How to Tell if Your Mare is Pregnant and Why It's Important

Improper Assumptions About Pregnancy in Mares

• Sometimes people feel that nature will take care of things. This doesn't always lead to the best outcome. With proper care early in the pregnancy, potential health problems that could affect the reproductive health of your mare, and the health and life of the foal can be prevented.
• There are several folk methods and theories to determine whether your mare is carrying a foal or not. But these methods are neither reliable nor accurate.
• The lack or presence of a heat (estrus) cycle is not a sure indicator of pregnancy either. Some mares will appear to have a heat cycle despite being in foal, because of increased estrogen levels. Other mares may show no obvious signs of a heat cycle, especially during the fall and winter months.

Pregnancy is impossible to determine early on, simply by looking at the mare. Some mares, especially those that have not carried a foal before, may not 'show' much at all. Others have a well-sprung barrel that looks like they are in foal all the time. This can be because they’ve had several foals before, or it may be because the mare has a hay belly that makes her abdomen look distended.

Not all mares show obvious signs of being in foal, even late in the pregnancy. While some mares may look fuller and their udders may appear to be full of milk for a few weeks before foaling, others may not. Some will show very evident signs that they are in foal, or about to foal. There have been situations in which an owner had no idea that the mare was in foal, until the foal arrived.