Riding whilst in foal?

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Delta99

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Will probably have my mare covered soon but would like to continue riding her for 4 or 5 months, would this be ok? Just some light schooling and hacking, nothing strenuous... There seems to be a lot of different opinions on this subject around...?
 
I rode mine until she was 5 1/2months gone - I only had to stop as she got too furry and I have to sedate her to clip her and didn't want to do that while she was in foal.

I tried to be nice and gentle with mine, but she kept buggering off at high speed with me, either on private rides or more hair raisingly on the road, so I upped her work and started schooling her again properly.
 
I plan on doing the exact same with my mare she should be going into foal in the next few weeks and i plan to ride her till around September time nothing much much just hacking and some flatwork. The main reason i have for this is she tends to get quite overweight and i see no reason not to ride them in the early stages...
 
I don't know whether to school my mare as normal with jumping, flatwork and bits and bobs or to just do very lightwork. what do people think>?
 
I know someone who bought a horse and didn't know she was in foal, hunted her all season including the day before she gave birth! everything was fine with mare and foal, I don't know if this was just luck though!
 
I bought a horse from Leister sales 25 years ago and was showjumping and x-country for months, then one day she seemed a bit off colour I thought she had colic so I phoned the vet by the time he arrived she had given birth to a colt foal!!!! I certainly wouldn't have done this deliberatly but we had no idea she was a big mare and the foal only made a pony so she just didn't show, I had jumped her 3 days before he arrived.
 
Im just about to put mine in foal and have been told...

"it can give you a higher likelyhood that the mare will take if she has some level of fitness",
also,
"it is good for them to have some exercise during pregnancy",

just i guess nothing to strenuous later on, of course there is always the chance of injury therefore higher likelyhood of miscarriage, so thats where you'd have to be careful... but we cant wrap them in cotton wool.

My vet told me that back in the day... mares working the land would stop to foal and as soon as the foal could walk she would carry on working, foal wandering alongside... Crazy but thats how it used to work apparently. (Ps not suggesting anyone should do the same)

I personally will keep mine ticking over, hacking, schooling, jumping to keep a bit of variety (nothing excitingly high though...), but i suppose it depends on the mare.
 
We rode ours, the last one until Jan (she foaled Jun) & we started back a month or so after the foal. Use your common sense & there is not a problem, ie if the mare is telling you she is not happy then dont do it. The best person (well should be) is your vet as they hopefully will know your mare well enough.
 
Just to let you know the main growth of a foal is in the last 3 months of pregnancy, as all pregnancies carry a risk the first 90 days is the crucial time, most mares after this date will hold ok, of course nothing is guaranteed. It is my feeling you should be able to ride your mare as normal the summer she is covered, leading to light hacking towards the end of summer. Good Luck
 
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