"Winking" in a pregnant mare?

[Ptejhe]

Hi there~

I'm new to this forum and I have a 15 year old miniature mare that I adopted and believe she may be pregnant. I am still waiting for the lab results from our Vet.

This morning as my daughter was turning her out I noticed her vulva was winking. I thought they only do this in heat, but I read that mares can go into heat and still be pregnant. I also read that they can wink before foaling.

This would be our first foal, in the event she is positively pregnant. I used the Weefoal 38 test and it came back positive. I'm waiting to see what our Vet says.

Thank you for your help!

Tina

 

[amysue]

It could be a lot of things really. How is her hind end conformation? Is she sunken, does she pool urine? Could she have a uterine infection? Does she have any discharge or is she just winking? I had an OTTB mare who did this and her problem was a short back /high croup coupled with sunken conformation. Ideally the anus should set directly above the vulva, many mares as a result of age or conformation they sink so the anus rests behind the vulva and they get fecal bacteria in the uterine tract which can cause winking. Sorry for the graphic explination, but thats how my vet explained it to me. Some mares with this problem are referred to as "dirty mares"because they have trouble conceiving.

 

[REO]

Mares wink for a while after they've peed.