Preg check at 5 months, yes or no?

[Dr_Doolittle]

My mare is coming up on 5 months’ gestation, so will need to get her first Rhino vaccine; conventional wisdom suggests? that she be checked to make sure she is still in foal (last checked at 73 days for fetal sexing, everything looked great.)

I have noticed the following changes in her since she has been pregnant: she has been very “talkative”, lots of whickering, at everyone (especially me :)), and her (um) shape has changed recently. Since she has not been ridden or worked since July (just turned out), I suspect that some of this is just a bit of hay belly, but the location of the bulge is different; in front of the flank at the back of her barrel, biggest bulge is equidistant (as the point of a triangle) from point of hip and stifle. More pronounced on left side (where fetus is.) I have had her for 8 years and see her just about every day, so know her anatomy pretty well

Is it possible for them to be showing at this early stage, with the fetus about the size of a rabbit? Opinions please, and TIA

[EquusMagnificus]

It is absolutely possible for her to show at this stage. I’m convinced my mare shows by the 14day check!

I personally have them checked at five months prior to starting the rhino shots. I don’t want to vaccinate for no reason.

[Sunnydays]

I must admit I do not do a 5 month check, unless I have “reason” to worry. The cost of my vet coming to ultrasound ($125) is more than the cost of the shots - and that is my “why”.

[copper_bay_farm]

[QUOTE=Sunnydays;6057221]
I must admit I do not do a 5 month check, unless I have “reason” to worry. The cost of my vet coming to ultrasound ($125) is more than the cost of the shots - and that is my “why”.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I kind of giggle a little when the vet suggests the 5 month check to “save” the costs of the shots. :lol: I do the 14, 30 and 60 day checks. If I suspected something I would do a later check but by this point it is what it is. If my mare would be in the 7th or 8th month and no solid indication she was pregnant (i.e. baby thumps) I would have her checked in case I needed to start breeding earlier in the season. But so far the 4 pregnancies I’ve had here have all been active in utero and there was no doubt a little alien was in there. :winkgrin:

[Dr_Doolittle]

Seems like sound logic

:lol:

Well, I guess vets (repro ones especially) do still have to make money over the winter

So, the consensus seems to be that I should have my regular vet give her the 5 month shot, based on my “intuition” that she is still preggers? (I would get ERC to come up and check her, as opposed to my regular vet; I’ve heard it can be difficult to tell at that stage via ultrasound, sometimes–so I would rather leave it to an expert.) Using ERC would mean a way pricier farm call, since they are 50 miles from my barn.

When should one expect to see/feel baby thumps, at around the 7 month mark?

[EquusMagnificus]

Just to point out… Vaccination is not without any risks or consequences, I don’t find it justified to do it willy-nilly without reason. If the mare is open, she’s open. She just doesn’t need to be vaccinated.

Cost doesn’t come into play in my decision, otherwise, of course, go ahead, vaccinate and don’t check. It is cheaper.

[vandenbrink]

It’s almost impossible to tell a baby bump from a “hay bump” until about 8 or 9 months. My one mare looks pregnant to most people year round…:lol:

I don’t bother with the 5 month check unless there is a reason to be suspicious… if the mare is in heat or some other reason you feel you’d prefer to check. If everything has been normal, I start Rhino shots at 5 months and do them myself.

[horsechick]

Can you just have her palpated? My vet did this and said her uterus felt exactly as it should for a 5 month pregnancy. She assured me the uterus would feel much different if the foal had slipped. We did that first, then gave her the rhino shot. Just a suggestion…

Oh, and she just started to show last week (almost 6 months) and I swear I felt the first little movement yesterday…kind of like bubbles along her left side about 12 inches up from her midline and behind the ribs. SO exciting!!

[Dr_Doolittle]

horsechick, that’s probably the most reasonable thing to do (my only concern being that my vet–who is a GREAT vet, but is not a repro vet–may not be able to discern what a 5 months’ gestation uterus should feel like, meaning that I would wind up having to bring in the repro folks, or get her ultrasounded.)

Or maybe I have been reading too many scary stories (is she still in foal? not in foal?) on the COTH breeding forum! :lol:

Congrats on feeling the first “the first signs of alien life” in your mare, that must be very cool!

[kdavies]

Even with a very experienced repro vet, it’s not always 100% possible to see a fetus via ultrasound or feel one via rectal palpation at the 5-6 month stage.

I had a mare that I thought had lost her baby and the vet palpated her and could not feel a fetus . . . and ultrasounded and could not see a fetus either! The uterus, however, still felt full of fluid which he thought was because she had just lost the foal and had an infection/inflammation. He was convinced she had lost the foal. We kept a close eye on the mare and took temperature every day etc.

Anyway, luckily we waited for bloodwork which showed hormone levels like that of a pregnant mare. So, he re-checked her again a week later, uterus still full of normal fluid but still could not get a “good” palpation of the foal. . . . . needless to say, vet says she is definitely still pregnant but carries the baby low and fetus is not large enough to be felt quite yet. I think around the 7-8 month mark, the fetus is easily felt so re-checked the mare at that time just to make me feel better and yes, still pregnant!

[TrinitySporthorses]

Each mare is different. Mine is a little short backed and def “shows” by 5 months.
I would trust your gut. The difference in behavior and shape sounds pretty preggo to me

[Dr_Doolittle]

[QUOTE=TrinitySporthorses;6057956]
Each mare is different. Mine is a little short backed and def “shows” by 5 months.
I would trust your gut. The difference in behavior and shape sounds pretty preggo to me :D[/QUOTE]

This is encouraging to hear, and yes–I know it’s unscientific, but…

Also, she is turned in a field and shares a barn with two geldings (has been out with the same two for on and off 3 years now), and one of them is her “boyfriend.” He is a 20 year old, arthritic QH, but he is the only horse she EVER shows estrus to, year round. She had nothing but disdain for all of the intact, trumpeting, sexy, big bad stallions they tried teasing her with at ERC. Turned up her nose at all of them (despite being clinically “in season”), but had been winking and nickering at her QH beau just weeks earlier.

The fact that she is continuing to ignore him (when she is not pinning her ears and rolling her eyes at him) is very comforting to me–even though this is, again, unscientific.

[horsey1cr]

I rechecked my three mares at about the 5 month range because first, I lease two of the mares and second, I board all three mares at an outside facility. I would waste a lot of money on board only to find out come spring one of them wasn’t in foal. So for me it’s actually cost effective to have them checked.

[Hillside_H_Ranch]

I always palpate at 5 months, prior to starting rhino vaccines. Mostly for my own peace-of-mind, but also so I don’t get a nasty suprise later in the year, when I’m expecting a foal and there isn’t one. I also like to start my open mares under lights to get an early start, so I like to know ASAP if they have lost the pregnancy.

[springer]

My vet came out at 5 months to do my mare’s vaccine and advised not to palpate. She was so sure that she was pregnant (based on what, I’m not sure- she was fat?) that I let her talk me out of it. Kind of wish I hadn’t, as the mare is actually LESS fat now at 7 months than she was at 5! The one indication that she is still in foal (IMO) is that she has never shown any real signs of heat.

[purplnurpl]

@Hillside H Ranch;6058072

I always palpate at 5 months, prior to starting rhino vaccines. Mostly for my own peace-of-mind, but also so I don’t get a nasty suprise later in the year, when I’m expecting a foal and there isn’t one. I also like to start my open mares under lights to get an early start, so I like to know ASAP if they have lost the pregnancy.

I had mine palpated before starting shots. I was convinced that there was no kid just because I didn’t want to get my hopes up and then be let down.

My vet was able to palpate a fetus.
It’s was 35 bucks.