Twin foals

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djhope120

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My mare was scanned today and they found twins. this was a 40 day scan. she had a 16 day scan where they only found 1 foal. They attempted to pinch the smaller foal today, one measured 6cm the other 6.5cm. She is being scanned in 7 days to see if they were successful. The vet seemed to think either both would die, or they would both still be alive as they 'like' to pince them earlier, at about 16days, and if they are both still alive we need to either leave nature to get on with it, or abort both foals. Does anyone have any advice or experience????
 
Have her PG'd, don't let the pregnancy continue as you will put your mare at risk!

It wil mean she possibly won't take again this year but better that than continue with a twin pregnancy.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on xx
 
No they said just have the 2 done, although i will have one at 28 days in the future i think! The vet i had yesterday was suprised the vet that did the scan at 16 days didnt notice the twin.
 
On pg 21 of Your Horse there is a letter & photo re a cob mare who produced on Valentines day a colt & filly. The odds it seems of survival is 10,000 to one! I have also read of a TB who had twins where both survived, that was only about a year or so go. Despite the odds there is always hope, fingers crossed for you.
 
1 in 10,000 doesnt sound very hopeful to me! Hopefully there will only be one foal in there on thursday when she is scanned again
 
Take heart, a friend's mare had twins and reared them successfully although they were a lot of work. One went onto a dressage career, not surprising as David Hunt used to compete the mare but not too sure about the filly but they were both very healthy and grew well. I was also given a twin filly when she was weaned, a full TB; they kept the colt but he died on the operating table before a yearling with periotonitis (spl!) the filly is now in training for the mounted games teams with a Welsh team member so she certainly was a lot smaller than normal.
 
djhope120 said:
The vet seemed to think either both would die, or they would both still be alive as they 'like' to pince them earlier, at about 16days, and if they are both still alive we need to either leave nature to get on with it, or abort both foals. Does anyone have any advice or experience????
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Late pinching of twins is fraught with problems. The inflammation caused by the one dying VERY often takes out the other! And at the later stage, it IS hard to pinch one successfully.

If you find two still alive with heartbeats in 7 days, you have two choices. One is to abort the pregnancies now. Your mare will not come back into season this year, but you'll be able to get an early start next year. The other choice - particularly if the pregnancies are VERY close together on the same horn - is to cross your fingers and hope for natural reduction! This happens quite often - depending on which expert you talk to the chances are between 50 and 75% for twins on the same uterine horn.

Obviously you have to scan again, and again, and if no natural reduction occurs by about day 100, then you must terminate (and it's rather harder on the mare to terminate later rather than earlier!)

It IS possible for twins to be missed on a 14-16 day scan, either because one is a very late ovulation, or because they're 'back to back' - and therefore VERY hard to spot! I MIGHT have one of those at present - in a mare who had a 28 day scan today. Only one vesicle was seen at 14 days (and my vet is VERY good!) and today we have one with a heartbeat - but there is shadow behind it which MIGHT be a missed twin. Obviously we'll be looking at itagain in a couple of days with fingers crossed!
 
Sadly yes, PLEASE do not let your mare try and carry twins - the odds against healthy twins are really really poor and the odds of losing either foals, your mare, or both are much much higher.

Hope the next scan is positive for you and things have resolved naturally
 
Hi, I had my mare re scanned today, and she is still carrying both twins, alive and growing. The vet has suggested scanning her again at 100 days to see what is going on and see if she looses one naturally between now and then, she is currently 47 days
 
If needs be, the pregnancy can be terminated at 100 days, there is no chance she will get back in foal this year anyway so we might as well give her a chance
 
Sent my lovely TB off to stud a few years ago and she came home after her first two scans, only for us to find out here from our "normal" (ie not specialist stud vet) vet that she was carrying twins. Tried to pinch one out without any luck as it was too late and after much deliberation and vet advice we decided to let nature take its course and not abort.
She went full term and gave birth to both without any probs, a filly and a colt, although very sadly the colt was stillborn (apparently this is often the case, filly's are much tougher!)
The filly, despite being pretty diddy at birth, absolutely thrived and is a constant delight and absolutel superstar.
I'm not trying to influence you either way, but thought you might be interested to hear from someone who had been through it - I know how agonising it all is.
Will keep fingers crossed for you.
 
Personally, having known people who lost both twins and the mare, I'm amazed that your vet has such a cavalier attitude to this. Aborting a 3 month old foal cannot be pleasant, and I have seen a foal of my own that was a single but the mare aborted it, very sad to see the tiny little thing, we could even sex it.

I would be getting another vet in who knows what they are talking about and get them out right this minute. There has been sufficient advice given here as to why carrying twins is not a good idea, so why ask what the vet did wrong?
 
I'm with Simsar and Chrissie on this one; the pregnancy should have been terminated weeks ago not left to chance as your vet seems to think. If it comes off, fine - and very rare - but if it doesn't it could be a catastrophe for all concerned.
 
Thanku mellie, yes it is very stressful trying to know what to do for the best.

Chrissie, i dont think there was any need for the tone of your post.

My vet is trying to give me the best chance of having a live foal at the end of all this, She phoned me this morning after being in contact with a vet who uses a new technique at removing a twin using a very long needle which basically goes in one side of the mare and sucks out the fluid surrounding the mare. Although this is a new technique apparently the success rate has been high. My vet has organised the equipment and the vet for monday. Not the bad vet alot of you judged her to be then!

Im keeping my fingers crossed this works!
 
With all due respect to the OP, do you fully realise that in not terminating the pregnancies, you are putting the life of not only the unborn foetus' at risk, but also the life of your mare? If this 'new' technique doesn't work, what then?

We had a mare losing her pregnancy at 40 days this year, the vet immediately PG'd her and PG'd her the next 2 days. She was scanned and flushed out for 3 days (starting on the day after the 3rd PG) and was treated with XNL and OXY. She is now back in-foal at 27 days today! This was possible, as like with your mare, prior to 42 day, the endometrial cups had not formed. So yes, you could have got her back in-foal this year, but no chance now.

I sincerely do hope that this technique does work.
 
djhope120 said:
Thanku mellie, yes it is very stressful trying to know what to do for the best.

Chrissie, i dont think there was any need for the tone of your post.

My vet is trying to give me the best chance of having a live foal at the end of all this, She phoned me this morning after being in contact with a vet who uses a new technique at removing a twin using a very long needle which basically goes in one side of the mare and sucks out the fluid surrounding the mare. Although this is a new technique apparently the success rate has been high. My vet has organised the equipment and the vet for monday. Not the bad vet alot of you judged her to be then!

Im keeping my fingers crossed this works!
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Please note - I wasn't criticising your vet,

Having had mares abort foals at 7+ months and in March at 9.5 months it is not pleasent to walk into a stable and find a distressed mare and dead foal - and that is what they look like - a perfectly formed foal.

The chances of a healthy outcome are extremley rare - that is why there is so much publicity when it goes right, more often the outcome is a pair of dead/deformed foals, if born alive and near term they normally require costly vet nursing and some are never 'right'. even worse you are putting your mare at risk (and having lost my Holly this year I am struggling to justify why anyone who cared about their mare could even consider allowing her to continue with a twin pregnancy).

I have replied 3 times on this post as have others so I suppose I am criticising your decision and I am open in saying so. You may dream of being one of the few lucky ones where it does go well but sadly chances are you will be posting on here about which 1 or even all of the 3 you end up losing.

Breeding horses is a risky business - you only have to read the posts on here of forum members that have done evything they could to ensure a good outcome and they have ended up with the death of a foal/mare or as in my case both.

PLEASE do not allow this to continue. Shout at me if you like but at least consider the advice you asked for and have been offered on here.
 
chrissie1 said:
Personally, having known people who lost both twins and the mare, I'm amazed that your vet has such a cavalier attitude to this. Aborting a 3 month old foal cannot be pleasant, and I have seen a foal of my own that was a single but the mare aborted it, very sad to see the tiny little thing, we could even sex it.

I would be getting another vet in who knows what they are talking about and get them out right this minute. There has been sufficient advice given here as to why carrying twins is not a good idea, so why ask what the vet did wrong?
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Thank you Chrissie I no I'm to the point and blunt but with good reason.
 
djhope120 said:
Thanku mellie, yes it is very stressful trying to know what to do for the best.

Chrissie, i dont think there was any need for the tone of your post.

My vet is trying to give me the best chance of having a live foal at the end of all this, She phoned me this morning after being in contact with a vet who uses a new technique at removing a twin using a very long needle which basically goes in one side of the mare and sucks out the fluid surrounding the mare. Although this is a new technique apparently the success rate has been high. My vet has organised the equipment and the vet for monday. Not the bad vet alot of you judged her to be then!

Im keeping my fingers crossed this works!
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FFS! Why oh why do some people have horses its beyond me.
 
My beautiful foster mother to Jack is a foster mother because she foaled early, the poor foal never drew a breath as he was competing with a mummified twin in the womb - if you have never seen one I can only describe it as a ball of fur and bits with bones in the centre, basically rotting away in there and killing off the good foal. Please do not take risks with your mare.
 
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