final days of pregnancy...bunch of questions need answering

I have a bunch of questions to ask about my mare. I used to get help from my dad with horse questions but he passed away so I have to bug you guys with all my questions/paranoia ;)

Ok firstly, she started to 'swell' around her teats about 2 weeks ago and yesterday I noticed her starting to bag up. One of the teats was bigger than the other and on feeling where the milk should be it feels kinda hard. The other side feels squishier. Should I be worried about this?

Secondly, a couple of days ago she was off her feed a little but then was ok by dinner time that day. Since then though she is only interested in hay or grass and wont really touch her hard feed. She will eat it but she picks up like a pellet at a time and doesnt eat for long. Shell wander off and come back for another mouthful but she really isnt getting what she needs into her. This worries me cause she needs the calories/vitamins etc at the moment and I doubt she is getting enough from the grass and hay as she is already dropping weight from it. Nothing has been changed about her hard feed which she usually scoffs down in 5 minutes

Finally, its warming up here a little as its spring now but she has been sweating a lot. Sweating too much for how warm it is. I know they will sweat a lot while in labour but there are no other signs of labour or distress but she is sweating around her face, armpits and her butt (but not her flanks)

I spoke to the vet a few days ago and he didnt seem too worried. She its her maiden foal so she might take it all differently. To be honest im not sure how much I trust this new vet but he is the only one available (i live out in the country so options are limited.)

I work with harness racing trainers/breeders and they have seen her and while she has dropped weight dramatically she still has bright eyes, a healthy coat and no signs of sickness or anything. They said she seems fine as well.

But, I am a worry wart and want to be sure everything is ok. If she needs vet attention I will have to take her on a 1 1/2 trip to get to a vet I would trust with her so obviously taking her to the vet will only happen if it needs to not because im worrying and fussing lol

So yeah, any help would be great ;) thanks in advance

I'm sorry I really can't offer much advice because my preggo mare experience is limited to 1 that did everything herself LOL. I am very sorry to hear about your Dad ((((HUGS)))) .

Fingers crossed she ends up doing everything herself too ;) my bosses advice to me was 'she looks like she's doing fine. Let nature do its thing...either way'. And she's right but the way I see it theres a little mother nature in all of us and we keep an eye out while she's busy with other nature things hehe :P

Dad passed away a couple of years ago now but thanks for the hugs ;) he was always my 'go to' man for anything horse related. Would never ask for life advice from him though cause he would still manage to use some analogy involving horses to get his point across lol mostly I've been fine but this is my first breeding alone.i was never involved enough in the last days of our mares foaling to know exactly whats right and whats not :)

I can imagine . How far along is she, do you know? What's her due date? If she is getting pretty darn close, then she may just be really uncomfortable with being so big and that's why she's off her feed a bit (just a guess though).

Due date is a tough one. She was paddock served. She wouldnt let him near her for the first 2 months and even after that we arent 100% sure when she fell. At the absolute most she would only have 4 weeks to go BUT could have been due as early as 2 weeks ago. Theres a range of about 6 weeks where it could happen.

I had her scanned at what I guessed was 6 months and the vet agreed it looked like she was about 6 months along but once again, don't trust him that much. This is the same vet who misdiagnosed my friends horse causing to complications that cost her a further $1800 on her vet bill so yeah, trust factor is low with him. Its a shame cause we are in a massive horse area yet have no access to quality equine vets. If she really was 6 months at that point then she should be due within the next 7-10 days.

I did wonder if the hard feed was filling her up too much. I might start giving her smaller more regular feeds. The most annoying part has being throwing the feed out after she doesnt eat it. She's on all the good stuff now and it aint cheap...dont need to be throwing it out lol

As far as the feed goes, if she's eating that slow, and you have the option to, I'd put smaller portions of the hard feed into her stall more times during the day, that way less goes to waste, if she hasn't touched her latest serving, then you just don't add anymore. She should eat what she feels she needs to on her own, and since she's pregnant, take her time doing it, cause I'm sure she feels like a bloated whale at this point. Can't possibly be comfortable. Does she have free access to hay? If she does and has, then I wouldn't worry too much about her getting or not getting the right nutrients and vitamins. Most horses get plenty of what they need from hay alone, and that includes the horses in the wild who never have access to a grain bucket, and they are fine when they are pregnant. I would just make sure that she continues to look healthy and as happy as can be being pregnant, but make sure that she is getting plenty of hay every day.
She's going to be sweating more than normal at this point just because she is carrying all that extra weight around, and I don't know how much you've worked her since breeding her, but if she wasn't really fit to begin with, then she's going to be even more out of shape at this point, so she's going to get hotter quicker. She sounds like she's doing pretty good though. Looks good, still got a shiny coat, doesn't look like she's getting colds or anything. Definitely post pictures when she foals though. We all are going to wanna see baby pics.

BTW, I'm a worry wart too, and I'm forever asking people what they think about this that and the other thing every time I see my horse. I'd rather be too cautious, then not cautious enough, and have a problem that could have been prevented if I'd paid more attention.

Yeah she has all the hay she could want. She seems to be only eating that now. Just went outside for my half hourly check on her (lol) and she's not eating grass now but took more hay when I gave it to her so I ended up just putting a whole bale out there. It better do the trick cause prime hay is $18 a bale at the moment

She has been worked since she fell but not a lot. Its been winter time here and she struggles through winter weight wise normally so I kept her on light work. She was having a one hour lesson once a week with a little girl and I would lunge her for 15-20 minutes one other day a week.

I've attached a couple of pics. The first couple are from a lesson is only a week ago and the other is from today. Its cloudy today and you can't tell in the pics but she does still have a shiny coat. I added one of her dairy factory to if anyone can tell by that how long she may have to go. Does anyone know how hard it is to get a pic of something like that. Bad angle lol

Aw, I love her. She looks like a total sweetheart. No clue on the timeframe guess though.

Aaw thanks :) she is an absolute sweetheart. She's thoroughbred but one of those 'one in a million' tb's that you don't come across too often. There was no question as to whether or not I wanted a foal out of her. Between her temperament and talent as a show horse I just had to :)

Dad is a nice qh with great lines. They suit each other nicely so im hoping for a nice little bub :) hoping and...waiting...waiting...waiting lol