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Is she pregnant? 4-5 months along

16K views 35 replies 21 participants last post by  COWCHICK77 
#1 ·
based on these pics does Chanti look pregnant? The only thing she is on is pasture and that's not very lush right now. She's hardly ever this big on summer pasture. The last time she came in heat was around the end of March and Sundance was trying to cover her but nobody saw a definite mount that was successful.

I know I'll probably get bashed for this but I don't care. I just want opinions on if people think she's pregnant, no "God you're a horrible person for letting her be bred" "Have you had a vet out yet?" etc etc. I don't wanna hear it.
 

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#2 ·
At 4-5 months there is NO WAY in photos or in person to visually spot the difference between a baby belly and a grass/hay belly. Sorry.
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#5 ·
If you don't want to spend money on a vet, and you are positive its between 4-5 months along, I would really suggest a weefoal test for 120-300 days. They work wonders! Not to mention, if she is pregnant she needs a better based diet and vet care no matter how you feel about it.

I tested my mare with a weefoal test(because I have a horrid vet) and I got a strong positive, no more worrying.

Though, other thn a weefoal test, like already said, birth or a vet is the only way to tell. If you get a vet out, by some way, I suggest an Equine vet that knows what they are doing.
 
#7 ·
I would probably be keeping my fingers crossed for not bred. If she's 4-5 months old she'd be due around the January/February mark... not a great time for babies.
 
#9 ·
I also don't understand you not wanting to hear about having a vet out. At this stage in the game, a vet is one of two reliable ways of knowing if she is preg. Good luck
 
#11 ·
I know a vet can palpate her and tell me, but I just wanted opinions to see if anyone else thought she was pregnant. I can easily feel her ribs, even faintly see them. She also hasn't come back into heat. I am prepared for a winter baby if she is and our winters are also usually very mild but I'll set up a stall in the barn with thick bedding so it'll be alright. Thank you for the replies :)
 
#13 ·
Well I'm gonna say someone who doesnt want to hear about others suggesting a vet to give you the answer to whether your mare is preg or not is ignorant that said imo in one picture I see her ribs and he looks a little wormy to me was that bashing? Sorry in advance...
 
#14 ·
Well I'm gonna say someone who doesnt want to hear about others suggesting a vet to give you the answer to whether your mare is preg or not is ignorant that said imo in one picture I see her ribs and he looks a little wormy to me was that bashing? Sorry in advance...

No, you are quiet right. Like everyone else has said, the mare needs prenatal care if she is pregnant. If the OP isn't willing to find out or not, she isn't that concerned for her mare.

If the mare is not pregnant, and is that bloated, I would said yes she is probably wormy.

Though if her mare was a previous rescue horse, I would say the horse is probably retaining alot of her food.

If someone looked at my rescue mare that is 5 months pregnant, they would disagree and say she is about ready to burst. Vet said during a palpation her intestines are elongated and holding 200-300 pounds of digested food, this is something not fixable, its just because the horse went through a long period of having no food at all.

So OP, I'm sorry to say that no one can tell you if your mare is pregnant. The vet, or a foal on the ground is the only way to know for sure....

It is actually quiet dangerous to start feeding a mare thinking she is pregnant. You could be over feeding her, giving her nutrients she really doesn't need.

You need a vet that will tell you if she is or not, if she is you need that vet to walk you through the pregnant, vaccinate your mare, tell you what to feed when... What if your mare starts delivering in the night and the foal breaches? Your vet isn't going to be expecting a midnight phone call... not to mention if they will know how to get to your house.

I'm just speaking facts here, its your option not to get the vet out but that is a very risky option.
 
#15 ·
Still no sign of a heat. She was dewormed in September. She's on a pretty bare pasture now with access to a round bale of bermuda mix. No grain. Rode about 2 hours a week, sometimes not even that much. I only see her on weekends :(

This pic is from a few weeks ago but more recent than the other pic.

 
#19 ·
Okay, it's been two months since you originally posted this. If she was 4-5 months along then, she would now be 6-7. It's definitely time to take action.

It seems likely that she is pregnant, since she's been exposed to a stallion and isn't showing signs of coming back into heat, plus she does have a belly on her. If she is pregnant, she needs prenatal care (vaccines, different feed and work schedule, etc). If she's not, she needs a serious de-worming regimen - if she does have worms, the tax on her system would also explain her not coming back into heat. Either way, PLEASE get a real vet out.
 
#24 ·
Same replies as when you asked a couple of months ago: GET A VET!!!
If you don't, and since you seem to not want to call a vet, you are likely to have with a mare that is not been properly taken care of during her pregnancy foal in the winter and then you will be on this forum asking for help with a sick mare and foal or possibly worse.
Not hard to do, very simple in fact. Pick up the phone and call the vet and make an appointment. Since its been two months, I bet you could have even saved enough money for the vet visit.
 
#26 ·
Here's some new pics.


November 5




And just 2 days ago. Her belly sticks out more on the right side and for the past week she's been so cranky, not herself. She hasn't even wanted me to catch her lol. I run my hand over her barrel and she pins her ears at me lol.



 
#28 ·
I'm not asking people now if they think she's pregnant, I just posted newer pics as an update. She's healthy and we don't expect any problems. Lots of horses don't have ANY prenatal care and do just fine on their own. How on earth did horses manage before humans came along??
 
#31 ·
How on earth did horses manage before humans came along??
are you really using the ' but the wild horses survived without this!' card?

I had an acquaintance who played that card as well. she was irresponsible, left her mini stallion in with her mare, the mare got pregnant ( of course ), #1 baby was born. all was fine. after the foal was born, the mare became pregnant a 2nd time. I mean, 'wild horses survived in the wild without vets, she'll be fine!'. complications arose, and needless to say foal #2 did not make it, nor did the mare. I am unsure of what happened to foal #1.

so yes, I'm sure some horses will manage, and I am by no means trying to point the finger here, but I hope for both yours and your mares sake that she gives birth without complications, as some horses are not so lucky. Just thought I'd point that out.

Best of luck.
 
#29 ·
Foals are born all the time without prenatal care, BUT if you really are curious about if she is bred or not what is $100 to spend to get her checked? If you own horses and are breeding them you should be prepared for the expenses that come with them. What if she had two follicles and one needed to be pinched? Also you need to worm a bred mare differently from non bred horses. Vaccinations differ as well.

Also whats with turning your horses out with a halter? This is a huge pet peeve...
 
#30 ·
Has the mare ever seen the vet yet or are you still just "guesstimating" that she's probably healthy?

Yes, horses have been having foals for generations before vet care was readily available...and the mortality rate for foals and mares was exponentially higher then, just as it was for women before easily accessible medical care.

I just don't understand not having a vet check her out just to make sure all was well instead of flying on a wing and a prayer.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Some people are lucky, others are not. For instance me and a neighbor each bought a mare from the same place. Both turned out to be pregnant. My friend didn't worry about anything! No special care, no clean place for the baby to be born, she didn't even check on the mare when she was close, she just went out one morning and there was a healthy foal.

Me, I TRIED to do everything right. Studied foaling books, studied nutrition for the pregnant mare, kept clean straw down constantly when she was due, checked the milk to get an idea of when she was going to foal, everything I could think of. My baby was born with a deformed leg, got an infected navel (because the urachus didn't close off and he was dripping urine from the navel), he got constipation, he got diarrhea, it took hours to get him to nurse for the first time, the vet wouldn't come right away to look at the leg and I was sure he would tell me to put him to sleep. I was just a frazzled worried mess for weeks after my foal was born. Heck, the whole first year was hell. He even got an infection after his castration.

Sometimes I think all the worry and care in the world does nothing. Because everything can still go wrong. And then there are people like my neighbor who never put forethought into anything and live a charmed life. It's not fair. But I hope you are like my neighbor and everything goes like clockwork.
 
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