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  Discussion on Dystocia- head advancing only
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Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 - 6:35 pm:

Hi
I am wondering about whether we just have had horrible luck this past year with the number of dystocias or could there be a connection between our nutrition, horse keeping, large percentage of pregnant mares bought from sales(suggesting that another farms culled them for same reason?)?

We have had 27 live foals with four major dystocias since mid-january. The first was a breech(died), second was a dog-sitter(mare euthanized after intestinal prolapse(foal lived), and both third(lived) and fourth(died) were head presenting only, with one of those having slight contracted tendons that resolved in a week or so in the one that lived. Logically, I do believe that this is somehow just bad luck after having two years without any dystocias, and statistically it was bound to occur in some capacity. We have been very vigilant about monitoring our mares via cameras every night and watching close mares during the day but it seems that it is never enough.

I wonder about this last dystocia today, mare due May 14th, milky wax for three days and rolling in her stall in the night to shift the foal perhaps. I checked her forty five minutes before my husband dragged her into the barn in labour. The foal had its legs bent at the knee, perhaps much easier to fix then legs straight back but with me and summoned help trying to get its legs free until vet arrived and the vet trying and succeeding to free both legs but head then twisted down which was one of the factors between a live foal and a dead one. I wonder if a small decrease in our hay quality this year combined with use of Nutrequin supplement for the first time to compensate for the nutritional decline had anything to do with these problems.

I was also curious about whether you used a calf snare to grab a hung limb or used a set of chains to pull out a foal in a timely fashion. Our vet never uses them but I spoke with a farm manager at a large farm yesterday and he recommended both to keep in my foaling kit.

I would appreciate some advice as I am discouraged by our luck this year and am dreading the next foaling season already!!

Katherine

Posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2001 - 8:22 pm:

Hello Katherine,
In a herd this size this may be just simple bad luck. Of course you should review your total management situation and look for any problems that may exist. Have you been taking any routine management procedure for granted? Are there any local unusual nutritional or toxicity problems? I have long felt that many of these front leg malposition foalings suggest that the foal may have been weak before birth: it is his job to get the legs and head extended into the birth canal. We pray it does not happen again but you might consider having the next foal necropsied and carefully examined for signs of disease,

Yes, it is ok to use chains to help correct or pull a foal but it is considered bad form to use a calf jack this much pressure will usually damage the mare.
DrO
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