Rolf Harris is on channel 5 at equine hospital

You can often tell when you are lambing or calving that the lamb/calf is dead, when you're lambing you will get a dead lamb causing problems as they are limp and will not present properly just like the foal did. I don't think they did anything wrong although her legs could have been secured a bit better! Infact i think he did well to get the foal out without sectioning. Our vet has told us that C secs are not very succesful in mares.
 
Recorded it and going to watch it a bit later. The vet this week is the guy who looked after a friend's mare when she had to go to Leahurst a couple of months ago.

Sounds sad, think I'll settle down with a cuppa and lots of tissues :(
 
How sad :(

I missed the beginning of it. Did they think there was going to be a problem? Is that why she was at the vets in the first place?
 
mil1212 said:
Is there a reason why they couldnt do a caesarean sooner? Genuine question
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Sooner as in before she went into labour, or sooner during the labour process?

During the labour process, as soon as the vet felt 3 feet he wanted her to induction but she wouldn't stand - ideally if she had been up I would imagine they would have wanted her in the induction box with the view to doing the controlled vaginal delivery (knocking her out and hoisting her), however you can't make a mare stand that doesn't want to, so they were doing the best they could in the circumstances.

In terms of doing one before labour, inducing mares is a hugely risky process, even in elective caesars (which I have only seen in the US) they always waited until the mare began foaling herself. If you induce a mare, even at 'full term' (340d) you have a high risk of a premi foal - mares don't foal until the foal is cooked. And as previously mentioned, doing a caesar in a mare who already had a compromised abdominal wall would likely be pretty disastrous - there would be nothing to suture together afterwards, the chances of a fatal complications must be very high.

Not to mention, caesars in mares generally don't end well, unlike cows or dogs. Of the last 3 I have been involved in, one ended up with dead mare and foal, one with endotoxic/laminitic mare and dummy foal (both alive but £20000 plus vet bill) and one with a live foal but dead mare(this was actually an elective caesar).
 
Thank you for explaining, i assumed as with all things operating is never the best option, but I missed the point that if they had done one sooner they would have stuggled to suture her together again.
Beautiful mare, glad for the end result for her. Maybe I'll get a plastic horse too, much easier to keep!
 
I thought it was fascinating and really gripping. It makes a change seeing some real life. Such a shame about the foal and what a beautiful mare. Thank goodness she was OK.
 
It wasn't staged in anyway- the mare was in the hospital for almost 3 months before going into labour and scans from in that time showed a viable growing foal with heart beat. There was little option but to wait until she went into labour, and many many hours were spent watching her!

And also, it was a final year student that got knocked down by her, not a nurse, and she was completely fine :) though being one of the slightest people in the year I'm not sure why they had her on a leg!!
 
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