Always hoped I'd never have to post one of these threads...

[Charlotte]

I recommend that you call your vet in the morning and ask if they want to see the mare. They may have suggestions on what you should be on the look out for. It is possible the mare aborted due to a uterine/placental infection. If that is the case then the mare needs to be flushed for 3 days with antibiotics. The breeding future of your mare depends on careful management at times like these. Most likely there was a congenital problem with the foal that caused it to die and be aborted, but you need to be sure that your mare is 'clean'.
Since your mare is an experienced mom, I doubt the weaning had anything to do with the abortion.

Good luck!

I am so sorry this much awaited foal didn't survive. An abortion is always so hard on us horse mommies. Thank goodness your mare was able to deliver the fetus with no apparent issues. I agree strongly with Val in the quote above. Our vet always examines the mare and will flush and infuse with antibiotics after an abortion. ( I ususally keep the fetus and placenta in the refrigerator until he can examine them)

Some things you might consider.......was your mare exposed to any new horse after she was bred? Did any horse of yours she had access to go anywhere where there were horses? Had she been vaccinated for anything in the last 10-20 days? Had any pesticides or herbicides been used in her enviornment?

Most of the time we never find an answer, but sometimes we come up with something that we can change in our horse management.

I hope all goes well the next time she is bred.....and I bet it does.

 

[Riverrose28]

so sorry you lost your baby, hope your mare checks out fine. Keep your chin up, these things happen to all of us.

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

I'm so sorry this happened. I know it is just devastating.

Sadly, you may never know what caused this as nature sometimes just knows better than we do. As suggested, it's probably best to call the vet, have her examined and ask about a flush with antibiotics just to ensure if anything was in there that caused an infection, it will be gone by the time you choose to breed her again. Also, if there was anything abnormal about her like a damaged cervix or something else from the last breeding your vet may be able to feel that and you can take appropriate action. But most likely you will never know. Hugs to you and your mare. This is always heartbreaking.

 

[K Sera]

My vet just left a little while ago .... palpated my mare and everything seemed fine ... he said she felt like she was almost back to normal size. He took a culture to see if anything was going on in there ... also took blood to run CBC to check for anything else that might be off, just in case. She flushed out clean ... I also gave her a small dose of oxytocin to help expell the rest of the fluid about an hour after he left. He gave me Uniprim to give for 7 days just in case ... will call me with results of culture and CBC if it shows anything. He said she looks fine and the fetus/placenta was intact, so ..... maybe we'll try again next year. I feel better and she will get a well deserved break!

 

[Charlotte]

Good report! We can't be happy about what happened of course, but knowing she is ok should be a big relief.

Thank you for having her checked.

 

[vickie gee]

I am so sorry. You are such a sweet person...my heart goes out to you. Just glad your mare has you looking after her. {hugs}

 

[MBhorses]

my heart goes out to you. i have had mares abort for no reason. we have had mares, foals that were abort tested and hay and etc. the vet couldnt' find anything. sometimes we never know why .i did have one mare who abort because hidden twin that didn't show up when vet ck her. that mare when on has had several nice foals. i have one mare due last year when she went in labor i was there foal got stuck i lost my only foal that year.i gave this mare last year her prefoaling shots, she foaled few days later month early.i had vet out he ck mare gave her meds and flush her and ck foal last year.I give shots to my mares, but this mare is one that can't have shots close to foaling for some reason. i am thankful i was blessed with a nice pinto foal this year by same mare.

i am glad your mare is okay. i hope she will produce you nice foal next time.

it breaks our heart when we loss our sweet foals or horses.

 

[MBhorses]

http://www.shenandoa...evelopment.html great site on fecus development

http://www.crayonboxminiatures.com/MiniFetusDevelopment.html

 

[MBhorses]

i guess 5 mos give or take

 

[3EagleFarm]

So sorry you lost your foal. But I am glad to hear that your mare are doing fine! Big hugs to you and your mare!

 

[HGStables]

We had a mare abort this summer too. We sent the fetus to cornell and had it tested for everything. They could find nothing wrong. We will try breeding her agian this coming spring.

 

[markadoodle]

My heart goes out to you, so sorry.

 

[dgrminis]

So sorry for the loss of the foal.

 

[K Sera]

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts ... it does mean alot. My mare seems to be doing fine and it seems so strange to see her looking slimmer even though she wasn't that far along. I am anxious to see if the culture comes back showing anything having not been right to have caused her to abort. The vet even mentioned seeing some strange things this year because of the excessive heat wave we had for so long down here ... who knows!

Speaking of weather ... in a few days time, it goes from freezing to 70 degrees here ... bone dry to inches of rain! Everyone here is sick, it's no wonder the poor animals aren't having a time with trying to deal with mother nature.

 

[Farina]

I am so sorry for your loss. I hope tht your mre is going to be ok and you can breed her back for a really nice 2013 filly.