So I thought I’d share this with everybody…
One of my clients is a TB breeder, and her prize mare foaled this week. The mare’s name is Dodge Ball, she’s by Dynaformer out of a Tom Rolfe mare. She was bred to Kalu, a stakes winning son of Honor Grades. This was his first year at stud so we were all anxious to see the baby and praying for a little boy…:-D. It started to get rocky when poor Dodge Ball developed a placental infection, which spread to her udder. We couldn’t figure out why her udder had this huge slice in it that was perpendicular to the ground. We put her on antibiotics and hoped for the best. We were terrified that the baby was oxygen deprived, and we’d have a dummy foal (i.e one that is braindead) So, on Tuesday she gave us another heartattack when she gave birth to TWINS… Two boys; a chocolate that looks just like mom, and a chromey chestnut. Unfortunately, the chestnut was very clearly oxygen deprived and couldn’t stand. He held on for 50 hours and probably would’ve continued, but we felt we had to put him down. The sad part about this entire story is that it would’ve been so easily prevented: my client never had the mare ultrasounded when she got her back from the stallion owner (because the stallion owner said they did). Clearly, not. And unfortunately, this poor little foal will probably never make it to the track. Thankfully, Dodge Ball is perfectly fine, and is a great mom. We convinced the client to NOT breed her back this year, and to shoot for a February or march breeding next year to Catienus. Hopefully this little guy will make it; unfortunately the odds are not in his favor. So the slice in her udder? A pressure split. Obviously, mares don’t have enough room in their womb for more than one foal. Alas… we’re hoping for the best. Does any one know of ‘tricks’ of the trade for raising surviving twins? Specific to getting them to grow closer to their full potential? I have no idea; this is my first experience with twins.
Thanks guys!
-Kerry
Aw, poor things! At least the one colt made it, though…a lot of times twin births end up causing so many complications that you end up losing 2, or even all 3, horses.
No clue on the growth thing…my only thought would be to make sure the mare’s got really good quality grain/hay, and whatever supplements there are for mares to produce good quality milk (esp. since she’s already had issues with pregnancy anyway). I think if any “damage” was done during gestation that’d affect his growth rate/eventual adult height/weight, there’s not much that can be done now except give him as good care as possible while he’s growing.
Sorry to hear about that Kerry!
Out of interest, does anyone know of twins ever racing and having much success? (Shanthi, Can’t Catch Me and Do You Dare are not included… )
That’s terrible! Before I finished the post I was really pulling for both twins having survivied, but it’s much better to have one baby and the mom than to have both babies and no mom.
I guess another “bright” side is that she didnt lose both of them before full term in the pasture. That happens alot with mares who are carrying twins and could have been ever sadder.
Last I heard, you’re not allowed to register twins with the Jockey Club. That may have changed, but I think there’s still some provision about not being able to race both of them.
So sorry, Kerry. I’m sure the mare owner is upset about being lied to. Good call on giving the mare a year to recover , I’m sure she’ll need to put on some weight before she’s ready to try being a mom again.
Yeah we’ve decided to leave the colt (currently nicknamed “Fire Ball” cuz he’s a frisky thing) on Dodge Ball for 6 months before weaning him to see if it helps him, but obviously this will also suck the weight right off her. Yeah, this guy isn’t going to the track. He’ll probably make a nice hunter pony for some little girl in 6 years or so… I think she’ll register him, but he won’t be tattooed. I’ll keep the updates coming!
Wow, I feel terrible for the mare owner! She must be so frustrated! Does not being able to race the surviving foal mean that maybe at least the mare owner could get the stud fee back? Seems ridiculous that she should lose the money plus the huge risk there was to her mare besides the foals and still have to pay the stud fee when it appears to have been the stud owners fault.
Best of luck for next year, the mare’s full recovery and for little Fire Ball
I just wanted to say a little something in defense of the Stallion owner…
Most breeding facilities ultra sound at 14 days after breeding… at this time the vet can determine if the mare is in foal or not… they however cannot determine if she is carring multiple offspring… most Tb farms offer a live foal guarantee that states “A live foal that stands & nurses”… there is never a guarantee written or implied, that the resulting foal will be able to race… or that there will not be multiple births… most TB farms, have a small booking fee & the remainder of the stud fee is payable upon a live foal…
If I were the stallion owner… I would offer the mare owner a second breeding at 1/2 price… since they do have a live foal… that can be trained & or sold for something other than the track…
but then again I’m just a kid…
Really sorry to hear about the twins, we lost one of our best producing mares a few years ago… she was actually carrying triplets, and tried to foal then about 8 weeks early, one was mummified, the other two still born… and she was so tore up, she had bled to death in the pasture… it was a true tragedy for us… and has taught us to ultra sound at 60 days as well… to prevent such a thing ever happening again…
as long as the mare & foal both get proper nutrition… they should both make it fine…
Actually the stud fee is a non-issue. It was a free breeding because the stallion owner was looking for high quality mares to cross to his stallion for the stud’s freshman year. Not only does Dodge Ball have a stellar pedigree, two of her sons (sired by really mediocre stallions) are stakes winners (Ybbs and Esoteric Trick). The mare owner is VERY frustrated. She’s convinced she wants out of the business and she GAVE the foal to us; but truthfully I’m pretty disappointed in her… It’s routine for us to ultrasound around 30-40 days to check for twinning (esp. w/ TBs and the later you breed in the year, the greater chance for twins you have) and pinch one off… Actually Dodge Ball was VERY lucky… I was told today that they found the equivalent of a mummified THIRD twin in her after-birth… a skull… sigh… I suppose the fact that this client is rather religious probably also has some weight to factor in here: even if she did find out ahead of time that the mare was carrying twins, I don’t know if she would terminate one fetus or not…
So the story gets worse… We had to put Fire Ball down on Tuesday morning. I guess whoever the vet is that delivered him was a large animal vet with specialty in bovines, not equines. Fire Ball was backwards and instead of pushing him back in and repositioning him, he simply pulled; he dislocated Fire Ball’s stifle completely, and fracture three of his ribs pulling him threw Dodge Ball’s pelvis… Fire Ball was doing ok, but obviously had trouble standing and would’ve been crippled completely the rest of his life. Moral of the story: Take better care of your pregnant mare than you would yourself/wife to term…
Aww, poor thing.
Hopefully Dodge Ball can have a nice relaxing few months off before trying the mom thing again.
Yeah… we actually told her owner that she should wait out the rest of the year and not breed her until March of next, which she did agree to… so poor Dodge Ball is pretty sad… but she’s doing much better; she seemed to understand that he wasn’t going to make it… so, until March 2007!
Well, If I was the mare owner, that vet would be in quite a pickle if you know what I mean >:( I think leagley the mare owner can sew(can’t spell the right one) the vet for her carelessness, since she is the vet to handle the mare’s foal(s) during that time, and shoould have told the owner that she had no idea what she was doing. Thats a shame And I hope the mare has a wonderful baby in 2 years!
Isooo feel for you… My mare(my first TB that was like 6 weeks over also jsut foaled 3 days ago…I had orgionally had my mare ultrasound at 15,30,45 and 60 days and she came back no preg… a couple months after she came home i had her checked again and she was 5 months along…(that was 8 months ago)… So i went out to the barn to see a foal doing the “fish flop” and amsot had a heart attack…went in and got the baby up(a maiden mare by the way) and as soon as i had hold of her looked for hte after birth and there was a little dead one…while i held the live baby up my kids lended a hand gettnig a halter on mom(she kept stepping on the newborn) and we got the stall cleaned up and rebeded… the filly had no strenth at all and couldent stand to nurse so i held her and she tried to nurse(and succedded) every 15 mins i wnt out and picked her up and held her so she could drink…vet said on the right track and we’d hope for the best(lost the littleboy but his sis was fighting for her life…by midday seh could stand stradde legged.for about 2 minutes.mare was runnin 106 temp bututrius was so extened we couldent giver her her batamine till evening …by now she could stand but coudnet get up as her back pasterns hadent had room to streach in womb as mare carried both to full term…so every half hours for teh next 24 get her up to nurse…did a check tomake sure clostrum intake was enough…it was thank god…by end of day one she could walk a little jsut coudknet get up…by end of day 2 was getting up on her own and nursing as should… go the resutls back and everything looked great…now shes still real down on her pasterns but looks like shes gonna make it… day 3 (today) wnet out in field for the first time and was able to run a bit with mom…she is all heart and a miracle to us…
Glad to hear she’s doing so well, I know it was touch and go there for a while.
Wow that mare got lucky. As we all know twins in horses is BAD.
We had out own scare over at Sterlingbrook a couple weeks back. One of the mares foaled Tuesday, but didn’t drop her placenta until SATURDAY. Usually the placenta drops within a few hours, this one obviously didn’t. Dr. Milne was going to intervene but the placenta was so wound up in her that we just waited and hoped for the best. This mare was extrememly lucky, she could have foundered, gotten an infection, and died. She came through this fine.
I guess thatt’s why it is called the miracle of life.
A draft mare near here had twins a few years back. Somehow, both mare and the babies came out fine. The babies are still doing well, as far as I know, and appear to have no adverse effects. This is obviously one very rare occurence, but it proves that sometimes, miracles do happen.
I would imagine that it would be easier for a bigger mare to handle it. Horses just aren’t really designed to have twins, though.