Need HELP!! False pregnancy? Having heat cycles.

[Tiny Hooves]

A friend of mine has a mare that looks like she is going to pop at anytime. The thing is though is that she has been having heat cycles.

She had been in with a stallion for 3 months last year and continued to have cycles. So far this year she has came into heat twice, and is in right now.

She hasn't taken her to the vet to be checked. So I thought I would just ask here on the forum to see if anyone has had anything like this go on with any of their mare's. Can they have false pregnancies and go through the whole 11 months?????????????

Hope you all can give some feed back on this. Thanks!

 

[Joanne]

I am not sure what you are saying about heat cycles in a pregnant mare about to foal.

It is not uncommon for a pregnant mare, even (especially?) one about to foal to back up to a stallions pen and pee for him.

The only true "cycle" would be if she had an egg that could be fertilized and was open (not pregnant).

I do not think she is truly in heat, just trying to make sure she is still attractive to the stallion

 

[Tiny Hooves]

I just found out that the stallion that she was with is sterile. So do they have false pregnancies????

 

[MindyLee]

YES!!! They can have false pregnancys.

I have a 12 yr old mare that has had one the last 2 yrs since I dont thinks shes able to concive no more. Her last foal (2008) must of hurt her inside cause when I breed her, it seems to hurt her and she never takes now. So I assume that something happened with the last delivery and now shes done. BUT that has'nt stoped her from having fake pregancys since.

 

[Carolyn R]

Mares in foal, esp. those close to foaling can have hormone flucuations that cause them to act like they are in heat.

It is best to have her checked.

This may sound harsh, but has your friends stallion actually been diagnosed by a facility that runs tests on them to examine fertility, or is this a self diagnosed claim because he has yet to settle a mare?

Having a low sperm count and being completely sterile are two different things.

Even crypts (with one normal testical) can successfully produce active sperm.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Horses do not have false pregnancies in the way that dogs, for example, do.

In domesticity there seems to be a form of psychological "false" pregnancy" that some mares go through, but in order for this to happen they have to have been bred, have got in foal, and lose the foal at some early stage of pregnancy.

The other mares are in all likelihood over fed by people who believe they are in foal!

So it is a combination of fat and wishful thinking.

Added to this there are the mares that just plain look as if they ought to be in foal.

I have one at the moment who has been nowhere near any of the stallions, yet looks as if she is about to drop.

She has not been fed as a broodmare as I know she is not in foal, but, since she has had about five foals, now, "on the trot" as it were, her body obviously thinks it should be gearing up for the foal that is not, in fact, coming this year!

She will suddenly go "pop" in a month or so, around the time she would have foaled.

This is not a false pregnancy, it is just the way her hormones are geared, they need a while to run down.

As to coming in season whilst in foal....it is very possible but, in all truth, very unlikely unless this mare is known to do this.

I have a family of mares who can come into full season up to five months into their pregnancies...complete with ovulating in the other horn (that has only been checked the once but I am assuming that the others did it)

This is one family, though, that I know might do this.

 

[Katiean]

I had a big horse mare that was 4 months pregnant and still breeding. When she kept coming into heat the stud owner said one more month (meaning the 4th month and they were not going to breed her any more). The vet was out on another horse so we had him check to see if she could get pregnant. As he was up to his arm pitt he asked"Why don't you think this mare is pregnant?". She was pregnant from the first mateing. She just liked the stud. She would have breed each and every month right up to foaling. Some mares are like this.

Oh, why do you say the stud she was with is steril? I think if it were my mare I would have her checked.

 

[Little Wolf Ranch]

DO NOT BE SO QUICK AS TO THINK SHE IS NOT TRUELY IN FOAL!

I have two mares under my watch as of right now and one is DEFINATELY pregnant (foal kicks everytime I am feeling for it) and one who was exposed for 5 months and is possibly pregnant (previous owner said she never got the preggers belly while in foal and she isn't comfortable with me feeling for movements) and although I am watching BOTH of them - they BOTH tease and want to breed with my stallions.

For me personally, whether a mare does or does not show signs of "heat" doesn't determine pregnancy or not.

 

[Miniv]

I think you are asking more than one question.....?

Yes, a mare can ACT like she is pregnant.......We have had one who filled up with fluid, bagged up, and we even got enough milk from her to test. She never tested worth SQUAT! And then.......her bag dried up and she began looking "normal". Later that season she showed heat, was bred and carried to term.......She's never had another problem.

We've also had a mare who had a retained ovum (egg). She cycled month after month and also showed signs of pregnancy.....THIS problem was solved by our taking her in to our vet and having her ultra-sounded........This was eventually corrected with the help of Regumate.

My suggestion would be to have your mare checked by your vet......preferably by ultra-sound.

 

[Tiny Hooves]

THANK YOU ALL for your answer's.

I honestly don't know if the stallion was actually checked by a vet. She had put 5 mare's in with him last year starting in March and none of them ever settled with this stallion. Four of the mare's had foals the year before.

I had heard of the standard horse's going through false preg. but hadn't heard of a mini doing this.

So really I guess she needs to take this mare in to be checked.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR THE ANSWER'S. I will let her know.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Horses do not have false pregnancies in the way that dogs, for example, do.In domesticity there seems to be a form of psychological "false" pregnancy" that some mares go through, but in order for this to happen they have to have been bred, have got in foal, and lose the foal at some early stage of pregnancy.

The other mares are in all likelihood over fed by people who believe they are in foal!

So it is a combination of fat and wishful thinking.

Added to this there are the mares that just plain look as if they ought to be in foal.

I have one at the moment who has been nowhere near any of the stallions, yet looks as if she is about to drop.

She has not been fed as a broodmare as I know she is not in foal, but, since she has had about five foals, now, "on the trot" as it were, her body obviously thinks it should be gearing up for the foal that is not, in fact, coming this year!

She will suddenly go "pop" in a month or so, around the time she would have foaled.

This is not a false pregnancy, it is just the way her hormones are geared, they need a while to run down.

As to coming in season whilst in foal....it is very possible but, in all truth, very unlikely unless this mare is known to do this.

I have a family of mares who can come into full season up to five months into their pregnancies...complete with ovulating in the other horn (that has only been checked the once but I am assuming that the others did it)

This is one family, though, that I know might do this.

Very true.

Mares can not have false pregnancies, its in the human's head not the mares.

Mares actually NEED to ovulate during pregnancy to maintain their fetus, but they don't have heats. The estrus you see is behavioral and is caused by the hormones coursing through her body.

 

[Katiean]

Another thought. You say 5 mares were with him and none settled. I had 3 with my colt. He was a 2 year old (well, almost) 2 mares settled and 1 did not. This was not on purpose. I just left him with mom too long. Oh and by the way, it is mom that didn't settle. I also NEVER saw him "BREED" any of the mares. I did however, see him mount them. Is it possable your stud needs some instruction in his craft?