miniappluvr
Well-Known Member
I recently had a foal that was born and seemed completely normal. After a couple of days, she started going downhill. I took her to the vet and he did blood tests and also the test to see if she got enough colostrum. The vet said it came back that she had gotten adequate colostrum and we waited on the blood test. When that came back everything pointed to neonatal isoerythrolysis. (kind of like RH factor in people) The mare had developed antibodies to the stallions anitgens and was then producing colostrum that would basically attack her filly's red blood cells. I took her home and fed her every two hours as I had been doing. She was not doing well and back to the vet we went. It was too late. We did all that we could do and we lost her.
I have since been trying to warp my brain around this. I own 3 mares that are all sired by the same stallion.
1. Lady
2. Jewell
3. Feather
Not only are they half sisters, but Jewell and Feather are full sisters. Once I started reading, all I could think of was my mares need to be blood typed. So, last Monday I took all three mares and my two stallions Flash and Knight in for blood draw to be sent off to UC Davis for blood typing. I just got a call from my vet yesterday that the results came back "incompatable" between Flash and all three mares.
However, Knight can be bred to Jewell and Feather with no issues. My vet apologized and said she didn't have time to look at each blood type to be able to go into a detailed explanation at the moment and would call me back some other time. I know they are busy right now with cattle and their fair share of C-sections.
So, if NI is like the RH factor in people, Does that mean that my mare Lady and my stallion Flash have the same blood group but one is positive and one is negative? This is my assumption.
Which would then mean that Flash is also a problem blood type? Flash has sired 22 foals previously if I look up his progeny in the AMHR studbook. I had no idea as all previous foals were happy and healthy and I had no reason to think there was a problem.
I am now in a panic as I also bred Feather to Flash and I am unsure if she is in fact pregnant. I know, I should be able to tell, but she is a maiden and it gets cold throughout our winters (we had exceptionally cold days that averaged -20 for long periods of time) so I feed "plenty" of hay. She has a belly that's for sure. So now, I have an appointment to take Feather in on Monday and have her blood drawn and plan to sent that in to either confirm weather she is in foal or open. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard that a mare will be "open".
The surprising fact I have been reading is that the first foal is "usually" not affected. This would explain why last year Jewell had a sorrel colt sired by Flash and he is fine. This would have been Lady's first foal and yet we lost her. It makes me wonder if in fact when I bred her the previous year if she "took" but absorbed the foal and in doing so was exposed to the stallions blood antigens that way so that this foal would have technically been her second?
My question is this: Has anyone else every dealt with this? How common is it? I am thinking that Flash needs to be gelded and taken out of the breeding pool? The daughters he has sired could possibly have the same issues? His son will be gelded as soon as he drops. Since Lady cannot be bred to Flash or Knight, she is also one that should just NOT be bred? So many questions.....if anyone has any experience with this I would love to hear from you. I am still trying to figure this out so I do the right thing. I would NEVER purposefully sell a stallion that would pose a problem for someone else and cause them the heartache I went through.
Here is a link to pictures of the mare and stallion that produced the NI foal.
http://www.angelfire.com/nd/PaintedHorseRanch/page2014foals.html
Thanks,
Michelle
I have since been trying to warp my brain around this. I own 3 mares that are all sired by the same stallion.
1. Lady
2. Jewell
3. Feather
Not only are they half sisters, but Jewell and Feather are full sisters. Once I started reading, all I could think of was my mares need to be blood typed. So, last Monday I took all three mares and my two stallions Flash and Knight in for blood draw to be sent off to UC Davis for blood typing. I just got a call from my vet yesterday that the results came back "incompatable" between Flash and all three mares.
However, Knight can be bred to Jewell and Feather with no issues. My vet apologized and said she didn't have time to look at each blood type to be able to go into a detailed explanation at the moment and would call me back some other time. I know they are busy right now with cattle and their fair share of C-sections.
So, if NI is like the RH factor in people, Does that mean that my mare Lady and my stallion Flash have the same blood group but one is positive and one is negative? This is my assumption.
Which would then mean that Flash is also a problem blood type? Flash has sired 22 foals previously if I look up his progeny in the AMHR studbook. I had no idea as all previous foals were happy and healthy and I had no reason to think there was a problem.
I am now in a panic as I also bred Feather to Flash and I am unsure if she is in fact pregnant. I know, I should be able to tell, but she is a maiden and it gets cold throughout our winters (we had exceptionally cold days that averaged -20 for long periods of time) so I feed "plenty" of hay. She has a belly that's for sure. So now, I have an appointment to take Feather in on Monday and have her blood drawn and plan to sent that in to either confirm weather she is in foal or open. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard that a mare will be "open".
The surprising fact I have been reading is that the first foal is "usually" not affected. This would explain why last year Jewell had a sorrel colt sired by Flash and he is fine. This would have been Lady's first foal and yet we lost her. It makes me wonder if in fact when I bred her the previous year if she "took" but absorbed the foal and in doing so was exposed to the stallions blood antigens that way so that this foal would have technically been her second?
My question is this: Has anyone else every dealt with this? How common is it? I am thinking that Flash needs to be gelded and taken out of the breeding pool? The daughters he has sired could possibly have the same issues? His son will be gelded as soon as he drops. Since Lady cannot be bred to Flash or Knight, she is also one that should just NOT be bred? So many questions.....if anyone has any experience with this I would love to hear from you. I am still trying to figure this out so I do the right thing. I would NEVER purposefully sell a stallion that would pose a problem for someone else and cause them the heartache I went through.
Here is a link to pictures of the mare and stallion that produced the NI foal.
http://www.angelfire.com/nd/PaintedHorseRanch/page2014foals.html
Thanks,
Michelle