# Photo of mare - pregnant?



## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

This is an update of the previous post about our Arab mare being AI'ed and whether or not she is pregnant.
She was in foal 17 days after being AI'ed. Her due date would be the 28th of May.
I've long since, based on her size, felt she aborted early on, though she hasn't appeared to come into heat yet this spring.
I don't want to have her tranquilized really (it takes a lot to effect her). . .and my vet will not palpate her otherwise. . . especially because, looking at her, I don't think she could actually be in foal.
These photos are from today. She would be due the 28th of this month.
I am comparing her to a rescue Arab mare we brought in to rehab back last spring a month prior to foaling, and she was ENORMOUS. She was not as tall at Lady Ann and was bred, sadly, to a very large TN Walker, so the foal was large when born, but still . . .
She lost A LOT of condition and weight over the winter, not from lack of feed, at all, but she was stressed from our move and being stalled more than 
was really ideal because of our fence issues, and she is just now starting to gain a little condition back and is at a good weight.

:shrug:


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

As far as being able to tell from photos or just "looking" I find it easiest to see changes when a mare is facing directly away from me. Looking forward from the rear, in the last month or two, you can often see that the lower belly bulges out and is visible. Generally, the foal will be carried more to one side than the other and you can see, although the mare is standing directly in line, with the backbone straight, that there is more of a bulge on one side than the other.

We used to have range mares that we wouldn't be sure of the breeding dates or pregnancy ... on hay all winter ... so the question was always hay belly or baby belly. Not always a sure thing, but the mares that were bulging more on one side or the other when they were standing square were usually in foal.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Well, now in the one photo . . .there is more of a bulge on the left side - here is an uncropped photo, but she isn't standing straight and square, really.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

If you look at the placement of the feet they are not in line and it looks like the head/neck is curved to the "inside", which would tend to throw the other hip and ribcage out. It does look, in this photo, like she is bulged more to one side than the other, and she may be. But you actually need to stand her along a straight fence line, so you can be sure the spine is completely in line, from tail to ears. Stand directly behind her so you are looking right at the spine where the tail is, then see if there is more belly showing on one side than the other.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

I think the buldge is placement of her feet and head, too. The was just the only photo
I had from today in a similar position to straight on.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Side views are always difficult for me to tell anything from as some mares carry so much differently than others (she's a very pretty mare, BTW) ... I've had some mares look like a race horse up until the last few weeks and others that looked in foal from the second month.

The "rear view bulge" works fairly well for me ... and when I was in Montana I used to watch the mares come up to water in the winter when the water was really cold. Often, if the mare was thirsty and drank a bellyful of cold water, you could see the foal kick when the cold water hit! Funny ...


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I LOVE that color!!!!!!!!!!! You have a pretty horse!


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Thank you. I was actually searching for a black Straight Egyptian mare, but her bloodlines, though not SE, (about 3/4 SE) were impossible to beat in my price range. She is a Desperado V grand-daughter. She is lovely when in top conditon - though she is quite high in the croup, which kind of cracks me up.
I bought her where she was born and raised, there in Lexington, Ky.
She is a dark sooty bay - so she has amazing dapples, which you can see very plainly once she totally sheds out.
Now, if she just actually is in foal to the Magnum Psyche son I AI'ed her to, I will be over the moon - lol!


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## Denise K. (May 10, 2002)

Well this just simply calls for more pictures, so we can really decide is she or isn't she!!............I no longer have any horses so I have to get my "horse" fix thru you folks!!:teehee: I went to my friends a few weeks ago and told her I wanted my "foal" fix (they raise horses, each spring I get to sratch ears and take pictures) well I got it..........one colt decided that evening he was coming into the world upside down and with his head back. Mare was struggleling, vet on the way but still 30 minutes out. Well I had to help, reposition the rascal, pushed back, head pulled around and then he rotated and we got him delivered!! We were all wore out, Bless that mare she knew we were helping. I do think there was a reason I always had geldings!!:sing:


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I think she's gorgeous and that we need more pictures too! I am also without a horse for now and enjoy getting my horse fix here. I'm hoping she's pregnant - after all, besides you having that lovely foal, I'll get to see more pictures! lol


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## shiandpete.1 (Aug 13, 2008)

Yes, yes more pictures are an absolute must....


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

LOL - I have her in her stall today, and I rotate for turn out until the last pasture is fenced. I will get more photos up ASAP - HEE HEE!


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Since she's due in a couple weeks, does it look like she's starting to put on milk?


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

I don't really think so. . .but I plan to keep checking daily on that.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

This is the stallion we had her AI'ed to :
PA Scimitar








by Magnum Psyche


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## rebecca (May 3, 2010)

WOW!!! That looks like a statue!! Can't even imagine the fee on him!


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

Very impressive bloodlines ... I've always been an Arab enthusiast and used to be very familiar with bloodlines 30 years ago ... still have a couple of friends that are Arab breeders so am at least somewhat familiar with the more modern ones.

One of the best horses I ever owned was a heavily Raffles bred Arab.


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## fellini123 (Feb 2, 2003)

Desperado V is one of my very favorites!!! We had arabians for years. Your mare is very nice.
Alice in Virginia


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## HorseGirl31 (Apr 7, 2010)

Oooooo.....
If she is pregnant that will be one pretty baby....that stallion is GORGEOUS!:clap:


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

I am just learning bloodlines beyond the big names, so I am just a novice on it all, really.

Desperado V really comes through in Lady Ann. . .she looks like a feminine version of him. Beautiful head and face.

The stud fee was not too bad at all because Lady Ann's breeder was a close acquaintance of the trainer for PA Scimitar and her mother
was a friend of Magnum Psyche's owner, so when I bought her,
I got a discount on the stud fee, and she AI'ed her for me, so
even though I'd get the semen again if she doesn't produce a live
foal, I do not have facilities close enough to have her inseminated again.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

deineria said:


> even though I'd get the semen again if she doesn't produce a live
> foal, I do not have facilities close enough to have her inseminated again.


Frozen or live cooled?

If live cooled, all you need is any large animal vet. Mare A.I. is absolutely simple and now, with P & E protocols, you can A.I. by the numbers ... really ... there's only something like a 10% failure rate of getting the right day with P & E.

I've been A.I.ing mares for 20 years now ... my vet taught me how to do it in one session ... I've taught several people myself. Once I even talked a mare owner through the process while her husband held her cell phone to her ear when the vet got stranded out of town.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Live cooled.

The only large animal vet around here that will come to the farm is our vet, but he does not do any reporductive work. I've tried to talk him into it, and he just will not deal with equine reproductive work at all, and he referred me over the a place in Ohio, but she is such a wretch to load, I'd not try it until we gave get a larger trailer than what we have.

Her breeder had been doing AI for years and handled it all for me out in Lexington.

I do wonder if I could get someone local to show me how. We'd have to sedate her, for sure. lol.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

deineria said:


> Live cooled.
> 
> The only large animal vet around here that will come to the farm is our vet, but he does not do any reporductive work. I've tried to talk him into it, and he just will not deal with equine reproductive work at all, and he referred me over the a place in Ohio, but she is such a wretch to load, I'd not try it until we gave get a larger trailer than what we have.
> 
> ...


Would Lexington be too far for the breeder to come one time? Otherwise, I'd start calling any horse farms within 30 miles or so and see if they do AI or who they have doing it.

You'd be surprised about the A.I. with mares. Very few of them, unless they are concerned about the confinement of exam stocks or being tied, actually object to the insemination process. Of the many, many mares I've inseminated, I've only had two mares that were a real problem. One of those turned out to have what was probably a hormonal problem and was probably not actually in heat ... the other was a just plain "flippy" TB mare that went ballistic because of the confinement in the stocks.

All of my own mares, I AI just in the corral, tied to a post along the fence with a waist-high portable panel I can use like a "squeeze" on the right side. This way I can stand on the outside of that short panel and reach over with my left arm to AI ... since I'm right handed, I need my left arm in the mare and the right hand to manipulate the tube and syringe.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

It is about 2 hours, but I might check with her. We also might just check with Tony Steiner, the trainer for Scimitar and see about getting the semen next year and breed Lady Ann to our own stallion, JC Signature (out of the Source CC).

Oh, this mare is flippy and then some - lol


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

deineria said:


> It is about 2 hours, but I might check with her. We also might just check with Tony Steiner, the trainer for Scimitar and see about getting the semen next year and breed Lady Ann to our own stallion, JC Signature (out of the Source CC).
> 
> Oh, this mare is flippy and then some - lol


I drive two hours to go grocery shopping! Sheesh, that's not far! lol


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