[h=2]Hello to all…I have a question about my maiden mare. She is 337 days and about 2 weeks ago she started to develop an udder. It progressed very quickly and soon she completely bagged, waxed and was dripping on May 13th. Her vulva was relaxed, swollen, elongated and red inside (no discharge.) Her tailhead was soft and jiggly, no resistance to raising her tail, temp. dropped to 98, her milk had turned opaque, was sticky, and was ph testing at 6.4 - it was all systems go! Except she didn’t go. It was like she just turned it all off and began to regress. Her udder went down, her vulva shrunk, her temp. went back up to normal, and ph is now at 8.5…I am just confused! I didn’t think about placentitis since it wasn’t premature udder development at over 320 days. Also, wouldn’t her udder have remained enlarged if it were placentitis? She also has no vulvar discharge, but I am having the vet out tomorrow just to be sure. I’ve just never seen anything like this but have had several people tell me that “anything goes” with a maiden mare and that this can happen. I’ve had plenty of maidens who were textbook…this one not so much. Anybody experienced similar? Should I be worried? Thank you in advance[/h] 
I wish I could smell horseys forever…Gracie
Messing with the udder before birth is not good in any animal. You run the risk of mastitis because you release the plug in the teat that protects it from bacteria. Were you milking her before she was streaming milk?
In my experience with maiden mares usually if they were streaming milk they foaled very soon afterwards, but I did not handle the udder at all. Has she gone slab sided?
If she has showed no signs of contractions, or pushing or actually being in labor yet, hopefully everything is fine. I am glad your vet is coming as you never know what might be happening when it comes to birthing.
No, I did not test the ph until she waxed and the barrier was already broken. She never streamed, just dripped. Her legs were spotted with drops of milk, and there was a drop on the end of each teat about anytime I wanted to look. She never appeared in labor, just appeared to be ready based on her vulva, engorged leaking udder, ph testing and temperature drop. Vet says everything is fine, so I guess it was just a trial run, lol. I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I’ve been raising foals for years and have never experienced this.
