# Do they re-absorb, absorb or resorb their foals ?



## Reble (Oct 9, 2007)

Sorry cannot understand how a mare can absorb their foals? Where in their skin, bloodstream?

Found this information... From another vet quote:

Veterinarians use a term that is both misleading and incorrect. This doesn't mean that he tried to deceive you, or that he doesn't realize that it isn't correct - it's a term that is very COMMONLY used (or, rather, MISUSED), even by veterinarians. Mares do NOT "re-absorb" or "absorb" or "resorb" their foals (and just by the way, "re-absorb" doesn't even make sense from a grammatical standpoint, as you could only RE-absorb something you had previously absorbed!). The truth is that when mares lose a conceptus early in the pregnancy, they don't absorb, etc. - they simply abort, and a much more accurate descriptive term would be "early term spontaneous abortion". The tiny conceptus passes through the cervix and is expelled from the mare's body, but it is so extremely tiny that even if you were to spend those first two months sitting behind your mare, spending every second of every day and night in rapt contemplation of her backside, it's highly unlikely that you would notice anything odd.

Ask your vet to discuss the correct terms with you. Each loss is technically an abortion, whether you're dealing with an early embryonic death (EED - the term is usually used to refer to an abortion that takes place before the 15th day of the pregnancy), or an embryonic death (this term is usually used to refer to an abortion that takes place between the 15th and the 40th days of pregnancy), a fetal death (an abortion that takes place after the 40th day of pregnancy), or a stillborn foal.

As with humans, these early spontaneous abortions are often caused by a defect in the embryo or foetus - they are often nature's way of saying "This one wasn't right; something was wrong; we'll have to try again later." When that happens, again whether the pregnancy was equine or human, the humans involved will typically blame themselves or their management. Some will blame the doctor or the vet. They ought not to be blaming anyone or anything - except, of course, for Mother Nature... and there's not much point in blaming HER.

Your opinion on absorbing foals? Do you believe in absorbing or aborting?


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## rabbitsfizz (Oct 9, 2007)

I believe what happens, up to about, IME four months, is that the foetus breaks down in the fluids and is then expelled as the mare returns in season.

I do not believe the fluids are retained and "reabsorbed" but it is a common term and does indicate the difference between early term foetal loss and abortion, as we understand it.

Can anyone suggest a better term??

"Early Foetal Loss???"


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## targetsmom (Oct 9, 2007)

Well, if the fetus breaks down and and is expelled when the mare comes in season, what happens in a "false" pregnancy? The mare doesn't come back in heat after she "early fetal loss". It would seem to me that it could be expelled any time.


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## nluszcz (Oct 9, 2007)

Its sort-of true, sort-of not. If the loss is early enough, the fluids can be absorbed and the embryo can be broken down by the immune system of the mare. Later losses can also be desiccated, forming a mummified fetus. But the vast majority of losses leave the same way they came in: through the cervix. This is a huge pet peeve of mine





Its an abortion, not a resorbsion. Even some repro vets call it absorbing, resorbing, etc.

There is almost no such thing as a false pregnancy. There are a few syndromes which can mimic it. What you are describing, a mare not coming into heat following an abortion, is completely normal. After the endometrial cups form the mare will not cycle again that season. That's the beginning of the placenta, signaling the mare not to come back into heat. That is unrelated to abnormal lactation which is what people normally think of when they call a mare falsely pregnant.


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## Dona (Oct 9, 2007)

I agree....they ABORT...they do not "absorb" the fetus. In fact, I just had one of my mares abort a tiny fetus, barely 2 inches long. This mare was bred on her foal heat...and was barely 2 months along, so I KNOW they do not absorb, nor does the fetuses "liquify" in most cases. I found the fetus in her stall not more than an hour after putting her into it...freshly cleaned. So, I know it was hers. She didn't even act like anything strange had happened. It was tiny...but already very developed....could even tell it was a colt.

The earliest one I found before that, was a 3 month one...that was 3" long. They looked pretty much the same...except this one was smaller.

As far a mares not coming back into heat following an abortion.....that's not always true. I remember another year much like this one several years ago, when we had an extreme heat wave. All my mares were bred & in foal in the spring...but 3 of them came up open in mid to late summer. They all came back into season...that is how I knew they had aborted their earlier pregnancies (except for the one where I found the 3" fetus).

They were sucessfully bred again that season.


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