Vet was wrong, so I bred more mares

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RobinRTrueJoy

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I usually only breed 2, possibly 3 mares( rarely) each year. Had the vet out last month, she ultraounded them, and said sorry, I don't see anything. But you know, I had the weirdest feeling that she was wrong, but she has never been wrong. So when these other mares came into heat, I thought, you know, I will give them a try.

WELL...... yesterday the vet came. 3 out of 4 were pregnant... and I am betting that the fourth one(TEACUP) actually is in foal, she hasn't come back into heat)... AND I still have to ultrasound three others!!!! OMG!!! Could be 7 in foal!!!!!

OMG!!!!!
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I am going to lose my mind in 2006!!!!!!
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Congratulations, Robin! That is exciting news! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Teacup!
 
Little Teacup is a mare of many surprises! You might be right about her!

Dear Robin, I know. If you do have that many maybe on the way, you'll be a wreck! But I know that you'll do great and you're due some wonderful things to happen!
 
Were these internal or external ultrasounds? I only ask because I had 5 mares bred this year, had then all ultrasounded last week (they would all be in the 50-65 day range), and the vet said 2 are empty. He is new to this machine and ultrasounding minis -- at his own admission -- so I wonder how much stock to put into his opinion, especially about the one mare. None of the 5 have come back into season since they were bred in May and 4 of them have free nose to nose contact with a stallion every day. They teased him incessantly BEFORE they were pregnant and were very showy about being in heat. The one mare he says is empty never goes near the stallion any more and her personality has changed, too. Was always rather stand-offish and is now almost sweet in character. The other empty mare may indeed be empty as she is older, is in another pasture without access to the stallion and I did not tease her aggressively after she was bred.

I watched him sonogram all the pregnant mares and definitely saw what he said was the fluid-filled sac which represents the pregnancy. While I did not see that as clearly on the "empty" mare, there were lots of similar structures on that screen. Bowel, undoubtedly, made up part of those images, but I'm just stymied as to why this young mare would not have come back into season in the middle of prime breeding season when she has access to a stallion on a daily basis and had formerly been very showy about her cycles.

Will probably Pregnamare her in a couple of weeks just to see what the blood test shows, but dang I hate those lancets!!!!

I'd love to hear if your experience was similar with the ultrasound!

Robin C
 
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[SIZE=14pt]Robin you didnt say if they were internal or external. The internals are far more acurate .[/SIZE]

Lyn
 
Keeping fingers crossed that the next ultrasound will show Teacup to be in foal.

These were internal ultrasounds.I definitely saw the screen.

Still have 3 more ultrasounds to do next month, Could be 7 mares in foal. Oh LORD!

The blood tests aren't always perfect either, but might be a good back up to a questionable ultrasound.
 
I just had 15 ultasounded yesterday and I had several far enough along that they were kicking and turning all over the screen, had one mare (5.5 months along) that you could already see the eyes, nostrils ext on.

Had two that were just 60 day embryos.

This was an internal ultrasound - 11 of the 15 were definelty in foal, one was a "I don't see anything, but she never would pee so we got lots of bladder" so we will check her again later. and then I had 3 no's, which I really thought might be nos as they were all bred to my 2yr old stallion - who maybe just wasn't ready yet.
 
Lyn, mine were external ultrasounds. I much prefer internals, but my local vet will not do them on minis. He went to all the trouble of getting an external machine to do the growing number of minis in his practice area, so I do feel I should at least give him a chance. I have another reproductive vet in the next county who does digital internals and even fetal sexing, but I have to trailer in. It's been so blasted hot here, and the mare is question is such a silly girl, that the combo may make for a pretty stressful trailer ride. I've opted against it. Bottom line is, she's either pregnant or she's not and time will certainly tell all. If she's not pregnant, she's not cycling anyway, so the opportunity to re-breed her is lost from that point of view. It's just rather frustrating, because this is a pre-sold foal from this mare and the "owners" are really eager to confirm her pregnancy status.

Just wondered how many false negative external ultrasounds you all are encountering in the 50-60 day range.

Robin C
 

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