druid
Well-Known Member
If the answer is "Yes" to having lost a newborn foal (say 8 weeks or younger) or a mare please elaborate below.
Mare/Foal mortality - a poll
- Thread starter druid
- Start date
dieseldog
Well-Known Member
I've owned 1 mare that had a foal, I lent it to someone. Her womb 'unzipped' she ended up in Langford, had a ceasearian, I decided to let the mare die under anesthetic, and the foal also died. It lasted 15 minutes, had brain damage from lack of oxygen during the birth. Now if the mare was dieing anyway I would have thought they would have got that foal out ASAP and they were too slow.
william99
Well-Known Member
We had 14 mares foal this year with no problems, 15 next year fingers crossed
Maesfen
Extremely Old Nag!
We foaled one mare after a terrible time, good sort of foal (both TB) foal suckled once, got foal out of box and mare had fit gallopping around the box and dropped dead. Cause was a torn caecum (spl?) which had poisoned her system. Got foster mare, blind in one eye, who accepted foal very well but we had to keep them seperated in between as if foal moved, she panicked and could have trampled it (had already done it with her own foal!
) until foal was bigger. Sadly foal died 4 days later as the poison from the mare had invaded him via cord. Foster mare was sold and went on to have 3 or 4 foals, all reared safely, fabulous mother and 2 of them won chases!
You might remember I lost Irish, Joey's dam, last year a fortnight before foaling, her heart just stopped in the field, very peaceful; just last week, her last TB child won a chase at Fontwell!
You might remember I lost Irish, Joey's dam, last year a fortnight before foaling, her heart just stopped in the field, very peaceful; just last week, her last TB child won a chase at Fontwell!
MissIndependance
Well-Known Member
MFH what awful bad luck to lose the foal after losing the mum - so sad.
We've bred 17 altogether and lost 2 foals - both this year - 1 at 12 days old to joint ill and 1 at 6 weeks old to an unknown cause in the field
Haven't lost a mare due to foaling although we lost a pregnant mare to colic and another mare aborted 8 month old twins (missed on the scan) which was horrible
We've bred 17 altogether and lost 2 foals - both this year - 1 at 12 days old to joint ill and 1 at 6 weeks old to an unknown cause in the field
Haven't lost a mare due to foaling although we lost a pregnant mare to colic and another mare aborted 8 month old twins (missed on the scan) which was horrible
springfallstud
Well-Known Member
We lost a Trakeher foal 3 years ago now, the placenta separated from the uterus in the mare well before the foal was delivered so when she born she had the faintest of heartbeats but sadly we could not get her breath dispite our best efferts and the vet on the phone. The mare did the exactly same the following year but lucky the foal was delivered before she lost oxygen and had no problems, the same mare also delivered a healthy colt this year and the whole birth was normal and she cleansed a couple of hours later so i was informed with her delighted new owners.
sallyf
Well-Known Member
Lost one foal at birth , mare had a bad reaction to some drugs she was administered on the advice of the vet and she started to foal very early suddenly.
Her reaction caused the foal to have a reaction which meant contracted tendons in all 4 legs and we were unable to get the foal out quickly enough so it suffocated.
It took 3 hrs to get the front legs out at which point the foal was still alive but the back legs were the same and the foal became wedged at the crucial point.
The mare had to be PTS two months later as she developed scar tissue in her bladder from the prolonged birth and was unable to urinate.
Despite every effort her bladder was so full of scars nothing would have been able to be done enable her to pass urine so she was PTS on humane grounds.
Not an experience i wish to go through again but happily apart from one slightly dodgy foaling this year all the others have been pretty copy book.
And there have been quite a few.
Her reaction caused the foal to have a reaction which meant contracted tendons in all 4 legs and we were unable to get the foal out quickly enough so it suffocated.
It took 3 hrs to get the front legs out at which point the foal was still alive but the back legs were the same and the foal became wedged at the crucial point.
The mare had to be PTS two months later as she developed scar tissue in her bladder from the prolonged birth and was unable to urinate.
Despite every effort her bladder was so full of scars nothing would have been able to be done enable her to pass urine so she was PTS on humane grounds.
Not an experience i wish to go through again but happily apart from one slightly dodgy foaling this year all the others have been pretty copy book.
And there have been quite a few.
volatis
Well-Known Member
We lost one mare to colic a week post foaling which I swear was related to the birth as she really struggled delivering the foal, but we didnt post mortem so couldnt be sure.
Lost one foal, we think she got knocked or trodden by her dam at a week old, and the growth plate was too badly damaged to save her.
Lost one foal, we think she got knocked or trodden by her dam at a week old, and the growth plate was too badly damaged to save her.
S_N
Well-Known Member
Can I answer as a breeding/stud professional - meaning takinginto consideration ALL the horses I have worked with on studs? Or do I have to answer from the perspective of horses I've owned? If that's that's the case, bred one foal - M&F perfect - M in-foal again.
MissIndependance
Well-Known Member
Snowynight I'd like to hear your stats from ALL the mares you've worked with if you don't mind sharing...
Dottie
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
We lost a Trakeher foal 3 years ago now, the placenta separated from the uterus in the mare well before the foal was delivered
[/ QUOTE ]
This happened to my mare's first foal last year. Unfortunatly she was born dead. Furthermore whilst the foal was beening born she nicked the ovarian artery (?) on the way out giving my mare blood clots on her ovaries as well as developing endometritus (sp). It was very sad.
She is fine now, but my vet said not too breed from her again in case the artery ruptures next time.
We lost a Trakeher foal 3 years ago now, the placenta separated from the uterus in the mare well before the foal was delivered
[/ QUOTE ]
This happened to my mare's first foal last year. Unfortunatly she was born dead. Furthermore whilst the foal was beening born she nicked the ovarian artery (?) on the way out giving my mare blood clots on her ovaries as well as developing endometritus (sp). It was very sad.
She is fine now, but my vet said not too breed from her again in case the artery ruptures next time.
druid
Well-Known Member
You can answer from a work perspective - I just want numbers/views.
I'm humming & hawing over it still
I'm humming & hawing over it still
Anastasia
Well-Known Member
Have had mares abort twins despite scans.
Last year was our worst year, out of 4 foals we lost 3, one died after being born after a heart attack. Beautiful filly
. One died due to placenta seperation during birth, lovely friendly colt. We lost the filly the week before and by god did we try our best to keep the colt going. He lasted three days and unfortunately died in his sleep...
We then had a live foal in B'Royal (aka Cheeky). The two foals we lost at this point were by Royal Geneve (the sire whom we lost in the January after colic surgery...
) so this made it even worse!!
Then we had the most beautiful filly born, she was the picture of health and one day after being born we noticed signs of her not being able to suck so well, and her gait had gone all funny. After a few days she gradually got worse but she was still "fine" in her head.....just her limbs were not doing the same. In the end we had to make a decision about her and the vet advised us to PTS.............that was devastating.......
(Something I would not be in such a hurry to do in future, and give at least 7 days to see if the symptoms would reverse - due to a lot of research I did afterwards!).
Then we lost our lovely Elite KWPN mare in November 06 after colic and subsequently twisted gut...........she was in foal to Vision............
Lastly in January of this year we lost another mare who was also in foal to Vision. We just went out one morning and she was lying dead..........
And in February we had to have one of our new born foals operated on to remove an eye when she got kicked in the head. She then turned out to have a fractures skull as well. She is "Sugababe", the foal 2nd from the left on my sig. Thankfully she has gone from strength to strength.
So in one year we had lost one stallion, three foals and two mares!! 2006 as you can imagine was a year to remember for all the wrong reasons and we were sooooo close to giving up.....
What kept us going was our friends, family and the business we had built up............but by god is was soooo hard. Needless to say this year we were on tender hooks with each birth, as we were SO paranoid.
Previous to that we had the occasional loss of a foal before its due date.
This year we had 8 foals born and next year we have 6 due. I think we will still be nervous during the breeding season from now on due to what happened last year.
Last year was our worst year, out of 4 foals we lost 3, one died after being born after a heart attack. Beautiful filly
We then had a live foal in B'Royal (aka Cheeky). The two foals we lost at this point were by Royal Geneve (the sire whom we lost in the January after colic surgery...
Then we had the most beautiful filly born, she was the picture of health and one day after being born we noticed signs of her not being able to suck so well, and her gait had gone all funny. After a few days she gradually got worse but she was still "fine" in her head.....just her limbs were not doing the same. In the end we had to make a decision about her and the vet advised us to PTS.............that was devastating.......
Then we lost our lovely Elite KWPN mare in November 06 after colic and subsequently twisted gut...........she was in foal to Vision............
Lastly in January of this year we lost another mare who was also in foal to Vision. We just went out one morning and she was lying dead..........
And in February we had to have one of our new born foals operated on to remove an eye when she got kicked in the head. She then turned out to have a fractures skull as well. She is "Sugababe", the foal 2nd from the left on my sig. Thankfully she has gone from strength to strength.
So in one year we had lost one stallion, three foals and two mares!! 2006 as you can imagine was a year to remember for all the wrong reasons and we were sooooo close to giving up.....
What kept us going was our friends, family and the business we had built up............but by god is was soooo hard. Needless to say this year we were on tender hooks with each birth, as we were SO paranoid.
Previous to that we had the occasional loss of a foal before its due date.
This year we had 8 foals born and next year we have 6 due. I think we will still be nervous during the breeding season from now on due to what happened last year.
StaceyTanglewood
Well-Known Member
god some of these stories have bougth tears to my eyes and i wish never to go through it myself !!
Ive had 2 foals - both were born text book and were really quick !!
I have another one due next april this time to a new maiden mare x
i think that things go right most of the time but when they do go wrong they go horribly wrong and fast !!
Ive had 2 foals - both were born text book and were really quick !!
I have another one due next april this time to a new maiden mare x
i think that things go right most of the time but when they do go wrong they go horribly wrong and fast !!
Bossanova
Well-Known Member
In recent years we've had 5. First one born without a hitch (though was shot at 4 when she proved mentally unstable, just like her mum) 2nd was a HUGE foal, for no particular reason. He needed vet's help to come out but him and mare were fine. e was quite wonky and also needed plenty of help from the farrier to start with. 3rd one was Lug's sucessful foaling, producing our pride and joy, Shala. Though she also needed a fair amount of farrier support as she grew very quickly. 4th was still born, terminated in final few hours before birth for reasons unknown (Newmarket PMd it) 5th was this years disaster with dead baby and mummy.
We've been given a sweet little mare to use up a stud fee on this spring so fingers crossed this all goes more smoothly.....
We've been given a sweet little mare to use up a stud fee on this spring so fingers crossed this all goes more smoothly.....
gale
Active Member
Lost a beautiful colt TB foal due to the placenta detaching and then lost a gorgeous chestnut filly by Diamond Hit(born by Caesarian section but after a couple of breaths couldn't be resucitated)due to the mare suffering a Uterine torsion which couldn't be rectified manually.Every loss very keenly felt and all foalings scrutinised intently
southsidestud
Well-Known Member
god caroline reading that has brought tears to my eyes as well!! i lost one mare my holstein mare in 06 she gave me a cracking holstein colt one week later to the day i found her dead with foal next to her in the morning trying to suckle i nearly gave up then as she was my best mare it was a real kick in the teeth though i lost her i still have my colt which im sure will live on in her i was lucky to have found a foster mare who took him on very strange looking pair i will have to post some pictures
southsidestud
Well-Known Member
Anastasia
Well-Known Member
HOW CUTE IS THAT PICTURE!!
No matter was the loss is it always reminds you of how fragile horses are.
No matter was the loss is it always reminds you of how fragile horses are.
MizElz
Well-Known Member
My word....if anything has ever made my mind up not to breed from my mare, it's this thread.
How dreadfully sad; some of the stories here have had me welling up! I'm so sorry for everyone's loss, it sounds so tragic
S_N
Well-Known Member
OK then.
Well in one year alone out of 97 mares foaled, we lost 4 mares and 1 foal. One mare at foaling - she was the dam of a St Ledger winner and was 21 yrs old. She started foaling around 7.30pm (I started work at 8pm) so when I arrived the Assistant Manager was already there with the member of staff who was sitting late. The foal was BIG and as the shoulders came out, a loop of the mare's intestine came out of her anus! Vet was called immediately and I dashed off to hitch up the trailer, as it was fairly obvious that they'd have to go into the clinic. The vet arrived and administered pain relief to the mare, who was now up and loving her foal - she was so intent on her foal, I honestly don't think she realised that she was in trouble! The vet also managed to get the intesine back inside, as she was worried that the sphincter muscle that is the anus, would kill off the blood supply. Mare and foal were taken in to the clinic and about 3 hours later the foal came back without her dam. There was nothing that could be done to save the mare, as during her early contractions, the foals foot had gone up through the vaginal wall and into the rectum, but then come back into the birth canal. The tear was too deep indise the mare to be operable, plus at her age, it wasn't fair to put her under a GA. It is my opinion that the mare's conformation contributed to her demise - she was unbelievable sway backed and the foal had to come up a long way before it could come along and out and I think that foals long legs couldn't/didn't bend, thus causing the fatal outcome for the mare.
Two coliced the night after foaling and one was taken in and operated on immediately. She then foundered and was PTS about 4 weeks later. The other whilst thrashing round in her stable smashed her seamoids - the vet was present when it happened, we'd managed to get her foal outside, but then a week later, the foal was found dead.
Another mare fractured her hip about 4 weeks prior to foaling and spent the last month of her gestation cross tied, as she wasn't allowed to lie down. Waiting for her to foal had me in a huge state of paranoia. The thing that alerted me to it was she was trying to turn her head to her quarters, like a colicing horse would, so I called the vet first, then my boss! We untied her and let her lie down in her own time and she foaled relatively easily, but once she was down, she stayed there for a over an hour - poor girl! She did get up though - with our help! Her foal was put onto a nurse mare - she was heavily sedated when it was taken from her. We tried everything we could for her and she was doing really well, but in the end (about 3 months later), she succumed to colic and when she went down, it was more than obvious that she'd never get up, as she shattered both of her femurs - I've never heard anything like it!!!! The vet was there when it happened and she was PTS in seconds. This was my favourite mare and we had a real bond - well you would when you look after a horse every night for 10.5 hours and sit and keep her company etc..
On another stud where I foaled 137 between Jan and mid April, I had a foetal diarrhoea, but we saved her!! She never did much on the racetrack mind. Elsewhere on the farm we had 2 other FD's and neither survived - we had over 500 mares foal that year! I also lost a mare and foal - the foal never came fully out, as it was a dog sitter. The mare was a Champion racehorse and the foal was by 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. Dog sitting, for those of you that don't know, is where one, or both, hind feet get hooked over the pelvic girdle, during what to all intents and purposes appears to be a normally presented foal. I have actually managed to unhook a back foot at another foaling, but my god I nearly lost my arm in the process - contractions are not to be messed with, but having lost one to DS I wasn't gonna loose another one! DS is so problematical, because it's so difficult to detect, as the foal presents normally, and it's often only when you realise it's not coming out, that it's realised that there is a problem. Usually by this point, the foal is pretty much entirely in the birth canal, (apart from the buttocks and hocks), so there isn't much, if any, room to get an arm in to feel what's gong on. As the hind foot/feet hook over the pelvic girdle, the hind leg is forced to stay bent as the mare contracts, however this causes a kind of upwards leverage on backend of the foal and there just isn't enough room for the foal s body to come through the pelvic cradle - I can't put it into words properly - sorry, but I have looked for diagram on the web, but failed.
We also lost a mare on one of my nights off. She went balistic rolling when the foal was partially out - the attendants had to leave, as even when they tried to sit on her head/neck she threw them off and one broke their wrist!! In her struggles she tore her mesentary (sp?) and was PTS at the clinic - amazingly the foal survived, though was a dummy foal for a few days - oxygen deprived during birth. Foal is a Stakes winner now though!
Also had a mare foal, very easy and quickly, no complications/difficulties at all. She got up, sniffed her foal, licked it, looked at us, then in a flash, picked it up by the navel and slung it against the wall - guts went EVERYWHERE!!! Foal was pretty much dead before it hit the floor!! I don't think I'll ever forget this one! She wasn't a maiden foaler either!!
Last year (2006) my friend lost her mare, when the mare prolapsed after foaling. Friend slept through the whole thing
She got up and went to check on the mare, to discover a little dun filly, standing in a massive pool of blood trying to nurse from her dead mother. The mare had obviously survived for a while, as the filly was licked dry - you could see afterbirth on the mares lips.... Filly was hand reared and is now a healthy yearling.
Have lost numerous foals between one week and one year for various reasons - broken necks/legs in the field. Lost 2 this year to heart murmurs!! One wasn't born here though and it also had guteral pouch myloencephalitis and died in it's sleep at the vets. The other one we tried to save, but there was nothing to be done for him - you could feel the irregularity of his heart beat with your hand on his ribs and the scans were incredible - massive hole in his heart! The vet was amazed he was still alive - bless him. He only went last week
Well in one year alone out of 97 mares foaled, we lost 4 mares and 1 foal. One mare at foaling - she was the dam of a St Ledger winner and was 21 yrs old. She started foaling around 7.30pm (I started work at 8pm) so when I arrived the Assistant Manager was already there with the member of staff who was sitting late. The foal was BIG and as the shoulders came out, a loop of the mare's intestine came out of her anus! Vet was called immediately and I dashed off to hitch up the trailer, as it was fairly obvious that they'd have to go into the clinic. The vet arrived and administered pain relief to the mare, who was now up and loving her foal - she was so intent on her foal, I honestly don't think she realised that she was in trouble! The vet also managed to get the intesine back inside, as she was worried that the sphincter muscle that is the anus, would kill off the blood supply. Mare and foal were taken in to the clinic and about 3 hours later the foal came back without her dam. There was nothing that could be done to save the mare, as during her early contractions, the foals foot had gone up through the vaginal wall and into the rectum, but then come back into the birth canal. The tear was too deep indise the mare to be operable, plus at her age, it wasn't fair to put her under a GA. It is my opinion that the mare's conformation contributed to her demise - she was unbelievable sway backed and the foal had to come up a long way before it could come along and out and I think that foals long legs couldn't/didn't bend, thus causing the fatal outcome for the mare.
Two coliced the night after foaling and one was taken in and operated on immediately. She then foundered and was PTS about 4 weeks later. The other whilst thrashing round in her stable smashed her seamoids - the vet was present when it happened, we'd managed to get her foal outside, but then a week later, the foal was found dead.
Another mare fractured her hip about 4 weeks prior to foaling and spent the last month of her gestation cross tied, as she wasn't allowed to lie down. Waiting for her to foal had me in a huge state of paranoia. The thing that alerted me to it was she was trying to turn her head to her quarters, like a colicing horse would, so I called the vet first, then my boss! We untied her and let her lie down in her own time and she foaled relatively easily, but once she was down, she stayed there for a over an hour - poor girl! She did get up though - with our help! Her foal was put onto a nurse mare - she was heavily sedated when it was taken from her. We tried everything we could for her and she was doing really well, but in the end (about 3 months later), she succumed to colic and when she went down, it was more than obvious that she'd never get up, as she shattered both of her femurs - I've never heard anything like it!!!! The vet was there when it happened and she was PTS in seconds. This was my favourite mare and we had a real bond - well you would when you look after a horse every night for 10.5 hours and sit and keep her company etc..
On another stud where I foaled 137 between Jan and mid April, I had a foetal diarrhoea, but we saved her!! She never did much on the racetrack mind. Elsewhere on the farm we had 2 other FD's and neither survived - we had over 500 mares foal that year! I also lost a mare and foal - the foal never came fully out, as it was a dog sitter. The mare was a Champion racehorse and the foal was by 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. Dog sitting, for those of you that don't know, is where one, or both, hind feet get hooked over the pelvic girdle, during what to all intents and purposes appears to be a normally presented foal. I have actually managed to unhook a back foot at another foaling, but my god I nearly lost my arm in the process - contractions are not to be messed with, but having lost one to DS I wasn't gonna loose another one! DS is so problematical, because it's so difficult to detect, as the foal presents normally, and it's often only when you realise it's not coming out, that it's realised that there is a problem. Usually by this point, the foal is pretty much entirely in the birth canal, (apart from the buttocks and hocks), so there isn't much, if any, room to get an arm in to feel what's gong on. As the hind foot/feet hook over the pelvic girdle, the hind leg is forced to stay bent as the mare contracts, however this causes a kind of upwards leverage on backend of the foal and there just isn't enough room for the foal s body to come through the pelvic cradle - I can't put it into words properly - sorry, but I have looked for diagram on the web, but failed.
We also lost a mare on one of my nights off. She went balistic rolling when the foal was partially out - the attendants had to leave, as even when they tried to sit on her head/neck she threw them off and one broke their wrist!! In her struggles she tore her mesentary (sp?) and was PTS at the clinic - amazingly the foal survived, though was a dummy foal for a few days - oxygen deprived during birth. Foal is a Stakes winner now though!
Also had a mare foal, very easy and quickly, no complications/difficulties at all. She got up, sniffed her foal, licked it, looked at us, then in a flash, picked it up by the navel and slung it against the wall - guts went EVERYWHERE!!! Foal was pretty much dead before it hit the floor!! I don't think I'll ever forget this one! She wasn't a maiden foaler either!!
Last year (2006) my friend lost her mare, when the mare prolapsed after foaling. Friend slept through the whole thing
Have lost numerous foals between one week and one year for various reasons - broken necks/legs in the field. Lost 2 this year to heart murmurs!! One wasn't born here though and it also had guteral pouch myloencephalitis and died in it's sleep at the vets. The other one we tried to save, but there was nothing to be done for him - you could feel the irregularity of his heart beat with your hand on his ribs and the scans were incredible - massive hole in his heart! The vet was amazed he was still alive - bless him. He only went last week
MizElz
Well-Known Member
Snowynight - how amazing and tragic to have known so many sad cases
. When you said about the mare who killed her foal, it reminded me of a video on youtube where a wild stalliom killed a foal....
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uwOnFrfPRdE
was there something wrong with the foal, to make the mother want to destroy it?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uwOnFrfPRdE
was there something wrong with the foal, to make the mother want to destroy it?
ashbank
Well-Known Member
We lost a mare about 11 years ago to a prolapse. She was ok for a couple of hours, but when they would normally cleanse, the whole lot came out. Offspring is still with us now.
Haven't lost a foal yet.
Haven't lost a foal yet.
MissIndependance
Well-Known Member
Bloody hell Snowynight I think you may have just put me off breeding ever again ! And I am now terrified of next years foaling season! I've never heard of dogsitting before so will have to learn more about that so i feel semi prepared...
That mare who flung her foal sounds awful - what a shock especially if she wasn't a maiden mare...
That mare who flung her foal sounds awful - what a shock especially if she wasn't a maiden mare...
druid
Well-Known Member
Thanks all
SN - you're putting me off ever breeding
SN - you're putting me off ever breeding
S_N
Well-Known Member
Ahh, but if you look at the percentages, it's not as bad as it seems. I'm glad that I have experienced all that I have foaling - esp. all the dystocias, as I can now do something about it - mostly anyway! Doesn't mean that I take breeding lightly - I was a complete bag of nerves when H was due and I suspect I will be again, as B gets closer to her time, this time round.
With regards to percentages, I couldn't actually tell you how many foalings I have been at, but I do know that this year I did 97 and in 2002 I did 137 - those are the years I worked nights foaling. My first foaling was in 1991. Next in 1996 and 1997 at the stud where Sportsnight stood, I was at about 10 foalings - I was at college during the week though, so was lucky to see that many during these 2 years. Then 1999 at Broadstone, def. saw 6 foalings. 2000 at the Bloodstock Agent I was working for during the final year of my degree, I know I saw 17. Then went to Kentucky and in 2001 saw 40 odd day time/early evening foalings. Then after I started woring in the offices in 2002, I was living on site and I had the guys in the foaling barns in 2003 and early 2004 (before I left) call me when a mare started to foal - I was in one of the 5 foaling barns almost every evening/night! I know we foaled down 672 in 2003 and about 40% were born between 6pm and midnight and I was there for nearly all of those! I can't do those sums though....
With regards to percentages, I couldn't actually tell you how many foalings I have been at, but I do know that this year I did 97 and in 2002 I did 137 - those are the years I worked nights foaling. My first foaling was in 1991. Next in 1996 and 1997 at the stud where Sportsnight stood, I was at about 10 foalings - I was at college during the week though, so was lucky to see that many during these 2 years. Then 1999 at Broadstone, def. saw 6 foalings. 2000 at the Bloodstock Agent I was working for during the final year of my degree, I know I saw 17. Then went to Kentucky and in 2001 saw 40 odd day time/early evening foalings. Then after I started woring in the offices in 2002, I was living on site and I had the guys in the foaling barns in 2003 and early 2004 (before I left) call me when a mare started to foal - I was in one of the 5 foaling barns almost every evening/night! I know we foaled down 672 in 2003 and about 40% were born between 6pm and midnight and I was there for nearly all of those! I can't do those sums though....
alleycat
Well-Known Member
Does make you wonder how horses as a species survive, doesn't it...
How good or bad are these figures? Are they comparable to wild equids? Or are we doing something wrong? I mean, a zebra foal with wonky legs... it would immediately be somebody's dinner, wouldn't it. Yet we take these things for granted and assume they are normal.
(just edited to say that you have already answered this question before I've even asked it!)
I haven't lost a mare at foaling, but I have had a mare, away at stud to foal down and be covered again, rupture as a result of being given a drug to increase her contractions as she didn't seem to want to push; she didn't want to push because the foal's foot was about to come through the wall of her abdomen. What made it worse was that the vet officiating would not let on that she had ruptured; the big swelling under her stomach- "Oh, its just fluid; it will go down in time".
"But what is it?"
"Its just fluid"
"Its not a rupture or anything?"
"No, just fluid"
I was silly enough firstly to believe that this chancer was competent, and secondly to tell my own (young, inexperienced ) vet what the other guy had said, so my vet just seconded it. The fluid eventually drained to leave two lumps, one each side, the bigger one as big as your two clenched fists. Luckily the next vet out was the locum, and very experienced; he diagnosed the rupture but was of the opinion that after this long, the surgery needed to cure it was more dangerous than the injury. The holes were too big to cause a strangulated hernia. The lumps of protruding bowel didn't hurt the mare; in fact she rather liked having them gently scratched.
However, after a 12 year retirement, when the mare was put down for other reasons, he did confess that he hadn't really expected her to live beyond a year or two.
That foal was born live but died almost at once, stressed out. I've also had a mare slip twins (she wasn't scanned as scanning in that area at that time seemed to carry around a 40% success rate for correctly predicting pregnancy; tossing a coin was more likely to be right. Operator inexperience, I think). I also had a mare abort reason unknown; we never found the foetus (eaten by foxes, I would imagine). I also lost a mare to grass sickness while she was away at stud. Oddly enough, all this stuff happened together, just as it did for Anastasia, and after nothing but success, I had about three years of failure and sadness.
Oh and Snowynight- I think you're very, very brave. Foaling to me is just an occasional necessary evil if you're going to have foals; I'd hate to supervise it for my living.
How good or bad are these figures? Are they comparable to wild equids? Or are we doing something wrong? I mean, a zebra foal with wonky legs... it would immediately be somebody's dinner, wouldn't it. Yet we take these things for granted and assume they are normal.
(just edited to say that you have already answered this question before I've even asked it!)
I haven't lost a mare at foaling, but I have had a mare, away at stud to foal down and be covered again, rupture as a result of being given a drug to increase her contractions as she didn't seem to want to push; she didn't want to push because the foal's foot was about to come through the wall of her abdomen. What made it worse was that the vet officiating would not let on that she had ruptured; the big swelling under her stomach- "Oh, its just fluid; it will go down in time".
"But what is it?"
"Its just fluid"
"Its not a rupture or anything?"
"No, just fluid"
I was silly enough firstly to believe that this chancer was competent, and secondly to tell my own (young, inexperienced ) vet what the other guy had said, so my vet just seconded it. The fluid eventually drained to leave two lumps, one each side, the bigger one as big as your two clenched fists. Luckily the next vet out was the locum, and very experienced; he diagnosed the rupture but was of the opinion that after this long, the surgery needed to cure it was more dangerous than the injury. The holes were too big to cause a strangulated hernia. The lumps of protruding bowel didn't hurt the mare; in fact she rather liked having them gently scratched.
That foal was born live but died almost at once, stressed out. I've also had a mare slip twins (she wasn't scanned as scanning in that area at that time seemed to carry around a 40% success rate for correctly predicting pregnancy; tossing a coin was more likely to be right. Operator inexperience, I think). I also had a mare abort reason unknown; we never found the foetus (eaten by foxes, I would imagine). I also lost a mare to grass sickness while she was away at stud. Oddly enough, all this stuff happened together, just as it did for Anastasia, and after nothing but success, I had about three years of failure and sadness.
Oh and Snowynight- I think you're very, very brave. Foaling to me is just an occasional necessary evil if you're going to have foals; I'd hate to supervise it for my living.
Bossanova
Well-Known Member
I sympathise with anyone who has been at a difficult foaling, I think our dificult one was the worst night of my life, feeling so helpless and utterly distraught at what was happening in front of us. You always ask yourself 'what if'