infoal or fat and how old? help please

[triiger5]

we have a new pony not sure of age or breed as old owner didn't know much about her just got her to break in and sell on.

we were told she was about 10 years old

she is 9hh

could anyone help with her age? and is she infoal or fat? we live in new zealand and we start foaling around august so if she is infoal will need to sort her a place to foal as current grazing doesn't allow foals as it is the pony club grounds. and will also have to source a nother pony for daughter to ride at pony club next season (september)

any help would be appreciated

thanks

when we got her in december (xmas present)

nugget a couple of weeks ago

a couple of weeks ago after a hose off from riding

nuggets teeth

 

[Katiean]

I have a mare that usually doesn't even look fat when she is about ready to foal. So I am not much help. Was she with a stallion? How long did the last owner have her? I have never been good at the age thing either. I just wanted to ask the 2 questions in determning if she is pregnant ot not.

 

[triiger5]

when we went and looked at her the same day we took her home she was in a paddock next to a gelding that acted colty so could have been not castrated properly. dont know how long they had her she wasnt very helpful with any info regarding nugget just that she was training her to sell to raise money for her equestrian games team trip to denmark.

 

[Katiean]

Well, if she had her for say 6 to 8 months and your mare was not with a stallion then she would be due soon and you would have a better shot at determining if she was actually in foal or fat.

 

[triiger5]

i dont know how long she had her before i got her . ive just noticed nugget getting bigger around the middle even tho she only gets fed a little grass

 

[Eagle]

Have you tried feeling the foal move? Give her a few carrots in a bucket and hold your hand just in front of her udder whist she is eating. you could also try a wee foal pee test

 

[triiger5]

havent tried feeling for the foal but will try today when i go to feed her.

 

[triiger5]

tryed feeling after moving her fence on to new grass was hard to tell if there was movement as she is quiet fluffly and wasnt sure if it was her moving or a foal. but tried the nail test on both the mares

the welsh mare pregnant and filly, the welsh if pregnant is due late september who i bred to a friends arab x welsh stallion.

and nugget pregnant and colt

nugget today

 

[triiger5]

nugget today

 

[triiger5]

spice if preg supose to be about 5 3/4 months

 

[Katiean]

These are pictures of Princess about a week before she foaled 6 years ago.

She is now going to foal in about a week and she is a bit larger this time. Some mares it is really hard to tell until they start to bag. Other mares get so large they can hardly walk. I would get a wee foal test if I were you.

 

[REO]

She *could* be by the way she looks.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hard to tell. I had a gelding came to me looking pregnant and had quite the belly. I added some protein to his diet and the belly got less and he filled out over his topline and his balloon belly went down quite a bit. Could also be diet related. They can also get insulin resistant and get chubby too. I would think there are ways to tell if your mare is preggy, at a certain point you can bump the foal, you can do an ultrasound, they might be bagging and dropping etc. you would want to know soon if you think she is in foal because care of a preg mare is much different and you wouldn't want to be short on vitamins or supplements.

 

[GypsyMoonMinis]

I had a 24 yr old mare given to my daughter and we were certain she was just fat. She'd been a stallions compaion for several years and hadn't gotten bred, so she was condsidered to be barren. I, thinking she was overweight, put her on a strick diet and exercise regime even though she was a senior mare. Naturally, she had a large bag from having been a brood mare most of her adult life, so I thought little of it....until my husband went out to feed in the middle of October to find a tiny little 21 inch tall carbon copy of her in the stall. Imagine our surprise!! Said filly is now my daughters best friend. Here's a little video of her I made shortly after she was born:



There is a ph test that you can get from a vet that attaches to the tail and reads the urine. You can watch her bag, feel for foal movement, but alot of those things (like relaxation over the hips, spongy tissue on the underside of the barrel, waxing, etc etc all happen when they are closer to foaling). You may also be able to have an ultra sound done if you vet is equipped. I know I wish I had known, as I felt the diet I had the mare on was in large part why she had weak flexor tendons and knock knees, though we have largely corrected all these with trimming and diet over the last two years, plus they straighten out on thier own... Just some thoughts anyways. Good luck with everything!!

 

[triiger5]

she is on straight grass with a limited intake as fence gets moved every 2nd day, it seems to be just her tummy getting bigger as her rump is still the same shape and size besides the fluffy winter coat starting to grow. will give her another couple of weeks then go talk to a horse vet when we go into town as our closest horse vet is 45 min drive away and charge like a wounded bull as they know the are the only ones in our region

 

[triiger5]

her bum when we got her

her bum now

 

[Helicopter]

Shoot, every one of my ponies have bigger bellies than your girl, including all the geldings.

Of course that doesn't mean your girl isn't in foal just that all my guys are FAT.

 

[triiger5]

how far along in prgnancy before you can feel the foal move? and the mare starts to show? im wondering if the welshie is infoal or not she should be about 6months now due end of september if in foal

 

[wildoak]

Nearly impossible to tell for sure from pictures...as said, we have all had open mares & even geldings who look pregnant! If you can't get a vet to check her, I would sure look into the Wee Foal or some kind of test you can do yourself... maybe on your Welsh too if you aren't sure about her pregnancy.

Jan

 

[triiger5]

i have a friend who has a friend that has a scanner so will see if its the portable kind so can take to paddock as husband has fill horse float with firewood.

thanks for your help guys much appreciated.

all my horsey friends have geldings so don't know anything about pregnant mares and ive only had 1 foal about 8yrs ago a 12hh pony came to me for grazing and owner was determind she was just fat even i could tell then that she was infoal and she foaled 2 months latter but she was a fine built pony