Most mares benefit from exercise during pregnancy. Many owners use their mares for rigorous athletic competition (including racing and jumping) up to five months with no problems. You can continue light trail riding until the start of the last month of pregnancy.
Many owners believe riding a pregnant mare will harm her or even cause her to abort. Fear not, though, our sources say. If she's generally healthy to start with and her pregnancy isn't considered high-risk (for example, a mare with a history of pregnancy loss or abortion), saddle her up and enjoy a ride!
Riding carries the risk of falling no matter how experienced the horse or rider. Hormonal changes in pregnancy lead to joint laxity and hypermobility, which may affect riding ability.
Riding your broodmare before, during, and after her pregnancy is extremely beneficial for her conditioning. Each broodmare must be evaluated on an individual basis during their pregnancy to know what level of physical activity is required.
A healthy pregnant horse can be ridden during much of her pregnancy. However, there are periods when riding should be avoided, don't ride a mare for at least 30 days following conception or during the final two to three months before her due date. Otherwise, it is ok to ride your pregnant horse.
Most mares benefit from exercise during pregnancy. Many owners use their mares for rigorous athletic competition (including racing and jumping) up to five months with no problems. You can continue light trail riding until the start of the last month of pregnancy.
“In general I tell people if they're excellent horseback riders and are just walking around on the horse, they can continue up to 12 weeks,” says OBGYN Kay Daniels. “But after 12 weeks, no riding.
Pregnant mares need adequate daily exercise in a paddock or pasture. Any horses kept together should be compatible, which helps to decrease stress. Vaccinations and deworming should be done before the mare is bred, with vaccinations avoided during the first 90 days of gestation.
Allowing the foal to run alongside the mare while you ride is perfectly fine, so long as you're in a safe, enclosed area. Within the first two months of the foal's life, it will be extremely attached to Mom, and will be frantic – sometimes to the point of risking injury – if she is taken out of sight.
Many mares become very sensitive when they're in season but if she's showing you she's in pain when you ride her, it may be time to get her some help. When mares come into season, they'll have significant hormonal changes that can result in discomfort and mood swings.
Your mare can be turned out with other mares as long as they get along. A pregnant mare should not be turned out with a stallion or even geldings. Geldings, while they no longer have the sex drive of a stallion, can still get an erection.
Normal mares have a broad range of gestation. It is very normal for mares to carry a fetus for 320 to 380 days. In general 330 days (11 months) is the most commonly cited gestation length.
Shape of abdomen
When heavily pregnant, your mare's belly will be very big and round, but the closer she is to foal, the more her belly drops. Some mares even develop some oedema (fluid retention) on their bellies. A normal vulva (left), and a relaxed, elongated vulva when the mare is close to foaling (right).
The average gestation for a horse is 340 days, although they often range from 335-345 days. Note: your foal may appear up to one month earlier or two months later this date and still be considered a normal birth. You may hear of this referred to as the 320 day 'safe zone'.
Mares will generally start to 'bag up' two weeks prior to foaling, but be warned that this is not fool proof as some mares, especially maidens, may bag up much closer to foaling. Mares may produce a wax like se cretion on their teats up to three days prior to foaling.
As a result, stallions have evolved strategies to safeguard against raising other stallions' offspring. And one of these instincts is to kill young foals – especially males – that are probably not their own, if the opportunity arises.
It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes a mare will refuse to care for her newborn foal. Walking away and ignoring the foal is a mild form of rejection; not allowing the baby to nurse is more serious; and in the worst cases, some mares kick, bite, and have even been known to kill their foals.
Despite early breeding (between two and five years) having yielded some good results anecdotally, most horse owners, breeders and equine veterinarians hold that the best age to breed a mare is in the 5 to 10 years of age range, with the caveat that the mare should have her first foal well before the age of 10 if she is ...
During a mare's pregnancy, moderate exercise such as vigorous walking or riding will help control her weight and maintain muscle tone and strength needed for the last two months of pregnancy.
We have had many discussions about this subject at my barn and are still divided on the answer. A: Mares in late pregnancy will occasionally show signs of heat, such as elevation of the tail, frequent urination, and “winking” of the lips of the vulva. They will stand stretched out, as if receptive to being bred.
Avoid riding your horse when the combined air temperature (F) and relative humidity is over 150, especially if the horse is not acclimated to the heat. To cool an overheated horse, sponge it with cool water.
As the anticipated date of foaling nears, the mare will begin to “bag up,” meaning she will begin producing milk and her udder will swell. Waxy plugs will begin to form on her teats and some mares will even begin to drip some milk.
Typical signs in the mare of stage-one labor can include: restlessness in the stall, getting up and down, sweating, curling of the top lip, pawing, weight shifting, picking up of the hind legs, tail swishing, and frequent urination and defecation.
During this period a mare is often restless and appears colicky. She may also lie down and get back up, look at her flank, swish her tail, or urinate frequently.