Some advice - how is this possible?!

[mc.80]

Would really appreciate some advice from some more experienced breeders or those with veterinary expertise in equine reproduction

I’ve had a string of bad luck with my mare’s AI this season, which I won’t go into, to avoid the post being too long. However, she was finally scanned in foal last week, but with twins. I was assured by everyone how it’s quite common and you just have the smaller embryo “pinched out” and some anti inflammatory jabs and 9 times out of 10, it’s all fine.
Of course, I had a feeling I would be that 1 in 10 (based on how things are going this year) and 5 days later, it came true - she lost the remaining embryo

Now to my dilemma. It’s late in season now anyway and to make it worse, the stallion I’m using, has suddenly been removed from stud, as of the end of this week, due to his training resuming for his Grand Prix
My vet said to me that my mare has a 38mm follicle. He did say that he would be doubtful about the viability of this follicle (and that he’s not sure what it will do - grow/regress etc) but how can a mare who was pregnant just a few days before, have such a large follicle?! Normally I’d see a 38mm follicle as about ready to order semen. I’m a bit confused how this is possible

My vet says we can try to do something with this follicle and we PG’d her immediately and will check her again tomorrow to decide whether it’s worth ordering from the stud for Saturday delivery. It’s not ideal but given that I have one more day of the stallion being available to collect from, I don’t know what else to do

So really I was just asking people more experienced, why the mare might have another fairly large follicle so soon after pregnancy termination and if that is in any way normal and whether you would even consider attempting another AI
Just as some brief background, this isn’t the first time my mare has surprised us. One of the previous times when we had a delivery failure from the Stud (carrier error) and my mare was fully ready with a 40mm follicle, we had to abandon our attempt and go again. Vet returned 1 week after to scan her with a view to giving PG for short cycling and she already, just 1 week later, had a 33mm follicle, which we (without any PG needed) were able to AI the following week (and that’s the one that was successful in her recent twin pregnancy)

I’m a bit confused. I am not massively experienced at this but it seems my mare doesn’t follow any text book and I don’t know whether I’m wasting my money trying again with this unexpected 38mm follicle!

Any advice welcomed!

 

[TheMule]

Would really appreciate some advice from some more experienced breeders or those with veterinary expertise in equine reproduction

I’ve had a string of bad luck with my mare’s AI this season, which I won’t go into, to avoid the post being too long. However, she was finally scanned in foal last week, but with twins. I was assured by everyone how it’s quite common and you just have the smaller embryo “pinched out” and some anti inflammatory jabs and 9 times out of 10, it’s all fine.
Of course, I had a feeling I would be that 1 in 10 (based on how things are going this year) and 5 days later, it came true - she lost the remaining embryo

Now to my dilemma. It’s late in season now anyway and to make it worse, the stallion I’m using, has suddenly been removed from stud, as of the end of this week, due to his training resuming for his Grand Prix
My vet said to me that my mare has a 38mm follicle. He did say that he would be doubtful about the viability of this follicle (and that he’s not sure what it will do - grow/regress etc) but how can a mare who was pregnant just a few days before, have such a large follicle?! Normally I’d see a 38mm follicle as about ready to order semen. I’m a bit confused how this is possible

My vet says we can try to do something with this follicle and we PG’d her immediately and will check her again tomorrow to decide whether it’s worth ordering from the stud for Saturday delivery. It’s not ideal but given that I have one more day of the stallion being available to collect from, I don’t know what else to do

So really I was just asking people more experienced, why the mare might have another fairly large follicle so soon after pregnancy termination and if that is in any way normal and whether you would even consider attempting another AI
Just as some brief background, this isn’t the first time my mare has surprised us. One of the previous times when we had a delivery failure from the Stud (carrier error) and my mare was fully ready with a 40mm follicle, we had to abandon our attempt and go again. Vet returned 1 week after to scan her with a view to giving PG for short cycling and she already, just 1 week later, had a 33mm follicle, which we (without any PG needed) were able to AI the following week (and that’s the one that was successful in her recent twin pregnancy)

I’m a bit confused. I am not massively experienced at this but it seems my mare doesn’t follow any text book and I don’t know whether I’m wasting my money trying again with this unexpected 38mm follicle!

Any advice welcomed!

How experienced is your vet? I think you're doing the right things having another look in the morning to see what it is doing, mares have done stranger things!

 

[mc.80]

How experienced is your vet? I think you're doing the right things having another look in the morning to see what it is doing, mares have done stranger things!

Thanks for the reply! My vet is experienced and has worked on large stud farms all over Europe, so I trust he knows what he’s doing but I can tell that even he can’t explain the follicle and isn’t sure what it will do

He said that if we had unlimited time, his advice would be to let this follicle go (either ovulate or regress, whatever it will do) and then wait 5 days for the CL to be PG’able and go again, but that’s not an option for this stallion

I just have to hope that the PG will kickstart this follicle and it’s viable for AI this weekend. He’s doubtful that the timing is right (even if the follicle grows) but said we can try because both mare and stallion seem to be super fertile - last time with the twins that she ultimately did lose, she only had one follicle when inseminated, but it seems another one continued to grow and still got fertilised some time later, so I am kind of running just on hope that even if timing is off, I might be due a bit of luck

I was just wondering if anyone had ever heard of a mare being bred so soon after a termination!

 

[Horses_Rule]

I feel your pain!!!!
I’ve also been going all season with my mare. 2 weeks ago mare was scanned with twins , had one pinched and a week later the remaining was gone even with the anti inflammatories etc.
Interestingly enough my mare when we scanned and found the remaining twin had gone she was also in season! I was surprised as the twin would have been at least 25 ish days old ??‍ Strange !
I decided to go again as everything was right and will be scanning next week , if she hasn’t taken this time then I’ll be pulling the plug!
I hope your mare starts playing ball!

 

[mc.80]

I feel your pain!!!!
I’ve also been going all season with my mare. 2 weeks ago mare was scanned with twins , had one pinched and a week later the remaining was gone even with the anti inflammatories etc.
Interestingly enough my mare when we scanned and found the remaining twin had gone she was also in season! I was surprised as the twin would have been at least 25 ish days old ??‍ Strange !
I decided to go again as everything was right and will be scanning next week , if she hasn’t taken this time then I’ll be pulling the plug!
I hope your mare starts playing ball!

oh wow, your situation sounds almost identical to mine! Glad I’m not the only one to find a mare who has just terminated a remaining twin and seems to be in season in parallel!
How soon after the loss were you able to inseminate? My issue is compounded by being restricted to one remaining stallion date, which just makes it worse. I have everything crossed for you too

 

[mc.80]

Oh and mine was the same - even with 3 days in a row of IV inflammatories and a further day of oral inflammatory given, she lost it. I even had a scan done 3 days after pinching and she still had it and it had grown, so I was really hopeful she’d keep it. Then suddenly on Day 5, it had just gone!

 

[Horses_Rule]

It’s so frustrating!
We scanned on the Tuesday, found twins squeezed smaller weaker one on left ( they were opposite sides of uterus) gave anti inflams etc.
Scanned the Friday and remaining twin was still there but the vet said it looked ‘ upset’ but had seen Worse come good, more anti inflams given.
By the Tuesday the remaining twin had gone and she was in season with a viable follicle ready to start the following day!
She was scanned the Friday and had ovulated!

Bloody mares

 

[mc.80]

It’s so frustrating!
We scanned on the Tuesday, found twins squeezed smaller weaker one on left ( they were opposite sides of uterus) gave anti inflams etc.
Scanned the Friday and remaining twin was still there but the vet said it looked ‘ upset’ but had seen Worse come good, more anti inflams given.
By the Tuesday the remaining twin had gone and she was in season with a viable follicle ready to start the following day!
She was scanned the Friday and had ovulated!

Bloody mares

This is quite odd - almost exact same path as me. Even down to scanning 3 days after twin pinch and remaining twin still there, but then had gone a few days after that. Only slight difference was my remaining twin was deemed to look good (was growing and strong) and I had false hopes it would survive

I’m now waiting for a scan tomorrow to confirm that surprise follicle is indeed still viable and hasn’t ovulated and will inject Chorulon and get semen for Saturday and keep my fingers crossed

My mare apparently doesn’t read the textbook (and she has 5 foals to her name) Still very curious to know how a mare who was pregnant 5 minutes before, can be in season again with a large-ish follicle ready to go (not that I’ll complain if it works)

Good luck - let me know how yours gets on

 

[TigerTail]

Mine had chroulon and still didn’t b ovulate ??‍ The vet has just declared this cycle a car crash and is going to start again in two weeks with a teaser involved grr *burns money*

 

[mc.80]

Oh wow, that’s a problem I haven’t yet had but now you put the thought in my head..!!

update from this morning. The vet came and her 38mm follicle is now 40mm and viable. No idea how! He said, unbelievably, order the semen, it looks like we are on for this weekend

he didn’t give the Chorulon today because we only PG’d recently and he’s a bit worried she might ovulate too soon, so will jab the Chorulon on the day of insemination

Still can’t believe this is viable and I’ve zero expectations but who knows!