# Will a mare carry a dead foal???



## rockin r (Jun 11, 2007)

I am at this point curiuos. Bee my mare is at 343 days which is perfectly normal. I just have not seen or felt any movement from the foal in a long time. Will a mare continue to carry a dead foal or will she abort or does the foal have to be taken??? Remember...I am not jumping the gun so to speak, I am just informing myself on this subject...Thanks.




: Theresa


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## HGFarm (Jun 11, 2007)

It seems usually they attempt to abort....


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## backwoodsnanny (Jun 11, 2007)

We had a late term abortion year before last and vet said baby had been dead for probably 24 - 48 hours when our mare lost the baby. I believe that a dead baby will cause spontaneous abortion in the mare.


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## MeadowRidge Farm (Jun 11, 2007)

I would also agree, withwhat the others have said..that a dead foal will be aborted, usually with in 48 hours. Corinne


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## Casnos Minis (Jun 11, 2007)

[SIZE=14pt]My rescue mare Honey (Trisket from CMHR) had a still born foal last March 2006. The vet said he was full term, but was probably dead for a day or two. 2 days before she foaled my daughter told her kindergarten teacher that the foal was dead. My son asked to go see him and before I could get it out of my mouth that he had died, Cassidy said that he was dead.[/SIZE]

Christy


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## HGFarm (Jun 12, 2007)

That is what my vet advised - 24 to 48 hours....


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## rabbitsfizz (Jun 12, 2007)

Whatever your Vet tells you or you hear from "people" a mare aborts (or attempts to abort) withing 48 hours, usually within 24 hours of the foal dying.

It is the most common form of still birth and the most common reason for a foal being born in the sac.


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## lvponies (Jun 12, 2007)

Rabbit.....that's the 2nd time on here I've heard that....do you believe that when the baby doesn't get out of the sac that it had died in utero? Or is it born alive and unable to break it's way out?


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## backwoodsnanny (Jun 12, 2007)

Kim Im not Rabbit but our still born was dead before it was delivered mom tore the sack off so it was out of the sack but still dead but I do think both happen. Stillborns will still be in the sack but are dead when delivered but there are also those foals who are born alive but without assistance they cant break the sack and die after birth because of lack of oxygen. JMO


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## lvponies (Jun 12, 2007)

Thanks, Nita!!!

Lyn had posted on a thread awhile ago that she felt the the babies who didn't get out of the sac were dead in utero due to lack of evidence of respiration after birth. Lyn....if I'm misquoting you, I apologize!! Until then, I had never heard that before. What would cause a full term foal to die in utero? Cord getting twisted or pinched and cutting off their air?


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## Izzyantheminis (Jun 12, 2007)

There have been some rare cases where woman's unborn baby has died and never aborted.The fetus calcifies over time and just stays inside the woman until it's surgically removed.They are called stone babies.

I would think it would be very rare but possible in a mare too.


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## Suzie (Jun 12, 2007)

I actually had a long chat with my vet about this last year. He said he had seen rare instances when the foal has died, the sac or placenta not broken in utero and the foal mumified. But this is very, very rare. If there is a break in the sac or the placenta detaches, he says the mare will usually abort spontaneously, usually within a few hours. We have been lucky that all our mares that have had foals die in utero have aborted quite soon afterward so no infections have occurred. Our vet said twisted cords deaths are usually due to fetal distress in the foal, possibly from a low grade infection. I am not a vet, just passing along what he told me last summer.


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## The Dynamic Duo (Jun 12, 2007)

Yes they can, we had a mare carry a dead baby for two weeks so when her water broke, the baby had been dead for an estimated 2 weeks. Buckskin Medicine Hat colt with a twisted cord. Since he was dead for so long, he was upsidedown and backwards so the vet had to pull him out with chains



I wasn't in the pen but got details from my Mom.


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## HGFarm (Jun 12, 2007)

I personally have had several babies born that would not have gotten out of the sack had I not been there- the sacks still had quite a bit of fluid in them, and the one baby got a good nose full of it before I could get it out. On two, the sacks were very thick and I could not even force my thumb through them (and I am not a weakling) so the baby would never have gotten out of that.

My first foal did not get out of the sack and died. He was born alive and we could tell because of the position he was in. No one was home to help. He was extremely tiny and just could not get out. (his dam was only about 30")

Our vet goes with the theory that they suffocate, not that they are already dead. The ones I have had that aborted because of an already dead foal did not come out on their own, the sack was already torn, etc... a whole different ball game. Not that something could not happen and one may have died and came out in the sack and all. The mare who lost her foal this last year on Xmas Eve did not abort it still in the sack- I have never had that happen and I have lost about 5 due to aborting (had one mare that was chronic).

Every aborted foal I've had, had to be pulled due to being in the wrong position. If the baby is already dead, (due to a cord twist or whatever) it cannot move around to get into the birth canal to be born in the correct manner of front legs and head first, etc... and I have never had one that was in proper presentation position die during birth and still come out in the sack.


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