Hill Haven Farms
Well-Known Member
This will be the abreviated version.... My 8 yo mare who has had 4 foals in the past with no complications.... went into labor Tuesday morning. All was progressing normally, water broke, amniotic sac visible.... she laid down and started having strong contractions. She got up, repositioned and laid back down. When she did, the amniotic sac broke. HOLY MOLEY....the legs were staggered, but soles of feet were pointing upward...YIKES! So I immediately call my vet and he's 30 min out... In the mean time, I scrubbed up, cleaned her the best I could, go in to try to assess. Upon palpation, it's the front legs, with soles facing up, but head in the correct position...??? So try to follow the leg to the shoulder and up the neck, but could not get the foals head straightened out....(the foal isn't moving, at this point so he passed sometime in utero over night) Vet arrives and it takes us close to 2 hours to get the foal out... my vet had to use the "winch" and chains to get the foal out. By this time, my mare is exhausted and shocky. We put in an IV catheter, ran fluids, gave more pain meds. Her uterus had prolapsed in the process as well as tearing all the way up to her rectum. My vet gently cleans her uterus, flushes it off with antibotics and dmso. He then gently puts all things back in place and repairs the tear to prevent prolapse again. She is put on IV fluids, Naxcel IV, Banamine IV, Morphine and Gastro-Guard paste to keep her comfortable....By the time he left, she was pawing the ground and eating hay and drinking water. She rested all evening and night, Wednesday morning she was again, eating and acting more back to normal.... Come home from work @ 6 pm....still looking good! So starting to feel more comfortable that she is going to pull through. Before I go to bed, I go out to check on her at 11pm. I walk in, she is panting, sweating and swollen up like a blimp....She had been passing stool, urinating etc from what was in the stall.... I lift her tail to check her backside.... it has tripled in size, had horrible purlent appearance discharge and fecal balls right at anal opening.... I called my vet and he said he was on his way..... I gave her another dose of banamine then l gently remove some fecal balls that are right at the anus opening. When doing so, she was able to pass some gas, but still appeared VERY bloated. Listened to her abdomen, and NO gut sounds. My vet arrived and he tubed her with mineral oil and did a gentle soapy water enema to try to assist in getting more of the fecal balls out. He gave went ahead and sedated her with more than banamine because she was still panting and heart rate was 120 with respirations at 45/min. We walked her down the yard and back. She seemed to settle down and get more comforable. We kept her outside so he could lavage her uterus to get some of the purlent material out. We flushed about 3-4 Liters of warm fluids into her uterus...Nothing came back out?? He placed a sleeve on to palpate to see if he could feel the fluid....and he was a bit startled! He had his head lamp on and showed me what he had found.....My very beloved mare had a ruptured uterus! You could see her rectum, small intestines and other organs! We immediately humanely euthanized her and she has crossed the rainbow bridge. I have lost many animals through out my life, but nothing prepared me for the flood of emotions that I had as I sat at her head as she was passing just rubbing her face. I sat with her for almost 2 hours, just crying and giving her love. I clipped some forelock and tail to keep in honor of her.
I want to thank you all for listening.... Again, usually I handle these situations fairly good.... but Miss Jewels was my absolute doll with a HUGE sweet personality that she always passed on to her foals. I have her 2009 & 2010 foals that were filly's. Those two will live with me until they pass. I don't think I could ever sell them. Her daughter from 2009, is literally a carbon copy of her mama! All the way down to the one blue eye, one brown!
Thanks again to you all! I can't express how much I appreciate all of the support I get from my "Horsey Family Folks"
I want to thank you all for listening.... Again, usually I handle these situations fairly good.... but Miss Jewels was my absolute doll with a HUGE sweet personality that she always passed on to her foals. I have her 2009 & 2010 foals that were filly's. Those two will live with me until they pass. I don't think I could ever sell them. Her daughter from 2009, is literally a carbon copy of her mama! All the way down to the one blue eye, one brown!
Thanks again to you all! I can't express how much I appreciate all of the support I get from my "Horsey Family Folks"
