no heart beat!
At second attempt when she kept the foal he laughed again when I said it would be a filly.I had the final laugh when she did!

Ive since had a 100% success rate with nail test with each test saying filly - which is what we've had.
 

ElleSkywalker

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Tested my mare and a few others that were out with same stallion last summer and first foalie has been born (not mine unfortunately but from mare covered at same time)

Nail test said colt, and friday evening the mare had a beautiful little....filly! D'oh! Still a few more to go so will see if sucess rate improves!!!:D
 

cruiseline

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Tested my mare and a few others that were out with same stallion last summer and first foalie has been born (not mine unfortunately but from mare covered at same time)

Nail test said colt, and friday evening the mare had a beautiful little....filly! D'oh! Still a few more to go so will see if sucess rate improves!!!:D

Congratulations on the new little girl, out of interest, do you know when she was covered, would be interested to see what the moon prediction was :D
 

ElleSkywalker

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This mare was covered between the 16th -19th April 2010, stallion rather liked her and she was running with him so got a lot of action!!

My mare who is yet to pop was covered on the 16th only so be interesting to see what she has as guess moonphase will say the same as dates so close?:confused:
 

Enfys

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Anyone confirm the earliest it works at, ie can it beat the 16 scan & what it does when there is nothing. Am I right in saying it just sits there?

I do the nail test at about 4-5 days, it is always right about pregnancy, I have never presented an empty mare for scanning - my Vet thinks I am a mad (but being British that is expected he says) If a mare is empty it will just hang.

As for gender, I have found it to be about 50/50 correct. Last year, for 9 months, the nail swung in very definite circles and we got a huge colt!;)

This year the mares are meant to be carrying fillies, we'll see, I don't care, just as long as they are all OK.
 

me_n_super_abby

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Very interesting. I think the thought of it just moving at the presence of foal 'energy' is a certain but the jury is still out on the gender results. We need to start a results thread :rolleyes: so we can put the predictions and the results :p
 

cruiseline

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This mare was covered between the 16th -19th April 2010, stallion rather liked her and she was running with him so got a lot of action!!

My mare who is yet to pop was covered on the 16th only so be interesting to see what she has as guess moonphase will say the same as dates so close?:confused:

16th and 17th was a male phase and 18th and 19th was a female phase. :D
 

ElleSkywalker

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16th and 17th was a male phase and 18th and 19th was a female phase. :D

Interesting, unfortunately I don't know when she ovulated as either way will prove the moonphase theory! If its a colt, she could have ovulated 16th or 17th...and if is a filly, could have ovulated on the 18th!! Is a shame its on the border as won't really be able to add to thoery one way or other and would have been good to have a positive result to add to the list :(
 

Spring Feather

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16th and 17th was a male phase and 18th and 19th was a female phase. :D

Oh that made me laugh out loud Cruiseline! :D

I'm on the fence with it all this year. Same as Enfys, all of my readings (bar one mare) are saying fillies and I simply can't believe those odds. But just a little while longer and we'll see. I think a nail test thread sticky would be a great idea!!
 

Bedlam

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Has anyone ever tried it on themselves? I have been told you don't even need to be pregnant - a needle or a wedding ring on a piece of thread or hair will tell you how many children you are going to have/had had and the sex in sequence. I have to say it has always worked on me and it also seems to work on men........so you can tell if they have any extra marital offspring!!!! LOL!!!!

Try it though - it's spooky!
 

jcwh

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Has anyone ever tried it on themselves? I have been told you don't even need to be pregnant - a needle or a wedding ring on a piece of thread or hair will tell you how many children you are going to have/had had and the sex in sequence. I have to say it has always worked on me and it also seems to work on men........so you can tell if they have any extra marital offspring!!!! LOL!!!!

Try it though - it's spooky!


explain this!! what are the signals etc?
i'd love to try this on my mom!! :p
 

Bedlam

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Take a needle or ring and suspend it on thread or a hair and hold it over an outstretched palm - yes you can do yourself! Wait til it's still and then dip it up and down 3 times over the palm and then hold it still. It will either swing in a circle (girl) or back and forth in a straight line (boy) or stop dead still (nothing). If you repeat the whole process until it stops you can predict the number and sex of children.

Go on - off you go and have fun with it!
 

Vickijay

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Please forgive me as I havent read the whole thread but I went to a interesting Derren Brown show and amongst other things he explained how stuff like this was not true. He said no matter how much you tried to not move your hand that you would infact move it the slightest amount, without knowing which would make whatever it was swing or move.

He said thats also how the ouija board worked and proved it with real life people from the audience to move a chair, even though none of them realised they were actually doing it.

I think its all a bit of fun, although never doing it myself but are we really suggesting that some force is emitted from a pregnancy which is somehow passed onto a object that Im holding?! I believe Derren Brown and the fact I may move it over that theory!

In fairness Id say in about 50% of the times it would be correct :D

Dont mean to be bar humbuggy over a thread (esp such a large one!) but I just dont buy into it! Im probably just bitter I have no babies in my mares tummys to do this on this year!! :) :)

All in good fun though, we should do a survey!! Well not me this year as no babies :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
 

toffeesmarty

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I can understand why you would think this VJ. I too had my own doubts and before I tried it on my mare I tried it next to 2 barren mares plus some geldings and had no response. When I tried it on my in foal mare I started at her head and there was no movement. As I moved closer to her belly the movement got stronger and stronger and the nail circled.

Only thing I can say is that it works for me - plus both times it was correct in predicting fillies.
I recently tried it on a mare for a friend who wasnt sure if in foal or not - nail test said not. Owner had vet out to confirm pregnancy and sadly she isnt in foal.
 

Bedlam

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Please forgive me as I havent read the whole thread but I went to a interesting Derren Brown show and amongst other things he explained how stuff like this was not true. He said no matter how much you tried to not move your hand that you would infact move it the slightest amount, without knowing which would make whatever it was swing or move.

He said thats also how the ouija board worked and proved it with real life people from the audience to move a chair, even though none of them realised they were actually doing it.

I think its all a bit of fun, although never doing it myself but are we really suggesting that some force is emitted from a pregnancy which is somehow passed onto a object that Im holding?! I believe Derren Brown and the fact I may move it over that theory!

In fairness Id say in about 50% of the times it would be correct :D

Dont mean to be bar humbuggy over a thread (esp such a large one!) but I just dont buy into it! Im probably just bitter I have no babies in my mares tummys to do this on this year!! :) :)

All in good fun though, we should do a survey!! Well not me this year as no babies :(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(:(




Well of course it can't work - we all KNOW that!!

The fun of it is that it does!:)
 

cruiseline

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Wel considering that the stallion determines the sex of the foal, I doubt that the research carried out on mares and lunar cycles will apply.

You are correct in that the male ultimately determines the gender of the foal, but the female in not passive during the process, she has some influence too. Male sperm survive best in an alkaline environment and female sperm prefer it more acidic, so the pH level of the uterus can have a big say in which sperm survive long enough to reach the egg. It is also suggested that the egg membrane is affected by the pH levels too, if acidic, it will be more female sperm friendly and if alkaline, male sperm have a better chance of penetrating the outer layer.



Effects of full moon and no moon on the birth of male and female offsprings were studied using the age group 20 to 40 years. It was observed that 42 women who conceived within 24 hours of ovulation at full moon gave birth of 40 male and 2 female babies. On the other hand 40 women conceived on the day of ovulation 3 days prior to a full moon gave birth to 13 male and 27 female babies. But only 5 women conceived on no moon, all of them gave birth to female babies. It was also observed that the uterine pH level of the ovulated women during full moon was alkaline (pH 8.7 +/- 0.4) while pH was weak acidic in women ovulated 3 days prior to full moon and no moon (pH 6.4 +/- 0.5; 6.2 +/- 0.5). The basal body temperature (BBT) was increased 0.7 degrees F to 1.3 degrees F during the ovulation period when compared with women during the absence of ovulation. But there is an increase in temperature 0.5 degrees F more in women ovulated in full moon than no moon. Together, these results indicate that alkaline uterine fluid medium and a rise of BBT during full moon favour conception of male babies.





So the moon might have some influence after all ;)
 

Tempi

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Really interesting thred, am going to try the nail test tonight on Bloss - shes 320 days today and shows no signs of even bagging up at the moment, although last time she only bagged up 3wks before she foaled and went to 347 days so if she does the same this time then she should start bagging up on the weekend!

According to the moon cycle shes having a colt, will see what happens with the nail test.

Last time she had a colt, and according to the moon cycle for 2007 when he was concieved that would be correct.
 

Tempi

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Did the nail test last night and was a definite swing backwards and forwards so looks like another colt for me! Also tried it on my gelding and luckily it stayed still!!! ;) :D
 

ElleSkywalker

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Willow foaled yesterday afternoon and the nail test was.....correct! A little filly :D Also I guess the moonphase was correct as she could well have ovulated in the 'girl phase'

So that so far is one incorrect (said colt, def filly!) & one correct! Pictures of both girlies on introducing Hazel thread.

Intrestingly, another mare covered at the same time (16th-19th April 2010) has foaled, (we did't do the nail test on this one but moonphase should be the same) ans she has a little colt!

So I guess so far we are 50/50ish for both methods?:D
 

magic104

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Well the nail test is showing the gelding, (phew) & both mares empty. I was not holding out much hope for the one that was AI'd, but will have confirmation Tuesday. I will then be keeping fingers crossed that we have a decent 2nd sample as I don't want the expense of a 3rd attempt.
 
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