stillborn foal-would you re-breed the mare?

[ZAHRA]

Hiya All,

My exrace arabian mare sadly gave birth to a stillborn colt. She was a maiden mare. So she didn't really understand-which i guess is a blessing.

Would you risk re-breeding your mare to the same stallion?
She had the milk-so i know that wouldn't be a problem.

Not all doom and gloom, i did have 2 cracking fillies

Cheers nikki

 

[xnaughtybutnicex]

I probably wouldn't risk it just incase mare has problems, i don't suppose it is good for them to go through the pregnancy and have no foal at the end. I'm not a breeder though btw.

 

[AmyMay]

Were you present at the birth?

Was it stillborn, or did it die after delivery??

 

[springfallstud]

We had a still born one year and mare has gone onto to breed lovely healthy foals since and where i work also has had the same happen with healthy foals since so it wouldnt mean for one minute it would happen again.

 

[Enfys]

It totally depends. If it was deformed then I would be consulting with my vet, if it was just stillborn and quite normal then probably yes. So many reasons for a stillborn foal that it is hard to say.

My maiden mare had fullterm stillborn twins (not expected) and had a terrible time delivering, the vet thought that they both died shortly before delivery. I have given her a season off to recover as she had a hard time, but she will certainly be returning to the my stallion in spring.

I do have a perfectly healthy and thriving filly by the same stallion though.

 

[zoeshiloh]

Do you know why the foal was stilborn? We had a stillborn foal this year, and the PM showed that her heart had not formed properly. He said that this was a totally freak deformity, and nothing to do with either parent, so there would be no reason not to breed the same combination again.

I think when deciding to re-breed your mare, you really need to know why the foal was stillborn, otherwise how can you make an informed decision? If genetics had something to do with it, then no, I would not risk it again, but if it was just a freak malformity then the risk would be worth taking if the bloodlines/cross was a particularly good one.

 

[AndyPandy]

Necropsy is really the only way to know what caused the still birth, and therefore whether or not you should rebreed the mare... sorry for your loss

 

[nikkiportia]

We had a stillborn this year, there was a PM done, and it was inconclusive. The heart was beating and continued to beat for a good few minutes. Despite the immediate use of a respirator and then oxygen, the foal never even tried to take a breath. Vet was there within 5 mins of birth (he happened to be driving past the stud!)
The foal was perfectly formed, and it left even the vets scratching their heads

However, the mare has bred good foals before, and is now in foal again. The vets certainly didn't suggest we shouldn't breed from her again. Sometimes these things just happen.

 

[CrazyMare]

Ever so slightly different but we had two still born calves on the yard this year, one was a perfect bull calf, just seems that the placenta became detached too early. One was horribly deformed. The one with the perfect calf has been AIed again, while the other one is being 'decorative' and lives a happy life on the yard.

It really depends why.

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]
Necropsy is really the only way to know what caused the still birth, and therefore whether or not you should rebreed the mare... sorry for your loss

[/ QUOTE ]

Andy is right - and even then you don't always know why. I lost a foal 6 years ago - red bag delivery at about 295 days - it never breathed and may have died before birth. He was large and looked perfect. Post morten and lab work showed no obvious cause so it was put down to just one of those things. She wasn't a maiden - and she's had 5 healthy foals since.

So yes - in the ansence of any good reason to 'blame' the mare for the problem, I would re-breed her. In my case the mare didn't go to the same stallion (I'd bought her in foal and used my own stallion in subsequent years) but unless the mare and stallion were a bit close on the pedigree side of things, I'd risk using the same stallion IF he was the best for the mare.

 

[ZAHRA]

Hiya All,

Thanks for all your replys, this happened a few months back now.

The foal was originally a twin(4got that bit sorry), i was there at the birth, she had no problems foaling, everything was textbook. However for about a month before foaling, she was late too, everything went very quite, i knew something was going to go wrong, but of course didn't know what exactly.

He was perfectly formed, cracking looking colt. To be honest i was so dazed i just rang my mates, as i couldn't bear to touch him(she foaled out in the field-did have stable but happened during the day mates were checking her for me while i was at work, and she foaled soon after i got there)anyway so my mates moved him and made all the arrangements, so unfortunately i never did get a PM done, my mate said it's just one of those things-i did have a filly foal by the same sire.

She's a crackking mare, proved herself on the track, and is from an excellant producing dam line.
I'm just wondering if i should give it another go, with the same stallion? or not?

Cheers nikki

 

[JanetGeorge]

[ QUOTE ]


The foal was originally a twin(4got that bit sorry),


[/ QUOTE ]

When you say 'originally a twin' - do you mean a second pregnancy was pinched out at the 14-16 day scan - or that there was the remains of a twin born with the stillborn foal?? If the former, then it would have NO effect on the remaining pregnancy. If the latter, then you have an explanation for the stillbirth - infection from the rotting 2nd foal.

But on what you have told us, I think it's unlikely to be a problem if you rebreed the mare to the same stallion - as long as they're not related in - say - the first 3 generations.

 

[ZAHRA]

Hiya Thanks again, the twin got pinched.

I just wanted to check what more exp. people thought. Fingers xcd for next time then

heres the breeding of the foal(nicknamed him pete for this)
http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/index.ph...l_font=1&l=

thanks once again nikki

 

[meandmyself]

Get your vet to do a breeding exam on the mare too, with cultures. She could have an infection that would need treating before re-breeding.

Sorry for your loss.