This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Equine Reproduction » Horse Breeding & Artificial Insemination » Twinning and Management of Twin Embryos »
  Discussion on Friesian mare in foal w/possible twins
Author Message
Member:
Fresian

Posted on Monday, Jun 23, 2003 - 1:17 pm:

We recently purchased a heavily pregnant Ster mare in foal. She's a little over 9 months now. She was due around August 20th. We went to pick her up and were alarmed at just how big she got w/in a week that passed since we first saw her. She's been at our place now for a couple weeks and is fully bagged and starting to produce milk. I've been calcium testing it and it's at 75PPM with the Chemetrics test, and the level is going up daily. She's starting to relax in back and she's as big as a house. Alarmed, I tracked down her original owner (she was purchased from a reseller) and found out that she has had a history of twins. 3 years ago she successfully gave birth to a live foal and a fully developed stillboard filly who appeared to have died in the womb two days prior to foaling. At that time, she had given birth just prior to 10 months gestation.

This particular pregnancy was an unexpected one, with the breeding date being Sept 15th. Her original owner said she ALWAYS foals at least 2-3 weeks early (she's 13 years old and has been a successful broodmare yearly since 1994). But that still puts her at foaling July 30th at the earliest. I have contacted the only vet center here in MD that has an ultrasound probe deep enough to be able to ultrasound her this far along. They're supposed to get back to me tomorrow to see if there's any way they can come out and ultrasound her onsite. She's so far along and showing so many signs of impending foaling I don't want to trailer her. Considering her past history, her current condition, and the fact her previous owner obviously didn't "twin" her in the past, I have a VERY sinking feeling.

Is there ANYTHING we can do, if twins are the case, to increase her chances of some sort of success in foaling? Obviously, we are most concerned about the mare. This was VERY unexpected on our part and we are left holding the bag in a very bad breeding situation.

PLEASE HELP!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jun 23, 2003 - 10:09 pm:

I don't see any reason to make any decisions until the ultrasound results are back, other than the mare needs 24 hour monitoring until then, if practical. Also have them do a complete exam on the mares health and status. Let us know what they find.
DrO
Member:
Fresian

Posted on Monday, Jul 7, 2003 - 11:51 am:

Update:
Tjitske got an ultrasound from a mobile unit with a probe long enough to be able to see into the womb, but she had so much edima and her abdominal wall was so thick that it was inconclusive. The vet thought she saw two thoraxes, but said that the angle of the probe could be such that she was seeing one thorax from both sides. I hauled Tjitske up to New Bolton (Univ of Penn) and their entire Repro team ended up working on her. Her rectal ultrasound also seemed to indicate twins, as it seemed there were two placentas/amnions. But they said this could also have been seen due to a limb (and therefore the sac) being folded over. The transabdominal ultrasound they did was inconclusive due to a shift in her intestines that blocked a decent view. They were able to confirm one large healthy foal. They only had stats on TBs and SBs, and the foal was already larger than their stats of a FULL TERM foal, due to being a friesian. She was left up there and re-ultrasounded the next day, and although they were unable to confirm a non-pregnant horn, they said they found it highly unlikely with the size of the foal that is definitely in there that she is carrying a twin. They did find some slight placental abnormalities that suggested placentitis, so we are treating her accordingly with 15ml of Regumate, Banamine, and Trimethoprim Sulfate to fight the infection, reduce the swelling of her udder, and pretty much convince her body hormonally to hold onto that foal! They did agree that she was quite DrOpped in the back, full uddered, big as a house and we had good reason to be so concerned. I think our proactive care saved that foal (so far).

Tjitske's udder has softened (although the size is still large and full) and she is leaking some colostrum. Her hind end has tightened up and I swear she looks smaller. Maybe it's an optical illusion, but it looks more and more like she'll hold onto that foal until the end of the month like she's supposed to!

Thanks for all your help and I'll let you know if we get a successful birth!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 7, 2003 - 7:56 pm:

We will keep our fingers crossed, thanks for the update.
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