Chaos Ranch
Well-Known Member
I am buying this 17 year old mare. (full sized horse). She's one price if she's bred, another price if she's not. (which is totally fine with me.) She was pastured with a 2 year old stallion from May through sometime in the fall. She's always gotten in foal easy.
One week I go out there and she looks heavy in foal. The next week I go out there and she has me scratching my head and looking at her with all sorts of funny looks on my face.
She has a bag, but she also had a colt last year. See, I have a paint mare that I've had for over a year and she's kept milk in the entire time. The man we bought the paint from said nothing about foals so there's no telling how long she's had milk. So, can the bag on the new mare just be "left-overs" from her yearling colt?
I don't mind paying the extra money if she's in foal. But what I'd like to do is find out for sure if she's in foal so that I know exactly how much I need to come up with. I don't think you can do blood-work if she's as far along as she should be. I'm very aprehensive about getting her palpated, because if she is bred, we don't know how late in the game we may be. I don't know how accurate ultrasounding can be. My vet does internal ultrasounds, with a wand... but I worry that it could introduce bacteria into the womb or cause early labor (if she is indeed pregnant). So what is the best, safest way to find out of she is in foal or not?
One week I go out there and she looks heavy in foal. The next week I go out there and she has me scratching my head and looking at her with all sorts of funny looks on my face.
She has a bag, but she also had a colt last year. See, I have a paint mare that I've had for over a year and she's kept milk in the entire time. The man we bought the paint from said nothing about foals so there's no telling how long she's had milk. So, can the bag on the new mare just be "left-overs" from her yearling colt?
I don't mind paying the extra money if she's in foal. But what I'd like to do is find out for sure if she's in foal so that I know exactly how much I need to come up with. I don't think you can do blood-work if she's as far along as she should be. I'm very aprehensive about getting her palpated, because if she is bred, we don't know how late in the game we may be. I don't know how accurate ultrasounding can be. My vet does internal ultrasounds, with a wand... but I worry that it could introduce bacteria into the womb or cause early labor (if she is indeed pregnant). So what is the best, safest way to find out of she is in foal or not?