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Possible Twins

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 1:59 pm
by oleos93
We took on an older QH mare last Sept from a local gal that was not able to care for her anymore. Horse was in good health and weight she just realized that she could not care for her anymore due to her past history. Young gal not very horse savvy so was in my opinion a good move.

Horse had been used as a brood mare most her life and only in a pasture, never really handled and had some fear issues with people. She was probably "cowboyed" by the Ranch she had foals for.

Anyway turns out this mare was in foal. But because of her history we where not able to palpate and confirm, she barley lets you catch her and defiantly will not allow you to even pet her. She has come along way though, she now cross ties and leads well but it is obvious she had a hard life. My vet tried to sedate her but we where unsuccessful.

I traced back some history and she would have been running with a stud the beginning of Aug of last year, making her due soon. BUT, not knowing this mare's history on how she carried, but having QH's in the past and breeding experience, this mare seems to be most unusually larger then I have seen. It could be she just packs on the weight, but this mare is worrisome large and if the records are correct, with 3 weeks left to carry.

I have only had one other experience with twins and that was when I was very young with my sister's QH mare. She was large as well and I kept telling her that mare was going to have twins, which she did and both died. My sister cures me for saying it to this day.

In any event, I KNOW ALL the cons of twins ect ect and know the outcome is usually not good for the foals and/or the mother etc. Mother rejecting one if both survive, both being small or deformed etc.

I have even done a little research if there are symptoms or things to look for if twins are present and have not come up with anything.

We are already prepared and I am checking on this mare all day long but I am very worried for her. At first I just thought this mare is just a heavy mare, but then someone put twins in my head and I can't shake it.

Would love to hear what others have done and experiences they have had. My largest concern is this mare's history of not trusting people and if we need to intervene.

I so hate to say this but I should never have taken on this mare but my heart went out to this gal that owned her but now I may have got myself in a pickle with her.....but then again had she kept the mare and she does have twins I may be a little more equipped to handle it and at least the mare would survive......no good deed goes un punished I guess. I just can't say no to horses in need.

So please let me know your thoughts and experiances if any, on any breed really.

And I don't need to hear the neg responce from the drama seekers either.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:04 pm
by Laurierace
Even if it is twins there is nothing you can do at this point besides wait and hope for the best. It is too late to do any sort of reductions and an induced abortion would be just as dangerous if not more so than letting it run it's course. If you are not extremely experienced with foaling out mares and dystocias you should send her out to foal. Best of luck to you!

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:55 pm
by oleos93
Yes I realize at this point there is nothing to be done....and we are all hoping for the best and mostly hoping that she just carries heavy and is not twins at all.

I have over 20 years experience with foaling and can honestly say I have a 100% live foal rate on on my single births as from the years of experience have been able to know to the hr when my mares will foal. BUT have ZERO experience with my own twin birthing as I usually have my own mares ultra sounded for the reason of twin and have had to have some squeezed...twins is very common but usually mother nature will take care of the second one and it is really the twins at birth that is not so common....not sure if anyone knows this. :wink:

Have had experience with Dystocias on one mare as the foal was very large, but I was there the whole time and it turned out well in the end and it did take almost 24 hrs for the foal to nurse, a QH breeding as well. It does get hectic and I for see if we have twins in this case it will be very hectic and stressful and probably will be some dystocias, assuming your meaning of the word is as mine in being a difficult labor. We are prepared for there being problems if it be twins.

Wish there was more out there in birth of horse twins...as far as information, not people having to go through it. I do know of a gal that her horse had twins but mother died and both foals lived.....neither got very big when fully grown and not sure if that is a live twin issue or not.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 6:36 pm
by Laurierace
Not sure if there is much info out there because most people avoid them like the plague so the ones they do have are the ones that snuck past the scans. No pregnancies are alike but definitely no twin pregnancies. Very few go to term but some go overdue. Milk testing would be your friend in my opinion.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 8:31 pm
by oleos93
Interesting...but there is no way we would get near this mare to do that.

We where not even able to sedate her when I first learned she may be in foal. I wanted my vet to do an ultra sound to see for sure and the only way that was going to happen was to sedate her, HEAVILY. But she was way to wild for that and my vet didn't want to risk getting hurt or stressing the mare.

I also wondered if anyone has or knows an online article of someone with multiple experiences with twins that can give some input like, what the average is for going on time, or average for going early or average for going late in what they have experience in twins.

If the records are correct this mare would have been covered the first 11 days of Aug, 2011. So at a 340 days I put her at around July 15th to 18th if she was covered on or around Aug 10th or 11th and that being the last day. The herd was being sold off and the stud went in from Aug 1st to Aug 11th...not sure why they did that, am thinking to get more for the mares being sold as pregnant. Seems an odd time of the year.

Let ya all know the out come. I don't have one of them sites where you can upload pics on here or I would take a pic of this mare so you can see how large she is, I have never seen anything like it.......on the low end she still has a possible 3 weeks to go and on the high end much more if she goes to term at the 340 to 370 days...this is worrisome as well as of how much larger she will get.

I don't want early if it is twins but if not twins, I sure do want early, this poor mare is having a hard time moving around.

Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 8:47 pm
by oleos93
Sorry...I went back and reread the dates the Ranch emailed me on when the stud was running with the mares....it was Aug 8th to 11th only. I knew as I was typing my last post it did not sound right.

I always base it on 340 days then always just keep a close eye for foaling signs. I know different breeders of different breds have their own charts they use. Most all my mares come in that range but have purchased mares in foal that have come much later or earlier so assume breeder got dates wrong.

So if this be the case, I would think she will go to term and that would be the best result.

is 7/16

Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:17 pm
by Laurierace
Well, she is full term tomorrow so you have a good shot at that. Her "due" date is 7/16 so it is coming to an end soon most likely. Most likely there is just one in there and all this worry is for naught but I am sure I would worry too without any diagnostics.

Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:08 am
by LKR
I doubt she is carrying twins. We had 3 or 4 mares that were extremely large with babies this year. One did slip twins last fall, but that was at about 5 months. Nature usually takes care of the twin problem. However, a friend had two live sets born and they both lived. This was years ago, paint mares. Good luck.

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:25 am
by oleos93
I am sure it is all worry for nothing....she is just so large and her left side sits so much larger. Been doing this a long time and never had a mare this large before. Throwing me for a loop.

We had company over last night and they have not seen this mare and they are horse people, but low end pleasure riding etc, but have done some breeding. Anyway the gal said she had to do a double take at the mare as they where coming up the drive, she was looking at her from the hind and could not believe how large she was.....that didn't help my worry... :?

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:05 am
by Laurierace
Well?