[winfieldfarm]

What the heck??!!

So my parents leased an arab mare late last fall. She came from Texas after living out on pasture board after having her one and only foal in 2011. She was purchased by current owner as a package with her yearling. Owner moved from texas to Ohio for college and brought her horses along including the mare. Mare was here a few months before parents leased her.

We have no history on her breeding records and had no intention of breeding.

I have been riding her saddleseat since winter and have had her to several shows this season. She's dominant and quirky but we've chalked it up to temperment and unknown training history.

When she's good, she's really good. When she's bad, she's cold backed, humpy, snarly, and downright hateful. I have to be honest that other than just a nod towards the calendar, I can say that she shows a loud heat and her snarkiness is much more in your face under saddle when she's in heat.

Fast forward to the last two weeks. We left our house on Thursday July 12 for a show three hours away. The show was small and the stalls were shedrow fairgrounds style. She had nose to nose contact with not only the gelding we put next to her but the mare on the other side plus the horses whose stalls backed up to her own. Upon walking into her home away from home, she immediately squatted, winked and went into raging heat. She and our gelding spent the weekend nose to nose, sneering at the other horses around her. She was shown in two classes sat night and spent both classes trying to buck me off, her tail going like a heliocopter. We laughed it off, blaming it on her horrible heat cycle.

SHE HAS NOT BEEN BRED THIS SEASON TO MY KNOWLEDGE. This would have to have been done completely in the dark of night behind my back. It's next to impossible that this mare had been bred while in my care since last fall.

We came home Sunday pm. I gave her monday and tuesday off. I attemped a training ride Wed which was a complete disaster. She was cold backed, nasty and downright hateful. I ended the ride shortly and long lined her, focusing on simple walking, halting, and backing. She was not happy and fairly uncooperative.

Thursday, did not work her. Friday, (today) farrier comes. She's due for a reset and some tweaking on her show package. Head farrier in truck building new fronts, assistant resetting her hinds. She was perfectly quiet throughout the entire hind reset. But when I turned her down the aisle to put her back in her stall to wait for her fronts to be finished she squatted, began flicking her tail madly and danced like she had a bee in her bonnet. I stooped low to see if in fact she had a horse fly on her tummy, only to be met with a swollen and engorged udder!!!


What the.....

911 to the vet. She had no follicle but palpated as expected for just having had her heat cycle. No granuloma cysts present on palpation. No pregnancy (duh!) no fever, no infection. We tranqed her and nursed of quite a bit of clear fluid off the left quarters of her udder. The right front quarter was clear but the right rear was a very bright almost glowing yellow fluid, not cloudy, not chunky, just........bright yellow....

So vet is saying false pregnancy, that for whatever reason, mare's hormones have hit a lurch and she thinks she's pregnant. She got an antibotic shot, just in case a mastitis is coming in the udder. She got a shot to bring her back into heat and then was instructed to Regumate her in about a week for the rest of the show season. If we re-up the lease, vet suggested Regumate or marble in the uterus for next year following a hormone test to see where she's at.

I've never dealt with this. My breeding knowledge is minimal because the few mares I've bred have been easy breeders. I also suck at chemistry so researching this hormonal process has my head swimming.

So here are my question.
1. what caused this in LAYMAN'S TERMS.

2. why false pregnancy when the horse wasn't even being bred? And why this time of year instead of earlier in the spring?

3. Does her general temperment under saddle (extremely cold back) reflect a physiological sensitivity in her reproductive area that has been brewing all this time? She was humpy the day I tried her out at the owner's barn. I chalked it up to being totally out of practice under saddle.

4. What the hell do I do now? I have three major shows planned and entries sent on two already. We leave on the 31st for one of them!

I checked her udder and while it's not as big as it was before we milked it off, it definately plumped back up again. And believe me, she wants us nowhere near it! Vet said leave it be and she should be fine to show but I might not get as many rides on her before I leave as I would like. You think????!!!!!

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. This mare has been a tough go this whole season in many aspects. I feel so bad that my parents have put so much time and money into this mare and now this!?

On a side not, it just goes to show one thing. There's always a reason. Just when I'm ready to say, shape up mare. mind yourself, quit your bitching and go to work, I have to eat crow because the mare was really trying to tell me that she wasn't right and it wasn't just her being a piggy mare. I feel guilty for not having caught her swelling udder two days ago!

[nashfad]

I had a pony that had a false pregnancy. She gained weight and even acted like she was in labor-------and nothing. And Ihad bought her at the kill pen so I did not know she was not preg. False preg is what the vet said. Had a Daschound do it also.

[winfieldfarm]

Bumping. All these views and only one comment? Come on guys help a sister out.

[walknsound]

Others must be like me, not know anything. Hope you get info soon.

[HungarianHippo]

It seems like your vet already explained it, her hormones got out of whack. I can't answer your question on physiological temperament; clearly she seems to always have had strong cycles, and maybe the false pregnancy is on that continuum (i.e. among her normally big pendulum swings, this time it just swung a bit bigger). Ask your vet, maybe regumate is an option.

I would be in a Wait-and-see mode about the show that you leave for on the 31st, mainly leaning towards scratching. If she's not back to normal then I would scratch. Sounds like she's quite uncomfortable; no show is that important. Ditto on the others.

[Christa P]

Maybe ask to have this moved to the breeding forum.

Good Luck
Christa

[caradino]

This recently happened to my BO's mare!

Literally overnight she BALLOONED in size and was producing milk. She had only bought the mare a few months before so we were freaking out thinking she had been bred by the previous owner and we had not known. Turns out all the clover in her field and soy in her grain put her in estrogen overload and made her appear pregnant. Had the vet out for a rectal and an ultrasound, no baby! It was a pretty serious scare though!

[furlong47]

It's a hormone imbalance. It can happen any time of year and it doesn't matter if the horse has physically been bred or not - the body only responds to the incorrect hormones and thinks it is pregnant. Similar hormone imbalances can happen in people - have you ever had a month when your period wouldn't stop? It can be because the body didn't release enough progesterone that month. Similarly, we can alter the hormone balance on purpose with birth control pills and trick the body into thinking it is already pregnant. The vet's suggestions are good - something like Regumate to get the hormones into balance.

[red squirrel ridge]

We tranqed her and nursed of quite a bit of clear fluid off the left quarters of her udder. The right front quarter was clear but the right rear was a very bright almost glowing yellow fluid, not cloudy, not chunky, just........bright yellow....

Horses only have two teats, don't they?

[goneriding24]

It's a hormone imbalance. It can happen any time of year and it doesn't matter if the horse has physically been bred or not - the body only responds to the incorrect hormones and thinks it is pregnant. Similar hormone imbalances can happen in people - have you ever had a month when your period wouldn't stop? It can be because the body didn't release enough progesterone that month. Similarly, we can alter the hormone balance on purpose with birth control pills and trick the body into thinking it is already pregnant. The vet's suggestions are good - something like Regumate to get the hormones into balance.

Very good explanation.

On the other hand, I've bought mares I thought weren't preggers, which then presented me a foal in the near future. I mean, no signs, signals, nothing. Just walk out to the barn and there's a wad of foal on the ground or up and nursing.

It can go both ways.

[Satin Filly]

It's a hormone imbalance. It can happen any time of year and it doesn't matter if the horse has physically been bred or not - the body only responds to the incorrect hormones and thinks it is pregnant. Similar hormone imbalances can happen in people - have you ever had a month when your period wouldn't stop? It can be because the body didn't release enough progesterone that month. Similarly, we can alter the hormone balance on purpose with birth control pills and trick the body into thinking it is already pregnant. The vet's suggestions are good - something like Regumate to get the hormones into balance.

Exactly. This natural phenomena also known as 'pseudocyesis', is found in many mammals (including humans). It is nothing more than a hormal hiccup after ovulation.
I've read that it happens often in packs of female dogs where they all went into heat at the same time, but the one who didn't conceive and happened to miss the hormonal signal that they're not pregnant....will now have symptoms of (false) pregnancy. Not a life threatening condition (unless your mare has a hormonal outrage and takes it out on you ), but there is a high probability that a case of mastitis occurs. Keep an eye on this!

It may take hormonal manipulation to bring her out of this hormonal hiccup.

Here's a detailed read on the subject:
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=173C

[Kwill]

If this horse is leased, I would find a new show horse. She must be pretty fabulous to put up with all her hormonal drama.

[winfieldfarm]

So mare is more confy today but seems worn out. I've left her alone of course, no riding or anything! Her udder has shrunk but is still a little swollen. Regarding the teats - it turns out that when you nurse off a mare's udder, you will have two streams coming out of each teat. Thus there are four quarters to the milk producing area of the entire udder. We did give her an antibiotic shot and I am temping daily and watching for swelling and heat in udder - none so far.

I did think of posting in the breeding forum but because I hadn't bred her, I thought I would get more hits here! I tried to research it there and on the general internet but everything I found ( I suck at internet reasearch!) was regarding false pregnancy in a mare that was breeding.

Going to start the Regumate in 7-10 days after she's out of heat again. What bothers me is that she does look a little drawn. She looks like she's lost a little weight from the stress of that last show and being heavy in heat at the show, then this weird false alarm. She just looks worn out! And other than the massive udder, she did not develop any other pregnancy or labor signs whatsoever.

Get rid of her? Well, she is very talented so I guess we will just take it one day at a time and see if she is worth the trouble. Damn hormones!! and I hate dealing with Regumate!

[maxxtrot]

there is also a shot you can give her instead of the regumate. it is medroxyprog. you give it every 3 weeks or when her cycle runs.way better than dealing with regumate everyday

[candico]

Have a mare going through this now in fact. She is a bit humped up under saddle, and didn't feel comfortable in the right canter. Also squirrely, like she doesn't want to track straight. Will give her time off till the udder goes back to normal.
But if she has these type of symptoms all the time, and looks worse after stress, she could have ulcers as well. Especially with the showing, these type of hormonal mares also seem to spring ulcers often - maybe the frustration of not being pregnant! Anyone, a few days of omeprazole might show a big change in attitude, indicating ulcers. Hope that helps!

[RedMare01]

Is she eating a lot of clover? The phytoestrogens in clover can cause udder development and the clear fluid you're seeing.

Oh, and is she on a soy based feed? That can do the same thing to some mares. If she is receiving soy, you might want to pull it until you get this under control. Pretty much any commercial bagged feed will contain soy, BTW. It might chill her out too, if she is soy intolerant.

[winfieldfarm]

Will have to check the soy content of the feed but she's been here almost a full year on the same feed. Wouldn't the soy issue cropped up sooner?

Will definately check into the shot as Regumate Sucks!!

She is currently on Succeed and has been since she came. I will ask vet about ulcers. Normally at shows she's quiet as a mouse until time to show. She's cool as a cuke as shows otherwise but I can see how a heat cycle in close quarters at the last show could pop ulcers. I will treat for that and note any improvement in attitude and comfort.

Please point me to our threads that specifically discuss dosage of the Omepro.

Clover? nope she's not on grass now because she has saddleseat shoes on and doesn't get grass pasture turnout only small dry lot turnout to prevent pulling shoes. Hay has no clover.

Thanks for the ideas gang. You guys are awesome. will discuss with vet these options tomorrow.

[eventchic33]

Had a mare have an allergic reaction to horsey version of the Depo shot. Keeled over and died in seconds. this mare sounded much like yours symptom wise pre false pregnancy. Scared the crap out of us and we will never go that avenue again even tho it was a freak thing.

[red squirrel ridge]

Regarding the teats - it turns out that when you nurse off a mare's udder, you will have two streams coming out of each teat. Thus there are four quarters to the milk producing area of the entire udder.

Thank you for clearing that up