Does this udder look like anything to anyone?
https://imgur.com/a/MlirX
I don’t even know what’s normal anymore and I’m so frustrated… The blood pregnancy test has been delayed until the end of next week, though it was due early this week. I want my $110 back! I found another vet who’s supposed to be great, but now I have to decide if I want to wait until next Friday to find out or go ahead and ultrasound OR just start treating for fescue toxicity in the meantime.
What would YOU all do?
Get a vet out who will rectal her and palpate and ultrasound if necessary. I’m understanding that the vet wouldn’t even palpate a sedated horse. Yikes! Glad you found one you like. How does that one know how to treat colic without a rectal exam?
I was going to vote prego based on the photos. She could be 4-5 (120-150 days) months along. Here is a maiden mare where the owner photographed her pregnancy progression, starting with 3 months (where she’s fat and you can see fat pads), plus photos of a few other mares pregnancy progressions: http://myhorseforum.com/threads/pregnant-mare-pictures.247376/
The bag photos also made me think possibly pregnant. Bags can fluctuate during a pregnancy. At 120-150 days, there should not be any serious bag or milk development. Mares usually start to bag up (bag slowly starts to develop) 4-6 weeks prior to foaling, or around 280 days. Here are some photos of udder development. These mares had nothing going on until 294-309 days. Scroll down. Check out the middle mare at 309 days. Her bag was a bit more swollen earlier in pregnancy, but at 309 was not swollen. http://yellowhouseranch.com/foalingjournalsissy.htm
I wouldn’t treat for anything until you find out if she’s carrying a fetus or not via very simple, relatively inexpensive dx. Last thing you want is preg complications, that can get expensive. Just keep her away from the fescue.
Far as the udder, it’s a bit enlarged compared to mine and others I see regularly but no idea what is normal for her. They can sometimes fluctuate in appearance when they are in estrus similar to changes in humans at various points in our cycles. Some can be quite noticeable in mares around nursing foals. They can fool you bad either way sometimes.
[QUOTE=findeight;8708695]
I wouldn’t treat for anything until you find out if she’s carrying a fetus or not via very simple, relatively inexpensive dx. Last thing you want is preg complications, that can get expensive. Just keep her away from the fescue.
Far as the udder, it’s a bit enlarged compared to mine and others I see regularly but no idea what is normal for her. They can sometimes fluctuate in appearance when they are in estrus similar to changes in humans at various points in our cycles. Some can be quite noticeable in mares around nursing foals. They can fool you bad either way sometimes.[/QUOTE]
So…don’t freak out until next Friday when we hear from the blood test?
I wish I had taken a picture of the udder like a week and a half ago when I last contemplated it so I could compare, but I might fool myself if it’s just fluctuating normally. Also would be nice if i’d had her longer, but then we probably wouldn’t be worrying about this stuff…
Poor little gray mare. At least she’s gotten really sweet with us now, she was a bit witchy when we first got her but she’s settling into the good life and learned some manners.
Just wait on the test and keep her off fescue if you think that might be a problem for her. Most of the time they turn out not to be pg, but they come up positive often enough and we’ve all seen a few Oooops foals out of nowhere to justify the test and not feel foolish for running it with a new mare. Even if you know the background, ain’t nobody out there going to fess up to how it happened.
And start a relationship with a new vet that isn’t scared of their patients.
Well, turns out that she IS pregnant.
Getting the repro vet out/ her in (at their suggestion) ASAP and getting her on the meds for fescue toxicity (the name escapes me right now) tomorrow. Fortunately the fescue in the pasture has all been dead for a few weeks… the old vet seems to think she could foal in as little as 3 weeks based on her change in shape over the last week or so.
Yikes! Not what you were planning on but still so exciting!
Of course there’s no way to tell what she’s in foal to, since she was on a feedlot, but who knows- maybe it will have long ears!
Congrats?
[QUOTE=Ruth0552;8716345]
Yikes! Not what you were planning on but still so exciting!
Of course there’s no way to tell what she’s in foal to, since she was on a feedlot, but who knows- maybe it will have long ears!
Congrats?[/QUOTE]
Uf, an unexpected big ear is everyone’s worst nightmare! 
Yeah, I think it was pretty far before she was on the lot, so I’m doing some searching now, though I’m sure it’ll be totally fruitless and everything will be a mystery forever but that’s FINE.
Yeah… I’m excited but nervous. I’ll feel better once a different vet and some imaging is involved. I kind of figure there was no way to know (she wasn’t showing before) and there’s nothing to be done but work to support a healthy foal, so I may as well focus on the positive feelings! haha.
Oh boy!
The milk test with the calcium strips might be super useful to help pinpoint when she’s going to go and keep you from too many sleepless nights 
Do you know what she is yet, breed wise?
Is that a scar on her left hind? or hair scuff?
What area are you in?
She looks vaguely familiar…
But I have known a lot of grey mares
Whoa! She is a cutie…Probably need to deworm and possibly pnuemobort shot?..Good luck!
[QUOTE=Simkie;8716533]
Oh boy!
The milk test with the calcium strips might be super useful to help pinpoint when she’s going to go and keep you from too many sleepless nights :)[/QUOTE]
The pH strips are far more reliable. Once the pH drops below a 6.4, she’ll foal within 24 hours. Many times that night!
I slept with a mare that I did the calcium strips on for TWO WEEKS. They said go, she said no. 
[QUOTE=Field of Dreams Mini Horses;8717336]
The pH strips are far more reliable. Once the pH drops below a 6, she’ll foal within 24 hours. Many times that night!
I slept with a mare that I did the calcium strips on for TWO WEEKS. They said go, she said no. :D[/QUOTE]
Awesome, I’ll find those! That’s an awesome indicator compared to all the other ready to foal symptoms. Actually, I can probably just find some pH strips around the lab I work in
Fun stuff.
I bought my Missouri Fox Trotter mare and she was vet checked as “open and unbreedable” and then four months after bringing her home, I had a Missouri Fox Trotter colt.
Oops. Previous owner fired that vet really fast hah. I had fun raising the colt and he went on to a great home as a four year old, because he was WAY too tall for me!
Congratulations?!? :o I was hoping you’d say I was wrong and she wasn’t pregnant. Exciting times! Will be fun to see what sort of foal is in there.
Is she a maiden?
[QUOTE=Field of Dreams Mini Horses;8717336]
The pH strips are far more reliable. Once the pH drops below a 6, she’ll foal within 24 hours. Many times that night!
I slept with a mare that I did the calcium strips on for TWO WEEKS. They said go, she said no. :D[/QUOTE]
Only problem is, if she has never had a foal, her milk might not ever come in (like, no bag, nothing to test)…until after she foals. I’ve personally had this happen before and know of a few others. Maiden mares, 340 days or greater, no bag to speak of what so ever, no foaling signs, no tail laxity, nothing. Big surprise…foal was there in the morning (or middle of the day in one case). Milk finally started coming in after birth. But most maiden mares typically do have milk prior to foaling.
Wow, I missed the original post but I would have said “fat”. Well, it will be exciting. I got a free mini once and thought she might be pregnant, even the former owner (who was helping disperse the herd from a failed breeding farm) thought she looked pregnant and was able to even find out that she had been found in with stallions once. But, in the end, she was just fat.
This mare got lucky finding you…it might not be what you had planned but nice to know there is a soft landing for this mare and her foal. I think it must have been fate.
I hope you will keep us updated! Fingers crossed for a healthy foal and easily delivery!
[QUOTE=Color of Light;8717811]
Congratulations?!? :o I was hoping you’d say I was wrong and she wasn’t pregnant. Exciting times! Will be fun to see what sort of foal is in there.
Is she a maiden?[/QUOTE]
Yes it will be exciting! Maybe it’ll be a tall, beautiful moving, appendix colt and I’ll have the perfect horse so Ivy can be my finance’s perfect trail partner! or not, but I’m hoping it’s not gaited and not a mule since I would not be sure what to do with them!
she is a maiden, from what I know. At least no registered offspring and she’s younger. Got a lottttta questions for the specialist vet, who I’m seeing next week!
[QUOTE=S1969;8718000]
Wow, I missed the original post but I would have said “fat”. Well, it will be exciting. I got a free mini once and thought she might be pregnant, even the former owner (who was helping disperse the herd from a failed breeding farm) thought she looked pregnant and was able to even find out that she had been found in with stallions once. But, in the end, she was just fat.
This mare got lucky finding you…it might not be what you had planned but nice to know there is a soft landing for this mare and her foal. I think it must have been fate.
I hope you will keep us updated! Fingers crossed for a healthy foal and easily delivery![/QUOTE]
I think minis can be so misleading! I’ve seen a lot of pictures of studs who look like they could foal any day!
It got much more “pregnant” looking after I posted this. Not sure really how we guessed besides the fact that she got big fast. Super glad we checked though!
Here are some more recent (last 3 days) pics for any interested parties:
https://imgur.com/a/N79yp
Thanks for saying so. I’m so happy to have her, even if this wasn’t the adventure I had planned! She has been and will continue to be a fun project.
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