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Holly
Gold Member
England
529 Posts |
 Posted - 29 Sep 2008 : 10:31:58 PM
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My mare is going to be put in to foal in the spring but she puts on a lot of weight in the summer so i want to carry on riding her through her pregnancy and id like to do some local shows to include inhand showing, ridden showing and show jumping/cross country.
Is it safe to ride a pregnant mare?
At what stage should you stop?
will travelling her to shows cause her to lose the foal etc?
Is it safe to keep her in during the day and feed her hay in the summer to reduce callories or should she have full acess to grass etc?
Thanks in advance
Holly
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Edited by - pat day on 29 Sep 2008 11:30:15 PM
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Holly
Gold Member
England
529 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 5:02:05 PM
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| Does the lack of response mean that no one rides their brood mares?? |
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ashabarab
Gold Member
England
1378 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 5:44:25 PM
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some do some don't
there are no hard and fast rules regarding this subject...if she is fine then go for it...l am sure she will benefit from being kept fit and have a better foal, if she is used to being ridden she could be well miss it
some mares are ridden up untill they get too fat..some are ridden all the way through, especially if the owner had no idea that the mare was pregnant
she will no doubt let you know when she has had enough...just keep your eye on her...not that l am surgesting mad gallops but just what you normally do for the first few months, maybe slow down a bit later on......
ash
ps fat mares are harder to get in foal....so watch her weight
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Arachnid
Platinum Member
England
1872 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 5:59:39 PM
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My friend and fellow livery rode her mare until about 4 months before she foaled. Nothing strenuous, just a bit of hacking and some dressage. Suddenly in about March (she foaled in July) she sort of ran out of steam so she didnt work her after that. Up until March she was riding her about 4 or five times a week as advised by the vet who said it would be good for her and would keep her nice and fit. She was travelling as usual both for 'other hacking' and shows. Here is a nice photo of her and her foalie last year (maybe cos my uploading skills are poor)
and just before she foaled
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s.jade
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2401 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 8:03:22 PM
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My mare is 4 months on now, and still working as much as she was before she was infoal, she's doing between 20 minutes to an hour daily, and on weekends we sometimes go out wandering for 3 or 4 hours. Nothing is signalling that she's not happy, so we carry on.
She's still jumping, racing down cut fields (lovely!) and schooling normally. I didn't know she was infoal until about 10 weeks, as we had her jabbed soon after covering when we saw the state of the market and decided not to breed from her for a few years, but somehow she held onto her foal!
The only difference was she had about a month where she was sore if I sat to the canter, I thought it was a bad back but no - it's a foal! Plan is to ride her most the way through whilst she's happy, and then start up again soon after foaling 
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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 9:32:33 PM
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It will actually do your mare good to be exercised, keep up her muscle tone and make foaling easier for her. there is no reason why she can't be ridden gently as long as she seems happy with the work but obviously no jumping etc once she is in foal.
I would let her out as the exercise walking round the field is good for her when she in foal. Hope you have a lovely healthy baby.
Barbara |
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gossy
Platinum Member
England
3639 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 9:40:25 PM
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| i would say gentle hacking up until 3/4 months prior to foaling, definately no jumping or anything strenuous! make sure you are feeding correctly if doing anything workwise. |
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loosefur
Gold Member
584 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 9:58:30 PM
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In the thoroughbred racing world in foal mares are sometimes raced - for some mares it seems to improve their form for a short while.
What I'd be interested to know is with humans the first three months are said to be the most risky and expectant Mums should take it easy then but after that are encouraged to be as active as possible. Is there a similar danger period with mares? I'm planning to put my mare in foal next year and have also planned to ride her (after she's backed this winter) and possibly do some low level endurance whilst she's in foal - but obviously not if it'll do her any harm. |
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k brown
Gold Member
United Kingdom
810 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2008 : 07:27:37 AM
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I competed Marzookah through her first pregnancy. She was showing the week after she was covered, right through to BACS in the september. Then gentle hacking till after xmas. My excellent vet put it in a nut shell, if she is meant to pregnant then she will stay pregnant whatever! Same as women, we dont lie on our backs for 9 months!! I wish!
good luck!! |
Kirsty Brown.
www.KirstyBrownRiddenArabians.co.uk
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s.jade
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
2401 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2008 : 12:06:48 PM
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As Kirsty says, our vets thought the same - women carry on as normal, so if work is normal for the mare, carry on until she says she's had enough and needs to slow down
I think upto 30 days is the danger zone, re-absorption is likely at that point if I remember rightly...if I'd known Fabs was infoal at that time I'd have worked her vey gently, but I didn't so we carried on and even went showjumping! [:-O] |
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Holly
Gold Member
England
529 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2008 : 10:00:18 PM
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Thanks guys thats great to know. I was worried that she would get seriously over weight and be stuck in a field the whole time.
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emma
Gold Member
816 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2008 : 09:48:11 AM
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I agree with the above, i too worked my mare up until the point when physically it was getting difficult despite the fact that she wanted to do it but her bump had dropped and she just couldnt get her back legs underneath her anymore so that was the point i stopped.
As for showing travelling etc i think it depends on the horse. Some stages of early pregnacy are risky as with humans so if i had a horse that was difficult to load, travelled bad, stressed at show etc id leave her at home no point stressing her. However if the mare takes these things all in her stride then i would continue as normal. |
Emma
Fulmer House Arabians
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pat ww
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
3459 Posts |
Posted - 02 Oct 2008 : 10:08:31 AM
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The greatest demands the foal makes are in the last third of pregnancy, which co-incides for most with the last months of winter and lowest feed value in grass, and deteriorating feed value in hay. This is the sensible time to let her body concentrate on building her foal, not putting her energy into ridden work.
Some mares don't take fast work very well, probably something to do with nature telling them if they are continually sweaty and all hyped up, its a danger time and not safe to be pregnant. Having said that a friend who is more into TB's swears that when they cover a filly she can get a winning streak.
I think it depends on the mare, some are just chucked out with geldings and are fine, others slip their foals the moment a male influence is present. My very first foal was born end of August (many years ago) and I was jumping her in June, wondering why she hadn ot come in season. Dam people with their yearling colts. |
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barbara.gregory
Platinum Member
United Kingdom
4531 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2008 : 10:24:53 AM
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I don't actually think that there is a much greater risk early in pregnancy; if the foetus is normal and all is well things will progress. The reason many pregnancies are lost in the first three months is nature getting rid of something that is not perfect and whatever you do will not make a lot of difference. When I had my children it was before the advent of scans etc; you just carried on as normal but were careful to eat well and not take unnecessary drugs. We weren't even told not to drink and smoke (luckily I did neither)!
Several years ago one of my mares who was heavily in foal (only a few weeks to go) was racing round the field when she turned rather quickly and had a crashing fall on her side, the ground was rock hard and I heard the thud from the house. I rushed out convinced she would go into premature labour; she was just lying there breathing heavily. She then got up and ambled of and continued her pergnancy and delived a beautiful filly for me.
Barbara |
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vanbro
Bronze Member
United Kingdom
93 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2008 : 3:59:53 PM
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My Aurelian mare is in foal to Acorn. She is being ridden out for hacks by a 14yo who helps me. She was worried she might hurt the mare or the foal.
I told her to just ride as per usual but not to do too much fast work and certainly no galloping.
HAH !Back in the field ,in freedom , in foal mare galloping about like a mad thing with the rest of the girls. The 14yo just gave me a whithering look and I just shrugged my shoulders.
Horses make you look and sound silly nearly every day !!!
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