My Mare is Possibly Pregnant.

[Pitter Patter]

And again I screwed up with the pictures! Sorry! The 5th photo down and the last two are from my other mare. The rest are from the mare I know to be pregnant. Any thoughts on how she is progressing? Thanks!

 

[Taz]

Oh!!! I hope she gets it together and you are off when she has the little one! The swelling in front of her udder/teats is edema, perfectly normal, might go away(move back) as her udder develops or stay till she foals. I always think it looks like the teats are in the middle or slightly to the front once the udder is developed.
Good for you spending the time she needs with her and building trust! It's going to pay off when she foals.
Hopefully she's at least looked at the book and will give you definite signs about what's going on. Looking forward to updates

 

[Taz]

That makes more sense. Don't worry about messing the pictures up.
She's going to get a lot more udder before she's done IF she's following the book. Keep an eye on whether it goes up and down through the day or stays. If it stays you're supposed to be getting close. My little one has it stay for up to 3 days then it goes away, she's never even looked at the book as far as I can tell. No idea what she's doing and my vet just laughed at me when I asked him

 

[Pitter Patter]

Edema? Oh boy, do we have a ways to go then!So much for a baby on my vacation Previous owner thinks this is probably her 3rd baby. Birth and death are always inconvenient, unfortunately!

 

[Taz]

I've learned not to even try to figure their timing out. She might get ready fast, might not. The book says 2-6 weeks after they start developing an udder so maybe....... she's doing something at least
Enjoy your holiday and try to get some extra sleep while you can, haha.
Isn't feeling that little one dance around the best? I gave my mare a hug tonight and the little one went for a run

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Do you have any idea when she may have been possibly bred ? From the pictures at the start of your thread to the latest ones, I don't see a great deal of change. For a mare that has had two previous foals, she should be much wider, unless she was bred at the end of last breeding season. ??

Dont wanna sound like the party pooper , just my honest opinion

 

[Pitter Patter]

No worries, Ryan! I am beginning to think the same thing actually! There is A LOT of baby movement but that's about all. Owner could be wrong about when she was covered. I guess time will tell. Still very much guessing on the other mare too. Just don't know, but am a little disappointed in that I have to ask for vacation time so early. So now I am on vacation for 6 days and most likely will miss the birthing if it is next month... Had a long evening yesterday. Coyotes were close by with their bone chilling howling at around 8 PM but it was still very much light out. Hung out there with my little ones for hours with one of my dogs. Usually they hate our dogs but I they allowed him to stay and hang out. This would be why I have 6 strands of electric fencing and not a solid fence like I would prefer. Thinking about putting one of the male llamas with them once he decides he 's not going to mount everything in sight (and he was gelded young!). He shows a strong tendency to be a guard llama. Anyone have any thoughts besides a gun to keep coyotes out? (I also have a very impulsive ADHD 16 year old that would make gun ownership dangerous!). Ryan, may I ask how you fared during the fires there?

 

[Ryan Johnson]

She very well could be pregnant and treating her as if she is, is the best thing to do. As you said her previous owner may have missed a later covering, so maybe shes just alot further behind than thought.

We dont have coyotes here, but my neighbour does have Llamas in with his sheep and lambs to protect them from foxes. I can understand why you would want to be near your animals when they are howling like they do, very scary !!! i hope they leave your animals alone We were ok in the fires, where I live, but other parts of the country really suffered, especially our wildlife. It was really sad to watch something, as horrific as it was, go on for so long.
Good thing is , we have had more rain this year so far than the previous two years, so hopefully we dont get a repeat again this summer.

 

[Pitter Patter]

Ryan, this has nothing to do with horses....I went to Melbourne years ago and it was perhaps one of the best experiences of my life! Got to interact with Kangaroos (and had my camera "stolen" by one!). Wonderful experience of holding a wombat (such sweet creatures) and watch penguins return in the evening on the beach. Glad you were ok with the fires. So horrible to watch without anything we can do.

 

[Holly Chisholm]

The only problems I foresee with the foal app is I don't have extra phones and the phone I do have is not particularly well suited. I am now thinking of buying a good quality wireless baby monitor that has night vision capability. Has anyone done this? I know it's not the same as an alarm and I would still lose sleep but at least I wouldn't be running around in the dark (and my vision is getting worse at night as I get older!).

We used two baby monitors, and they worked great!!! My husband and I took turns watching her, which was a good thing. Sally's foaling took less than five minutes, and hubby had to break the sac. This all happened before I could get my boots on and get out there! Blessings for a healthy baby!

 

[Kristin]

I am using a baby monitor and it is working well for me.... I got it inexpensively at Wal-Mart... Only $50. It has night vision, but was a bit fuzzy, so I leave a small light above my girls stall at night.

 

[elizabeth.conder]

I used a camera set up with Marewatchers. It made a HUGE difference because you could watch the camera from anywhere and there is actually a Facebook page that you can post on and get help watching so you can sleep. So I became good friends with a couple people which allowed me many more hrs of sleep than I’d have gotten without it.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Ryan, this has nothing to do with horses....I went to Melbourne years ago and it was perhaps one of the best experiences of my life! Got to interact with Kangaroos (and had my camera "stolen" by one!). Wonderful experience of holding a wombat (such sweet creatures) and watch penguins return in the evening on the beach. Glad you were ok with the fires. So horrible to watch without anything we can do.

I am glad you had a great time here, hope you got your camera back ? Were you down at Phillip Island for the Penguins ? Thats about an hours drive from me.

 

[Pitter Patter]

Hi Ryan! I did get the camera back but broken. It was one my dad got in Germany in the 40's and was an excellent camera. Film got exposed so was minus a few pictures. Even so, it was kind of funny. Eventually the kangaroo lost interest and dropped it. I didn't argue about it when he grabbed it. Just glad I didn't have it strapped to my neck! I decided best not to take on a heavy weight natural boxer. Yes, I think it was Phillip Island. Beautiful area!

 

[Pitter Patter]

I think I will be getting the baby monitor. We have a large shed with no door as a run-in shelter. It is pretty cozy. I don't know if she will have the foal inside or out because I don't want to keep her in lock down for maybe a month? She should be due very soon, but like all the other girls, she's not telling! If I can tell it is closer I will put up a gate or something to keep others out and her in. So, what is the usual preference of the mare during nice weather (although it doesn't look promising for that here!)-do they like inside or out during foaling? I am so nervous! This will be at least her 3rd. No udder change. She's getting more clingy with me than usual, but then I haven't had her too long and maybe she's just bonding more. She is also getting a little more used to me touching her a lot all over, except the ears, which she despises more than anything! She is even cooperating with udder picture taking now. I used to get kicked, then threatened to get kicked, then the "evil eye". Now if it bugs her she just steps away.

 

[Taz]

Sounds like she's going to be comfortable with you around once she foals, that's great!!
I have no idea how you're set up there, this is just an idea. Could you put temporary step in posts (or something like that) with a strand of electric tape(really easy to see) from the sides of the shed to make a small turn out area in front of the shed? You could put all 3 girls in there at night with access to the shed. A baby monitor inside and one outside so you can keep an eye on all of them. If you see anything happening you can put Snickers in and leave the other two out in front so she's not alone but has her own space. You could start doing it any time and then they would all be used to the set up in case you're having more than one foal. You can get solar fencers that would work well for that as long as it's not all trees there and your perimeter fence would still keep other critters away from them.

What are the names of the other two?

 

[Pitter Patter]

Hi Taz. Any baby yet? The other two are Cottontail (24-25 years old) and Pepper or Peppers (about 12). So Snickers appears visibly pregnant. Pepper MAY be pregnant as well but I can't tell. She rarely stands still enough to watch for movement.
The dry lot they are in isn't terribly big. I leave for work very early and am gone about 10 hrs per day. Foal really wasn't in the plans, but babies come when it's time and not when when we're ready, right?! I have a 16 year old at home full time now due to school closures so he has promised to check on her a few times a day. I think you are right. Maybe two baby cams would be best. I am not so sure it would be very safe for my old girl (Cottontail) as Pepper is the boss and chases her off often and it might limit her ability to escape easily. Currently my little Stallion is also there, but will be moved back with male animals the closer we get to baby's arrival. The girls seem to learned to love the little guy (except for Pepper, who only seems to like Snickers!). Never thought I'd be social planning with equines! Crossing my fingers that I will recognize the signs of labor in time and can just corral Snickers in the shed and portion it off with a temporary stall or just close the others out of it, but that leaves them out in the weather. Also wondering if everyone puts a foal blanket on after birth or only in cooler weather? I bought 3 in different sizes, not sure what baby or babies needs will be. Also, wrapping or braiding the tail. Which is best during labor for the mare? She doesn't like to be fussed with much.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Hi Ryan! I did get the camera back but broken. It was one my dad got in Germany in the 40's and was an excellent camera. Film got exposed so was minus a few pictures. Even so, it was kind of funny. Eventually the kangaroo lost interest and dropped it. I didn't argue about it when he grabbed it. Just glad I didn't have it strapped to my neck! I decided best not to take on a heavy weight natural boxer. Yes, I think it was Phillip Island. Beautiful area!

How is your mare coming along? has there been any other changes ?

 

[Taz]

Nope, no baby yet but she's another day closer, hahaha.

Your girls sound wonderful

It sounds like you've got a plan and she's going to be watched. She has done this before and knows what she's doing, it would be much more of a problem if she didn't know what a baby was or what to do with it. If you have baby cams up you will be watching her through the night and that's when they normally have them. None of that will really help with the stress and worry until the little one is on the ground but you care and are doing everything that can be done to make sure everything goes well, that's all anyone can do.

I had great results using a waterproof dog coat as a foal blanket. I think they can have them on as long as it's not really warm, they don't regulate their body temp well in the beginning. I'm planning on putting one on at least at night. If anyone thinks I'm wrong on that please say so .

 

[Taz]

Any changes? Is the edema getting bigger?