Anyone ever have this happen?

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Crabby-Chicken

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I took my mare down to be covered for the third time this cycle to a friends house. This cover went normal, not traumatic or anything. After the they went their seperate ways,,, my mare squatted and a small amount of bright red blood came out. After a minute it was fine, not more blood. She has been uncomfortable off and on since then. Slightly colicy. She is eating, pooping, peeing, normal temp, normal color mucus membranes. She is almost all over it. But have never seen this before.
 
I have never bred any of mine, s I can't give you an anser, but just wanted to say, I hope your mare is alright.. Hopefully someone else can help..
 
We had this happen several years ago to a maiden mare. It scared me, so we took her to the vet. He found a small tear in her cervix. If I remember right, he infused her with antibiotics. She healed up fine, and was bred on her next cycle and settled. My stallion was, shall we say, well endowed.
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Doc told us to use a "stud roll" with him.

Melba
 
This may sound a little PG17, but I think that horse's have hymens. I wonder if that breaking is the cause of the blood you saw?
 
did you wrap her tail? I have heard of mares being cut by tail hair going in while being bred. Hope she feels better
 
Anytime you see bright red blood coming from "there" is a good time to have the vet check her.
 
Mares do have hymens, but if this was the third cycle she's been bred chances are anything left of her hymen is completely gone.

Largely endowed stallions can certainly cause bruising when they thrust or tearing when they flare. Breeding rolls, mentioned above, can help with the bruising part. They are basically a small roll of paper towels attached to a pole. The roll goes between the stallion and the mare, somewhere around the level of the mare's anus, and prevents him from entering her too far.

It is very possible, but rare, to have a stallion actually rupture her vagina and ejaculate inside her body cavity completely outside her reproductive tract. Strangely enough this is not usually life threatening... unless there is a major vein/artery involved the mare will heal very quickly. If any blood is seen, a speculum should be carefully inserted to examine the vagina for tears or bruises. This isn't something you should do if you've never done it before... the risk with a normal mare is almost nil, but with an injured mare you can make things worse if you aren't careful. This is a skill that every breeder should practice at some time during their career. Disposable speculums cost only a few dollars. Your vet should be able to teach you pretty easily.

Don't forget that just because the blood is coming out of her doesn't mean its her blood. Check the stallion as well. Make sure his penis is uninjured. Check his urethra for signs of blood. It could have been caused by an errent tail hair (hence why tail wrapping is so important), from debris on her vulva or his penis (hence why washing them both is important), or from an internal problem with him. If he has blood in his semen it can indicate minor irritation of his urethra or something as serious as an internal bleed/infection.

Blood of any kind is not supposed to be outside of their body's... so if you see it definately act like a detective and track the source down. If you aren't comfortable with this you can always call your veterinarian to come help. Luckily, most of the troubleshooting you can do yourself with very few tools, and if you have to call the vet you can usually tell them at least what's happening and let them dig deeper into the problem if its something you can't help.

Luckily the reproductive system is quite strong and resilient, and because of its high blood flow and little muscle tissue (in the mare) things heal very quickly. Stallion issues are usually more serious, and can lead to infertility or penile amputation in extreme cases. But luckily, most of the time the blood is just from minor cuts or irritation on either of the two partners, and a few days of rest is all that's needed to make things good as new.
 
Thanks everyone.

She seems fine this morning but will get in touch with my vet, who is back today.

Nathan I am thinking is was a hair, there was not a lot of blood. But will try and have her checked soon. Thanks everyone.
 
Update on my mare....

Still had some signs she was uncomfortable so we took her to get an ultrasound. And he checked her out and said she is okay, no tears but she has some cervical bruising. So we have her one some antibiotics just in case, and she should be fine.

Thank you all for the help!!
 
Glad to her you got her looked at, and that she will be fine. It is always better safe to have them checked and that also helps you so you don't worry as much!!
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Hey Kim...hope your mare is feeling better. Several years ago we had a mare in for breeding. She had lost a foal to dystocia a few months before coming here but had been cleared by their vet to go ahead and rebreed her. Well she came into heat a few days after getting here...so we covered her the first day and all was well. The next time we covered her all went well, but within a few hours she was just acting "off"...not wanting to eat and acting almost colicy...but not rolling...just laying down and acting uncomfortable. We had her out in a turnout so we put her in a stall so we could watch for poop...which she did. I was checking her frequently and she really wasn't doing anything that screamed call the vet...so we just watched her. The next morning she still just seemed off to me so I talked to her owners and asked if I could call the vet in which of course they agreed to...fortunately my vet knows when I call I really mean it...so she headed out even though I couldn't give her anything but a gut feeling that something wasn't right with her. Well the vet checked her out with the speculum(?) and didn't see anything so she decided to go in manually and feel around and she found a hole...the stallion (well endowed) had poked through and now the vet said very good chance of peritonitis...she put her on heavy duty antibiotics even though she recommended going to a vet hospital. The owners came in the meantime and picked her up...the prognosis wasn't good but the owners vet stuck with what my vet started and it turned out fine...the mare made it and as far as I know is just fine today. I don't know if she ever bred her again or not. It was a very scary thing. I'm glad you had your vet out...it's always best to go with your gut...if you feel like something is wrong it usually is I've found!

Hope she continues to feel better!

Tracy
 
Dog gone it I hate that this happend but I really got an education. Normally I take my mares and leave them to be bred. I am not there so I never have worried about any of this before.

Thanks for all the great info!
 
Like I mentioned earlier a vaginal rupture isn't actually a big deal. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know. But, semen actually makes it into the abdominal cavity EVERY TIME the mare is bred! So having a lot more of it isn't really a big deal. The risk to the mare when a rupture occurs is two-fold:

1) There are veins and arteries in the vagina which could be torn along with the tissue.

2) If the stallion makes a large enough hole, intestines can herniate into the vagina, causing colic and death.

As far as the vagina itself, it will heal VERY quickly, within 48 hours, no assistance required! Its an amazingly resilient organ. Treat for pain and for possible infection, prevent rolling (when a hole is punched by a vet through the vaginal walls for certain procedures, its common practice to tie the mare into a corner so she can't lay down for two days), and observe for colic. Usually (but not always) you can discover the tear with a speculum, and by observing his penis when he dismounts.
 
Hey Kim,

Hope everything is OK with your mare. You take care!

Great education here..... every time I check in on the forum I learn new things.
 

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