Question to breeders about gestation

[headintheclouds]

Hi Everyone, I bought a mare that was in foal with breeding dates of May 27, 28, 29. She was confirmed with ultrasound in July. She is not a maiden mare and her previous owner does not remember if she bagged up prior to her first foal.

With these dates in mind, and today being May 12th, am I correct in today being day 348 gestation for her? I read on one website that 326 is a miniatures gestation so that would have given her a due date of April 20th. Her previous owner still insists that 340 days is mini gestation.

She is not huge and I think I have felt her baby moving, but I'm not sure if it's wishful thinking. Her teets are slightly enlarged and if you squeeze them, colostrum will leak out (I'm careful not to express) but I'm starting to think she is never going to foal. Am I being too impatient. I'm not a breeder and my own full-sized mares have not had babies since I've owned them, so it's new to me.

Is there a time when I should call the vet because she has gone too long? What is the average gestation for the foals that have been born recently if you don't mind me asking.

Oh, can anyone tell me the kind of "pool strips" I've read about in some of the posts. I probably have some in my garage but I'd hate to waste colostrum on the wrong kind of strips.

I'd appreciate any advice or encouragement anyone has.

Thank you

Lisa

 

[Genie]

http://www.dreamhorse.com/foal_calc.php?ma...ubmit=Calculate

Here's the site that you can use to estimate foaling dates for minis.

 

[headintheclouds]

Thank you so much for the link. Just like I suspected 348 days. I guess I just need patience, does anyone know a link for that????????? lol

 

[Becky]

While we give miniatures an average gestation range (mine usually foal 315 - 325 days), they can be all over the place for normal gestation length, from before 300 days to 350+ days.

A mare will normally show various signs that partruition is getting close such as increased belly size and 'dropping', plus udder development. A mare at 348 days would very likely have significant udder development in most cases. If she were my mare, I would likly have the vet out to check her.

I have a mare here confirmed in foal by ultrasound last year. She was started on Progesterone to help her maintain pregnancy. She appeared to be in foal all through the winter. At what should have been 300 days of gestation in March, I began to question whether she was still in foal or not as she was not developing an udder and her belly wasn't changing shape. I stopped the progesterone and several weeks later she came in heat. No baby there.

Good luck and I hope your mare is in foal!

 

[headintheclouds]

This is exactly what I'm afraid of Becky. Can the vet ultrasound her at this given stage of her supposed pregnancy? There is a change in her udders and there is colostrum leakage if I squeeze them, but I swear she is not huge like some pics I've seen of some mini mares on this forum. I'm such a rookie at this, thanks for the advice.

 

[eagles ring farm]

Thank you so much for the link. Just like I suspected 348 days. I guess I just need patience, does anyone know a link for that????????? lol

Please let me know if you find one

 

[headintheclouds]

Apparently, it's in high demand, so I'll search high and low for a link to patience LOL

 

[Matt73]

Minis can have healthy foals from 300 days (I think someone on here has even had a perfectly healthy foal at 298

) to over 365. Yeah, the average is supposed to be 330ish. My mare is 340 tomorrow, though, and I'm not too worried yet.

 

[headintheclouds]

Thanks for the encouragement I'm hoping it does not come to 365, that's over a year!! I don't know how you all do it. Even as I say that, I am thinking of stallion options just in case something happend to the foal I thought she had.

 

[Minimor]

I figure our mares' due dates at 325 days, but some of them I expect to go less than that--it's been very rare for any of ours to go longer than that. We had one at 335 days and one at 330 days, and one at about 342 days...that was abnormal for that mare as she usually goes closer to 300 days, but that year she was deficient in iodine and her foal was born severely hypothyroid & died within an hour. I was extremely worried about the mare the week prior to foaling and turned out I was right to worry...now I get very nervous if a mare goes to 330 days without foaling--I like them go go by 320!

We've had one foal born at 294 days--perfectly normal, healthy full term colt; one at 305 days--that one was somewhat preemie, but no real problems other than fainting when restrained for about the first 4 days of her life; 300 days, 310 days, 315....

This year my mare was VERY kind to me! April 20th was 300 days for her and I started keeping an eye on her then--not getting up nights, just checking her closely morning & night for any changes--May 7th I checked her at 2:30 am just before I went to bed, as she'd been looking different when I fed earlier that evening. I checked on her at 4 & she was definitely close, so I got the baby blankets out of the trailer & had everything ready to go. Went out again at 5 & that was it! No lost sleep for me on this one--nice!

 

[headintheclouds]

Oh goodness, iodine deficiency huh? I'm going to call the vet tomorrow to be on the safe side. Thanks for your input, everyone is so sweet on this forum.

 

[Mona]

I am pretty much in the same boat as you! I hand breed my mares, so I know when they are due, but I am starting to wonder if maybe some "hanky-panky" went on through the fence at a later date!

This is a mare that was born here, sold as a yearling, then bought back last Spring as a 6 year old, and is now carrying her first foal for me. She had one foal previous with her past owner, but she no longer raises horses, and has disposed of all her records, so I am out of luck there! My mare is at day 346 today, and that does not bother me as much as her having such a small bag for this point in her pregnancy! I do use the 340 days as my "due date calculator", and it has for the most part been in the ballpark...some go a little under, some a little over, and even a few right on!

I know the mare is in foal, as I have felt it running for all it's worth in there!! I also had a mare last year foal in the pasture as I never had her in the barn due to her not having a bag!! She was due alright, but there was no way she was going to foal with no bag, so I thought she must have been bred later too, and she fooled me! So now I do not put as much trust in the bags as a good, solid indicator as I once did!

Good Luck with your mare!!

 

[Matt73]

I am pretty much in the same boat as you! I hand breed my mares, so I know when they are due, but I am starting to wonder if maybe some "hanky-panky" went on through the fence at a later date!

This is a mare that was born here, sold as a yearling, then bought back last Spring as a 6 year old, and is now carrying her first foal for me. She had one foal previous with her past owner, but she no longer raises horses, and has disposed of all her records, so I am out of luck there! My mare is at day 346 today, and that does not bother me as much as her having such a small bag for this point in her pregnancy! I do use the 340 days as my "due date calculator", and it has for the most part been in the ballpark...some go a little under, some a little over, and even a few right on!

I know the mare is in foal, as I have felt it running for all it's worth in there!! I also had a mare last year foal in the pasture as I never had her in the barn due to her not having a bag!! She was due alright, but there was no way she was going to foal with no bag, so I thought she must have been bred later too, and she fooled me! So now I do not put as much trust in the bags as a good, solid indicator as I once did!

Good Luck with your mare!!

There is definitely some wierd moon stuff going on

Lex sounds exactly the same as your mare, Mona. 340 days. A bit of a bag. Some clear fluid. No question as to whether she's in foal or not; lots of running around and she looks the part too

I'm not concerned, though. I'm sure when they foal, they'll have plenty of milk.

 

[headintheclouds]

I think you are right about something going on with the Moon. What a coincidence, my mare's name is "Moon!" 350 days tomorrow, I'll have to look up the Gaelic word for Tardy lol

Thanks for the input, it really helps to have everyone's support. I can see how you all get addicted to foaling despite the unpredictability of it all.

 

[backwoodsnanny]

To answer your question and maybe allay some of your fears we have a mare who has had many foals but only two for us two years apart. She had one at 312 a colt and the other at 368 also a colt. So hang in there if the baby is there it will come out. With our mare I was hoping there was something like a scheduled C section like women can have because we put our mares under camera at 300 days to be safe and 68 days is just TOO long to try to watch. Both colts were fine and both still here. Nothing wrong with either one I just think the second one wasnt ready to join us for whatever reason. This mare was over 340 before she even showed a bag and she was only bred 2 days for the second foal so I was also questioning my breed dates but she was never even close to a stallion except for those days so they had to be right.

 

[mama 'n me minis]

If you hand breed and know your dates, do you start counting from the first day the mare was bred or the last day? I have been counting from the first day and am getting quite the range in delivery dates. My first mare went at 327, second mare at 336 and now we are watching our next mare at 348. I actually fell asleep last night and woke up after dreaming the beeper was going off! The wonders of sleep deprivation.

 

[Mona]

If you hand breed and know your dates, do you start counting from the first day the mare was bred or the last day? I have been counting from the first day and am getting quite the range in delivery dates. My first mare went at 327, second mare at 336 and now we are watching our next mare at 348. I actually fell asleep last night and woke up after dreaming the beeper was going off! The wonders of sleep deprivation.

Horse breeders generally go with the last day the mare was bred. I personally always record my mares' due dates with both though.

Oh, and to the original poster, there is hope for you yet!

My mare just foaled tonight...348 days.

 

[headintheclouds]

Oh, and to the original poster, there is hope for you yet!

My mare just foaled tonight...348 days.

Yay for your new baby!

Thank you, Mona I'm hanging in there. I have a friend that has extra sensory "spidey sense" when it comes to horses and she does not feeling anything weird. The last time she did, another barn-mate's 2 minis lost their foals the next day after she specifically made us aware about a concern for unborn foals. I call her Dr. Doolittle

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

In answer to your question about pool test strips, I have used and like the hth 6-way pool and spa test strips you can get at Walmart. You do need to buy new ones each year, after a year they are no longer accurate. But there is also the Mother Nature brand of test strips specifically designed for horses that are accurate. You can find more details and instructions on my website (link below in my signature).

Good luck, they have to "pop" sometime!

 

[MiLo Minis]

Each and every mare is different. I have one mare that was a maiden last year and she went 371 days after developing an udder at 315 days. She was full to bursting in both belly and udder by the time she foaled. Her due date for 340 days is May 17 this year. She developed an udder beginning on April 12th this year. Please Lord, don't let her go another 371 days!!!!

I have another mare that has had a couple foals and she is due this week going by 340 days which is average for her. She definitely looks pregnant from the back but from the side she is not much bigger than she usually is. She has no udder yet and never does until the foal arrives. She always has plenty of milk but it doesn't seem to come in until the foal actually suckles. It is really quite funny to watch because the foal will start to bump her, she moves her leg back so it can get a good shot at it, the foal starts to suckle and you can SEE when the milk starts to pour because after a few seconds the tail starts to spin and they always come up with a milk beard!

I have another mare that foals almost on the dot at 11 pm at 321 days and she has had quite a few foals. One year she fooled me and foaled at 5:45 in the morning! I would have sworn she wasn't going to foal the night before. She developes an udder approximately 2 weeks before foaling every time. She is not due till July 2nd for this year going by 321 days and she has no signs of an udder and only looks barely pregnant with a tiny tummy.