White dots on udders

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Hi peeps, this might be a long one so treat at the end for all that get there...

I have a mare who I tried unsucessfully to get in foal last year. Everytime we tried to cover her, she 'scooted' her bum under her so poor stallion would 'pop' out, so she was never covered sucessfully, last atempted cover 16th July 2010. Regardless, as it only takes 1, we had her scanned 29th sept 2010 result was small uterus & not in foal.

She remainded out with the stallion until the day she was scanned, and from date of last attempted cover she did not come into season again, which was odd as was out with him for rest July , all of Aug and most of Sept. Vet did say when she was scanned that she was not the only mare he had heard of that had not cycled in those months due to odd weather. Is worth adding here that she had had 3 seasons while she was out with him before stopping cycling in July.

We have joked all along that one day will go out to field and Poppy will have a wee foal running round with her, and I have been keeping an eye on her just in case but she has no foaly looking tum/bag or similar.

However tonight I noticed she has some little white dots on her udders, like little grains of sand/sugar. They are not around where the milk comes out, ie wax, but are on the teat rather than bag.

Is this something all mares can get, or something associated only with pregnancy? My mare who foaled 4 weeks ago never had anything like this!! If it helps, if she did take on the 16th July 'covering' she would be around 284 days today.

Jammy dogers all round if still reading

 

[JanetGeorge]

I have a mare who I tried unsucessfully to get in foal last year. Everytime we tried to cover her, she 'scooted' her bum under her so poor stallion would 'pop' out, so she was never covered sucessfully, last atempted cover 16th July 2010. Regardless, as it only takes 1, we had her scanned 29th sept 2010 result was small uterus & not in foal.

Um - forgive me if I'm wrong - but I get the feeling you haven't seen many coverings? Mares tuck themselves down when the stallion approaches to make it easier for him to get in - and it wouldn't cause him to 'pop out' unless she was also galloping for the hills. But - with horses - it's over VERY quickly!

She remainded out with the stallion until the day she was scanned, and from date of last attempted cover she did not come into season again, which was odd as was out with him for rest July , all of Aug and most of Sept. Vet did say when she was scanned that she was not the only mare he had heard of that had not cycled in those months due to odd weather.

If she was running with the stallion 24 hours a day it is VERY hard to say with any degree of certainty when she was last covered (or even last in season.) It would be very UNlikely for a mare to stop cycling in July whatever the weather did - unless she had a very persistent haemorrhagic follicle. We did have several mares whose cycles were a bit 'off' last summer - as in they'd only stand for the stallion for a day.

However tonight I noticed she has some little white dots on her udders, like little grains of sand/sugar. They are not around where the milk comes out, ie wax, but are on the teat rather than bag.

Baby warts??

if she did take on the 16th July 'covering' she would be around 284 days today.

If she DID take on the 16th July covering then the vet who scanned her in September should be SHOT!

 

[Reindeer Rider]

I have seen the grains you describe on a pregnant mare, but she was very near her due date. And they were grains. They could be knocked off when she walked and looked a bit like milk spray.

I saw similar on my pregnant mare when she was about 290 days, but I put it down to residue from the fly spray I was using (avon skin so soft mixed with water). Although more white dots than grains. Although, I am still using the fly spray and have not seen them since. She is now 316 days.

 

[hayinamanger]

I have seen these 'white dots' (no idea what else you could call them!) on a lot of my mares, they are imo insignificant and cause no problems. Just keep watching your mare's udder for daily changes, most mares (but not all) will wax up and then you will know that foaling is very close-usually within 48hrs.

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Um - forgive me if I'm wrong - but I get the feeling you haven't seen many coverings? Mares tuck themselves down when the stallion approaches to make it easier for him to get in - and it wouldn't cause him to 'pop out' unless she was also galloping for the hills. But - with horses - it's over VERY quickly!

Hi Janet, I have seen a few coverings, including my other mare who I was holding at the time, he was not 'in' for long enough and did not ejaculate. We (myself and the stallion owner) held this particular mare too, and the scooting bum under definately caused him to pop out, it went, squat, mount, mare goes and scoots bum under, stallion pops put and falls of mare.

The stud owner had never seen anything like it, and even rang a fellow stud for advice as was such a strange thing!! As you say squating for the stallion is usual but this was not normal squating, most strange!! Mare is a bit smaller than stallion, mare 14hh, stallion 15.1hh.

If she was running with the stallion 24 hours a day it is VERY hard to say with any degree of certainty when she was last covered (or even last in season.)

This is most true!! The three seasons before were very obvious, but she could easily have come into season again after this covering that we missed.

- unless she had a very persistent haemorrhagic follicle. We did have several mares whose cycles were a bit 'off' last summer - as in they'd only stand for the stallion for a day.

When my mare was scanned in Sept the uterus looked normal, there was a CL but not pregnancy, would a persistent haemorrhagic follicle shown up on the scan or is this something that I would have to have investigated further?

If she DID take on the 16th July covering then the vet who scanned her in September should be SHOT!

Not wanting to add fuel to the vet shooting fodder, but a vet from the same practice missed 2 other mares pregancys on 35 day scans, and this IS a equine & stud specific vet who are also an AI centre!! Oh dear

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

I have seen these 'white dots' (no idea what else you could call them!) on a lot of my mares, they are imo insignificant and cause no problems. Just keep watching your mare's udder for daily changes, most mares (but not all) will wax up and then you will know that foaling is very close-usually within 48hrs.

Hi elderlycoupleindevon, were these mares in foal?

I have found a few references to these dots on american forums, but it strikes me that these spots could appear on mares who aren't in foal, they just don't get spotted as is only people with mares in foal who check udders regularly!

 

[Revena]

Unfortunately it seems all too common for vets miss things on scans, it's happened to a couple of friends of mine and it happens very frequently with cattle!

 

[Reindeer Rider]

Are there any changes to the 'bag'? I appreciate not all mares start to bag up a couple of months before foal due . Have you seen any changes to the size of the bag at all?

 

[amy_b]

my mare is in foal and has these dots. sort of dusty?! i thought it might be dry skin?! she is in foal...hope I dont get your hopes up
like you said though, not sure anybody looks at horses boobies if they'r not in foal!

 

[Spring Feather]

The white dots on udders are just calcium deposits. They're perfectly normal in pregnant mares so nothing to worry about

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Are there any changes to the 'bag'? I appreciate not all mares start to bag up a couple of months before foal due . Have you seen any changes to the size of the bag at all?

I did think her teats were looking a bit bigger, but she isn't bagging up or indeed looking pregnant in any other way appart from these weird little dots! Think I am going to have to post some pictures of her....

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

The white dots on udders are just calcium deposits. They're perfectly normal in pregnant mares so nothing to worry about

Ahh thats what they are!!! Makes sense I suppose! Also anecdotaly (sp?!) it seems that mares are getting these around day 270 + which for calcium deposits also makes sense as a sort of pre-cursor to bagging up

As mentioned, off to groom the pone to take some pictures, hope the dots show up on them! Also at least you guys can see that other than this she doesn't really look in foal.

 

[Sportznight]

I think you should call your vet out to either take a blood sample or stick an arm in - posting pics is always good but only the vet can say for sure - unless you do indeed wake up one morning to discover an extra 4 hooves bouncing about the place...

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Pictures

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And udders, unfortunately the white dots aren't showing up on the picture, but you can see her 'bag'

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I know she is a little chubby, it is a work in progress, damn natives living in thin air!!!

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

I think you should call your vet out to either take a blood sample or stick an arm in - posting pics is always good but only the vet can say for sure - unless you do indeed wake up one morning to discover an extra 4 hooves bouncing about the place...

Most certainly vet due out soon to see other mare & foal so can do a bit of investigating while he is here.

Luckily still have foaling stable & foaling cam all set up, and as you can see mare is well nourished (!) and is already on a calcium suppliment as mother of foal refuses to eat it and hate waste so have been giving Poppy Better Bones suppliment for a while now!

 

[amy_b]

hehehe!! with the lops of hair on the floor I cant help but have have a 'thelwell' style cartoon in my head!!! how much work is she doing? her belly does look abit low but that could just be lack of work.

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

She is Thewell's famous pony all grown up!! Have a wee shetland too so is Thelwell city round my gaff!! (maybe we need a tiny miniture colt to come complete the Thelwell farm.....) She looked better before I 'groomed' her!

She is not in work at the moment as her tum is actually higher now that when she came back from stud.... she looked like she was ready to drop anyday back in September!

Problem for me is she is a bit long backed, where as Willow is very short backed so whereas foaly tum was very obvious on Willow, with Poppys extra back lenght it could be hiding I suppose

 

[Revena]

I think that may be you're being a little hopeful, I could be wrong but in the pictures she doesn't look pregnant, either that or she took late. :-/

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

No she doesn't really look in foal does she?

I have been looking at her with a mild 'well she could possibly be in foal as out with stallion for 4 months so best to keep an eye out for changes just in case ' eye all along. When the white dots appeared yesterday, and as I have only seen reference to similar dots in relation to mares in foal, I though I would ask you folks if you had seen/heard of other mares having it

But as mentioned earlier, non breeding horse owners probably don't check udders often so it could be more common than thought!

 

[Revena]

It could still be possible, post if she has any changes!

 

[Pony_Puzz]

Spots like these ones?:

Can just see them they only started yesterday on my mare though

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Pony_Puzz, yes like those, they look like little grains of sand/sugar and are towards to top of the teat rather than the bit where milk comes out, just like on your pic!

Ravena, certainly will post if anything else changes

 

[Pony_Puzz]

Yeah she's only started getting them since her milks went from clear to more amber and sticky
She never had them before and none of my other mares do, and out of the lot of them she always had the DD's. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you find out soon!

 

[Megibo]

none of my other mares do, and out of the lot of them she always had the DD's.

that made me chuckle

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Ok, so I know am about to come across as an idiot again, but here's the update on Poppys 'white dots'

Vet came out on wends to my other mare who had come out with nice rash, (just an allergy it turns out, she had a streriod injection and is now much better ) and while he was there asked him to look at Poppy.

He said dots nothing to worry about and agreed with me that she does not look fat enough to be 1-2 months away from foaling, or even enough to be due late Aug/early Sept (she was with stallion till end of Sept). He didn't answer as to why she had these dots, just said that if I were going to try to put her in foal this year maybe get a vet to put a hand up before she goes to stallion.

I know vet was rather vague (he is rather in general, drove off with his boot still up!! ) but I had farrier there at same time doing my 5 week old foal so was holding her while all this was going on and as vet & farrier were having a lovely catch up I didn't get all the questions I wanted to ask asked, grr.

Anyhoo, point is, today was messing with her boobs and gave the teat a little squeeze, and out came some clear liquid

So todays stupid question of the day is.......

Do mares who are not in foal & who have never foaled get liquid in their teats??? Could this be a phantom pregnancy thing?

Can't check by doing same to another mare as all my mares have either had foals or are foals and all my friends mares either have foals or are in foal!!!

Applogies again for the stupid questions, you would't think I had a degree in equine science would you?!! But I always say the day you think you know it all is the day you stop knowing anything, and also you guys are way way more knowledgeable about this stuff than little old me & book learning, nothing beats actual practical experiance in these matters for sure!!

 

[Tempi]

Can you not get your vet to scan her? Then you would know for certain

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Can you not get your vet to scan her? Then you would know for certain

Of course, & before she goes back up to stallion she will be, she is currently sliming & still would be if in foal or not (vet agreed) as came through the winter ridiculously well!

Basically just want to know if both things, the dots and the liquid are normal or if people have noticed on a mare who is not in foal.

TBH the vet was not terribly interested and didn't see the need to do it then, I was hoping he would

 

[nikkiportia]

We call it 'Salt and pepper' on the teats, lol! And we often see it on in-foal mares.

 

[Spring Feather]

Elle it doesn't sound like your vet is an equine specialist repro vet? If I was you I think I'd change vets to one more knowledgeable on equines.

Do you know if the mare has ever had a foal before? I know you can't really tell by photos but she doesn't look infoal to me, or at least if she is then she isn't due for a very long time. I just wonder if she has foaled before which is why you're seeing an old empty bag there? Or whether this is a new, growing bag?

With the dots, perhaps they are not calcium deposits due to being pregnant, maybe they are just sweat dots excreting salt which some non-pregnant mares can do if the weather is hot? As to the fluid, was it actual fluid or was it just some residue?

For peace of mind I'd have her blood tested and then you'll know for sure whether she's pregnant or not.

 

[ElleSkywalkingintheair]

Hi spring feather, sadly my vet is a senior partner in a very well known equine repro vets & AI centre worrying hey!!!!

She has def not had a foal before, had her from a weanling. Also thanks for the suggestion of salt deposits, having looked closer they are coming out of pores, so the idea of salt deposits or calcium deposits does make sense and is good to know there might be another reason for them.

Fluid was actual fluid, in fact it squirted out and quite shocked me, it was clear, but didn't seem sticky.

She has not to my notice (been keeping a close eye ) been in season this year, and when scanned back in spet had a CL, am wondering if this CL is still there stopping her from coming into season & also making her have a phantom pregnancy??