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  Discussion on Mare lost foal
Author Message
Member:
lexi

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008 - 9:23 am:

Hi
I have just bought a 4 year old brood mare who lost her foal at birth in May/June. The owner left her in the herd and checked her every 4 hours and said he found it dead in the field with just it's head out of the bag. Can you tell whether this could have been rejection and if so is it likely to happen again as she is in foal now? Is there anything I can be extra aware of to prevent loss of next year's foal (other than following your guide to normal foaling). Thanks
Member:
paardex

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008 - 10:45 am:

Hi Jo,
No scientific proof but my experience : A five year old pregnant mare arrived at my place[this was years ago] to have her foal, she was in a horrible condition and last years foal she had aborted at 8 months due to the Rhinovirus[all alone in a stable nobody noticed until next day at feeding time they found the dead foal]
Her next foal arrived and I was with her but the foal was weak. At first the mare reacted completely normal but when the foal didn't get up [fast enough?] she went to a corner of her box and didn't look at her foal anymore.
We milked her got some milk down the foal and got it standing next to mum as soon as the foal tried to nurse the mare behaved normal and interested not to say very happy again like every other new mum.
I have always kept thinking she thought it was dead or going to die once again and gave in. If we hadn't been there I think the foal wouldn't have survived a long cold night.
Every other time this mare foaled out she reacted totally normal. She was a very good mum.
Hope this helps
Jos
Member:
eoeo

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008 - 11:31 am:

The chances are, since it was her first foal, and, she was left in the herd, and checked every 4 hours, that she might not have known what to do, or most likely, the foal was born in the sack and DrOwned. She could have been interrupted during foaling and that would have an effect on the outcome. If you aren't there, you just never know. I would be with her when she foals next time and things will probably be fine. Being that it was her first foal, she might have needed some help to get it out quickly enough and that caused it to be dead. EO
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 17, 2008 - 9:20 am:

Hello Jo,
From the information provided there is no way of knowing what happened but we can say simple rejection would not have resulted in a foal still in the placenta. The placenta separating before delivery of the foal is abnormal but this could be due to mare and/or foal factors. So most likely the foal was born weak or dead but we do not know why. Many causes of such an occurance would be a one time event and rarely such events are unpreventable. Without knowing why I would recommend just regular mare care as defined in the articles with careful monitoring in the last three months.
DrO
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