Mare slipping at 60 days. WHY??

[JAX]

What would cause a mare to start showing signs of slipping her pregnancy always around day 60? Last year she did slip and now this year it looks like shes headed that way again!! She is stretching out and laying down kind of half trying to roll, or just laying down looking painfull. Two different vets are saying the fetus looks perfectly normal and this is a different stallion from last year. She has now had USs(6 of them between the two short pregnancys), x-rays, endoscope, oiling and lots of ulcer meds just in case. Both times she was started on regumate as soon as she was showing signs of slipping. She has had 2 foals before although I did find out that she never did very good at producing milk (I figured domperidone on hand was a must when I found that out). This is my number one favorite mare that I bought specifically for her bloodlines and the fact that I LOVE her looks, and am really hoping to figure out what is going on and how can I help her produce a healthy foal? BTW she is only 6 years old. any suggestions?? Ideas???

And yes the 2nd vet was refered by first vet when she was at a loss as to what to do. The story is actually much much longer just trying to shorten it as much as possible

 

[kaykay]

Have you run cultures and/or done biopsies/uterine flushes? If she has a lingering infection that could cause it.

 

[targetsmom]

Stretching out, laying down and half rolling (onto their back) could be a sign of ulcers - or colic. Don't want to alarm you or go off on a side tangent, but maybe there is something else going on. I do know that it is often very hard to tell where it hurts when minis are in pain. When our mare aborted at 9 months, the signs looked just like colic until her water broke. Hope you can figure it out.

 

[Riverrose28]

did the previous owner bred her? Has she had blood work done to rule out liver or kidney problems, bladder problems. Cultured for infections? If the previous owner bred her maybe she caught something from the stallion or has problems herself in the reproductive tract. Maybe your vet needs to look further before trying to breed her again.

 

[JAX]

TargetsMom

Yes we first thought it was colic and/or ulcers. She was oiled, sonogramed, x-rayed, hydrated, had a camera run down to her stomach looking for what they were positive was an ulcer... all looked great. They put her on three ulcer meds anyway "just in case". She continued to poop normal through it all. She continued to act like this until she did finally slip the pregnancy.

KayKay

Hmmmm...I always flush my mares after foaling but this was an outside mare that came already bred... Good idea though. If she slips this one I will do the culture and biopsy next. I would love to see this girl have a foal at her side.

 

[JAX]

Riverrose28

Yes previous owners bred her. She had fillys two years in a row and was bred back when I got her. Yes she had blood work done last year when all this first started.

 

[HGFarm]

Is she pretty chunky? Check her thyroid. If not, put her on antibiotics for 10 days after flushing her out. My friends had a mare that did NOT show any infection when cultured, but she had picked up a low grade one somewhere- enough to where she wouldnt carry. Once they flushed her and did the antibiotics, she was good to go and had many more foals.

Another thought, I myself had a mare many years ago that had had foals before with no problem. Bred her one year and sure enough- she was slipping the foals. Turns out she just had out of balance hormones that year. Per the vet, bred her again, checked her at 30 days and put her on Regumate. Worked like a charm- got her back in the groove again and she had many foals since with no problems or further meds. Just was out of whack that year.

Just some things to ponder.

I have only seen horses do that stretching thing and such when they had other problems- an impaction or something else going on.

 

[JAX]

HGFarm

No her weight is perfect right now. I will make a mental note of things to ask vet such as antibiotics after uterine flush. Thanks

So can anyone tell me what should be happening with the fetus between days 50-70? In other words when does it attach? When should the fetus be making the correct hormones as opposed to the mare? Vet did not suspect hormones because of the timing of the problems (I thought), but she was put on regumate because the stress of whatever she was going through could cause her to stop making the hormones. At least thats how I understood it... Anyway she is on regumate now as much as I cant stand the stuff!!

 

[kaykay]

I will be brutally honest and say I am not a fan of regumate mares. To me what makes a great broodmare is the ability to get in foal and stay in foal.

I would also be thinking ulcers if she keeps that up. Maybe give her some probiotics? There is a newish one my vet highly recommends that is SynerGI EQ.

They should be implanted by 50-60 days.

Do you give rhino shots? I know many vets we have spoken with are now recommending starting them before you breed and then going every 2 months.

If she slips again I would for sure do a culture and see what is going on. Then you will know whether to flush with antibiotics etc.

Tease has to be tested soon as they think she may have had a uterine infection (since annie was born septic) but we had to wait until 30 days post birth to test her. (you either have to culture the day they give birth or abort or wait 30 days)