Gen
Your mare is due in less than 100 days. I personally would not want to put any stress on her. That being said if she is a calm mare perhaps daily handling and care would give you a good connection with the mare. She needs daily exercise so put her in the round pen and she how she handles it. Personally I would rather wait until the foal is weaned. On the ranch where my horse is the mare is usually ridden up to 200 days and the closer to 200 the lighter the work
Sounds like you are going to be a busy person is a couple of months. By the way Dr. Miller DVM wrote the book on imprinting foals. If you have not seen the book it is the best book on handling and taking care of foals
Good luck and I hope you let us know when the foal is born
Cheers

Hi Gen
I really dont think it would be a good idea to do join up on a pregnant mare expecially one so far alone. if you want the more recently perchased mare to get to know you better I would think all you would have to do is get her used to you being there and touching her and your voice that is usually a good way to start.

HorseCrazy

Hi Dennis
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Thanks for getting back to me :-) I was leaning towards leaving it until the foal was born, but will see how she goes in the round pen. If she looks too uncomfortable, I will just stop. I am grooming and talking to her every day when I am home (sometimes I have to go away for work - on those days my husband just feeds the horses - he doesn't groom them or anything).
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The reason why I thought about joining up with her during pregnancy is that she is a bit head shy and a little jittery when people are around. I thought join up may help her to trust me and feel calmer when we are together. Especially as I was intending to imprint the foal at birth.
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Our whole family is very excited about the arrival of our foals and we have ordered a copy of Dr Miller's book. There is also a section in "From My Hands to Yours" on foal imprinting too.
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I will let you know when the foals are born. It will be hard for me to keep it to myself because I am so excited about it!
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See you later :-)
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Kind regards,
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Gen

Gen
FYI All mares are jittery during their pregnancy particularly people they don't know very well. She should get better the more you are with her but then when the foal is born you will be able to tell if you have made a good connection with her.

Enjoy your time with her.

Cheers!

Hi Dennis and Horse Crazy
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Thanks very much for your advice :-)
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I went out and had another look at her again this afternoon and decided not to try join up with her because she has a pretty big belly and I thought it would be too uncomfortable for her. Just as well, given your responses :-)
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I will continue to spend time with her the way I am.
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Also, thanks for letting me know that its normal for her to be jittery. I have never had pregant mares before, so this is a learning curve for me.
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Do either of you know how many days or months pregnant a mare has to be before you can feel the foal moving under your hand when you touch the mare's flank?
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Thanks so much for your time.
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Kind regards,
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Gen

You should feel or see movement by 6 months

Hi Dennis
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Excellent :-) Thank you very much for that.
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Its good to be able to ask people these questions because if you have never experienced something before, you really don't know what to expect.
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See you later,
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Gen