just ouf of curiosity ( and since this is my first year dealing with pregnant mares), does breed and conformation have much to do with the shape of pregnant mares ? The reason why I am asking is two of my paint mares are huge and their belly has dropped and there is no way to miss the fact that they are pregnant. Both mares are rather fine boned and slender when not bred. one of them is due feb 28th and the other is due mid to end of march. Our arab mare however just looks fat and overfed and she is on day 345 today. She has a slight drop to her belly, but not enough to notice unless you have been around her every day. I would have thought that a stocky mare with lots of bulk would show later then a fine boned mare, but our stockiest mare who isnt due until the end of april looks like an elephant already now. She is a paint too. Is it just a matter of "every horse is different" or does breed and conformation play a role in how big a mare will actualy get ? 5 months ago I would have thought that the arab mare would turn out to be the one with the biggest belly just because she has a very refined conformation. But I was totaly wrong.
Alex, from my expereince it seems that big stocky mares get bigger !! They seem to throw nice big stocky babys and get nice a round ! A fine boned mare seems to carry a finer not as bulky baby hence , that is why you don't see it as much. I think to gentics plays a part of it. A mare normally won't carry something bigger than they can deliver.
My mare is really feminine, but tall and well bodied. At nine months, she wasn't showing. I had to remind my vet she was pregnant when having her treated at the time. Seems that she has a long abdomen, and plenty of space...went wide vs. down. She did start droping about 2 weeks before foaling, but nothing compared to most mares. It was easy to spot when she was about to foal, because she sucked that foal right back up when it was positioning to come out.
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