Twins........has anyone heard of this before? Scarey!

Enfys

Enfys

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On the subject of pinching twins.
I saw this on another Forum, and just wondered if any of you have ever heard of such a thing?
I am speechless, who would publish such a thing where people could see this and think it was right? (OK, I just have, so..... warning, Do Not try this at Home, talk to your Vet)


"The best way to get twins who are close is to starve the mare. The strongest will survive. When I mean starve I mean starve. Keep the mare in a stall with lots of fresh water and one flake of grass hay a day. In a few weeks ultrasound. This has always worked for me."
 
My vet told me of this practice many years ago, he wasn't recommending it though.

I am amazed it still goes on, and surely if a mare is in good condition it would take quite a time for her to go backwards to the extent that she'd lose a twin, look at the awful condition that some mares are rescued in while pregnant, but they are still hanging on to a pregnancy. I think if she got that bad she'd lose both.

I am guessing from the sound of it this is in America?
 
OMG, thats shocking
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I'm sorry to say that I have heard of that practise over here and not that long ago either.
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I know a smalltime breeder who had the problem of twins being too close to pinch and he was told to lock the mare in a dark stable for a few weeks with water and very little hay so that she would reabsorb one of the twins. The worst of it was he was told this by a vet.
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He didn't do it though and went to another vet to try and pinch one twin and take his chances that the other would survive. That was last year and the vet who told him is one who specialises in breeding, AI, embryo transfer etc. I was shocked but apparently this is not uncommon over here
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Horsegirl I am presuming that the lady meant starving them between 30-40 days into their pregnancy..........well that is how I read it...........not actually starving them for over a month........but hey I could also be wrong...........

Either way dont believe in it!!
 
I've never heard such total utter garbish!
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Even when a horse needs to have its feed intake reduced it needs to be done progressively so as not to induce collic! Hope you have set the record straight Enfys!
 
Humans never cease to amaze me. I would have thought there was risk of loosing both anyway, but how can a post like that be permitted to stay on. And if horses go through anything like some human females what an awful thing to do to them. Dont know about anyone else, but I had the worse hunger pangs that at times it was painful. I hope they track this person down & confiscate their horses if they still have any left alive!!
 
What's rong with having twins - I had a mare who was a twin and there was nothing wrong with her - moody but arnt a lot of mares moody
 
Yes I've heard of it, however I've heard that most choose the method to get rid of both embryos and start afresh, by over-worming with that good ole wormer which is pretty potent.

Unfortunately twins are every breeders nightmare and it really doesn't surprise me that people come up with these weird and (not so) wonderful ideas for sorting it out.
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Now I have heard everything, I really hopw people don't still do this!

We had trouble with twins that were too close to pinch, vet said one's heartbeat was weak so mare would probably get rid of it her self, she didn't so they terminated the lot and tried again the following year.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What's rong with having twins - I had a mare who was a twin and there was nothing wrong with her - moody but arnt a lot of mares moody

[/ QUOTE ]

Twinning is a common reason for non infective abortion. The mares placenta is designed to support one foetus and finds it rather differcult to share this support between twins. All too often one of the pair finds that the division of resources is unequal and its share of the essential nutrients is not sufficient to support growth: at some time the smaller twin gives up the unequal struggle and dies. The other more fortunate twin carries on for a little time, sometimes to full term, but more often it also dies and both are aborted. The early diagnosis of twinning is obviously important, as 65% of twins are aborted at around the eight month period and the mortality rate in those that survive to full term is calculated to be about 50%.
Any manipulation has to be achieved before the endometrial cups start to produce eCG at about 40 days, because after this period an aborted mare will not breed again for several months. Luckily the mare has her own method of reabsorbing the manipulated twin so often only one embryo is left to complete its developement.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What's Wrong with having twins - I had a mare who was a twin and there was nothing wrong with her - moody but arnt a lot of mares moody

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Mares are only desinged to carry one baby. Lots of mares will abort both babies. If they do keep both then the breeder stands a huge risk of not only loosing the babies, but the mare as well.
 
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