Vaginal bleeding in mare...

SatansLittleHelper

SatansLittleHelper

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My friends mare seems to have been bleeding from her vagina..there is blood staining on her legs and two pools of blood in the field. Friend called the Vet who has said it may be the end of a "season"...possible varicose veins?? She is 14 and a half years old. We have no idea if she has ever foaled before. She has been here since the very end of January so I dont think she is in foal. It was also suggested that my gelding may have tried to cover her???
Anybody experienced this before??
 
Did the vet actally examine the horse, or was this phone advice? If this were my horse I would be very concerned indeed - I would expect the mare to have an internal examination at least.
 
When she rang him he didnt seem terribly concerned...just said to keep an eye out for any more bleeding??
She is fine in herself and eating and there is no more discharge of any sort??
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
My friends mare seems to have been bleeding from her vagina..there is blood staining on her legs and two pools of blood in the field. Friend called the Vet who has said it may be the end of a "season"...possible varicose veins?? She is 14 and a half years old. We have no idea if she has ever foaled before. She has been here since the very end of January so I dont think she is in foal. It was also suggested that my gelding may have tried to cover her???
Anybody experienced this before??
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I sometimes used to find a little dried blood on my mare's vulval lips but never found an explanation for that. One time I found blood on her hind legs and it turned out she had been bitten by another horse. Could this be the same in your case? Mares will not be interested in anything or anyone now and could have given a gelding the brush off and got bitten for her trouble. I don't think the gelding is likely to have caused the bleed by mounting her. That goes on all the time and I've never seen any injuries other than scrape marks from his hooves.
 
fatpiggy said:
I don't think the gelding is likely to have caused the bleed by mounting her. That goes on all the time and I've never seen any injuries other than scrape marks from his hooves.
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You may not have seen any injuries from breeding but when you've seen a lot of breedings then you'll realise that it does happen. Older mares can bleed when bred if they have varicose veins (as OPs vet has suggested already) and maiden mares can bleed when their hymen is broken. It's relatively common actually and should always been checked out with a speculum or endoscope to make sure there is no serious damage to the mare.

I digress, we don't know whether the gelding did mount the mare or not so it could be something else.
 
Spring Feather said:
You may not have seen any injuries from breeding but when you've seen a lot of breedings then you'll realise that it does happen. Older mares can bleed when bred if they have varicose veins (as OPs vet has suggested already) and maiden mares can bleed when their hymen is broken. It's relatively common actually and should always been checked out with a speculum or endoscope to make sure there is no serious damage to the mare.
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Exactly right - the most common causes of vaginal bleeding: varicose veins, or rupture of a tough hymen (though it's unliely a gelding did that unless he is a real rig!)

Wants checking if there were 'pools' of blood!
 
Vet has been put to see horse, is perfectly fine, he checked her out thoroughly and all is well. He couldn't find any reason for the bleed at all???
Will be keeping a close eye on her anyway but thanks all for the quick replies :)
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
Vet has been put to see horse, is perfectly fine, he checked her out thoroughly and all is well. He couldn't find any reason for the bleed at all???
Will be keeping a close eye on her anyway but thanks all for the quick replies :)
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Was this a regular vet? I would be very unhappy with this if I were the mare owner. If any of my horses are bleeding, particularly from orifaces, I want to make darned sure I have a competent vet at my side to find out why.
 
Well I asked her where the blood on the horse was and there was some on her feet...vet actually said he didnt think the blood came from her :o
We have turkeys next to our field and something has been killing them....we are now wondering if the blood could be to do with them..?? :o

EDITED: The back of her leg sorry not feet
 
She doesn't know...the vet could find no signs of her bleeding, she is fit and well according to him. Because of where the blood is on her legs my friend thought as there were no cuts or scrapes anywhere that it had come from her vulval area...there is no blood on her tail or any thing though. :/
 
When I'd had my first horse (a Shire mare) for about 2 years, I found blood on the white feather of her hind legs. I found a bit of blood on the bottom of her vulva, as well. My mare had several foals before I owned her. At the time of this occurrence, she was 14 years old. I rang the vet immediately. Before he came out to my farm, we discussed the possibility of her rubbing on something out in the field. I freely admit to being completely neurotic about any and every possible risk to my animals whether they are turned out or are in our pole barn. I personally pruned every branch of every tree and shrub that might have become a rubbing site for my horses (Shires are notorious for their rubbing). The only thing that protruded into the field was the gate latch. The vet came out and examined the mare internally and found a very small varicosity. After a couple of weeks, the bleeding stopped and it never happened again (she died when she was 24 years old).
 
fatpiggy said:
I sometimes used to find a little dried blood on my mare's vulval lips but never found an explanation for that. One time I found blood on her hind legs and it turned out she had been bitten by another horse. Could this be the same in your case? Mares will not be interested in anything or anyone now and could have given a gelding the brush off and got bitten for her trouble.

Sorry to change the subject and I am glad to hear your mare is fine OP but as to mares not being interested at the moment, I wouldn't bet on that my mini mare is flirting outrageously with my Sect D gelding and is in season. He even tried to mount her last week which was a little worrying hr being a 32inch mini and him a 15.1hh heavy weight cob!!
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Just had to comment on the blood possibly being turkey...

I was grooming my grey connemara once when I noticed a large patch of blood on his neck when I lifted his mane up. Panicking, I started looking for the cut but could see nothing. I thought It must have been recent as the blood was still bright red.

Turns out it was my blood - I'd cut my finger :rolleyes:
 
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