For those that have had mares abort late term

[Lucky-C-Acres-Minis]

What signs did they give?

Have you had one progress like a normal mare due to foal? To the point of having the huge udder and white milk?

No discharge?

No going off feed?

No temp./lethargic/sick acting?

and for DAYS?

I've had one mare abort late term. Noticed she was bagging (fit in the palm of my hand) but she was just a few days from 300 (keep in mind minis tend to have a shorter gestation than a full size) so I thought it was normal.. 2 days later, delivered a still born colt at day 292..

 

[Jill]

A couple of years ago, we lost a double dilute late term filly (Destiny x Sweetie). We saw no signs. It would have been Sweetie's first foal. Found the baby when we went out to feed, about 9 mos along. I'm happy she had a double dilute full sister to that lost filly last year... it was a heart breaker to find her lost!

 

[Lori W]

We lost one at day 242 (not as late term as yours). She gave us no signs whatsoever. No bag, no discharge, didn't go off feed, no lethargy (I hadn't checked her temp because I had no reason to believe she wasn't well).

Here's what happened: I checked on the girls at 3pm - everyone was acting normally, grazing on hay, waiting for dinner time. She was a little apart from the others, but that's not unusual for her. I went out at 5pm and she was in the middle of the pasture standing over the aborted foal (still in the bag), a perfect little colt, with the rest of our little mare herd standing by her. So sad to see. We allowed her to stay with the little one until she understood it was not alive.

Bottom line, she gave us no signs she would abort. She is an older mare at 20 years old, and while she was open in 2011, she had a healthy full term foal in 2010. She checked out okay and we'll try to breed her one more time this spring. Any issues this time and she will be retired from the brood mare band. She's a sweet mare with good conformation, so she may get a second career in halter and showmanship with a younger member of our 4-H club.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

I have my notes at home, but the mare I lost last year was a little over 300 days, she showed no signs of anything. I watch my mares very closely and know what is normal for them and she was not progressed enough for me to even consider close to foaling. She ate and was turned out as normal, I went to work my dad called me about an hour and a half later and said she was rolling, then he described her water breaking. It was not a happy ending.

 

[supaspot]

I have lost three foals all between 287 and 270 days , she was bagging up but showed no other signs , eating fine etc , next thing I would find her in full labour or find a dead foal in her stall , still in bag , I have retired her from breeding

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I had a mare abort about five years ago- before that I had had the normal amount of early abortions at three months (I say "normal", well, I think you know what I mean) but never a late term. Mare gave NO signs and I only noticed when she would not leave the foal to come for her feed!

Her temperature was a little down- which is why I called the Vet and got a course of antibiotics for her- but otherwise she was fine.

Once she had got over the stress she was back to her usual crabby self!

I have known mares go on, running on their hormones, after an abortion around mid term, and come into milk at the time they would have given birth- this is what people mistake for "false pregnancy" but, of course, horses do not have this, not in the same way that bitches do.

The mare I had abort late term was around 9 months, and did not really come into milk- a few days later she had a small bag, but that was all.

 

[Jill]

I misspoke. Sweetie list her second filly, not her first. She had a buckskin prior to slipping the filly I mentioned. I think I had "first" in my head because she would have been our first double dilute to probably retain... And I always had wanted to get double dilute fillies.

 

[targetsmom]

Well, we have had more late term abortions/deaths than we have had live births. We think they were all related to Rhino, which is why my vet was JUST here giving the last of the mares their 9 month Pneumabort shots.

Mira aborted at 260 days in 2008 (she JUST passed 260 days last weekend - one reason I am a nervous wreck). No bag, no signs at all, and as a matter of fact it presented as colic. Called vet who was on the other side of the state, so told me to watch her and give her Banamine only if she got worse. Within a short time, I not only gave her the Banamine, but I called the vet back and said I was calling another vet because she needed help sooner rather than later. She was in such pain that she was rolling and thrashing while I was talking on phone to second vet. By that time we were pretty sure she was aborting but then her water broke and we were sure. Vet couldn't do anything so she sent us to hospital 2 hours away, where they worked on her for 3 hours to get the foal out. Breech presentation, and Mira surely would have died without intervention. The vets felt strongly that it was Rhino/herpes infection although the necropsy didn't show it. They had her in isolation the whole week she was there (you don't want to know the bill) and urged us to keep her away from our other pregnant mare. Of course, that was pretty much impossible, so the other mare (Sox) carried to term, bagged up normally, but foaled with NO SIGNS (I had checked her within 15 minutes) while my back was turned, and the foal did not get out of the sac. The placenta was delivered with the foal, all classic signs of Rhino, which does not always cause abortions but sometimes the mare carries to term.

Last year Sox lost another foal at 299 days gestation, just like the one in 2008. She bagged up normally but did not look that close to foaling. We already knew she had been exposed to Rhino, although of course we didn't know it back when she was first exposed. By the time we realized what it was, it was too late to vaccinate, so we knew she was carrying a "time bomb".

Both Mira and Sox recovered from their ordeals and were bred the following year(s). Mira presented us with Max in 2009 and Sox with Rusty in 2010. They are the two mares that just got their 9 month shots. Please keep fingers crossed for them.

 

[targetsmom]

OK, I reread the OP and we did have a pregnancy like that too. (As I said we have LOTS more experience with bad outcomes). In 2006 we bred 2 mares to outside stallion because our stallion was only a yearling. Only one was confirmed in foal (via ultrasound) and she progressed normally, bagged up on schedule, we were testing milk and it went from clear to white and half-way across the chart we were using. Then everything just stopped, just shortly past 330 days. We had a vet come out and do an external US and found she was not in foal. As the vet drove out the driveway the mare started showing signs of heat. We realized if she had foaled about on schedule, that would have been the time of her foal heat. And of course, if she had come in heat a little earlier, she could have saved us the cost of the vet visit!!

 

[Charlie Horse Acres]

My sister's mare had a still born a few years ago. The mare gave no signs, they came in to feed that morning and the baby was in the stall. The mare was ignoring the baby completely. Had not cleaned her or anything and she was an experienced brood mare. The mare was perfectly fine thank God. The vet is pretty sure the cord got twisted and the baby died the day before it was born. Only about 10-20 days before she was due. That is why she was in the big stall already because she was so close. Beautiful black and white little mare. Really sad.