# *Sigh* I'm going to be one of THOSE people... pregnant or not opinions



## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

If you even "suspect" she is you must get her tested. Mares don't spray urine when they are in heat, sometimes they will squat & pee & wink their vulvas, but not always. You don't need a surprise baby that could be in jeopardy, for your own piece of mind as well, get her preg tested.


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## jessicapworkman (Jul 10, 2011)

The one with just her is the day I brought her home, the one with her with the other two is of her now, 7 months later. Sorry about the poor quality of the second photo, its the best I have right now but it does sufficiently show the difference in her size.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Agreed with waresbear. Definately get her tested, right away.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

If I had to guess, I'd say she's in foal, but that's just my guess.


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## NdAppy (Apr 8, 2009)

Get a vet. That is the only way to know for sure. Random people on the internet cannot tell if a mare is pregnant unless feet are on their way out...

Or you can use this - http://www.horseforum.com/online-equine-pregnancy-test/http://www.horseforum.com/horse-breeding/online-equine-pregnancy-test-96746/


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Not seeing the attached pictures...

Read Lena's foaling thread, the very first page. Her vet missed the pregnancy TWICE. The second time was at least 5 months into the pregnancy! 

Was there anything in the article about stud colts or stallions on the property she came from?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## trainerunlimited (Jan 26, 2012)

She's got that rounded look to me!!! I'd take her to the vet and get a $25 palpation, its a cheap enough stress reliever, lol!!!


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## RoosHuman (Dec 27, 2011)

She's a pretty mare! I would def get that vet out to confirm.


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## Moveurasets (Dec 31, 2011)

Well I am not much help but I wish you the best.


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## GhostwindAppaloosa (Jun 3, 2011)

looks like a baby belly to me. Do you roundbale them? thats the only time mine get hay bellies


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## MelissaAnn (Aug 26, 2011)

I can only compare her with my gelding's big ole hay belly. He gets to free range a round bale...his belly doesnt have the pointy tip that your mare has. His is rounder and has less sharp edges. Please let us know what the vet says! 

Your mare is very pretty! I can see how you fell in love with her.


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## Roberto (Dec 17, 2009)

That looks more like a pregnant belly than a hay belly to me. But as others have said, definitely will need to have the vet out for an exam to rule one way or the other.


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## kayleeloveslaneandlana (Apr 10, 2011)

That looks like a baby belly to me! We have a mare at the farm who is preggo and has almost the same belly.. But defiantly have the vet out to be sure!


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## sammerson (Jan 13, 2012)

I was in the same boat as you. When I bought my mare she came from a similar situation but I was told that she was with geldings and mares so I never really worried about her getting pregnant.

She started getting what I attributed to being "grass belly" and I really thought nothing else of it. Sure enough, 11 months after I brought her home she disappeared and three days later when we found her she had a little colt by her side. 

I would definitely suggest you having the vet check her out if you've noticed that much of a change. If the previous owners only had her a couple months it's quite possible that it was too early to tell if she was pregnant. It's not foolproof!

Good luck!


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## jessicapworkman (Jul 10, 2011)

Thanks for all the responses everyone, I will be getting the vet out asap to check her out. Unfortunately she's going to have to hold out for another week but I think we should be alright. Somebody asked if she was being roundbaled (cant remember who now) but no she isnt, we've been splitting one square bale between three of them per day (half in the morning and half at night) otherwise she isnt getting anything other than what they scrounge up out in the pasture which is next to nothing (wintertime). So I will keep everyone posted and thanks again for the replies!


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## pepperduck (Feb 14, 2008)

Unless you spoke to the vet yourself, its very likely that the seller could have lied to you. Unfortunately some people are very dishonest. Even if she isn't pregnant it would be a good idea to have a vet out to look at her based on her behavior. Acting sluggish, not wanting to move at more than a walk, increased appetite, are all good reasons to call a vet anyways  Best of luck with your mare either way, shes beautiful!


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## sierrams1123 (Jul 8, 2011)

Def looks prego to me do you see where she is carrying the weight low and back looks like a baby bump....I would def have a vet out ASAP! 
Vets can be wrong though, when I was younger I was working a few horses for a lady a few times a week and one of the mares she had bred but when it came time to test if she was prego she came back neg so she wanted me to keep her in good shape for her so I agreed. After about 3 months I had noticed a huge change in her weight (I don't know how long it had been before I started riding her from when she tried to breed her) so I recommended she call the vet back out. He came back out looked her over and took some blood then he told the owner she still was not prego.
Well sometime went by and she continued to get bigger I swore to the owner the vet was nutz because there was no way she was not prego. Low and behold the owner went out one morning to feed and there a beautiful healthy baby was standing by his mommy.....never used that vet again


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## BaileyJo (Aug 23, 2011)

Yes, she looks pregnant. Get a vet check (as I am sure you are planning to) so you can get her the nutrition she will be needing.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

How do her teats look? I know you are getting the vet out, just curious?!? could have another 70+ page foaling thread on our hands! (come onnnn Lena, LOL Ladybug) Good luck! She's a doll!


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## Ladybug2001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Lets not start on my 70+ page. ****. xD Yes, yes my vet missed the ****** twice, that is sure proof that mistakes do happen.. sometimes more then others. So I can go either ways with this thread. I've been in the situation "is my mare pregnant" and everything. That time, it was a false pregnancy which I will get into more. Then I had a "Pregnant mare?" sort of thing. Where.. we knew there was a chance and the vet missed twice. Onward to the point. xD

Well, like someone said, the only way you will know 100% is ask a vet or get a Weefoal test. (Personally, I learned my lesson.) If you choose a vet, I recommend an Equine specialist, someone who works around them the whole day, not a mixed vet. WeeFoal is very inexpensive way to test. You have two choices. 30-120 day test, then 120-300 day test. If the chance is she is further then 300 days, you don't have long to wait.

Now, on for my opinion. It looks to be a baby bump, but I have proof that mares can be decieving on that part as well. I have a pregnant mare, (Lena) and a non-pregnant mare (Ladybug). Within the last year someone could ask if they both were pregnant. Not because of hay belly. Ladybug is desperate to be pregnant, so she has a real bad case of false pregnancy. Now, in false pregnancy mares can go as far as laying down in false labor. My mare, even after a year of being diagnoised for this and treated for hormone balancing produces more milk then my actual pregnant mare.

So, if you have a haunch that she is pregnant, think wisely about getting a vet out. Although most mares foal successfully, and I get the whole "what did they do in the wild?" thing. Even so, you want to be on the safe side if you love you're mare. 


With that, I've ranted and such and got all the do-dads out of the way. Keep us updated on what you find.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

My vet missed a pregnancy the first time around (the mare was about 2 1/2 months along) and he only re-checked later at my insistence (because I was riding her a lot and she was gaining weight). 

Second time he checked he got a big grin and said "I'm sure glad we re-checked your mare." 

If you hold your hand at the bottom of the belly kind of in front of the udder you can feel them kick now and then if there's a foal in there. My mare's foal kicked A LOT. If I remember correctly, when they are small you see movement on the mare's side. But when they are big you can feel them at the bottom of the belly. 

He didn't always kick. Sometimes he was still. But other times it looked like he was bouncing on a trampoline in there. :lol:

Beautiful mare by the way!


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## Ladybug2001 (Mar 15, 2011)

trailhorserider said:


> My vet missed a pregnancy the first time around (the mare was about 2 1/2 months along) and he only re-checked later at my insistence (because I was riding her a lot and she was gaining weight).
> 
> Second time he checked he got a big grin and said "I'm sure glad we re-checked your mare."
> 
> ...


 
Actually I think it is the other way around. You feel movement by the udder earlier and later along the sides and near the flank. Also, the bigger they get the harder it is for them to move around so they will slow down near the end of the pregnancy. Also, depending on the foal and mare, you might never see movement. Some don't start kicking around that we can see until the 9th month, some can be as early as the 6th month. Foal kicking isn't always a good sign by the way, there is a phantom pregnancy that will look to have kicking and everything.

Yes, it is possible for a vet to miss. Mine missed a foal.. well hard to tell when she was bred, but it had to be at least 16 days old but was told could have been anywhere to a month. Then missed again at 4 months.


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## jessicapworkman (Jul 10, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice again everyone! Wont be able to get a vet out until next week so I'm just keeping a close eye on her until then but I did take a few more pictures today. Her belly is very round but it seems to be more round down rather than out if that makes sense. She's much less round out to the sides than a lot of pregnant mares I've seen. Her udder also looks to be normal to me although I have to admit I haven't ever really closely inspected a mares udder before. Anyways here are some more pics!  shes suuuuuper fluffy this winter as well so it makes it a little harder to judge her shape and stuff.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

with the udder pictures, I lean towards less likely to be pregnant. She would be about ready to foal if she was bred before leaving the huge herd. Did the person you bought her from own any studs?


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## cmarie (Dec 19, 2011)

I agree with Sunny the pictures of the udders doesn't look like mare ready to foal any time soon, I think it's a combination of better feeding and winter fluff. She is a nice looking mare.


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## Ladybug2001 (Mar 15, 2011)

Same as Sunny and Cmarie. With those pictures that are a lot better then the other I am almost positive she isn't pregnant. At at least 7 months along she'd be getting close to having a belly bump. She probably has a hay belly. Definitely leaning more toward "not pregnant" now.


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## jessicapworkman (Jul 10, 2011)

Ok so I have an update finally. The vet was out and did a palp on her and said she is not pregnant. So we all breathed a sigh of relief and stopped worrying about it. 
However, I went out today and just for the heck of it decided to make sure there was no change in her udders or anything like that. Well her udders appear pretty much the same, but her belly is definitely NOT the same as before. She feels really wonky if that makes sense with hard parts sort of sticking out of her belly on either side that I can feel but cant quite seem to figure out what they are, oh and they seem to move. :shock: In fact there is a HUGE amount of movement concentrated around her flank area, it definitely feels like shes got a little creature wiggling around in their but how could a vet miss that? All he did was a palp, he did not feel her belly for movement (she was sedated so I'm assuming he wouldn't have felt much movement anyways) nor did he check for a heartbeat but he said conclusively that she wasn't pregnant. But at at the very least going on 8 months (and that's if she was bred right before I got her) along it seems extremely unlikely that the vet missed the foal. So now I'm torn again because I know how unlikely it is that that vet missed an almost fully grown foal but all that movement and wonkiness in her belly is making me wonder. 
On a side note, she was diagnosed with possible mild COPD which would increase her muscle movement in that area. The movement today seemed like a lot more than any usual movement I've seen in her belly but I don't have a lot of experience with that sort of thing. 
So I've attached (I hope) a video of the movement from today so hopefully somebody can let me know if they think it's just her muscles from slight COPD, her breathing, gas, ect, or if she really is hiding an extremely elusive little critter in there. :?belly 091.MOV - YouTube


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Is she coughing, wheezing? Listen close to her nose, can you put your ear to her chest and hear fluids? She may have heaves and need some meds before it gets worse. Or that may be a foal in her belly. Can you shoot a vid of her nose and hear her breathing? I've had a horse with COPD and you don't want to mess around with that. You'll have to change up her hay environment etc...


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

Interesting video... Maybe consider getting an ultrasound. My mom had her 7 month pregnant mare ultrasounded yesterday. With the ultrasound, the vet couldn't see the foal, it was dropped and out of view, but they did have a nice look at the placenta. It will cost more, but should give you peace of mind so you sleep easier (or sleep less in a couple months)


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## Kansas Spice Girl (Dec 6, 2011)

hmm... that looks a little more than just digestion... next time you see it listen to her gut sounds with a stethoscope. May sound silly but that is how I could tell with my mare Spice(if it was actual foal movement). At shows we always check our horses gut sounds once a day to make sure They all sound good. My mare spice even before her pregnancy did this kinda... you could literally see her belly moving from all the gas rumbling around. we had the vet out and he just said it was bowl and gas movements! lol I was just messin with her the other day and you can clearly hear the difference between the bubbling of gut sounds and the thumps and sliding of a foal... I dont know if anyone else has every done that but... I just thought of it when i saw your video!
I agree with Sunny though an ultrasound would be the way to go... My post was just if you wanted something to pass the time until you can get the vet out again if thats what you decide to do


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## jessicapworkman (Jul 10, 2011)

Thanks for the replies everyone. Flygap her COPD is somewhat of a mystery as well that I've been meaning to ask about on here. The reason she was suspected as having COPD was because when she was brought home she was wheezy and would cough from exertion, this continued for a few weeks after she was brought home. We had the vet out to check her shortly after she got home and he gave her a shot to help her shake the coughing and wheezing off. Since then the cough has gone, the wheeze has gone, and we haven't had another problem with it since except for sometimes when she gets stressed or anxious she coughs or can even get very slightly wheezy for an hour or two. The strange thing is these little attacks seem to have nothing to do with exertion or allergies anymore (as we assumed they were from when we brought her home) but have more to do with her getting stressed. She can run around and buck and play with the other two and she wont cough or wheeze at all, and she can spend the day in extremely dusty wind storms (alberta prairies lol) and she wont wheeze at all. But the first time we had the farrier out she got pretty stressed about it and coughed quite a bit, and when we have the vet out she usually gets a bit wheezy for about an hour afterwards. I now suspect that she was showing symptoms after we brought her home because of the stress of a new place, new friends, and my moms gelding bugging her all the time (he decided he was a stud for a while lol). Is stress caused COPD heard of? Haha anyways she hasn't been wheezy or coughed at all for a very long time, probably not for at least 5 months (except slightly after her palp) and she doesn't have any unusual discharge from her nose either. 
I forgot to mention her attitude has changed lately though as well. She seems to have a bit of the bitchies recently and has even attacked our border collie twice for bugging her. She even bit poor Brandy on the butt the other day! Haha! 
I will have to consider the ultrasound, the problem now is convincing people I'm not crazy since we thought we had our answer and that was that.


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## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

It would be best to do an ultrasound , you will know for sure that way. Listening for a heartbeat can be extremely difficult, lots of times all you hear is the mares internal noises. Foals can be missed by palpation alone. Spend the extra money and get an ultrasound done, that will give you a definate yes or no. 
You can easily see a 28 day fetus on ultrasound, it is alot easier to see a 7 or 8 month old baby on ultrasound.


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Yep, I think it's aggravated by stress. We got a pony for our kid, she had either been doped up (which I know was the case) or just not showing symptoms when I got her. As soon as we put her in the nice stall with excellent hay and a run she went downhill. It was so bad the vet misdiagnosed her as having heart failure! I got online and figured it out, ripped her out of the stall and turned her out on pasture and she cleared up. I put her on some natural sups but she would flair up under stress or in dry weather, especially when the vet showed up or when I took her out of the pasture. Then an hour later she'd be fine. Poor girl. 

Man, I'd think preggo by that video! Surprised he missed it or the movement, of course a foal would take a nap when he was there if there is one!!! Ugh. Ultrasound. And yep, they'll think you crazy! But what horse owner isn't?


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## cmarie (Dec 19, 2011)

the video looks like gut movement too me, it was more in waves.


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## minihorse927 (Aug 11, 2008)

I would definitely get an ultrasound, that video has an awful lot of motion for just gut movements!


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## Kansas Spice Girl (Dec 6, 2011)

minihorse927 said:


> I would definitely get an ultrasound, that video has an awful lot of motion for just gut movements!


My mare Spice would do this exactly! and it was just gut movement... But like I said if you have a stethoscope and you know what your mares gut sounds sound like you can tell the difference between gas movement and foal movement. When the foal moves it literally sounds like a series of thuds and like sliding, while the gut movements is just bubbles and gurgling!


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## Ladybug2001 (Mar 15, 2011)

First off, is she eating in the video? That is definitely what it looks like to me. When you first start to see the foal move, it will be done at the udders, the the closer you get it will work its way up to the flanks.





 
That, is foal movement. When you see foal movement, you will know. There will be no doubt in your mind that it was or not.

At 7 or more months along in a pregnancy... I don't see the stupidest of vets missing a foal.

I bet your mare is just digesting and breathing in that video.


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## trainerunlimited (Jan 26, 2012)

IDK, it looked like a foal in there to me! Gut movement doesn't make a horse's side bulge out that far. If it was it would make me think something was wrong with the horse. I'd say preggers! I'd love to see if you can catch the same movement another day and see if it looks the same way!


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

I would bet big bucks she is pregnant, looks like my belly did when I had a kid in there.


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

IDK but to me Looking at pics of mare & her udder she doesn't look preggers .


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## ArabMom (Feb 15, 2012)

It looks to me as if she is cramping. And in distress. Not preggers. I would get another vet out to check her
Good luck


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## Kansas Spice Girl (Dec 6, 2011)

Anything yet?


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## banman (Dec 14, 2009)

hhmm... it is possible she just has not bagged up yet, we had a mare that didnt show any signs in her udder till like two weeks before. the second set of picrures she does not look prego to me really, but the video kind of does... i have mixed feeling about this one! cant wait to hear if she is or not for sure.


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## jennyt6 (Jun 7, 2015)

Jessica P Workman, what ever happened with the mare that looked pregnant, but vet said she was not? You showed the video of what looked like her belly moving. I have a two year old that is doing the same thing, but vet says she is not pregnant. she also looks to be having COPD. Just very curious about this. I have raised many babies, and it is just weird to see a mare that looks like a baby is moving, but she is not pregnant!


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## jennyt6 (Jun 7, 2015)

yes, horses


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

jennyt6 said:


> Jessica P Workman, what ever happened with the mare that looked pregnant, but vet said she was not? You showed the video of what looked like her belly moving. I have a two year old that is doing the same thing, but vet says she is not pregnant. she also looks to be having COPD. Just very curious about this. I have raised many babies, and it is just weird to see a mare that looks like a baby is moving, but she is not pregnant!


The OP hasn't signed into the forum since July 2, 2012 :wink:


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## jennyt6 (Jun 7, 2015)

this is an odd forum that you can't send a private message unless you have posted five times.


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

jennyt6 said:


> this is an odd forum that you can't send a private message unless you have posted five times.


Welcome to the horse forum, there is always something to share and learn about horses here 


The required 5 posts kinda makes so you introduce yourself before private messaging other members. Either way, since the OP you had a question for hasn't been around here for 3 years now, it is unlikely they would respond to a private message at this point.


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## LoriF (Apr 3, 2015)

The squealing isn't a sign of heat, that's just normal interactions with pasture mates and sorting themselves out. If mares show heat, it will be peeing, winking their vulva and probably over there flirting with the geldings. My mare will even flirt with certain mares. The wanting to eat all of the time is just how some horses are. One of my horses would eat a rock if you handed it to her. Plenty of vets have missed a pregnancy here and there too and looking at her, I wouldn't omit being pregnant. Just take her in or have the vet come out and check her.


Ooops, I'm going to have to pay more attention to the original posting


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