False Labor?

[keater]

So my 12 y/o mare, Sky, went into what me and my mother think was labor. But no baby!!

It started at about 4:15pm today, my dad noticed she was laying down flat on her side, somewhat rolling but not really colic rolling.

Let me clear this up before I go further, she's a very hard keeper and it's extremely hard to keep weight on her... she's just always had bones pricking and poking out no matter how much we feed and worm her, she always looks like she's starved! But she surely isn't, she eats more than any of them out there, she just doesn't keep the weight on for whatever reason.

We noticed she was getting a bid wide in her belly area, but nowhere else. But yet she was still really ribby and spiney and her hindquarters were sunken in... If you all saw her you'd accuse me of starving her, I swear it! We wormed her today and gave her a double dosage as our vet said she takes the worming medicine different than the rest, so we worm her once today and then once more next week.

Back to my problem, we had to pull her to her feet to worm her and then she kept laying down and going flat and looking at her belly.. so of course I pulled her up and put her in the round pen and starting walking her in circles... she defecated not once, not twice, but SIX Times between 4:30 and 6 PM. She's never gone that many times in a row... and has never ever gone more than once in two hours!

So after her first two defecation's, she started trying to lay down again.. we pulled her up again and walked her for about an hour, she defecated 4 times while we walked her and we finally let her just lay down at 6.

She stayed down for a little while, but her little tummy kept lurching and her vulva on the inside had turned a different colour, and had relaxed ALOT.. She laid down flat for about 20 minutes, lurching and looking at her belly every few minutes... But what made me think it wasnt colic was the fact that she was completely relaxed, had no problem defecating, her manure was not diarrhea, but it wasn't firm and standard 'pellets'.. it was somewhere in between. It was green and watery, but still in little soft balls. Anyways, she dilated for a while... but then out of nowhere... she just got up. Like a magic trick. And looked at me and my mom like "What.. who are you people?! Where am i?! GO AWAY!" and just darted off. She stopped to pee but at the beginning her pee was a light red colour... fading to a milky yellow.

I don't know if shes really even pregnant, but if she is im glad she hadnt had it today, as she has no bag. Those are the first things i checked when i had my suspicions about labor... i checked for bag development.. None!! Not even a little!! Her teats were waxy at the tips and i picked the wax off.. but she has no bag? That weirded me out a bit. I will have pics of her tomorrow maybe, but seeing as its dark i have none now.

Do I have anything to worry about or am I just hallucinating? We called the vet and she said it was just a belly ache and to not worry about anything... but I don't know.. she had alot of the symptoms of labor.. but without the cute little legs plopping out!!

 

[stormy]

This one is a hard one to answer and pictures would help I think...glad you are in touch with your vet, I would be terribly worried if my horse acted like this, glad she is feeling better!

My first thoughts because she has trouble with her weight are sand...sand in her belly causing sand colic. Sand can build up in a horses belly over time and become very heavy and painfull. You might try doing a sand test on her manure or have your vet listen to her belly for sand. This kind of colic can look like what you have described.

Second thought is ulcers...with ulcers they sometimes like to eat hay but not grain may play in their water and sometimes lie on their backs...sometimes they have soft stools, sometimes very hard stools depending on where the ulcer is...

but honestly i would be checking with the vet about sand first.

 

[supaspot]

Ive only seen this once ,the mare was almost ten months gestation , I too spoke to my vet and she said colic ( I have never seen a colic stop so suddenly) my mare gave birth to a premmie foal a week later , dead of course , too early to survive , I feel the two things were related and I would have her checked if I was you

 

[keater]

Alright, thanks to you both for help.

@Stormy, I will be calling my vet out tomorrow about the sand and ulcers, as that's the last thing I need.

@Supaspot As I said i'll be having her checked soon. The last two births sky has had have been premature or miscarriages/abortions. The last one we woke up to and he was far too small, but he looked well developed and had fur and everything.. but was in a red bag. We had no clue she was pregnant as we bought her that year and no one told us about a possible pregnancy. And I agree, I've never seen a colic stop that sudden..

Since this i've been out and checked on her twice. Her droppings are back to somewhat normal.. and worms were in them ( go figure ) Now i'm just waiting to see if she deflates. We will find out for sure if she's pregnant tomorrow I hope. Will be keeping a sharp eye on her though.

 

[Barnmother]

I guess the first question, unless I missed it somewhere, is has she been out with a stallion? Colic can come from so many causes, you really need to have the vet evaluate her. There are sand colics, gas colics, colic after worming due to a large infestation of parasites dying at one time. Then the ulcers that folks posted about can mimic those symptoms as well.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Agree you need this mare checked ASAP- so many things it could be it is hardly worth guessing at. Have you done a faecal count in her, and a sand check? Next thing would be to have the Vet check for Ulcers...

 

[Riverrose28]

What concerns me the most is the blood tinged urine. I agree with the others have the vet out ASAP. Could be an infection and results not what you want.

 

Pictures of her would be a great help -- and I'd like to also offer you to visit our Mare/Foal forum here on LB. We watch many mares there and will be happy to answer any questions your have.

As to a "hard keeper" -- have you had her mouth checked ? Sometimes teeth are the culprit in weight-keeping, as if she has hooks, eating is painful and they don't get the benefit of all the good things you are doing for her. Also, perhaps you could share what type of diet she's on, maybe we could help with suggestions to get some extra weight on her for you.

As I said, we're happy to have you join us on the Mare/Foal forum if you'd like to post a thread there about her! Meanwhile keep us posted!