Would like some advice and help please

H

Honeyb

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19 December 2005
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156
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Redditch Worcs
www.redditchriders.co.uk
For many years I've always wanted to breed spotted ponies. I've had horses for twenty five years. Some years ago I took in a pony who at the time didn't know she was in foal. Anyway the foal was born and everything went well.

Today I have a few spot mare and a black colt from two leopard spots on their way to me. The lady I bought off says that the mare may well be in foal again and was running with the Stallion in August this year.

So from this, what's my next move regarding feeding etc of the mare? Should I have a scan and if so when?

Would be grateful of any help and advice from you guys.
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You would need to find out if your mare was indeed in foal. Do you have any more rough dates other than just sometime in August? You could scan but if it was August and she is in foal the size may not be clear on the scan as it would be quite big (AP could give you more advice on that front), plus you could also blood test, although these are better at over 100 days, so without knowing any rough dates would be hard to guage.
 
At present I don't have any dates, just August that she ran with the Stallion. The old owner is going to send me lots of info to help so hopefully there may be a date on there.

Should my first scan date be 100 days? If so would it be best for me to ask for a scan in Feb?
 
No.....the 100 days+ is for doing a blood test. Your vet would take a sample of blood and send it off to the lab to check. Not always 100% accurate, but nothing is exactly.

Normally you would scan around 14-16 days (to check for twins), then any other time after that, followed by one at 40days+. You could get her scanned now and your vet should have an idea of whether she is in foal due to the tone of the uterus and whether there is anything in there, but if it is a fair size then all you will see is black (AP our AI expert may correct me in this...
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The vet will do an internal ultrasound of the mare and on the screen they will then be able to tell if she is pregnant or not. Its quite a straightforward procedure, so nothing to be worried about.

Glad to hear they all arrived safe and sound...
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Just seconding all of Anastasia's comments - palpation should be enough at this stage as the foetus will be about the size of a large watermelon (!), although the vet might want to check for heartbeat and have a look at the state of the uterus, to make sure everything is healthy. Let us know what happens
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not sure the exact date but I had my first mare that i ever bred done in january, she was nine months pregnant and the vet said confidently that all he could feel was legs kicking....

However i belive that Rollstone had a vet palpate and found not in foal and the mare was in foal.

and I have seen a vet palpate a mare belonging to an owner on a livery yard that I boarded was due any day and confirmed that the mare was in foal...... she was two weeks over due and the mare was just a wormy three year old ..... try telling the owner that when the vet says differently.......sigh - needless to say the mare never delivered

would love to know the realistic time scale also
 
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AP - out of interest what is the earliest that a vet could palpate?

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A good vet should be able to palpate an embryo reliably from 16-18 days onwards, as by this time it is clearly spherical and no longer motile. Ultrasound could detect it at 10-12 days onwards with a good machine, and a good operator.
 
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