Does a pregnant stomach look like this?

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

Yup! me again! I did have an appointment with a repro specialist last week that I was counting down the minutes for, and my son endend up having an emergency appendectomy late the night before the appointment, so I had to cancel it.

I'm trying to get another one, but in the mean time I thought I'd ask this question for all of you. If my mare is in foal, she would be at day 254 in this picture according to the former owner. Her belly is lumpy and hard on the bottom and the lower sides. If you look at the picture, you will see she is normal for a couple of inches behind her elbow and then there is a sudden drop. It's more pronounced in person than in pictures. This is were the lumpyness starts. Does a mares belly do this if she's in foal? Does fat do this hard, lumpy thing? Honestly, somebody up there does NOT want me to know if this mare is in foal or fat! Thanks for any help, AGAIN!

Joyce

 

[White Socks Miniature]

Do you have a lateral/side view of her that includes her whole body? I think it may be easier to tell...

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

Oh I've posted many pictures of this mare before! The other picture shows more of what I'm asking about, thats why I posted that one.

 

[Minimor]

It's kind of hard to tell. She is fat--very fat perhaps--in the second photos are those fat lumps along the top of her croup?

The belly does look very round--that could just be because she is well fed, but there could be a foal in there too. What does she look like from the front/rear? With her legs even (don't have her stand with one hind foot forward & the other back) is she even on both sides of her stomach, or is one side rather pointed while the other side very rounded? A horse that is just fat will have a belly that is relatively even on both sides. I say relatively, because many of them do still have a bit of lopsidedness even when they aren't in foal--but if she is at 254 days she should be quite obviously lopsided now.

People can guess at it until the cows come home but if you really need to know then it's best just to get her vet checked ASAP. If your vet is a reproduction specialist then he/she should be able to give you quite an accurate answer, whether with ultrasound or palpation.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

I well remember your posts about this mare and I keep waiting for the baby announcement

. . .

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

Reijel's Mom! you are funny! I can't believe I finnaly had the appointment to tell me wether or not this dang mare is in foal and I had to cancel it! It's driving me nuts. She only has office hours on Tuesdays, I know I can't do this Tuesday and she was 3 weeks out on comming to me, but I guess I'm just going to have to wait for her to come to me.

Minimor, Her body really isn't as big as it looks in the picture. One of our list members on here that lives a couple of miles from me was here to look at her a month or so ago, and was quite surprised how different she looked in person. She really isn't terribly chunky all over. I dont' think she has any extra weight at all in her chest or neck. I've been told by people, if it were just fat, she'd be round, and not looking the way she does. Now I get to wait for another appointment with the repro Vet.

I'll try to post some better pictures

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

The picture from the front is how she usually looks. The other picture shows her tummy better. Look 1/3rd of the way down her belly. There is a line across and then it goes down that bulges out. Is that fat, is it muscle? What is that? Is it normal? These pictures were taken at day 237.

 

[Keri]

She looks pregger to me. From her past photos to now, she has growth in her udder area as well. She's getting progressively fatter. So unless she's on an alfalfa feild, I would expect a baby soon.

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

She looks preggers to me too. When would she be due?

 

[shelly]

Hey Joyce,

Comparing the latest side view to the one a week ago...she definitely looks bigger!!!! And yes her udder has grown more since I saw her last week! I'm saying YES

because I know you have her on a strict diet!!!

Did you ever get ahold of Deme again?

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

Shelly, I called first thing Thursday morning and had to leave a message, they never called back. I will try again Monday morning.

Keri, she is on a dry lot and gets hay only.

Irish Hills Farm, she is supposed to be due in September.

I am wondering what this bulge is 1/3 of the way down her side. I know it's not a foal, as it doesn't move. I wish I knew how to draw a circle around it to point it out, but I don't know how.

 

[Becky]

She looks pregnant to me. All of my pregnant mares get a bulge on their lower abdomen as their pregnancy progresses. I have a maiden mare due in Sept and she looks about like that.

 

[miniaddiction]

She looks pregnant to me too.

I have a mare at 230 days and they look about the same...Have you been able to feel any movement? My little one is going nuts in there every time I have a feel.

Is her neck hard at all on top?

 

[Miniv]

She looks pregnant to me........ The "line" going across her side occurs on several of our broodmares during the later stages of gestation. Our vet pointed it out to us once years ago, so now I watch for it.

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

miniadiction, no she has no hard crest at all. Her chest and shoulders are normal sized also, no extra weight. I did a google search last night for "fat, overweight and obese" mini pictures. It only brought up a few, but there was a huge difference between them and my mare. I could see how big the necks were, they looked awful.

I hope I won't have to wait along time for another appointment with the repro Vet.

 

[~Palomino~]

If she is due in september you should be able to feel it kick, put your had 6 inches before her udder and kinda push back and the foal should kick back, just don't do it extremely hard or anything, just so it feels it and kicks back!

 

[luv2ridesaddleseat]

I have not felt anything, but I've just been kind of laying my hand there gently, not putting any pressure there. Maybe I'll try a tad of pressure. Of course my mare ends up moving away from me after a few seconds! I will try tomorrow and see if I can feel anything.

 

[Miniv]

Are you graining her? If so, the best time to feel for baby is when she's eating her grain.

 

[Mercysmom]

If she is due in september you should be able to feel it kick, put your had 6 inches before her udder and kinda push back and the foal should kick back, just don't do it extremely hard or anything, just so it feels it and kicks back!

My quickie pregnancy check is to feed the mare and feel her belly right on her navel - baby will kick then. Once mine were confirmed in foal, I would check status nightly...baby's kicks let me know he/she was OK and absence of kicking warranted a veterinary check.

Good luck!

Denise