Rebreeding a mare with endometriosis..

[Kari]

I could really use some input/advice on this, so thought the best place to bring it up would be here!

I am STILL waiting for a foal. I thought the mare would foal long before now, but NO, it has to be on HER terms. Hmph! She’s obviously bred as I’ve seen/felt the foal and her belly keeps shifting sides.

The problem is, she’s been diagnosed with endometriosis, and I’ve read up on it and talked to different people, and the concurring opinion is that the best thing to keep the endo manageable is to keep her bred. No problem… a friend is “loaning†a stallion to me once she foals, so I can rebreed her. Herein lies the problem. I have to leave for school in 3 1/2 weeks, and as nothing gets done regarding the horses unless I do it or have a big hand in helping, nothing gets done. I won’t be breeding her on the foal heat, so she’d have to foal NOW (don’t see that happening… maybe in a week), and I could maybe hand breed her once. I could just stick ‘em out in the pasture together, but besides that being unsafe for the foal, I have an INTENSE dislike for the guesswork regarding when the foal’s coming that comes with pasture breeding. Would it cause havoc with the endo if I waited a few months after she foals to pasture breed? Then the foal could be weaned first…

I will graduate in March, and it looks like l be coming back home for a while. As it’s getting so late in the breeding season, I’m thinking of waiting until March to rebreed her, provided I still have access to a stallion. But will leaving her open for approx. 7-8 months cause problems with her endometriosis?

I cannot afford to send her out to be rebred, or that’s what I’d do.

Thanks for any help or opinions or advice you can gilve me!

Kari

 

[Miniv]

Kari,

If Patty's endometriosis is like the human version, you may be taking a chance waiting until next Spring.....hate to say that. Have you discussed it with your vet????

Do you know anything about the stallion's temperament? If she was still here, I would have NO qualms with just turning Patty and her foal right back in with any one of our stallions because I KNOW them. They are GREAT with babies! But I know that not all stallions are like that.

I can certainly understand where you are coming from. You don't know the stallion. And you can't count on your family to notice when they were breeding and to write it down for you. What a pickle.

It sort of comes down to which gamble you want to go with...........Wait til Spring? Or pasture breed her now with a stallion you don't know(?) and won't be able to watch the breeding with.......although, you can be fairly certain that he'd probably settle her in either August or September. (Most of OUR mares stop cycling in October.)

PS: I really think you should pick your vet's brain on what he/she thinks is the best.

MA

 

[Kari]

Thanks MA....

I'm rethinking her being pregnant, so am gonna go ahead and bring the stallion up here this weekend. Then, I can get a feel for how he is in the field with her before I leave. I don't think I want to risk her being left open..... though if she isn't bred, she already has been... argh!! Why can't my vet have an ultrasound?!

Kari

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]If no ultrasound why cant they palpate or do an estrogen sulfate blood test?[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[Kari]

Hi Lyn,

My vet isn't experienced enough to feel comfortable palpating a mini, and I don't like the possibility of rectal tears.

With the blood test, I don't feel they're all that accurate, so I'd be wasting my money on something I couldn't trust.

Kari