Yankee Doodle Dandy
Well-Known Member
I bought my mare, Angel, last month on April 11th. She was healthy, sound and most importantly, she was a bit fat, but I was pretty sure I could work it off of her. However, this month I noticed she has started gaining weight instead of losing. She goes out to pasture a few hours a day with a grazing muzzle on. Then, she is driven every other day and lunged on the days she isnt. One of my mares popped her splint about 6 days ago, so Angel hasnt been outside since then because it would have driven the mare who had to be on stall rest crazy. Now, here comes the bad part. Yesterday, she got sick. Im still not 100% sure what was wrong. The vet came out and she wasnt sure either, but she had some guesses. She was laying down, and when I walked in, she didnt get up. This was unusual, because when she does lay down, she normally shoots up as soon as you walk in the door. I had to force her up, and then I ran inside to text my mom and sister. I suspected mild gas colic, because she looked like she was having some stomach pains, she pinned her ears when I touched her stomach, and she kept looking at her stomach. However, her gut was making excessive noises, and when horses colic their guts dont make any sounds. When I came back out to see her after texting my mom, she was down again. I had to force her up again. I had to do this a few times. I threw her a bit of hay and she just nibbled around the edges, although she normally chomps it down. I then started walking her around, and she was very lethargic, and wanted to stop. She didnt try to roll or nip her stomach at all though. My sister came home from work, and she said she seemed a little colicky. But, one of the first things she also said was "Could she be pregnant?" because her stomach was so big. I know she has been gaining weight, but she did look really big last night. Im not sure if this was bloating from the supposed colic, or something else. She was bred last year by her previous owners about mid-june or late may. Her owner had said she hasnt gotten pregnant though, but she did let the stallion mate. She finally seemed to start being herself again at the end of the night. She seemed more alert, and was eating, but she still pinned her ears and sometimes even tried to kick if you would touch her lower stomach. The vet came out this morning, and we told her about how we thought she coliced, but how she did look kind of pregnant, and she said she was acting like a pregnant mare. We ultrasounded her,though and the vet couldnt find any signs of pregnancy. She did say though, that sometimes if mares are pregnant, that at the end of their pregnancy the baby can be hard to see when ultrasounding because it is almost ready to foal and it has kind of taken/sucked up the fluid that the vet looks for on ultrasounds to see if she is pregnant. She is really big, she is 51 inches around her stomach, compared to my other mini who is 44 inches around his stomach. She does not have any udder development, which makes me think that pregnancy is unlikely.
So, I guess my questions are, do you think she could possibly be pregnant? Or do you think she just had mild colic, and is just bloated? What about the weight gain, what can I do about that, and is that normal or should I be worried? I am going to post pictures of her stomach in the comments because the pictures are on my computer and I am posting this from my phone.
So, I guess my questions are, do you think she could possibly be pregnant? Or do you think she just had mild colic, and is just bloated? What about the weight gain, what can I do about that, and is that normal or should I be worried? I am going to post pictures of her stomach in the comments because the pictures are on my computer and I am posting this from my phone.
