amysue
Well-Known Member
So....today sucked. My British Shetland pony mare, Lollipop was due yesterday (always foaled according to the textbook). I bred her to my silver dapple stallion built similar to her (their previous foals were perfect). Last night around 11 I noticed she was bagged up real big and shortly after began labor. At 1:30 am her water broke. At 2am, still no baby, worried, I went in for a look/feel and while I couldn't get roo far, I found the foal not only seriously deformed but also seriously stuck with her head straight back and upside down, her legs twisted and tucked behind her. I could not reposition her and honestly did not feel movement. At that point, knowing what I did about the foal, I decided to prioritize and focus on saving Lollipop, the foal was a loss anyway (I know it sounds awful, but I had to act fast in panic mode and could not justify risking her life for an unviable foal). Called my vet (love her) came right out. She confirmed my suspicion and we immediately decided to get the saw after several attempts to reposition and pull to no avail. Lollipop was so exhausted that it was the next logical choice. Once the vet, myself and hubby (so dedicated) sawed the head off and got it out we got a good idea of the severity of the situation...the foal was severely disfigured. It took a little under an hour to reposition the legs and pull, both vet and hubby went flying backward on their butts once the foal was out. The poor little thing would never have survived. The legs were all twisted and folded over, she could not have stood without braces, shoes and lots of pain. Her body and shoulders were so boxy, that lollipop never could have delivered on her own, even if in the correct position. The filly had no real neck, the head just sort of protruded from the neck and the head was so deformed. Huge dome poll and brow (like a neanderthal), severe underbite and palate deformity and the eyes were not right either, nor were her ears. We are just devistated, not only for the loss, but the deformity took us off guard completely. Have never had even slightly dwarf characteristics in our 20 years of breeding. LollipPop isn't out of the woods yet either, she finally cleaned after 3 doses of oxytosin, she was flushed and is on antibiotics but now we wait and cross our fingers. I have had cows bleed out after this type of surgery and get fatal infections, I am so worried. Does anybody know if Dr. Eberth is still collecting foals for his research? My husband and I would feel better if something good could come of this, we feel so helpless at this point. I will try to upload photos once I resize them (says they're too big to load).