This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Colic, Diarrhea, GI Tract » Colic in Horses » Rectal Tears in Horses »
  Discussion on Peritonitis Caused By Rectal Tear
Author Message

Posted on Thursday, Aug 19, 1999 - 9:11 am:

Recently we sent our most valuable mare out to a well advertised stallion for breeding. She was 7 years old with her only foal, 6 weeks old at side. She had been palpated by their vet once and bred shortly thereafter by live cover. This was on a Friday--we were informed on Monday that she was very ill and vet was on his way. He determined peritonius and the rectal tear. Advised putting her down! The owner advised that this was okay (mare was leased by our farm) Before we arrived at the farm the mare had been removed against our wishes. After a nightmare journey, the body was retrieved and taken for autopsy at a state Vet school and the diagnosis was confirmed there. Since we feel this was negligence on the stud owner's part, do we have any recourse? How common is this? The mare was almost 16 hands and in excellent health and almost as large as the stallion. She scored the highest in the inspections and may have been the best mare of her breed in the country. She was not insured because of an insurance snafu which is another story!!

Posted on Monday, Aug 23, 1999 - 7:57 pm:

Hello Donna,
What do you feel was the negligent act and how did it change the outcome of the disease?
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 24, 1999 - 9:05 am:

I feel that the stud handler was negligent in not watching the stallion and being aware of what was going on. Also if the stallion was unruly, why did they not use insemination, as all of the facilities were readily available! How common is this happening? And how could it be prevented?

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 24, 1999 - 6:36 pm:

Hello Donna,
I am sorry I missed something. I just assumed the palpation was the likely source of the rectal tear. Why do we think the stallion did it?

Rectal tears from breeding do occur from time to time. Normally the mares anal sphincter closes pretty tight during mounting, but it it did not entering the rectum may occur even during a normal breeding. There is a lot of uncoordinated prodding going on with the best mare and stud. With hand breeding it seems unlikely this would go unnoticed however. If it was seen that he did enter the rectum, it may not have raised a red flag if there was no blood evident on the penis.

From the facts I have so far it is not clear there was any negligence but if evidence of a rectal tear was ignored that was wrong.

The next question should be, "if had a tear been diagnosed earlier would it have changed the outcome?". This too is not evident from the facts I have. Some tears, if diagnosed early can be treated conservitively or with surgery. Others have a poor prognosis from the start. The two determinng factors are depth of the tear and location. The deeper the tear and the farther forward the tear the worse the prognosis.
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC