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  Discussion on Uterine Infections - No Hope of Recovery?
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New Member:
aras

Posted on Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 - 8:30 pm:

I have an Arabian mare that I bought 2 yrs ago and have never been able to get her bred. I started noticing a milky discharge a few days after I had her bred. 2 seasons no foals. She was
21 when I got her. Upon my ignorance I have a vet who has been a great help in explaining metritis to me. She says that if the mare had a infection when I got her. She has only had 2 foals. The infection eats away at the lining of the uterus causing abortion. The uterus becomes weak and thin.
She examined her and she had about a pint of pus
in her uterus. Flushed her out with warm water and infused her with an antibiotic. She came back
a week later to check her and she was clean but I had her infused again just to be safe. All of my other mares were clean. I bred her to a clean stallion I purchased and well see what happens.
Question: I bred her those 2 yrs to the same stallion. No luck. Could the stallion be passing this infection as he is a show horse and is bred to all kinds of mares with no proof of good health. I wanted to keep my stallion from getting infection so all my mares were clean when bred to him. The stallion in question has a bad record of not producing only 1 out of 10 to 20 breedings.
Its a mystery. This breeding will tell. Shes a good saddleseat horse and can be retired from breeding. Kristin}
Member:
mrose

Posted on Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 - 12:45 am:

IMO Kristin, it would depend a lot on the type of infection, which could be found out from a culture. Yes, there are some infections that can be passed from stallion to mare. However, mares, especially older mares, and especially mares with certain conformation faults can be very prone to infection. They can pick up bacteria literally from the air.

How does this mare look under the tail? Is her vagina sticking out further than her anus? If so, she could be getting bacteria from her feces or her urine. Was she also pooling urine? Are the lips of the vagina tight, or are they a little loose? If they are a little loose, she could be "sucking" air and introducing bacteria this way. Sometimes, mares get infections for what seems like no reason. How long ago was her last foal? She could even have been harboring infection from when she foaled. Also, age 23 is getting fairly old to be breeding unless she has been bred and foaled with no problems each year, and is in very good health. Even then, some mares start shutting down in their 20's or even earlier.

You didn't say in your post; I assumed you were breeding via live cover. Are you? Or, were you breeding AI? I was curious because there are some stallions that have great success with live cover, but not so good with AI, and this could be one of those stallions. Sometimes this is due to the stallion's semen motility, or the stallion might have very fragile semen. Or, either the semen might not be prepared right; shipped right; or handled right on the mare owner's end. There are a lot of variables.
New Member:
aras

Posted on Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 - 11:50 am:

Sara,
I agree with your ideas but I neglected to say that this mare has been a show horse her entire life and my farrier guest her to be age 10.
Her vagina is normal but as you say she is 20+} although she looks and acts 10. Ive pasture bred her this year with my stallion so well see what happens. I had to trailer her 50 miles both times for the last two breedings. She may have been too
stressed. At home in her comfort zone well see.
Kristin
Member:
mrose

Posted on Sunday, Jun 24, 2007 - 12:39 pm:

Good luck, Kristin. Sometimes breeding a mare at home is easiest for all concerned. We always told people that a mare shouldn't be trailered until the fetus was attached because it can be stressful and cause the mare to slip. I hope your pasture breeding works.
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