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  Discussion on Breeding after abortion of twins
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002 - 7:04 pm:

Assuming the mare has not undergone any serious injury in aborting twins,(Feb 16, 2002) what may we expect in average circumstances about her next heat. Is it common for the cycle to be out of synch? Should we expect a foal heat? She is in WV, so considering climate, what month might be best to attempt breeding. She is nine, a quarter horse, and thankfully appears relatively unscathed from her experience, fingers crossed!
Walt Price, LakeRidgeLtd@aol.com

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002 - 8:35 pm:

Walter,
how old were the fetuses? That will make a huge difference on how her reproductive system responds to the abortion.
Bev

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002 - 9:48 pm:

Dear Bev, as you can no doubt tell, I am new to all of this, she is kept in a boarding stable, clean, caring, and nice, but to spare my feelings, the foals were disposed of before I had a chance to see them, careful questioning elicited the following, about the size of small dogs, no hair, and not far enough along to determine sex. This evening she seems much less uncomfortable, and I will consult a vet as soon as possible, but the experience of people such as you is such a help. Made her some bran mash, she deserves a bit of spoiling!

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002 - 10:01 pm:

Walter,
the biggest thing you need to worry about now before thinking about rebreeding is that she expelled all of the tissue and placental membrane out of her uterus. That could have been told by laying out the placenta and checking for completeness of the uterine horns. She can develop serious infections if her tract is not cleared. Then you must make sure than her uterus contracts back to its normal, non-pregnant size. If this all happens nicely, then you can start worrying about her hormones. As I am used to thoroughbreds, I don't have the luxury of using artificial insemination, and that may be a great benefit to your mare in rebreeding down the road. She probably won't have trouble coming into heat again, that is, unless she had a history of not coming into heat in the first place. Mares are fickle creatures though! You never can tell!
Good luck! Let's see what DrO has to say! Bev

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2002 - 10:43 pm:

A vet with good equine reproductive credentials will see her tomorrow, I know it's a terrible shame that all the expelled materials were not retained for examination. Many thanks for your kind help, I will report the vets verdict to you as soon as possible. All I am interested in is her well being, if she shouldnt be bred, she won't be.

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 20, 2002 - 7:29 am:

Hello Walter and Bev,
Unless the vet finds there has been damage to the reproductive tract, certainly she can be bred back. She will have a higher incidence of twinning in the future when compared with mares that have not produced twins. You should manage accordingly and for more on this see the article, Equine Reproduction: Breeding and Foaling: Twinning and Management of Twin Embryos for more on this.
DrO
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