Equine miscarriage

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laurac2896

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Hi,

Ive never really looked into horses pregnancies until today. My daughters pony who was a rescue pony is 5 years old. Yesterday she was a bit off her food, we thought it could have been her teeth so was getting a dentist to her, but early this morning when going to feed & turn her out, we were shocked to find she'd had a foal in the night. It wasn't alive and looked the size of the sheepdog at the farm. It's a total shock to us. Anyway, she's seen the vet and is doing well, my question is, does anyone know how far on from the size of the foal she'd have likely to have been? I thought about maybe 6 months, but after googling it a six month old gestation would usually be the size of a cat it says?

I feel utterly gutted for her having to go through that on her own, and it brings tears to my eyes when I think about how she must feel and her being in pain on her own.

Any help would be appreciated, sorry for the long post! Xx
 
oh goodness! how upsetting for you and sad for your little mare. I am sorry I don't have any relevant advice but there are lots on here who will. Hugs x x
 
I'm so sorry to hear that, how distressing for all involved

I cannot help with your question but I think for others to be able to answer it I think knowing the size and type of the pony would be useful
 
Here's a rough timeline, of course it makes a bit of difference if it's a pony foal compared to a horse foal.

http://www.doublelacres.com/FOAL_DEVELOPMENT/Foal_Development.html

Poor mare but she'll be fine soon. Mares who lose or abort generally have a few days being down in the dumps and then they get over it and carry on with their lives again.
 
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Ditto above,I guess we are talking pony here so possibly around the ninth month mark maybe a little more depending on mare size.
It was probably a lot more distressing for you than the mare she will bounce back quickly and I am sure that a little way down the line you will feel relieved by this outcome.
 
She is a pretty little thing. Am sure she will be fine (Spring Feather knows what she is talking about) but guess she may need a bit of tlc for a while, maybe some nutrition support or whatever. Not sure how long you should stop riding etc but sure someone on here can advise.
 
This was her last summer, she's 14H and we think she could be New Forrest type cross or something. We're not too sure with her being a rescue. She was turned out last summer by the yard we were on with others and one Young colt. We were away on holiday at the time, so this is when I believe she could have been covered. Thank you for all your help, I'm just glad she's ok. Hopefully she'll get over it fairly quickly xx
 
She will :) One of my mares lost her foal at full term a couple of years ago. The foal had been wriggling around a lot the night before, presumably getting into the foaling position, but unfortunately on turning it got umbilical torsion and would have died inside her. Early the next morning I saw the dead foal from my bed and rushed outside. It was still warm so had been born not long beforehand. The mare was quite upset about it and she was slightly depressed for about a week as I recall. I left her with her foal for a few hours and then took the foal away and buried it. I moved her into another field with some of her non-pregnant friends and she was back to her normal self shortly afterwards.

Was the foal covered in fur? And did it look like a fully developed foal?
 
Ahh thank you, it was still in the sack, the yard owner who's had foals before and her dad also has cows had a look and they thought it was complete with everything there. They opened a bit of the sack open but I didn't really look to close to be honest, I think it had some fur but I don't think it was covered in it. I could see its little hooves poking out. I took pictures to keep incase the vet wanted to see, I don't really know why! lol xx
 
I took photos of my stillborn foal. If you want to post the photos or message them to me I would be able to give you a better idea of timing. From what you've said it sounds like the mare was quite possibly pregnant last spring.
 
The pics arent very clear at all, ive just looked at them now, I took them in a bit of a panic! Does anyone know how long we should leave her to recover before riding again? There's no rush, I wondered if it would be a few weeks maybe? We just want her to get well and be ok, so we're in no rush xx
 
It's sad, and I know you wish you could be there. But horses really prefer to give birth privately. In the wild they will actually leave the herd to find a place when it's time. Domestic mares tend to give birth during the nighttime hours when it's quiet and they're less likely to be watched, so it might be better that you weren't around because stress can make them hold onto the foal longer. Most breeding farms don't watch their mares in any obvious way because of this.

You'll want to have a vet check her out to make sure that she didn't retain any placenta and that it wasn't due to an infection that she needs treatment for. But if the vet says she's ok to ride then you're fine to ride her.
 
laurac2896 said:
The pics arent very clear at all, ive just looked at them now, I took them in a bit of a panic! Does anyone know how long we should leave her to recover before riding again? There's no rush, I wondered if it would be a few weeks maybe? We just want her to get well and be ok, so we're in no rush xx
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If she seems okay, don't forget she has just given birth, I'd possibly take her back out gentle riding in a week or so's time. Nothing overly exerting though for a few weeks. We generally don't ride our broodmares until their foals are around 1 month old. I use the term 'ride' loosely however, as our broodmares are only ever ridden (quick w/t around the arena) to get videos of their foals for sale.
 
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laurac2896 said:
The pics arent very clear at all, ive just looked at them now, I took them in a bit of a panic! Does anyone know how long we should leave her to recover before riding again? There's no rush, I wondered if it would be a few weeks maybe? We just want her to get well and be ok, so we're in no rush xx
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I put my Dolly in foal 5 years ago. Our foal was due in the May, and I rode her up until about February, when she told me she'd had enough. All progressed well, but sadly her foal was still born. Dolly was distressed, and as a precaution, was hospitalised. This all happened on the Monday. Foal went with Dolls, as we contacted the foaling bank. By Tuesday afternoon, Dolls had lost interest and came home on the Weds. I was told to slowly start bringing her back into work, and got on her that weekend. Tried to take it slowly, went for some nice leisurely walks for about a week. Started to introduce trot, just as some ducks shot out of a bush, and she tanked off bucking and farting! Think it took about 6 weeks to get her back up to fitness.
 
My mare lost her foal at 9 months gone, large twist in the cord by the looks of it. I left her in the stable with the foal for a while but she wasn't interested and just faced the wall like a naughty girl who had been told off so I turned her out and it never seemed to effect her to much. I was more upset as her as it was a much wanted foal and sadly it was just what I wanted :(
 
Working as a teenager on a stud farm many years ago I found a virtually full size foal foetus in the field, there were three mares in that field and one the phone to the owners (typical it was on a day I was there on my own!) it took a good process of elimination to work out which mare the poor ex foal belonged to. (one had been stitched so couldn't have been her and a second was coloured so would have had something on her very white back legs!)
The get over these things in a very different way mentally to us - physically if she wasn't that far along give her a little time and take it at her pace. Very sad but if it was an unwanted foal anyway with no known parentage then maybe not the worst thing in the long run.
 
Could have been futher along in the gestation than you think from what I can remember about equine repro class foals do alot of the growing/developing late in the gestation like in the last month or so I think. Thats why premature foals do so poorly.
 
Yes i think she was further along, she was turned out for a couple of months in the spring in a field that the yard owners friend had, there was apparently a lot of grass so they said it would be good for her to help gain some weight. I think this could possibly be when it's happened.

She seems a lot brighter today and has eaten her usual feeds & a few treats too! Seems more bright and alert today, I just think she's shattered! Anyway will be keeping a close eye on her and hope she gets over this soon. I feel quite guilty knowing she was probably quite far on now, and she's been worked like she wasn't in foal, my daughter was only jumping her last week, I just hope weve not done anything that's caused this to happen, but I suppose we'll never really know xx
 
laurac2896 said:
I feel quite guilty knowing she was probably quite far on now, and she's been worked like she wasn't in foal, my daughter was only jumping her last week, I just hope weve not done anything that's caused this to happen, but I suppose we'll never really know xx
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Unlikely. Mares abort for all manner of reasons. Did anyone have a dig around to see if they could visually see a reason for the abortion? That was the first thing I did when my mare aborted. It was perfectly clear why the foal had died as the umbilicus was wrapped around the foal and was cutting off its life supply.
 
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