What Do You Think?

[CritterCountry]

Well every day I change my opinion on whether this mare is in foal or not. I am convinced she is, but then again, I look at pics and sometimes she stands a different way and then she doesn't look in foal to me.

My hay guy says it is a colt as you cannot tell from the front or back that she is in foal. She is fact looks rather good, as in in fit condition, from the back. She does have a neat little dip forming however in her flank area and she does seem bigger than in fall.

I have felt what I think is the foal rolling around and what feels like the tips of hooves poking (albeit cushioned) against my hand under her belly. I have seen her flanks indenting in and out and quivering. Her mood has changed a little, but she has a lot of reasons for any behaviour changes since her pasturemate is gone now. She spooks more easily, but in any other respect she is more loving than ever. She is walking more with a lumbering gait as well. Her appetite is certainly in place though.

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This drove me nuts last year with my first mare (and I had no breeding date for her) and aside from no guarantee of her being in foal, I at least have a due date and can relax with that. :lol:

I must apologize for the long winded post, but this is driving me crazy.

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Here is pics..one from March 23 and the other from today. She is at day 301, and due May 25.

 

[minihorseluver]

She looks like she's in foal to me.

 

[Bluerocket]

Having a DUH moment here --- if the top photo is Today and the bottom one is March 23 then she looks pregnant to me -- if its the other way around - she looks like she has been on a diet. :lol:

JJay

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

Bluerocket, in the second it appears to me that she is wet so that may be it.

On another note, I hope she is preggers becuase our mare who was pasture bred is at about that date and looks like that!

These mares are trying to drive everyone over the edge!!

 

[RockRiverTiff]

I don't see any obvious sign that she is in foal--especially for being at 301 days--but her stomach does have the "lumpy" look some of the preggers mares get. And while you've got a 50/50 chance of a colt regardless, I wouldn't say colt just by how she's carrying. Our maiden last year was really wide across, and everyone said filly, but we got a colt. This year's maiden is carrying really low (about a foot from the ground and she's only at 285!), so we'll see what we get. :lol: I think how they carry has more to do with the mare herself than the sex of the foal.

 

[CritterCountry]

Top photo is the early one..bottom one is new.

The vet was out today and from looking at her said he doesn't think she is in foal.

I swear I have seen the foal move and felt it but then I am not sure.

Vet said I will only see movement on her right side if there is a foal ?? Never heard that before?

Either way I will be pretty upset if she is not..I was so looking forward to it. :no:

 

[Marty]

I vote yes :aktion033:

 

[Rachel]

From looking at the pictures, I would say no. She just doesn't look large enough for 301 days.

If you think you've felt movement, though, then she must be. I hope she is! Good luck!

 

[Minimor]

From looking at the photos I would say no. However, it is rather hard to judge from photos when you don't know the horse at all. If it were one of my own mares, I would know what she looks like when she's open, and then I would also know how she looks when she is in foal.

As for "foal movement" that can be deceiving too. We had a mare here last year--we'd bought her supposedly in foal, and when she arrived she didn't look real pregnant, but there was enough of a belly there that she could have had a baby in there. Not knowing the mare at all, we weren't sure what she was like. The one day my mom declared she was in foal, because she had seen some very definite twitches & kicks on the mare's right side. Well, turns out she wasn't in foal. I have no idea what Mom saw moving--overactive innards I guess!? This spring she is in foal--it's perfectly obvious, and if I had known that this is what she looks like when in foal, I would have known right off last year that she was open when she arrived. On the other hand, we have another mare here that doesn't get much tummy on her at all, even when she is very pregnant. If I posted a photo of her here, many would say she's not in foal; knowing the mare, though, I know that she is.

 

[CritterCountry]

From looking at the photos I would say no. However, it is rather hard to judge from photos when you don't know the horse at all. If it were one of my own mares, I would know what she looks like when she's open, and then I would also know how she looks when she is in foal.

As for "foal movement" that can be deceiving too. We had a mare here last year--we'd bought her supposedly in foal, and when she arrived she didn't look real pregnant, but there was enough of a belly there that she could have had a baby in there. Not knowing the mare at all, we weren't sure what she was like. The one day my mom declared she was in foal, because she had seen some very definite twitches & kicks on the mare's right side. Well, turns out she wasn't in foal. I have no idea what Mom saw moving--overactive innards I guess!? This spring she is in foal--it's perfectly obvious, and if I had known that this is what she looks like when in foal, I would have known right off last year that she was open when she arrived. On the other hand, we have another mare here that doesn't get much tummy on her at all, even when she is very pregnant. If I posted a photo of her here, many would say she's not in foal; knowing the mare, though, I know that she is.

Yes I have heard of that happening. BUT I am out there every day sometimes 4 or 5 times and I see that movement and can feel it, every time I am out there. I was out there this morning and her flanks are pretty active and I can see her shift when I see the movements as if she is feeling it too. I also noted that her bag is increasing slightly over the last three days. The movement I can feel is a large relatively hard round ball that actually makes her ribs and spine move and I can feel a rolling motion from the top of her spine down. I am not sure if it is possible for her bowels to make that kind of movement. I can feel a lot of the movement in front of her stifle as well.

She is a rather slender mare when not in foal. She has had two previous foals, so I figured she would show more. But who knows, she is still a month and half a week from her due date, so maybe she will start showing more as she gets closer if she is in foal.

Cross fingers for me..she is my one and only mini and after going through my first foaling last year, I know this is what I want to do forever, so if she is not in foal..I don't know what I am going to do with myself to keep me busy this summer!

 

[Joyce]

I'm going to vote no but I could be far off.

 

[Dona]

Well....judging by those pictures alone...I would say NO, she doesn't "look" pregnant.

But, that being said, I had a mare once who NEVER looked pregnant until the last couple of weeks. She could have gone into the showring up until then, and no one would have been the wiser!

: She always looked great immediately after foaling too.