I was at someone’s barn and they told me that their miniature horse was about to have a foal. The horse does not look pregnant to me, so short of doing an ultrasound, what ways are there for my friend to check the mini mare to see if she is pregnant?
Call a vet to come check the mare.
But what you’ve said is a bit confusing? If your friend said “the miniature horse is about to have a foal”, wouldn’t they already be sure she was pregnant? 
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You would think that, but her belly is tiny for being 11 months pregnant. Should a person not be able to put their hands on the tummy and feel a foal moving? Would the tummy not be firm? She swore she had been confirmed pregnant by a vet at about one month, but I am looking at her and am not convinced.
It’s not always as obvious as you might think. Years ago (as in ultrasound was probably never applied), a sweet pony mare at the barn I was riding had been tried as a broodmare unsuccessfully on several tries. After the last try, being determined as not pregnant by the veterinary exam (don’t know the extent of said exam), she had been re-purposed as a school pony. Other than being a bit on the pudgy side (as school ponies are wont to be), she displayed no changes. Until a foal magicallly appeared in her pen one morning.
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I’m no mare expert, that’s for sure - but not all mares get huge, especially if it is their first foal. If she’s really 11 months pregnant, then one certain sign is that her milk comes in (bags distend), her teats change and she may have a waxy discharge at the ends of her teats.
However, that said, your friend should have had vet care from the time the mare was deemed pregnant. Only a vet can confirm pregnancy without a doubt. And the mare should be under the care and observation of a vet to ensure a healthy foal - just like a human carrying a baby has doctors appointments continuously until birth, and even after birth. Its just proper horse care.
So I would strongly encourage a call to a vet to see the mare. Otherwise, your friend is risking the mare’s life (and the foals, if she really is pregnant). Especially with a mini - the foal may be too large or well, any number of things.
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I’ve seen 2 mares this year of roughly the same size and breed that are both pregnant and roughly at the same point in their pregnancy that are two different sizes. One looks obviously pregnant. The other could just be a bit stocky or “thick” at the moment. So they are showing differently. Some don’t show so much for a variety of reasons.
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The mare could have been confirmed pregnant at a month, but has she been checked again since? She could have lost the pregnancy just after that, and it could have been missed that she aborted.
With my mare’s pregnancy, I could jiggle her flank and have the foal move in response (especially while the mare was eating), but my mare also looked pregnant, but not huge (it was her first and only foal).
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As above, sometimes a mare will slip a foal or absorb it. Either way, your friend should have the vet in to check her. If the isn’t pregnant, she wants to be sure there isn’t any matter retained that could cause infection.
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Slipping a pregnancy sure isn’t uncommon, but neither is a mare “hiding” a foal and not visibly appearing pregnant, especially with young maiden mares. There have even been TB mares, in training and racing, that have dropped a “surprise!!” baby in their stall at the track overnight.
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Well you will know one way or another in a month.
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A friend died and his wife, as he asked her, gave us some of his broodmares.
It was spring and they were older mares and we had our vet, way before ultrasound, pregnancy check them by hand.
This one mare he called empty, so we turned her out as a companion to our very nice stallion, in his pasture.
We assumed he would be breeding her eventually.
One morning two weeks later there she was, a newborn filly happily nursing, the stallion keeping watch over them.
There is a certain time where the foal, even coming to full term so very large, is laying low and straight, so it can be hard to tell by hand if a mare, even in an advanced pregnancy, is in foal.
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" How to tell horse is pregnant"- Hey horse…you are pregnant".
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:lol: Good one!
@The Equine Female - did the mini have a foal? Or was she confirmed by a vet to be pregnant? I was just curious.
