| I called my Trainer/Breeder in Texas to get his educated
opinion on this subject. Gestation for horses is 11 months.
If you know when she was bred, count 11 months from then, and
then add a day for each year of the mares age. (i.e. if she's 7,
then it would be 11 months,7 days for foaling) This may sound
kind of strange, but as he has been breeding for 50+ years (he's
78 yrs old) he's learned and passed along to me all kinds of
tidbits like this one, and what he tells me does work!
Let me know what she has, I love foals, send me a picture!
Lynne
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Hi Nancy,
I don't know if this is normal or not, but when my mare had her
first foal, she went a year and two weeks, her next was right at
a year and her next was at 11 months and 2 weeks.
I always knew when she was about to foal (within a couple days)
because she would start dripping milk -- I mean her legs would
be covered with dripped milk. We've had other mares foal, and
almost all of them would drip milk too.
My vet says that normal gestation is 11 months and fourteen days.
So, if you start watching at 11 months, you should be fine!
Lori
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Nancy... I think that somewhere there is a pretty information
filled note regarding this subject... but, for the moment, there
is no indication that maiden mares foal any differently than
the old pros. Most literature/vets/mare owners and farmers
concur that the gestation period is 345 +/- days... The 'formula'
I use is 11 months and 10 days from the last day that the mare
was covered.
Blessed are the Broodmares/Blessed are the Foals are two
excellent books for folks new at the business of raising babies.
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