Selling a mare 'not knowing' she's in foal

Shadow the Reindeer

Shadow the Reindeer

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I can never get my head round why people think it's ok to sell a mare in foal, and pretending they didn't know about it when confronted later on. Burying their head in the sand over it, only comes back to bite them in the bum later on, when the buyer gets the surprize birth later on.
We have a BOGOF on the yard, his Dam bought by complete novices, first horse. She foaled just weeks after they bought her.
Has anyone who's been put in this position who made the call to the previous owner ever actually had a truthful answer as in "Oh, well, er, there was that time when A got into B's field.... but we didn't think she was in season".. ?
 
It is possible, say, if there is a colt on the yard and people dont realise form 6-7months they are fertile....but yaes, i agree in principle.
 
Shadeyoak said:
I can never get my head round why people think it's ok to sell a mare in foal, and pretending they didn't know about it when confronted later on. Burying their head in the sand over it, only comes back to bite them in the bum later on, when the buyer gets the surprize birth later on.
We have a BOGOF on the yard, his Dam bought by complete novices, first horse. She foaled just weeks after they bought her.
Has anyone who's been put in this position who made the call to the previous owner ever actually had a truthful answer as in "Oh, well, er, there was that time when A got into B's field.... but we didn't think she was in season".. ?
Click to expand...

We have not even had an answer... she chose to ignore all bloody contact :mad:. Even though we don't have a clue about foals and have no experience at least we can afford and have the room for a foal. I dread to think what would have happened to either Tess or the foal had they gone to someone who perhaps couldn't afford to keep them both :(

It's wrong, trust no-one
 
I bought a mare that turned out to be in foal. The previous owner had wanted to breed a foal from her and only sold as she scanned not in foal. The old owner bought the foal at weaning and gave the loan of another riding horse for the time that I was unable to use the mare.
 
It's more than likely they don't want the responsibility and costs of the vet visits to check whether the mare is in foal, scans later on to see if foals healthy/ok, weaning and selling the foal, so pass the buck onto someone else.
It really annoys me, because they are being very irresponsible, towards not only their own mare, but towards the foal and the future owner of their horse. If they suspected anything, it should have been dealt with as soon as, then there wouldn't be an issue. Awful as it sounds, if they don't want the foal, why didn't they get the embryo aborted?
I know some of you who have been put in this position, probably adore the unexpected presents you have received, but if you'd been told at the time of purchase, you probably wouldn't even have the Mares, as you'd have looked elsewhere, very understandable.
 
Sometimes it is because the irresponsible seller realises that they have put the mare to the wrong stallion :mad: Many years ago we bought a 14.3 R&D coloured cob mare, mainly for dad to drive. We asked many times if she was in foal, as she had had a few before we bought her, we were assured she was not. A few months later we were pretty sure she was, got vet out who confirmed it. we had no idea of a foaling date. Spent a fair few weeks checking every night. She eventually had the foal on the hotest day of the year. Last day of June that year, foal too big to get to suck, etc We lost the foal a month later and damn near lost the mare again. The entire they had on their yard was a 16.3 Hannoverian, far too big to put to this mare, who by the age of nine was a well proven brood mare. We have always thought that they decided that they had made a mistake and palmed it off on to someone else :(
We do still have the mare, who is now 31 and a pampered retiree :)
 
in fairness vets can miss it, there was a mare on my old yard, scanned not in foal, double checked about 4 months later as owner was suspicious, definitely not.
10.5 months later vet came to inject to bring her into season to be covered again - tripple checked and she gave birth 3 weeks later!

You'd think they would develop a simple blood test that could be routine for vetting of a mare - maybe I could make my fortune!
 
If there is anyone on here who can claim to always know when a Highland mare is in foal by a simple external examination, I would say they are being very silly not setting up in practice and charging a fee for their services because I am quite sure there are not many vets who can! I suspect most native breeds are the same.

Even using the established tests, vet can make mistakes.

Pregnancy in some mares is easy to spot. Others, who perhaps have a grass belly or are over weight, always seem to be in foal. Mares with ruptured or stretched ligaments can appear to be in foal a week after they have actually foaled!

If the purchasers were so clever, why did they not realise the mare was in foal at the time of purchase?
 
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