I need to preface this by saying I have ZERO experience with pregnant mares or foaling. Raising a baby has never appealed to me, so I've never learned much about it.

That being said... I bought a pony from an Amish family last June, and she's pregnant. She's really gotten fat over the last 5-6 weeks, and as of last night her udder and teats are starting to descend. I have no idea if she's a maiden or what the stud is like. I wasn't told that she had been exposed to one when I bought her, and I didn't even think to ask if she might be bred. The family has since moved to Indiana, and I have no way of contacting them to ask. So, how do I know when she's close to foaling? I've been doing lots of reading about the signs, but the timelines are all over the place depending on how many babies she's had. I was hoping some of you veterans who raise babies might be able to give me a little guidance. I'll be gone April 7-10, so I'm kinda freaking out she'll foal when I'm gone and my non-horsey husband will be alone with her!

I will state that my estimate is that your scenario of her foaling while you are gone is most likely to occur!! That would be true no matter how many she's had! All of my veteran foalers should agree with this!! LOL!

Seriously, without knowing your mare's breed dates it is going to be a wait and watch game. Wax is the usual sign that I watch for more than any other one sign. However, I've had two foal without any wax first in 20 years. But it's been the single most consistent. That and the hoo-ha lengthening. But that can happen a week or even two weeks before. 

There are calcium test strips that you can use on her wax/drip/milk that are supposed to be very accurate. My mares would probably take my head off if I tried to get a sample so I've never used.

She’ll get real soft and squishy by her tail head, the vulva will start to lengthen and hopefully she starts waxing. While she might drip yellow like fluid, in most cases the milk (or colostrum) doesn’t come  in until 24-48 hours out. Some start to wax and have within a few hours. 

 I have one like this right now. She looks like she is going to explode Poor Shasta. Last night she sneezed & she squirted milk.

One of our mares is like this- she'll wax and then foal within a few hours.

Even though your mare's teats have started to fill, they'll usually get very distended and tight just before foaling. The relaxation of the tail and lengthened vulva are good indicators as well.

We use the Predict-A-Foal test, you just need a few squirts of milk (.5cc to be exact) for the test, so it's not like you're under there for a long time. If you do test her milk, you will start to see a difference as she progresses closer to her due date- from thin and almost clearish to thicker and more colostrum/milky like and stickier in texture.

I know it's not funny, but I had to giggle a little

I just had my first baby this Monday, and it was suggested to me to take her temp eery day twice a day, and be consistent about whether its before or after she's eaten. I took mine while she was eating (so not enough time to warm her up). She was always 99.9-100.2/3, the day before she foaled she was 99.5 (it was a COLD mornign) in the morning, 99.8 that night, the day she foaled she was 99.7 in the AM and 99.4 at 7PM. I became CONFIDENT she was going to foal that night around 10PM.

A lot of people say temp is not that reliable, but it was recommended to me who swears by it and it has proven true for her 95% of the time in over 100 babies and it worked for mine (and mine was a maiden.)

I also was taking pictures to compare her udder development, wax, elongating vulva, etc. Also, her general disposition. The day she foaled was a beautiful 70 degree day, she was all alone with a paddock and stall to herself. She could have stood out in the sun, but chose to stay in her stall almost all day away from other horses.

It was funny  :)  I laughed when my husband told me . At 3am this morning, shasta gave birth to a beautiful colt. Looks to be her color, chocolate buckskin. All went well. Shasta is the best mom. Baby is healthy & happy. His daddy is Streakin Again x our driftwood mare, LR Catch My Drift.