Weird Question on Pregnant Mare aborting - Possible Twins?

[HGStables]

I have herd this can happen so I want to see what everyone has to say. My mare aborted for no known reason about a month ago. She was getting really big for how far along she was in my opinion (Due Feb). Well she is still having an attitude change getting quieter and quieter and she is getting bigger. Could she have been pregnant with twins and lost one and not the other? I have found a few cases of it. I really don't want my vet ultra sounding her to check as I do not want ANY stress on her.

I will take a few new pictures of her in a little and post them.

 

[Ashley]

Not sure if its possible but at this point the ultrasound wouldnt be stressful as it would be external.

 

[targetsmom]

Unfortunately, mares, especially mini mares, abort at any time for no known reasons. Sorry it happened to your mare. If you think there is a chance she might still be pregnant, I would suggest a Wee Foal 120 urine test. It would not be hard on the mare - might be frustrating for you to get urine, but it really isn't that hard. She should be far enough along for that test to work and it tests for something in the developing fetus, rather than the mare's hormones, so you should get an accurate result.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Twin horses share a placenta. If one dies, sadly the other does too, hence why yhe entire pregnancy has to be terminated instead of just one foal to prevent twinning. On cows they have seperate placentas, so one can be aborted, as twins is just as rough on cattle. If shes still big, it might be an infection post abortion.

i cant even imagine how hard this must be. I have "my" first ever due in April and i love him/her already. *hugs*

 

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

Twin horses share a placenta. If one dies, sadly the other does too, hence why yhe entire pregnancy has to be terminated instead of just one foal to prevent twinning. On cows they have seperate placentas, so one can be aborted, as twins is just as rough on cattle. If shes still big, it might be an infection post abortion.

i cant even imagine how hard this must be. I have "my" first ever due in April and i love him/her already. *hugs*

I'm pretty sure this isn't true as if twinning is detected early enough, one twin can be "pinched" off, giving you a chance of maintaining the other foal.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

No. When you irritate a uterus like that, prostaglandin is released which reduce the corpus luteum, the ovarian structure which maintains pregnancy. Twins can be pinched sometimes, but for best results it has to be before fixation to the uterus, but can be done post attachment if its done very very early, like within 16 days to 20 days., or before she wouldve been in heat again. After that its pretty risky, at least in my experiences.

 

[HGStables]

Pardon her being muddy we had a storm and somebody just HAD to go and roll this is her right now. I doubt an infection never had a fever or any issues with eating, drinking.

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

If she has a dead foal inside her which i thoroughly doubt being she's eating drinking no fever and no trademark infected uterus smell, my bet is shes just plain fuzzy and maybe a hair chunky. I the mare my stud bred always has a bit of a belly, and isnt much smaller looking at 6 mos. Shes almost 7 mos right? Progesterone has been relatively high for 7 mos, a trademark hormone used to settle mares down. Shes a cutie pie! Hope you get a colorful foal!

 

[Minimor]

Twins don't share a placenta...they result from a double ovulation or even separate ovulations which can take place up to six days apart...and there have been a few cases where mini mares aborted afoul and then turned out to still be carrying a foal. It is very rare, but it does happen.

With twins the two placentas do not get enough attachment to the uterine wall (needs to be attached all around to be ideal--not possible with twins) and this is my twins so rarely are born full term and alive/healthy.

 

[Kelsey - Vandy's Farm]

Twins don't share a placenta...they result from a double ovulation or even separate ovulations which can take place up to six days apart...and there have been a few cases where mini mares aborted afoul and then turned out to still be carrying a foal. It is very rare, but it does happen.

With twins the two placentas do not get enough attachment to the uterine wall (needs to be attached all around to be ideal--not possible with twins) and this is my twins so rarely are born full term and alive/healthy.

She is right. Twins don't share placentas. The issue with twins is that normally a foal's placenta will cover the whole uterine wall but with twins they have to share the space in the uterus and therefore have limited nutrients.

 

[Riverdance]

Twins do not share a placenta and why in big horses we had our mares ultrsounded. If there are twins, the vet can pinch off one of them and the other survives.

By the way, if a twin shares the same placenta, then they are identical twins.

 

[Mock2Farms]

I had twins myself so learned all sorts of twin stuff... Twins that share a placenta are identical and twins that do not share a placenta are fraternal. Both are possible, its not only one or the other.

 

[HGStables]

So its possible she is still pregnant? her temperment really changed once bred she use to be the boss mare now shes quiet and easy going and shes still like that. shed be due in feb.

 

[Mock2Farms]

I doubt it. My guess is that maybe hormones are not normal again yet. Havent seen it happen in my 20+ years with horses but Im sure that it is possible, though rare.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

No, twins definitely do not have to share a placenta, I have a picture somewhere of a TB Hunter mare who had twins- one a Mule and one a Horse.

I think the most obvious thing is that the mare aborted but the hormones are still in full flow and her body "thinks" it is pregnant. This is what is erroneously referred to as a "false pregnancy" (horses do not have false pregnancies- don't argue go and look it up!!) so, unless she is given hormonal help, she may well troll along to as far as her due date without returning in season. My advice would be to have her ultra sounded to make sure and then given some hormonal help to put her body back on track for a spring season to get her back in foal...

 

[targetsmom]

We had a mare that had a "false pregnancy" which can only happen if the mare gets pregnant and then aborts and, as Rabbitfizz says, the hormones don't get turned off. Our mare acted pregnant, never came in heat, bagged up on schedule and her milk even changed from clear to white and moved across the milk testing strips we used. She was on MareStare and when her milk stopped changing around her due date I got suspicious and had an external US. Vet confirmed she was not pregnant and a half hour later she came back into heat!! That would have been the right time for her foal heat if she had foaled on schedule.

Your mare may be doing this, but of course other things could be going on. As I said earlier in this thread, a WeeFoal120 urine test could help you figure out what is going on.

 

[Kendra]

So its possible she is still pregnant? her temperment really changed once bred she use to be the boss mare now shes quiet and easy going and shes still like that. shed be due in feb.

I have heard of mares aborting a twin, and carrying the other to term, so it's possible your mare is still pregnant, but it would be very unlikely.

The reason it is so uncommon to have healthy twins carried to term, is that the two placentas have to attach exactly over half the uterus for each twin to get enough blood supply. That why usually one twin is much smaller and weaker, or even dead/mummified at birth.

 

[Matt73]

Identical twins will share a placenta. Fraternal twins will not. The reason why having twins is so risky for a horse is that the placenta has to adhere to the entire inner surface of the uterus (unlike most mammals). With fraternal twins, they have to share that surface area; so in a perfect world each twins' placenta could take up 50% of the uterus each. This rarely happens...so you end up with one or both being aborted or, if they do make to full term the twin that had less surface area for nutrients will be much smaller etc.