possible mare pregnant

Question
QUESTION: I have a horse that I had put in with a male in the summer months.  And i was beginning to think she may be pregnant, but now im starting to think otherwise.  She would be about 7-8 months if she were pregnant, but recently she has lost a lot of weight and honestly looks terrible.  Could this still be a sign of pregnancy?

ANSWER: Hi Heather,
A mare losing a lot of weight and looking terrible is not a good sign of pregnancy.  Of course mares will lose weight if they are not getting enough or proper nutrition, but they would still look pregnant at 7-8 months.  Their belly should look heavy, either down low, or out to the sides.

Also, at 7-8 months, you would be able to feel foal movement quite easily, so that would be one good way for you to check.  But if she is indeed pregnant and has lost enough weight to look terrible, then she needs a lot more or better food than what she is getting, or something is just not right.  She could be overloaded with parasites, needing her teeth floated or something more serious going on.

The first thing for you to do it to determine whether or not she is indeed pregnant, and if she is or isn't, then you need to address the reason why she has lost so much weight.  If she is pregnant and has lost enough weight to look terrible, then she is going to get much worse once the foal is born and starts nursing.  A mare's nutritional needs greatly increases in the last 3 months of pregnancy, and even more once she starts nursing her foal.  A nursing foal can suck their mother dry in the weight department.

Good luck to you,
Sandy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok..well her stomach is lower than normal and fairly large. The problem is her back down to her butt. Her bones are very noticable. She always has hay. and I grain her everyday. is there anything else I could do for her? assuming she is pregnant, because before this she was very thick and muscular.

Answer
Hi again,
Okay... not really knowing what area you're speaking of when you say her "back down to her butt"... but mares will sink in very noticeably usually in the last month or so of their pregnancy right around their tailhead.  So basically looking like their spine is sticking out really bad over the hip area, or top of the rump.  And some mares will look really terrible when this happens.  It is the softening of the ligaments to prepare for foaling.
Are you sure your mare couldn't be farther along in a pregnancy than you think?  Like maybe 10 months?

If her belly is hanging low and is fairly larger than normal, chances are probably pretty good that she is pregnant.  Have you tried to feel a foal moving?

If what she is experiencing isn't the softening of the ligaments, and she isn't pregnant... the weight loss and larger belly could definitely be parasites.

Do a search on the internet for pictures of mares that are close to foaling so that you can see what I'm talking about on the sinking in around the tailhead.  Then you can compare that to see if that is what your mare looks like.