Summary Complications in late gestation are challenging problems for the equine clinician and are causes of considerable distress to owners. Health problems in a pregnant mare in each stage of gestation can adversely affect the pregnancy. It is important to obtain a thorough history and perform a detailed and systematic examination of the pregnant mare so that the mare may be classified as normal or high‐risk. However, even after a thorough examination, practitioners may face problems with the interpretation and assessment of risk. Normal mares should foal in the stable or pasture. Mares classified as having a high‐risk pregnancy need to be monitored precisely for signs of oncoming foaling with attendance of trained personnel when labour begins. A valuable method for monitoring of the high‐risk mare is assessing fetoplacental well‐being. Fetoplacental well‐being is most accurately assessed with ultrasonography as well as several available hormone profiles. We are proposing our scoring system of the mare's health, which may be useful in the assessment of risk during pregnancy and help clinicians to decide whether sending the mare to the clinic is reasonable or unnecessary.