Losses

[frostedpineminis]

Hi, I was just talking with one of my vets the other day about the minis and she asked me what the "death" rate was on foals , You know there is a certain percent on most livestock but not really pets and she was curious as they are prone to more problems. You know like if you have 10 bred mares would you necessarily expect to lose one or something? I told her I would ask the forum family!!! as I was curious too, with twisted cords, abortions, stillborns, dystocia ect I guess from confirmed pregnant to weaning of foals if anybody would care to say...

 

[Skylight_minis]

I've lost 4 foals out of 25. With one foal i missed the birth with getting up every other hour and the sack broke in the middle so it was still over his head and his rear so i assume he suffocated. I bought the foal alert the very next day! One was a slight dystocia and was probably already dead before birth. One died mins after birth. He came out just fine was a quick delivery and all but he just couldnt breathe on his own. The other got hip locked and as a result ended up a dummy foal and was blind at birth due and then got pneumonia on top of that so had him put down at 3 days. Last two were back to back foals from the same mare and stallion. Dont know if that has anything to do with it. Wont be doing that cross ever again. Anyways thats my numbers

 

[Matt73]

I've only had three foals born here, but all were healthy, normal, live births

 

[High Meadow Miniatures]

We've lost five foals out of approx 30 born here. One was a dystocia, two stillborn colts, one late-term abortion and one passed on due to a head tramua from the difficult delivery.

 

[chandab]

Well, I've had two foals born here; but one only lived 24 hours (he was premie); the other is coming 3 and obnoxious. Hopefully with this year's foal crop those statistics will improve.

 

[bluerogue]

I've lost three of ten, but one of those was at 4 months, due to ingesting some mushrooms. The other two were lost at birth, one in the sac because we missed the birth on a maiden showing no signs (this loss was my fault completely), and the other was a dystocia. The dystocia started with his head back along his shoulder, horsey midwife corrected that, then he hip locked. She got him out as fast as she could, and the vet resusitated him three times before she called it on him. She said he had been oxygen deprived too long, and as he was a tiny baby, she thought he just had nothing left to keep trying.

I'm holding my breath this spring... I've got 4 coming, and one is a maiden. The other three are experienced broodmares with multiple foals to their names. Not that something won't happen with them, I just like to think I don't have to worry as much about them, since they know what's going on.

 

[bevann]

I was a breeder for over 20 years.Last foals in 2007.I NEVER had a year that I didn't lose at least 1 foal and some years lost mares and foals.I slept in the stall until I got camera and Breeder Alert(still lost some)and finally got so burned out from lack of sleep I sent the mares out.Still lost at least 1 every year and never had lots of foals.My high in 1 year was 7.I just got someone elses bad luck.I stopped breeding because I got tired of burying little foals and their moms.I do miss the babies.I get my foal fix from the forum members who are kind enough to share their photos.

 

[mini horse mania]

With our big horses,we lost maybe 2 a year out of 20...stillborn,and had a lethal white from A mare we bought bred...another year,we had a dog attack one and a hay string incident due to one of the workers leaving,the strings on a round bale...so far...good luck with the minis!!

 

[barnbum]

I had six foals born here--two every other year (2005, 2007, 2009) -- all healthy. I was present for all but the first birth--missed it by 3-5 minutes. I lost a lot of sleep to never miss another.

 

[Jill]

IF I'm counting right, we've had 12 live foals (Morningstar, Skipper, Ducky, Passion, Cover Girl (born at E's), Trooper, Infinity, Piper, Bliss, Divine, Design, and Delight). We lost 1 foal AND mare right at the beginning and it was as awful as it gets. We also lost a late term double dilute filly we think due to a twisted cord. Also, our colt / filly ratio is 3/9 (10 if you count the lost DD filly). I'm crazy enough to think i really do know a "secret" to making that happen

 

[targetsmom]

Well, I will skew whatever numbers there are. We started breeding in 2006, and through 2011 (so not counting this year) had 8 confirmed pregnancies plus 4 breedings where the mare(s) didn't settle. From those 8 confirmed pregnancies we got exactly 2 live foals, one of whom died before he reached the age of two.

Our losses included:

1 false pregnancy (after being confirmed by US; mare bagged up and was followed on Mare Stare but no foal).

1 late term abortion (Mira -Rhino suspected)

1 early term abortion (Mira)

2 foals born full term, did not get out of sac (Sox both times: Rhino suspected, as both times the placenta was delivered with the foal, and with no warning)

1 horrible dystocia/fetotomy (Sox)

Right now we have 3 mares between about 275 and 310 days gestation, including Mira and Sox. I am a nervous wreck.

The ONLY reason we kept going was that the first live foal (Max) was everything we could possibly have hoped for in a foal. And I guess we weren't the only ones who felt that way, as many forum members and plenty of judges appeared to agree with us.

 

[mdegner]

We have lost one out of 25 over the last 8 years and it was the only mare we had in the barn. All others foaled in the "nursery" pasture. The same mare had a "dummy" baby the next time but we saved the baby and stopped breeding the mare.

 

[Carolyn R]

Over the years I have followed threads like this, on average, some people having fate on their side and others dealing with more loss than anyone should have to deal with, it seems like the rate of losses with mini's seems to be around 20-25% . Now that includes mares that abort a fetus after approx. 5-6 months, when it is of a size that is large enough that it is easily found by owners, it also include red bags, distocias, dummy foals that don't make it, foals that are premies or those that simply have "failure to thrive", those that get joint I'll, do not get sufficient colostrum, those that get the foal scours and rapidly go down hill, basically, the percent includes any foal that does not make it past 1 month of age. In some instances and some years that percent seems higher. Now of course, that is only based on mini people I know, forum people painfully sharing their live viable foals v/s their losses, and personal experience. More so than anything else, I have learned that if someone says they have never had any losses, they should not pat themselves on the back for doing a superb job, many of us are meticulous about the care we give out mares and foals, before, during and after foaling. Instead these individuals should thank the dear Lord above that they have not yet had their run of bad luck, breed long enough and everyone gets their unfortunate turn.

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

I think we've bred approximently 50 foals. We lost two to not getting out of the sac ( Flash and Pinkie), two abortion/stillbirths (Dawn and Middie), one foal who just didn't thrive and was euthed at 36 hours, 32 of them spend in neonatal care.(Gabriel). Had one mare die when her foal was about two months old (Maddie) and had one foal die of pneumonia when he was 9 months old (Rhett).

Our conception rate in PA was close to 100%. But I also was fanatical about teasing and the stallion and mares were very close to one another. Here in TX, not so much. The mares are way in the back and the stallions in the front, so more time consuming to tease. Plus I think last year the heat was just too much, I'm not sure if ANY of the mares are bred for this year. This year we have a stallion pastured right next to the girls and intend to start breeding early this year!

 

[frostedpineminis]

Thank you all for your input it is very helpful! I know it is not a great topic to discuss

 

[Skylight_minis]

I have a friend that has terrible luck. She's had 2 live foals out of several foals and even lost a mare and foal due to inexperienced vet and dystocia.

 

[Tab]

I hope that it never happens. Very small farm, very limited breeding and have not lost foals. We are also very blessed and probably won't be breeding too much in the future.

 

[wildoak]

We have lost 6 I think out of close to 40 foalings, would have to check records back 12 years or so to be exact. One or two may have been preventable losses, we just weren't there in time.. three to a twisted cord, and two to bad dystocias.

Jan

 

[shandoaharabmini]

Out of 20 some mini foals born, we have thankfully only lost 5 foals (including the twins and the faults pregnancy) We have had 1 still-born full term filly that did not make it out of the sac (missed birth by 5 minutes). The next year this mare was vet check pregnant at three months then turned into a faults pregnancy. The following year that same mare aborted a filly due to extreme brutully cold weather. The foals front hooves were out but the head was turned down between the foals legs. The mares contractions were so strong our vet could not reposition the foal to get her out. After awhile our mare was starting to lose the fight. We knew the foal was died so we decided to try to save the mare. The only way to get the foal out was to decapatated the foal. I never ever want to see that again!!! The mare did survive but do to cervical lacerations she never could carry another foal full term again.

Several years later, a maiden mare aborted a 9 month gestation colt, sent foal and placenta to the U of MN. They found unexplainable multiple internal organ hemorrhage and he died before birth. The vets also found a twin within the placenta that died during the earily 2nd trimester and somehow was walled off to protect the surviving twin, then we lost the twin. What are the odds of that happening?

When I was growing up, my mom raised Arabians and Half Arabs. I think she had around 15 of so foals, lost 3 (including another set of twins). I was7 or 8 years old when my moms Arabian mare aborted 10 month gestation identical twin fillies. They were chesnut with four white hooves and a diamond shaped star with a connecting lighting bolt. They were gorgeous. The next day her other two horses were very sick. One open mare badly foundered and by that evening her other best show mare was dead. We were in a panic! The vets were starting to see this sickness but it had no name, later that year it was given the name Potomic Horse Fever. The mare that aborted the twins never became sick but the U of MN determined that the twins were full of the bacteria leading to their death. If this disease had not hit our farm, would the twins been born alive? The twins were thriving before the bacteria killed them.

The third Arabian foal that died was a blood bay colt with four white even socks. A new neighbor moved in nearby that came from the city. Since they were now in the country they thought it was fine to turned their three big dogs loose when we were in town. These dogs started chasing our horses, one was pregnant. These new neighbors watched their dogs doing this and thought it was funny. By the time we came home the damage was done. The horses were full of sweat and still being chased with our pregnant mare missing. The dogs would not stop so my mom loaded a hunting rifle and shot it up into the sky scaring the dogs away. We found our pregnant mare in a wooded area with the aborted foal. She had bite marks on her front legs and chest probably from trying to protect her dead foal who had a freshly broken leg caused from the dogs dragging him. So Sad.

Shandoaharabmini

 

[tagalong]

In 20 years of foaling out minis (and big horses - but I will just refer to the minis) I never lost a mare. *knocks on wood* In all those years I have only had 3 dystocias I could not fix (one this year). One stillborn I could not revive - but the couple that arrived the same way that I managed to resuscitate made up for that one. Two born too early to survive - they were just far too premature. And two who never really flourished... one for unknown reasons and one had a cleft palate. So 8 (we can say 9 in case I forgot one) out of ... approx. 75?

Looking back, I think the percentages were only slightly higher for the minis than the bigger horses. The worst dystocia I ever dealt with all on my own was with an Arabian mare. The foal was upside down, head back... but if that had been a mini I am not sure I would have been able to fix it...