# Is she pregnant?!



## firelight27 (Jul 20, 2007)

I have a little quarter mare that has gotten a bit on the tubby side. My boyfriend joked that she might be pregnant. I blew it off, but I was brushing her belly and I noticed that her teats seem to be swelling some. One is is more bagged up looking than the other. But the other one seems to be starting to swell as well. The actual teats are larger looking than my old mare (who is definitely not pregnant). The non pregnant mare has very flat udders.

I decided to try and squeeze one, and after a few tugs it squirted out a very thin stream of clear to yellowish looking fluid. It caught me in the face and I almost fell over. There are also little white flakies, sort of looks like dandruff, on the nipples.










I admit her belly is bigger than normal, but not by a whole lot, she has always been an easy keeper. Yet, she is bigger than she was when she was on a lush green pasture 

This is what she looks like now, with barely any pasture (and the grass that is there sucks), and only getting plain grass hay which isn't the freshest in the whole world. She has a slight downward bulge, rather than her typical uninterrupted upward slope from heart girth to flank. And this is on LESS feed! :



















I bought her in September. She was in the field with another filly and a couple of geldings. But lord knows if they were really geldings I suppose. And who knows if there were other horses with her before we looked at her. She was also moved to a field with a couple of geldings and about 5 of my friends horses (a couple were geldings also) a couple of months later. I suspect if she is prego it may have been one of those, because the old man who owned the pasture was really strange and out of his head... heck, he could have tried to geld the dang things himself with his view of life, and completely missed the baby making factories!

I did have the vet out on Friday, but he was scheduled to float my gelding's teeth, and he said he had to run to another appointment immediately or he'd be late. He said just by glancing he didn't know, that I'd have to schedule another time to palpate and he could see if he could cut out the call out fee (since he lives close by). So I have to get him to come out in the next couple of weeks. I think I'll start feeding her more just in case, maybe some grain too? She is very current on her shots/vaccines.

Before I get a chance to get her checked, what is your verdict? Do you think she is pregnant, false pregnancy ? And if she looks pregnant, how far along does she look (with the belly and the leakyness. She doesn't leak on her own, only if you squeeze it a few times in a row.) Can a mare who is not pregnant, or doesn't have mastitis squirt things out? Lol. If she was bred in September before we got her she would be due this month or next. If it was November then... sept or october. yeah? Ack! And I wanted to breed her next month!

She came into strong heat a couple of months back, but it was the first heat I'd seen her have since I had her. She hasn't come into heat since then either. Also, there are none of the plants in our pasture that cause milk. She has been in a paddock with only grass hay anyways.[/img]


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## Dumas'_Grrrl (Apr 2, 2008)

Its better to know for sure. With all the details being so sketchy...I'd call the vet. :?


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

I agree, call the vet because you never know!  Keep us updated.


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## AKPaintLover (May 26, 2007)

From what I have read, bagging up and producing milk (esp. yellowish in color) happen in the very late stages of pregnancy. But, if she went into heat a couple of months back, that doesn't make much sense (you sure that was what it was. Also, he belly not being quite large at this point (when milk is being produced) doesn't make much sense either. 

I would have her ultra sounded.


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## mlkarel2010 (Jan 27, 2008)

I knew a mare that went into heat, but then a few months later she popped out a baby... no one had any idea she was pregnant!


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## TxHorseMom (Mar 4, 2007)

From the looks of her, I'd say no. She definitely is NOT bagged up. When they are bagged they look almost like a cow's udder. She doesn't look all that big to me either. IF she were to be pregnant, she might be a couple of months along. It looks more like hay belly to me. BUT saying all that, I am not a vet, and a vet check is definitely in order if there is any chance that she might be pregnant. Keep us posted.

PS Depending on their hormone level mares can indeed have fluid in their udders. The milk just before foaling should be milky and sticky. Amber or clear fluid does not mean imminent foaling.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Hard to tell. To me she doesn't look pregnant. I used to think I was good at guessing when horses were pregnant. My trainer's mini whom I was convinced was pregnant, was just fat so...


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## firelight27 (Jul 20, 2007)

I decided to go with WeeFoal, which is a urine test for mares. Similar to a human test but more complicated, but 95% accurate.

I spoke to a couple of vets today and my trainer, and they all had the same opinion : Pregnant. Her belly doesn't look big unless you stand behind her. Then, it points out to both sides pretty prominently, and its quite lopsided. The vets told me she wouldn't be leaking anything unless she was consistently used as a broodmare every year. Since she hasn't been bred in at least five years, they say this is not the case. They also say that she could have a cyst on an ovary, causing hormone imbalance.

I really hope it isn't this. I have to wait for the pregnancy test to arrive and then we'll know. The vets say if she is lopsided it probably isn't a phantom pregnancy or a hormone problem, because lopsidedness is caused from the presence of the foals body in the womb.

She isn't very swollen in her bag yet, and isn't leaking fluid. She also isn't soft around her tailhead/buttocks area. I know she only has a slight bag, but its gone from nothing/tight to beginning to swell. They estimate she has awhile, but that the most likely prognosis is pregnancy.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

The mini at the barn was also lob sided she even was leaking what appeared to be milk.

It would be interesting how your mare comes out.Let us know what the tests say.


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## Pammy (Apr 3, 2008)

Did you do the pregnancy test on her??? This is so interesting!


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## Broken A Ranch (Aug 14, 2008)

Did you get the results back?


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## lizard13 (Aug 25, 2008)

*clueless*

Ok all three of my mares did this this year and all three were "supposed" to be pregnant but all three never had a baby! we had even had them all checked about 3 months after bred and they checked out pregnant! so please let me know what your vet says because mine was clueless!


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Have you gotten some results back yet?


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

*Re: clueless*



lizard13 said:


> Ok all three of my mares did this this year and all three were "supposed" to be pregnant but all three never had a baby! we had even had them all checked about 3 months after bred and they checked out pregnant! so please let me know what your vet says because mine was clueless!


I've heard this time and time again. I think maybe the vets err on the side of caution and give a false positive so if the mare is preggers, she will be getting proper care. A vet up here checked out a pony and said, No, she's not pregnant, but just in case, give her some extra feed and call me again in a month! At least he was honest in saying he didn't know for sure. I would hold far more faith in the urine test than what the vets say.


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## AllyKatSki1 (Apr 2, 2008)

did u get the test back?


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## TxHorseMom (Mar 4, 2007)

Wow! That's really something. I've NEVER had our vets be wrong about a pregnancy when they check by palpation. I have had them say they didn't know and to recheck in a month or so and then had them rechecked, but they never have been wrong. What did your urine test say? Inquiring minds want to know!


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