[Tina]

A friend of mine bought a mare this fall and to her surprise this spring she is starting to form a bag. Other than pregnancy, I am wondering if anyone has heard of other reasons why she might be bagging up. She is in a herd of all mares and none of the others are pregnant.............any thoughts to share on this one?

 

[Indyhorse]

A friend of mine bought a mare this fall and to her surprise this spring she is starting to form a bag. Other than pregnancy, I am wondering if anyone has heard of other reasons why she might be bagging up. She is in a herd of all mares and none of the others are pregnant.............any thoughts to share on this one?

Are you certain it's bagging up/lactation and not swelling? Has she checked her closely for any injuries to the area? I had a friend once who called me to come look at her maiden mare (no way she could have been bred) that was supposedly "bagging up" and had "weird yellow wax" on her teats - on closer inspection the mare had a stick stabbed up between her teats and the bag was swelling from infection - full of pus.

I've also seen mares bag up with a false pregnancy. She might need some hormone regulation.

 

[Vidaloco]

My husbands mare Fras hasn't been pregnant in almost 4 years. She will swell and drip milk whenever she comes into season. If your mare isn't bred than she may just be a "milk mare" like our Fras. We've talked about it with our vet and have decided to just live with it. The vet said we could try ReguMate if it bothered us but with the side effects and expense of the drug, we decided its no bother.
Just FYI, if the bag becomes hard, red and has heat to it, you need to have her checked for mastitis.

 

[tealamutt]

I agree with Indy that it could very well be edema, as the bag is one of the first places it will show. Is she waxing up at all? There are a few plants that can cause this as well, but if she is with a bunch of other mares who are not doing it, that is very unlikely to be the cause. A few mares do go through pseudo-pregnancy and some will bag up as the poster above mentioned. I'd have a vet out to confirm that she is not pregnant though, that would be a terrible thing to not be prepared for! Also, as mentioned above, it could be mastitis (which is unlikely in a non-lactating mare, but still a concern).

 

[qtrhrsecrazy]

I agree with above posters with edema, if she's not bred. My mare had edema in her bag several years ago with a yellow fluid... just from being fat

 

[Tina]

Thanks so much for the info, I will definitely pass this on to the owner. Again thanks for sharing your knowledge : )