Riding a pregnant mare

Sparklie

Active Member
Jun 3, 2005
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hartlepool
Quick question,

How long into pregnancy is it ok to ride a mare?

I know a lot of it probably depends on the horse but is there a general rule?
 
I rode india lightly nearing 8 month. She was always willing but in the end I was holding her back having a slow mooch round the village
 
With one horse we were show jumping her on the Saturday night and she foaled on Monday morning... lets just say it was an unexpected pregnancy!

(And there were a group of us looking at her udders on Saturday night and not one of us realised she was about to drop! Shocking :D)
 
I rode Kicsi at 8 months as we had NO IDEA she was in foal. I was only walking, and found her really sluggish, so we said when we had her vetted, we'd get her scanned...just in case....! She was in foal, of course!

I will tell you a horrible story though.

At my first ever riding club competition out here, one of the riders was a girl of 11 on a huge, fat grey. She did most of the activities in walk and trot and was really struggling and was really having to push her horse to get it going. At the end of the show-day, at prize giving, she was given a numnah as a prize for something - I didn't understand Hungarian then, so my friend explained 'they are giving her a prize for trying so hard as her horse is slow because it's very pregnant!' They REWARDED her for riding an 11 months pregnant mare...who foaled 2 days later!! :(

We were horrified!!!! :( :(
 
A friend won the Scottish HDT team championships with one of the team 6 months pregnant.
 
Mare in question was bought last summer (may I think) and vet confirmed pregnancy in December although couldn't give a date.

Poor lady didn't know as she's a novice owner. She's been gently riding her as the mare is still coping fine with short hacks but is worried about when she should stop.

I guess it's a bit hard when you don't have a due date!!
 
My friend bought a wee coloured mare last June, I rode it on the Sat and it foaled 2 weeks later. Didn't have a clue, was not showing at all, as was a proper cobby type.
Pols we stopped riding 5 months in as she wasn't herself, every horse is different.
 
I had a mare in to school which was being schooled daily and working reasonably hard....we went down one morning and there was a baby in her box! Another unexpected pregnancy! If she was bought in May and assumingly hasn't had contact with a stallion or rig since then, she must be at least 8 months now. The vet should be able to date it now. I would think light hacks would be fine up until near the due date to be honest.
 
We had two mares we did not know were in foal. Both were living out through the pregnancy in large fields and ridden at most three or four time a week just light hacking. Trixie was ridden up to 10 months when we finally realized she was in foal- by date she was covered in the week between loaning and her being dropped at yard. Breeder owner said stallion had escaped from his box:wink:.

Tarot, OH rode until late May and Kizzy was born 1st August. We noticed the "guaranteed uncovered mare" getting rather mishappen for riding fitness. Seller was a breeder who sold his barren mares! Turned out a cut stallion was turned out with her. Foal turned out well!
 
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I think it very much depends on the mare, it's usually recommended that you slow work down after 4 months and stop after approximately 6 months (I can't remember but I think this is what I did with Puz).

One reason aside from the carrying the weight of the foal as well as a rider, being that you have to leave enough time for the abdominal muscles to loosen sufficiently to let the ribs expand and create enough room for the quick growth of the foal as the mare gets further into gestation. If there isn't enough room for foalie to grow then occasionally you can end up with a foal born with curved fetlocks which need to be bandaged to help them straighten up (a friend of mine bred from her mare in the same year I bred from Puz and this is how her foal came out).

If the mare has always been in hard work then it will take longer for the muscles to slacken off, however the work should be reduced slowly as some level of fitness and muscle tone needs to be maintained to ensure she is in good enough form to carry the extra weight of the foal.
 
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