First a mare aborts, now this ...

What rotten luck you must be really down, keeping my fingers crossed that the next one will be a healthy one which may help a little.
 
Oh noooo. So sorry to hear that and about the other mare.

The joys of horsebreeding ..

Any clues? Sometimes it can be a 'kicky' mare in the herd, EHV virus, contaminated feed or just one of those things. Probably too late now and something you hope you don't need to know for future reference but the Irish Equine Centre are brilliant in situations like this. We lost a colt foal 3 years ago and still sing their staff's praises as they couldn't have been more courteous or professional about fast-tracking his PM. Just wanted to know any causes before re-breeding the mare but the results came back as neither anything congenital or viral, 'just' oxygen deprivation during foaling.

And hey ho, her second foal - a strapping full-brother colt - duly arrived last year. Bad years, good years, you just have to suck it up and soldier on but not much consolation tonight. :(
 
Thanks again everyone.

I rang the National Stud to see if they have any need for a foster mare. None yet anyway. I milked her and have the colostrum freezing. Hopefully I won't need it though! How long does it stay good for when frozen?

And SSM, I hadn't been happy with the mare for the last fortnight or so. I was just getting a bad vibe but, rightly or wrongly, I decided to let nature takes it's course.

I've always been told that where there's livestock, there's deadstock. Between this, another mare aborting every year for the past 4 years and a filly breaking her leg last year, I've learned to take bad news fairly well.

I suppose, I'm not a soldier being shot at in Afghanistan, so that's a positive, right?
 
Eothain said:
I suppose, I'm not a soldier being shot at in Afghanistan, so that's a positive, right?
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Not sure you can always measure your own misery against other people's - but if that helps you...

It is the ****s and I'm very sorry to hear your bad news.

All I can say is onwards and forwards for great things to come, and I send you lots of <<< VIBES >>> for perfect healthy fillies for your other mares x
 
Im so sorry to read this Eothain. Breeding really is full of ups and downs so I hope the rest of the season is full of ups for you now.
 
Eothain said:
I rang the National Stud to see if they have any need for a foster mare.
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If you are thinking about making her available as a foster mare, was at the Midland Connemara Pony Breeders conference yesterday (excellent!) in Tullamore where there was an appeal for a foster mare for a Connie filly foal.

Not sure how the height difference would work out :confused: or if it's viable but just in case, contact any of the Midland Connie committee - the chairman, John Moran or else Sean Dunne, Portarlington, who have the orphan owner's contact details.
 
NeverSayNever said:
aww man:( im so sorry to hear this, truly gutted for you:(

have there been a lot of fatalities with foals so far this year, because of the bad winter? i ask because a young girl that i teach (12 yr old) has been excitedly telling my about her pony being due a foal, and sadly , it was stillborn:( her family do a fair bit of breeding (and i know nothing about it really) and they had suggested a higher number not making it this year?
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We were asking our vets about this (Newmarket) who said that this year there seems to be a lot of problem foalings but not deaths. Last year they had a lot of foals who sadly had to be destroyed because of severe deformities.
 
Just a quick update on Jasmine.

We rang about the orphan foal Hilly was talking about but unforunately she was very very weak and didn't make it. Jasmine didn't really take to her either. We milked her and tried bottle feeding the foal but to no avail. That was Sunday.
Jasmine has since dried up and is now eagerly awaiting her trip to see the former British international representitive, Vechta, this Friday.
 
She'll be alright I reckon. She's not showing any signs of unhappiness or stress or anything of the sort.
So if she's happy, I'm happy. She'll get washed out and there won't be a bother on her
 
Eothain said:
She'll be alright I reckon. She's not showing any signs of unhappiness or stress or anything of the sort.
So if she's happy, I'm happy. She'll get washed out and there won't be a bother on her
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I was more meaning in a physical sense in that pregnancy takes a lot out of a mare in terms of nutrition etc. Even hooman doctors recommend at least a 6 month wait between pregnancies (especially if a baby is lost).

Also what was the result of the post mortem on the foal - I would be extremely hesitant about breeding from a mare until the results are in.
 
We didn't do one. My father is very much a "What ever will be, will be" type of person and was against the idea of post morteming the foal. I might get around him to get a blood test done though

What would you do? Do you breed from your mares every second year then?
 
Eothain said:
What would you do? Do you breed from your mares every second year then?
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I, myself do not breed (yet :) ) but two very close friends both do. I've have chatted with both of them (so as not to put my foot in it and get it way off the mark) and they have said that they would be reluctant to breed from a mare ever that had had a dead foal without knowing the reason. There is too much risk to the mare and also the possibility that the death was actually due to a genetic defect.

We want to be breeding the best possible foals in terms of health and genetics. My mare has just sold a brood mare (and had the passport stamped not for breeding) as it has had two successive foals born with a hernia.
 
Eothain said:
We didn't do one. My father is very much a "What ever will be, will be" type of person and was against the idea of post morteming the foal. I might get around him to get a blood test done though

What would you do? Do you breed from your mares every second year then?
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SHe will be fine to cover, just make sure you scan her and vet can wash her out instead of cover if she is dirty. If she is clean there is no reason why to not cover her. Vechta not a bad horse to use....
 
Pity the foster mammying didn't work out but fair play for giving it a go. :)

Also, in 20/20 hindsight, the Northern Ireland Horse Board website also had a facility for posting details of orphan foals in need & available foster mammies.

I think you may find it hard to get a mare in foal in the same year as they lose a foal; their system shuts down and it can take some heroic efforts to kick-start it.

They CAN go in foal but would be more concerned with the other mare that aborted and would have the vet give her a full work-up. Once they start giving trouble, it can be cheaper in the long run to find out the causes, if any, than months either spent in keep fees or shuttling back and forth to studs and waiting round for more vets visits.

Acupuncture can really work miracles with problem mares, Phil Rogers or Philip McManus are fantastic, as are some homeopathic remedies. I 'smuggled' home some herbal remedy from a friend in the States who got it from a friend of a friend of a friend of a 'quack'. No-one knows what it was but the strict instructions were to add it to the mare's feed for three months, wait three months and cover.

It stank to high heaven whatever was in the parcel, hence cantering through Shannon airport before the sniffer dogs picked it up :D I still don't know if it was this or giving her time off or the great efforts put in by Team KMS or all three but she went in foal first time and *touches wood* is now 3 days out from her due date.

There's also a percentage of mares which as our OldTimeHorseVet used to cheerfully say that not even the Holy Ghost himself could get or keep in foal so would be worth chatting to the vet when he comes to wash her out and see if they can shed any light?
 
Having been caught up in a localised "abortion bubble" where 8 foals were aborted/stillborn within a small townland (I was one of the lucky ones) I vaccinate with Duvaxyn throughout all pregnancies against EHV-4. It can spread like wildfire and if a mare has aborted and you have had a stillbirth, I would be inclined to get an answer from both events even if the result is just "bad luck". Where you have a lot of horses coming and going there is risk.

Our "bubble" was put down to a mare taken to a sale in a borrowed horse box. The mare returned with a virus/flu passed it onto pregnant mares in the next field and the domino effect began. Interestingly, the majority were stillbirths, one was a red bag delivery, a couple of other foals born alive but weak and died within a couple of days.

Not jumping on any husbandry of broodmares pulled by rid bandwagon just saying what happened to us when it all went pear shaped. :(
 
Inky_and_Sunny said:
I, myself do not breed (yet :) ) but two very close friends both do. I've have chatted with both of them (so as not to put my foot in it and get it way off the mark) and they have said that they would be reluctant to breed from a mare ever that had had a dead foal without knowing the reason. There is too much risk to the mare and also the possibility that the death was actually due to a genetic defect.
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Heavens - a lot of good mares would never be bred from again if everyone went on that theory. I had my first (and hopefully last!) dead foal 3 weeks ago - from a maiden mare. It was a BIG foal (despite filly being on a strict diet all winter), full term (to the day), but there was no sign of life at the time I got the head clear although she wasn't long dead. It took another 45 minutes to deliver from that point as foal stuck at the shoulders - and then at the hips!)

I don't KNOW why it was dead - can only assume it took a battering getting that far, or possibly a cord 'accident'. Mare was vaccinated for EHV - foal was totally normal apart from being big!

I will breed from her again this year, although she'll be given some time to recover (she was badly bruised and needed anti-inflammatories for several days.)
 
JanetGeorge said:
Heavens - a lot of good mares would never be bred from again if everyone went on that theory.
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Actually a lot of good mares would be given a break for a year after the trauma of the event and with the all clear would have healthy foals. A lot of bad mares would not be bred from - this is the whole point of responsible breeding. A horse may look picture perfect but that doesn't mean that it is free from detrimental genetics that may affect future foals. Why risk weakening the breeds - it doesn't make any sense. Look at what has happened with pedigree dogs :(
 
Maiden mare. The serial abortionist has a 5 year old gelding. She had a foal the next year that died at about 7 days, he was very very weak, and she has been aborting ever since. She goes in foal not a bother, then somewhere along the line the foal says bye bye. It has to be herpes. I just have to get my breeding program in order this year and not be leaving things in the lap of the gods!!!
 
Sorry to hear your loss.

My first foal died in march this year after only one day on the planet with us and it truly sucks.

But, it sounds like you've taken it well, good luck with Jasmine next time. x
 
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