I am a first time breeder and my mare is 7 months along in her pregnancy. She got her 2nd ultra sound at 60 days and I was wondering if there is any way of determining the sex at this point. I didn't think to ask the vet at the time and now I wish I had! Would it be worth posting the picture to see what you guys think? (.. Can't you tell I'm getting a little anxious!?)haha Thanks, Merissa
EDIT: Ok, here is a picture. I know I'm probably asking too much but it can't hurt !
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 06:28 pm:
fetal sex can be determined at about 60-90 days by transrectal ultrasound - if one has a good ultrasound; a good ultrasonographer; a tolerant mare; and a compliant fetus!
One sexes the foal by identifying the position of a structure called the pedicle. This will be present somewhere in the region between the back legs. In the filly it will have started migrating upwards and will ultimately become the clitoris; in the male it is still in the region of the umbilicus where it will remain and become the penis.
Sounds simple, huh? Well it ain't!!!! Not only does one have to be able to identifiy the position of the pedicle, but one has to find the pedicle first to do that!!! Remember that the image one is getting is greyscale, and not a "picture" of the object being looked at!!!
It takes experience and good equipment to become effective at fetal sexing. Oh - and a better picture - taken from the correct angle - than the one you have!!! Sorry!!!
You can ask your vet if he can do it, but he'll probably have to come back out and ultrasound again to get the right angle, and it's a specialist procedure, so if he's a general practice vet rather than an equine reproductive specialist, he may not even offer the service.
Our vet has been experimenting for free with this, but didn't get the one mare he checked for my friend right. It's sort of fun though!
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