Loving all the cute baby pics!!!
Day 300 today! My girl is quite the drama queen when baby is active, she paces and paws - i’ve gotten a number of worried texts from the co-op members/barn staff lately, but she’s just overly dramatic about being heavily pregnant… once the foal stops kicking the snot out of her insides, she calms right down. 
Still as sooky as ever!! 
Uh, I can’t say I blame her! Ouch!
So glad to have someone who has gone through a similar experience. Bee started waxing just a little bit this weekend, but boobies just don’t look quite ready and she is not nearly relaxed enough behind. I think she’s going to hold out a bit longer. BIG YAWN watching her do weird things at night on the stall camera is getting old. NOT COMPLAINING! Better than the alternative.
Last night she was so tired she was swaying while standing sleeping. I wish she would lie down but she has never been on to lie down much.
Hang in there, sweet Bee! You might not like lying down, but you’re gonna need some rest!
Glad she’s hanging in there, @scrbear11!
269 days here. Do you think she looks pregnant? 
I separated Arielle from her pasture mates (to get her off my fescue pastures) and opened her stall so she has in/out access to the dry lot on Saturday morning. Two hours later I glanced at my baby monitor and grabbed the second picture. This is a mare who spent the majority of her life in AZ, and I think she looks forward to her cushy solo life at the end of each pregnancy.
Yep, she looks pretty cozy!
Sigh. Not technically foal watch related, but I know folks here will understand.
My palomino had a CH on 4/3, so probably ovulated overnight 4/2. Gave her Lutalyse on Friday 4/8 knowing that we were cutting it close to being “too soon” but trying to squeeze in a breeding this week because the stallion is unavailable next week. As of this morning, she still has a (shrinking, but there) CL, and the stallion’s last collection day before he leaves for a show is this Friday. Ugh. I have to work our booth at Land Rover and will be in KY 4/26 - 5/2. So now we’re looking at a breeding the week of 5/9 if she ovulates late next week and has a true 21-day cycle (she’s a maiden, so no real history on her yet).
Third time’s the charm? The stallion’s name IS Zee Triple Zee. Lol. I have to laugh so I don’t cry. I know it’s early in the season, but I have a lot of work travel in late March, April, and May every year. I really wanted her to foal in early March so I wouldn’t have to send her out to foal next year. Best laid plans and all…
Sorry to hijack, but since we’re all in a holding pattern on foaling news…
Now Sydney (my palomino) is still hanging on to a CL remnant, but she’s growing a follicle and building uterine edema. Vet and I are both uncertain which way this is going to go. We have to decide tomorrow whether to order a Friday collection or not.
Fun times.
@JBCool CH stands for “corpus hemorrhagicum”. It is essentially a blood clot that forms at the site of ovulation shortly after a mature follicle is ovulated. CL stands for “corpus luteum” (“yellow body”), which replaces the CH and secretes progesterone. The progesterone secreted by the CL is what keeps the mare out of heat (in diestrus) and supports a pregnancy until the fetal-placental unit begins secreting its own progesterone around day 70-90 of gestation. The CL regresses around day 14 of a non-pregnant mare’s cycle, and the resulting drop in progesterone kicks off the next heat period.
Edited to add: Lutalyse (prostaglandin F2-alpha) gets its name from its mechanism of action - it lyses (“kills”) the CL, which is why we can use it to short-cycle a mare and bring her back into heat a week or so earlier than the normal 21-day cycle.
I have a few newbie questions for those of you in the know. My 14-YO ASB mare is expecting her first and I posted a photo of her upthread. She is now at 338 days, and there isn’t much in the way of bag, and hasn’t dropped. I was given a link to the camera on her stall, but haven’t gotten it to work yet (that’s another story). Everybody in the barn is just waiting for the baby.
They threw me a “baby horse shower” last week.
But still no baby.
Do bags just get to a certain point and then go “Boom! I’m full now!” in a relatively short time? I have my Ph test strips, but there’s nothing to test them on. The bag is growing a little bit, but it seems she should be farther along.
Am I just a worry-wort?
The super fun answer is - “it depends.” Normal gestation for a mare can be anything from 320-380 days. Some posters in this thread had mares go close to or over a year last year. Some mares will bag up and go very shortly after. Others can be bagged up and even waxed for days before foaling. Maiden mares are especially unpredictable.
Anecdotally, many of the breeders I know have had a lot of mares seem to hold out this year and foal much later than usual. So I wouldn’t be too worried if she’s at 338 and labor doesn’t seem imminent.
@Sparrowette, with maidens, you just never know. She might not bag up until right before, or even during/after foaling. What about the rest of her physical signs (muscle tone, belly shape, vulva, etc.)? Can you get some recent photos for us?
My mare went 379 days last year, so you’re well within our recent COTH record. Lol. And definitely not in the “worry” zone at all yet (average equine gestation is about 320-360 days). But I would personally be suspicious with any mare, maiden or not, who had NO signs of progress at all by day 338.
When was her last ultrasound?
This morning’s update on my young mare is that she is officially a go to breed this weekend! Went from a 26 mm follicle yesterday to a 33 today. Ordering semen to be collected/shipped tomorrow and crossing ALL appendages that FedEx manages to get it here on Saturday. She likes to keep things interesting for sure!
@Montanas_Girl good luck! Fingers crossed!
We’re also hoping for a successful breeding this week. Sounds like everyone is doing well at the vet’s facility though and baby’s first trailer ride and field trip went smoothly. Hopefully, my mare will check in foal and they’ll get to come home in a few weeks. The vet is pretty far away and doesn’t allow visitors on the weekends, so it is almost impossible for me to make it to visit until they go back to the farm. I know they are in good hands but it is still nice to be able to go out and see them.
Well Delia is at 334 days today. As of yesterday morning her bag isn’t super full but I am able to express some out of here and it is yellow and sticky. PH yesterday was still around 7.5. I did not check it this morning before work today but I have the camera on her and am watching like a hawk. Yesterday she was super agitated stomping and biting her sides. One of my friends who also has access to the camera feeds asked if I fly sprayed her that morning. I was like…look at her buddy…is he stomping? Nope she is just being dramatic. Yesterday evening her belly mysteriously disappeared. She was sticking out on both sides and would get stuck trying to sneak through places that she used to be able to get through, but now she doesn’t seem to be sticking out on either side much at all so I guess I am officially on foal watch. She is a maiden so I know all bets are off. This is also the first foal for me in 5 years as I said I was getting out of breeding a while back.
A friend’s mare just foaled last night at 362 days. She was due March 3rd.
All I can think is boy am I glad not to have been on pins and needles for that long.
I think it had to be longer than 362 days if she was a month and a half late! Mine’s 340 was March 1, and she foaled April 3 at 373 days.
C’mon Delia! None of this 365 days or more stuff!
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