|
Miniature Horse Fetus
If you have been breeding miniature horses for any length of time, you
know it is not for the faint of heart. There is great joy and awe at a
successful foaling, but all breeders know the heartache and
disappointment when a mare slips a foal. There are numerous causes
when a mare aborts a baby, but the majority of the time, we do not know
the cause.
This first baby was lost at
69 days of gestation.
This next baby is about 4.5
months along...
Below is a Miniature horse
baby at 179 days of gestation
The below photo is of a baby at 268 days gestation
Below is a baby that was
lost due to being breech and a very twisted cord. In the first picture,
you can see the terribly twisted cord and the placenta was detached.
This baby was aborted at 275 days of gestation. To see video of this
birth, click here
Some articles to read are:
Early embryonic death - loss before day 30
Late Term Abortions
Often we think a mare has taken for she will
not show signs of heat for several months. But if she has lost the baby
after about 35 days, the hormonal changes caused by the pregnancy can
keep her from coming back into heat.
Miniature mares lose their foals for numerous
reasons. Preventatively, we give the Rhino shot, but this virus is just
one common cause. Placentitis is another common cause. Thus, the loss
may be due to viral or bacterial origins, but other reasons include:
hormonal imbalances, twinning, umbilical cord torsion, congenital
defects, nutritional defiencies, fungal infections, and/or stress.
As for the controversy in miniature mares on
whether to give the pneumabort or rhino shot, this bit of information
was new to me "a
horse can abort from a rhinopneumonitis infection only ONCE in their
entire life. A mare can only abort the very first time that she is
infected with the virus and only if she is pregnant at the time. Once
she has been infected, whether she is pregnant at the time or not, she
will build antibodies to the infection and can NEVER abort from this
disease again"
Click here to read more about other horse vaccines.
|