Prepubic tendon rupture 5 weeks before foal due

Corvedale1

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Hi all,

I have been lurking on here for a while to pick up advice as breeding my first foal from a much loved mare (11 year old showjumper/eventer maiden). I had hoped my first post would be happy foal pics but devastated that she has suffered a rupture and can hardly walk with an abnormal shaped and distended dropped belly pelvis is slightly tilted. Internal exam showed the foal is still alive. She has been given antiflammatory and painkillers seems comfortable enough on box rest. Scan being done by my vet at home tomorrow to confirm if there is damage to the abdomen wall and whether she is fit to travel. She will certainly not be able to push the foal out herself without assistance. It seems to be very rare and we are just very unfortunate.

Initial plan had been for her to foal at Twemlows as I don't really have the set up here but has now been suggested she should go to Liverpool. She may need to be induced or even have a caesarian.

My insurance are unlikely to cover this as foaling is excluded but I will find the money to pay somehow if this is the best thing for the mare. Trawling the internet I have not found any cases with a good outcome and I am worried that I would be putting her through a lot with very low chance of survival. The case covered on Vet school at Leahurst a couple of years ago showed the mare having a terrible time of it and a dead foal although I think that was an abdominal tear rather than a prepubic tendon rupture? I don't know if that makes any difference sounds like finding more abdominal damage would be bad news. Any more positive reports would be very good to hear at the moment!

I will know a bit more tomorrow after the scan but then need to make a decision whether to move her and where to move her to. Part of me feels that she is much happier at home with her pony companion in her own stable for as long as possible and the rest of me wants to get her into expert hands as quickly as possible.

I would appreciate hearing any experiences (good or bad) that anyone has had with this type of situation as I really do not know what to do for the best.
 

Spring Feather

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Oh golly what a worrying conundrum. I'm not sure which route I'd take tbh. If you have an experienced vet who can be on-call and out to your premises within no time then *I think* I'd edge towards that choice; but I foal out mares every year; what experience do you have of foaling out? If you're not experienced then perhaps it would be safest to take the mare to somewhere with more experience. From what I know of PPTR, some mares foal with no problems, others have a bleak outlook.
 

sallyf

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Yes it happened to a friend of mines mare.
Her legs also blew up and she struggled to move at all.
They tried to load her to take her to vet clinic to be monitored and she fell up the ramp so they had to defer giving her some bute to try and make her more comfortable.
A few days later they borrowed a trailer to move her in and that went fine.
She foaled at the vets surprisingly easily ,she was always a sneaky mare and actually popped the foal out without anyone really twigging what was going on.
She had been told mare wouldn't foal unaided but she did and pretty quickly and easily.
She did look awful afterwards her abdomen was very collapsed but she raised the foal without issue and lived another 4 years after that (she was 23 when she foaled) so some do make it out
 

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No experience of this, but just to say that I sent my mare to foal down at Twemlows (3years ago) and the care there was excellent. The foal was big and malpresented, but the two stud grooms coped well. They called the resident vet at the first sign of trouble, but had successfully delivered a good healthy filly before the vet arrived. The mare was fine too.

I am certain that I would have lost them both, if I had foaled my mare at home as was my original intention.

Good luck.
 

Corvedale1

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If I was experienced in breeding I would leave her at home but its my (and her) first foal which was why I had originally planned to send her to stud to foal down. My own vet is talking to the vet at Twemlows today hopefully. They did say that when they had a similar case it went to Liverpool. My dilemna is whether to take her to Twemlows for their expert care or to take her straight to Liverpool in case of complications that need surgery. If I am honest I don't like the idea of her being used as an interesting teaching case and just want what it is best for the mare. I feel that if it gets to the stage of needing surgical intervention then things will be pretty bleak anyway.
 

Corvedale1

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Yes it happened to a friend of mines mare.
Her legs also blew up and she struggled to move at all.
They tried to load her to take her to vet clinic to be monitored and she fell up the ramp so they had to defer giving her some bute to try and make her more comfortable.
A few days later they borrowed a trailer to move her in and that went fine.
She foaled at the vets surprisingly easily ,she was always a sneaky mare and actually popped the foal out without anyone really twigging what was going on.
She had been told mare wouldn't foal unaided but she did and pretty quickly and easily.
She did look awful afterwards her abdomen was very collapsed but she raised the foal without issue and lived another 4 years after that (she was 23 when she foaled) so some do make it out

That is reassuring to hear. I am hoping that she will manage to travel in my trailer with the partition taken out. She seems reasonably comfortable now on Danilon and I can park so that the ramp is level for her. Twemlows is only an hour from us but Liverpool a bit further.
 

Corvedale1

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No experience of this, but just to say that I sent my mare to foal down at Twemlows (3years ago) and the care there was excellent. The foal was big and malpresented, but the two stud grooms coped well. They called the resident vet at the first sign of trouble, but had successfully delivered a good healthy filly before the vet arrived. The mare was fine too.

I am certain that I would have lost them both, if I had foaled my mare at home as was my original intention.

Good luck.

Thank you - I have every confidence in the set up at Twemlows but was thrown a bit by the suggestion that she should go straight to Liverpool. Hopefully my vet will talk to their resident vet today and we will come up with a plan after the scan tomorrow. I knew breeding was going to be stressful but I never imagined this!
 

madlady

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Is your vet set up for foaling?

I think my personal preference if I had a mare like this would be to get her to my vet - even though I have had mares foal myself I am a little too far away from my vet for comfort in a situation like this.

My concern would be that she starts foaling and presents complications - as she already has a tendon rupture you will need someone on hand to act very very quickly or you could lose both. That reasoning would make me want her in the right place. For me that would be at my vets (as they do cater for things like that) but it might be that Twemlows are geared up for it.

Have a good chat with your vet and a good chat with Twemlows then make your decision. Hope they are both ok.
 

Spring Feather

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Well we can't make the choice, and you'll be in a better position to make an educated decision once the vets have spoken to one another. With the situation at hand and further details, I'd be inclined to take her to Twemlows, on the understanding that if anything goes wrong then I'd take full responsibility of making that choice myself.
 

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I have unfortunately had experience of this and sadly lost both my fabulous made and foal. None of the three vets I saw had ever seen this before,despite being vets of many years experience,one specialising in stud work. The mare was unable to push due to the rupture and as a result when we got the foal out it was a dummy as it had suffered oxygen deprivation. I lost the foal after24 hrs battling to get it to feed and the poor mare 5 days later after colic due to the trauma. My advice would be get the very best facilities and veterinary care that you can afford.
 

Corvedale1

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I have unfortunately had experience of this and sadly lost both my fabulous made and foal. None of the three vets I saw had ever seen this before,despite being vets of many years experience,one specialising in stud work. The mare was unable to push due to the rupture and as a result when we got the foal out it was a dummy as it had suffered oxygen deprivation. I lost the foal after24 hrs battling to get it to feed and the poor mare 5 days later after colic due to the trauma. My advice would be get the very best facilities and veterinary care that you can afford.

So sorry to hear this - I know that this is a real possibility and is my worst fear. We have had the scan this afternoon and it showed no apparent rupture to the abdomen wall which was good news and means that she should be fit to travel to somewhere she can get expert care. I plan to move her in the next few days just awaiting a phone call to find out where to. Unfortunately as you say, most vets have not dealt with this before. I will do my best for her she is such a lovely mare.
 

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I don't have personal experience but I remember watching one of those animal cops programmes where they had a mare come in very late in her pregnancy with the tendon ruptured. They were convinced she wouldn't foal on her own but she managed to get a healthy foal out. The mare herself subsequently coliced and died however she was incredibly emaciated - she had given, literally, everything to the foal (am amazed she could stand never mind anything else) so that will have had a lot to do with that.

Good luck to you and mare/foal
 

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I have had personal experience of this in a mare who was 7 weeks from foaling. It was our intention to move her to an equine hospital for foaling but unfortunately we had to put the mare down with 5 weeks to go when she started to haemorrhage again a rare thing to happen. I have the complete foaling manual, an American book written by a foaling attendant Theresa Jones, and had read the chapter on both abdominal wall rupture and Prepubic tendon rupture so was aware that the outcome varies from case to case which gave us hope. The chapter is not long but she says that it is mandatory that a vet is on hand with an assistant for the foaling so that if it is not possible to deliver the foal vaginally that a c-section can be done. she also says that with proper vet care while the mare may survive she will not carry another foal (the last bit is a bit obvious in my opinion to anyone who has seen one of these mares). I would therefore recommend that you send her somewhere there is access to good horsepital facilities in the event that you have to resort to a c-section, as your vet has suggested. Get a copy of the complete foaling manual if you can, even now, as I have found it to be the best book on foaling available and contains a lot of case studies etc., I have at least 8 other foaling books and this is by far the best covering whats normal and whats not. Good luck with your mare and hopefully you will have a good outcome. the book is published by Equine Research Inc (Texas)
 

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We had just this sort of foaling on Monday, poor mare went four weeks 'early', she had been in pain but we monitor everything 24/7 and are very experienced in foaling so had kept her with us and on as little bute as possible. She didn't lay down for a whole week prior to foaling, which went surprisingly well and foal was healthy. The mare slept for over an hour post foaling, we left her be. Thankfully she is now a lot more comfortable with a lovely healthy foal. It is not a nice thing to monitor, good luck with your one.
 

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I'm sorry to hear this. By your name I'm taking it that you are in the Craven Arms type area (sorry if wrong) and just wondering if you had thought about sending her to a TB stud to foal down where they will have 24 hour monitoring, the experience and the back up of specialised stud vets? I know there is one at Welshpool which is very experienced and probably equidistance from you as Twemlows and there used to be one in the Bewdley area, I'm sure there would be more too especially if you were able to go further afield. Are you with Fyrnwy vets?
I'm with your thoughts re Leahurst and believe me, they would take your house let alone an arm and a leg. While all student vets have to learn it should not be at the expense of the patient or their owner which was the situation of the case you mentioned
 

Corvedale1

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I have had personal experience of this in a mare who was 7 weeks from foaling. It was our intention to move her to an equine hospital for foaling but unfortunately we had to put the mare down with 5 weeks to go when she started to haemorrhage again a rare thing to happen. I have the complete foaling manual, an American book written by a foaling attendant Theresa Jones, and had read the chapter on both abdominal wall rupture and Prepubic tendon rupture so was aware that the outcome varies from case to case which gave us hope. The chapter is not long but she says that it is mandatory that a vet is on hand with an assistant for the foaling so that if it is not possible to deliver the foal vaginally that a c-section can be done. she also says that with proper vet care while the mare may survive she will not carry another foal (the last bit is a bit obvious in my opinion to anyone who has seen one of these mares). I would therefore recommend that you send her somewhere there is access to good horsepital facilities in the event that you have to resort to a c-section, as your vet has suggested. Get a copy of the complete foaling manual if you can, even now, as I have found it to be the best book on foaling available and contains a lot of case studies etc., I have at least 8 other foaling books and this is by far the best covering whats normal and whats not. Good luck with your mare and hopefully you will have a good outcome. the book is published by Equine Research Inc (Texas)

So sorry you lost your mare and foal. I will try and download the book on my kindle - I have purchased several foaling books and none of them have more than a passing mention of this condition. Thank you
 

Corvedale1

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We had just this sort of foaling on Monday, poor mare went four weeks 'early', she had been in pain but we monitor everything 24/7 and are very experienced in foaling so had kept her with us and on as little bute as possible. She didn't lay down for a whole week prior to foaling, which went surprisingly well and foal was healthy. The mare slept for over an hour post foaling, we left her be. Thankfully she is now a lot more comfortable with a lovely healthy foal. It is not a nice thing to monitor, good luck with your one.

This gives me some hope. She must be a tough mare I hope she suffers no long term ill effects.
 

Corvedale1

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I'm sorry to hear this. By your name I'm taking it that you are in the Craven Arms type area (sorry if wrong) and just wondering if you had thought about sending her to a TB stud to foal down where they will have 24 hour monitoring, the experience and the back up of specialised stud vets? I know there is one at Welshpool which is very experienced and probably equidistance from you as Twemlows and there used to be one in the Bewdley area, I'm sure there would be more too especially if you were able to go further afield. Are you with Fyrnwy vets?
I'm with your thoughts re Leahurst and believe me, they would take your house let alone an arm and a leg. While all student vets have to learn it should not be at the expense of the patient or their owner which was the situation of the case you mentioned

You are right - between Bridgnorth and Craven Arms. I am with Severn Edge but used Twemlows for the AI was happy with their set up and as a one off first time breeder felt she would be best off foaling there, 24 hour supervision, resident vet on hand etc. I will speak to Yorton at Welshpool to see if they have experience of this condition though that it a good suggestion. Thank you
 

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Nothing to add just wishing you all the best for a good outcome, my mare, also a maiden was AI'd at Twemlows and is due in a few weeks so I can imagine what you may be going through, fingers crossed it all works out
 

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Have friends who send their mares from North Yorkshire to Yorton to foal and can't speak highly enough of them.
 

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I feel for you Coverdale1 my mare 2 years ago went throu a bad foaling and had to get c section it's not easy making that decision I didn't have time to get her to the vet school and c section was performed at home and I owe a lot to my vet and friends for there help that day was touch and go for months but my mare pulled throu sadly foal had badly contracted tendons and wasn't right on back leg so after bottle feeding him for 5 days had to put him to sleep. I hope your mare and foal come throu it well xx if you want pics or someone to talk to just pm me xx
 

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Just to update, her general condition has improved, back on her food and she is now off the Danilon which has cured her diarrhoea which was starting to be a worry. The filling in her front legs has gone down - although vet said it would have moved rather than disappeared and is now all on her belly. Scans done on her abdomen are all clear and show a strong muscle wall although large amounts of oedema. Pelvis is slightly tilted but not as drastic as some photos of this that I have seen. She has started to wax up, dribbling down her hind legs but not milky which is a bit of a worry with still 4 weeks to go. We are checking on her night and day. I am calling the stud farm to arrange to move her tomorrow as she is in much better condition to travel than she was a few days ago but I am worried the foal will be early (310 days). Thanks to everyone who has messaged their support.
 
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