I guess twins is the subject of the week

[henthorn]

I called for a progress report on my mare Reigning Glory at the boarding farm, and she was pregnant on the first and maybe only cover. She's carrying twins, and they are checking her every few days to decide when to "pinch" one of them. Apparently the two are so close together that it's not safe for the other twin until they separate a little.

[Riskaverse]

Oh wow, best of luck with everything Henthorn, and please let us know how everything goes.
I'm just curious if someone could tell me, how common are twins? I mean whether one is pinched or not, what are the chances?

[henthorn]

I received word yesterday that the two embryonic sacs are still joined. She's either carrying identical twins, or there's just very little space between them, and they were unable to separate them. She's far enough along at 39 days to have heartbeats on the fetuses. They were to try again this morning to pinch one twin, knowing that we may lose both. If unable, they'll use Luteolyse to cause the uterus to flush itself. Then she should be able to come back into heat and be bred later in the season.

I don't know much about twinning in horses, but I know it has a high morbidity and mortality rate. Often one of the twins is resorbed, and
if carried to term, one or both often dies. At least one of the survivors is usually a runt that never grows to full size. And it's obviously easier on the mother to carry only one fetus past a certain stage.

[Maureen]

If you want to see twins, go to the COTH BB and check out the Sport Horse Breeding section. Two sets of twins there.

[madelyn]

My first mare confirmed in foal, Scenery, (March 16th ONE COVER) checked in foal with twins and one was pinched. They were close together but not joined. We are going to check her again in a couple of days to make sure, but it looked pretty weak after being pinched. I had the option to Lutalyse her at that time, but chose to pinch.. you never know which is the right course of action.

I had earlier-breds confirmed in foal the same day, she was just the first one we checked!