17 year old mare

[Chaos Ranch]

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?

 

[~Lisa~]

If she is a full size horse palpating her should not be a problem for a vet

 

[Shortpig]

I would have her palpated by a vet. Not only will you then know for sure if she is or isn't pregnant, but if she is the vet can give you an estimate of when she might be due to foal. Good luck with your new friend.

 

[Ashley]

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?

They go through the rectum so you wont get any bacteria in the womb.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

Thanks ya'll. Palpating sounds like the way to go... but, I don't mean to sound dumb here, but can she be torn by being palpated? I just want to make sure she doesn't get hurt in any way because of my need to know if she's pregnant or not.

 

[Littleum]

Thanks ya'll. Palpating sounds like the way to go... but, I don't mean to sound dumb here, but can she be torn by being palpated? I just want to make sure she doesn't get hurt in any way because of my need to know if she's pregnant or not.

There's always a risk of perforation/tearing doing any kind of repro work, be it ultrasounding, insemination or live cover and anything in between.

Why are you even dealing with people who kept her out with a colt and didn't bother to pregnancy check her? I'd wonder what the heck else they didn't bother to do.

 

[Shari]

A Blood test can also be done. The Seller is the one that should be paying for this, since they are selling her at different prices wither open or not.

 

[Chaos Ranch]

Oh no, she wasn't left with her colt. He was across the road from her weaned. The 2 year old was the man's new herd stallion (last year). He's only got 4 mares there by his house so he thought he might be able to settle a couple of them as a 2 year old. So far none of his mares have came back into heat, but his stallion (now a 3 year old) is over at his other pasture with 3 other mares so sometimes when you have 4 mares in together with no stallion, you can miss a mare's heat cycle and not even know it.

I know if I were selling the mare at two different prices, depending on a suspected pregnancy, I would pay to have her checked. But not all sellers are the same. I really don't mind paying for it. It's not that much money. I just want to pose the least risk to the pregnancy (if there is one) and to the mare.

 

[tagalong]

They go through the rectum so you wont get any bacteria in the womb.

That is right - an ultrasound never goes vaginally... same route as a palpation...

Get her palpated or ultrasounded - better that you know. And shame on her former owners for not caring whether she was bred or not... that is simply poor management and no horse sense...