# Missed Pregnancy ultrasound check



## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

None of my mares ever experienced the symptoms that you listed except being grouchy and that didn't happen until a week or so before giving birth. Then it was more of a stand around with ears back and wrinkled up nose and not in their interactions with humans or other horses (except once with a gelding that wouldn't pay attention to her "stay out of my space" signs). It sounds more like a health issue (colic, ulcers) to me.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

He probably said her uterus had good " tone".....

We u/s two mares one time....one, I had bred, one, the stallion had gotten out of his pen at night, while we were out of town, and DS thought it was another horse......so turned him out with the mares!

Anyway, vet said bred mare was bred, accident was not. I kept checking the receipt, and that was what she wrote....but the accident foaled.so, it is not horribly unusual to miss, but twice...hmmmm. Is she too far along to palpate?

I have had a couple of mares switch personalities on me when pregnant....

Good luck!


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I would have her palpated now. At 7 months the Vet should run into the foal, especially in a maiden mare.

Did you notice her back in heat after she was bred? 

The only time we had anything like this happen was decades ago (pre US) and before I learned to palpate mares myself. A mare was palpated IN FOAL. She had a false pregngncy, right up to having milk come in but did not have a foal. She was checked at 12 months (was that big), milk was running down her legs but she wasn't foaling. We were told her uterus was enlarged but not pregnant. She was given a huge saline infusion with antibiotics in it and soon came in heat. She dried up, bred and had a normal pregnancy. We were left scratching our heads.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Yes pregnancies can be missed via ultrasounds, not often but it happens. An inexperienced vet is more likely to miss a pregnancy and a good vet unfamiliar with his equipment is also more likely to miss a pregnancy. Even at 60 days gestation, that foal is still very small and can be located in an unusual spot. You also may have a mare with a false pregnancy, which imitates a real pregnancy in every way including the belly growth/lopsidedness, some false pregnancies go so far as to include a false labor before their hormones readjust themselves and they return to their normal selves again. A palpation now may or may not answer questions about a growing foal depending on how the potential foal is carried (some mares will carry the foal at 7 months gestation far forward out of the reach of a palpation)


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

Please forgive these ignorant questions but I'm wondering. 
Can a foal be detected with an abdominal ultrasound like a woman? 
If they can use US to detect bowel wall thickness in a horse why is a foal so hard to find?
Can a baby heart beat be heard with a stethoscope?


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

natisha said:


> Please forgive these ignorant questions but I'm wondering.
> Can a foal be detected with an abdominal ultrasound like a woman?
> If they can use US to detect bowel wall thickness in a horse why is a foal so hard to find?
> Can a baby heart beat be heard with a stethoscope?


Too much of other noises for a stethoscope to help as the mare's heartbeat and digestive system will be of great interference. 

To do an admoninal ultrasound, the foal is very well padded in the center of the body cavity. I have watched one video of a horse getting an adominal ultrasound, was very close to foaling and the area of the belly had to be shaved and then lots of gel applied. When the foal is still very small (first and second trimesters), there is simply too much body mass to see through. You would have a better shot of finding a 6-7 month gestation pregnancy externally by doing a full adominal X-Ray which still leaves the problem of trying to see through ribs and organs... ;-)

When ultrasounding internally on horses, there is a limit based upon the length of the vet's arm on a full sized horse and the position of the uterus. Another thing that is often forgotten about the mare's uterus is that its shape can interfere with getting a clear ultrasound picture, especially in early pregnancy as the vet may be looking in the wrong horn or the pregnancy isn't in a usual location. The uterus doesn't stay in one place the entire time inside the body cavity especially during pregnancy. At around 7 months gestation, many mares have the foal deep inside the body cavity away from the exit door. A few years back when my mom found one of her mares had lost a pregnancy 3 months prematurely and had to bury the small little filly, she took her other mare who was 4 months from her due date into the vet to check her via ultrasound for any problems. At 7 months gestation, the vet couldn't see any of the baby via ultrasound as the foal was pulled forward and deep into the mare but did get a view of the placenta which looked healthy. The mare stood at 15.1hh, slightly stocky as a Arab/paint cross and had a healthy filly that year.


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

SunnyDraco, thank you for explaining so well.


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## Smilie (Oct 4, 2010)

Most of those symptoms do not sound like a normal pregnancy!
If anything, mares get calmer, more agreeable when pregnant, and not grumpy, or disrespectful.
Mares also don't loose weight, and there really is not great needs for added nutrition, until the last trimester and while she is lactating-so again, that weight loss at 6 months, not normal
Horse will paw if they are colicy , and also be off feed, and not because they are pregnant (not until they go into labor, and many mares will paw, look at flanks, having those contractions
Horses will also get edema when they have liver problems or tumors.

I hope your mare is just pregnant, but if not, sure would have complete blood work done, as she sounds more like a sick horse then one in foal


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## Goldilocks (Jan 30, 2015)

Smilie said:


> If anything, mares get calmer, more agreeable when pregnant, and not grumpy, or disrespectful.


Please please send that memo to my mare!

OP yes pregnancies CAN be missed but i don't believe your mare should have that many changes to her body/personality at this stage. I can't comment on the personality too much cause my mare has been very touchy since about one or two months in, however she was never a petted on mare so was never very comfortable with intimacy. She has always been one to cow kick or move away if touched, but has gotten better.

The weight loss (nope, mines put on. lots)


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Most of our mares settle down A LOT when they are pregnant. There are some of them that the change is so evident in that we laugh and say it is as good as a pregnancy check.


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## Fahntasia (Dec 19, 2011)

Sorry to go off topic....but do mares stay more settled after having a baby as well? Or do they revert back to "normal"?


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Fahntasia said:


> Sorry to go off topic....but do mares stay more settled after having a baby as well? Or do they revert back to "normal"?


Each mare is different but most return to normal after having a baby, others may be worse than normal with a foal at their side.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## aimeeleigh (Apr 21, 2015)

Subbing. Keep us updated with what the vet says when he sees her.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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