I was just wondering if any one had experienced a twin pregnancy and what happened e.g. the mare give birth, Aborted???? And what happened to the mare/foals after?

My mare had twins in her first pregnancy. the vet saw it when checking after 16 days. He recommended not to feed her duirng some two weeks or so, just saome straw, no oats, no hay. It was a rough time on all of us, but it helped: at the next check she was pregnant of one foal, which turned out to be a colt. And she had slimmed and looked in fact better than before ;-)

This is a interesting topic, just a month ago, one of my customers mares had a set of twins by my stallion,,Mon Amir BWA x Kissme Quick,, No/one knew or caught the fact untill the mare was giving birth,, as a matter of fact the owners thought she was prolapseing ,, after they called me,and the vet,, the owner realized he could feel a pair of knees,and whamo,, another foal,, the first was about normal,36-37 in . tall about 65 lbs, but the last twin was only about 20-22 in tall and maybe 25lbs, The smallest seemed spunky, trying to get up first, but was down on all 4 pasturns and so small he couldnt reach mama with out help,,the vet tube fed him and added a few things, and of course we held the lil guy up and let him nurse for colustrum {sp} and vet wraped his lil legs for support,
as the vet examined the sack,, he also mentioned that both foals were in the same sack and that the smaller foal should have never made it,, mama should have asorbed it and didnt, that in itself was miracle,
the next morning we noticed that the lil
guy had weakened and couldnt nurse or even keep up with mama to nurse, and some blood was also noticed in his urine, ,, a phone call to the vet told us there was a possible RH factor problem,, sometimes common with twins,and in fact mamas col. and milk was killing the foal
A decision was made to bring the foal to my farm and put him on our nurse mare and try to get him to drink from a bottle or a bucket as well,,and we did and that went alright at first, {long story] and i didn trick him {we call him Rocky} to drink a bottle and later a bucket
rocky has had his ups and downs {another long story} but today hes almost a month old and other than some knee problems and all hes doing pretty darn good,
this whole thing {story} is a miracle, the documented story is on the ElMasri link below,, and all the photos taken so far as Rocky went through his ups and downs,, hope everyone enjoys the pictures and the story,,
I have learned alot from this my only other experance with twins in my 20 yrs with horses was nt so good as both were smalland mama and both twins didnt make it
heres the links,,,,,,,

first the story 2004 Mon Amir twins,,,,,,,,,,


http://elmasri.net/EMAforum/index.php?act=SF&f=2

then more pictures,,,,,,,,,

http://img20.photobucket.com/albums/v59/he...oomarabianstud/



Him And his Father,,,,,,,,{and they say arabs are crazy!





heres a few pics,,









This has been a very touching story and experence, and i,m proud to say that if Rockys legs straighten up he will be small but he will be a complete horse,,
there are many more pictures of him,, pictures of his brother,, and him and his dad Mon Amir BWa on the photobucket site ,, enjoy!!!!!

Mike

A LOT of compliments!!!!!!!!!!!It' s nice to hear story like this and to know there are people like you!!

He is a miniature love. Good luck
manu

Hi Mike,

You need to keep us all posted on what happens with your little fella. You should start a topic and keep up with pictures and things so we can see how he is doing.

Good for you in going the extra mile to keep him alive and kicking!

Sliver

Thank you all,, this is a touching story and i didnt mean to mess up the topic about twins, i was just trying to answer with this example, of this particular set of twins


Silver,
i,m not sure how to start a topic about this, i dont post much and folks dont seem to pay much attention to my posts or my horses,,, even though we do have on Straight and preservation horses, and some might feel this story is a ploy to advertize,, the reason for the pictures with Rocky and his dad, is Rocky needs contact with horses to learn how to graze, eat hay, be a horse,, he was not getting that with me bottle feeding him, and well to be honest the only horse that wasnt kinda mean to him and wouldnt run off and leave him was his own dad,, Its like he understands and rocky has learned how to eat grass, eat from a bucket, drink water,, you know? things he needed to learn from none other than his own gentle daddy! if that tooting my own horn ,,well then i,m sorry, to me it says alot about the egyptian horse and calms the rumor that they are crazy,, or all high strung, when a stallion bred like this ,right in the middle of breeding mares can seperate mare from foal and not kill it or many other things stallions usually do i think it lifts up the arabian breed as a kind and gentle horse with some sence of compassion and understanding,
today Rocky is 1 month old, and with a few problems he is doing great although he may end up being the smallest purbred arabian in the world we dont care we love him anyway,,
I will try and figure out a way to keep everyone posted ok? thanks again!!!


Mike

I sincerely hope Rocky will grow up to a happy horse- all the best wishes!!!

Last Year one of my mares had twins born dead at the 298th day of pragnancy, they had hardly any fur and were much too small, no chance to survive. This happened allthough two ultrasonic checks had been done in early pregnancy.

BUT two other mares had twins, which we aborted successfully, and all three were of the same stallion.
Now I know well, that twins result from the simultaneous ovulation of two ripe follicles, which is in the "responsibility "of the mare.
I have never had any twins, not even in early pregnancy, as I have every mare checked, of about 50 foals I have bred so far. And now three times, but of the same stallion!!!
Oh well, he is very macho and gets the girls nicely in heat, could it be that he overstimulates them?
Or are just statistics hitting?
Has anyone heard of such a phenomenon?
I`d be interested to hear, thanks for answers.

Mike

Congratulations on your efforts with little Rocky. Seems like he will make it; I hope all turns out well for you and him.

A friend's Anglo-Arab mare had twin foals by her Arab stallion; she had no idea it was twins until two popped out, both foals were fine, one slightly smaller than the but both were fine. A mare I owned many years ago was out of one of the "heavenly" twins, they were also both fine. Arabs can produce healthy twins but obviously it is not ideal due to the risk to the foals and possibly the mare.

regards

Barbara

Just wantd to update everyone,,Rocky is doing pretty good lately,, at some point and time he made need a operation on his Private parts because it wont come out of the sheath,, but other than that and his knees he is doing great and eating like a horse,,,
thanks

mike

Hi Mike!

Maybe he's cold!

No really, I wonder why that is? Do you know if he's fully formed under there? Are you keeping him clean for now? I wouldn't want an infection to set in when he's starting to come around well for you.

Are you still keeping the leg wraps in his leg?

Sliver

I would be very interested in answers to Uli's questions.

And also any other info on twins would be most welcome.

e.g. *How big is the chance of a twin pregnancy?
*How are the chances of survival (mare and/ or foals)?
*Are there, like in humans, two sorts of twins (two babies from one egg that divided in two (identical twins) or two babies that come from two different eggs (non-identical twins)) ?
* why are twins not always detected with ultrasonic checks?

Silver,,
according to our vet,there is a piece of skin inside hos sheath thats not letting his private part in question out,,so hes peeing all over his legs and stomach, so were gonna clip that ,,

yes i still have to wrap his legs, the knees are improving,, but he is still down on his rear pasturns {sp} but hes on every supplement his li lbody can take ,hes a month old and finally eating some grain and hay and of course drinking his milk from a bucket, and i creep feed him,

Sandra,, twins are rare in arabians,, and there chance of living are not good,, inmost cases {as was with rocky} the mare willasorb the smaller weaker twin early on,,but didnt this time, twins are hard to detect with ultra sound because one is usually under the other, as was the case here,, we never saw the lil fellow,, i have had mares produce 2 eggs and get pregnant,, and also sometimes the egg splits as it did this time,,

the last twin pregnacy i had was about 20 yrs ago,, identical twins, mare and both twins died,, so its not very often that twins make it and usually they are both small,, but in this case one was normal,, and then lil Rocky was tiny,, and in reality shouldnt have made it to delivery, so we are working really hard to keep the lil fellow going,

thanks everyone,,

mike & Rocky

Mike, thanks for providing the update on little Rocky. This is a real heart rending thread and it's wonderful to read about the care and devotion you all are giving to this little fellow.Good to hear he is starting to take a little hard feed now. We had a rejected foal who was almost killed by his mother at twenty minutes of age and he was a real weakling. Like you with Rocky, we fed him with milk from a bucket initially. However as soon as he could take hard feed, we also fed him a probiotic supplement, which made a world of difference to him in a very short time. He has never looked back and today he is eight years old and as handsome a gelding as any. I would not part with him for the world after the experience we both went through!( Cannot name the product on here, but if you are interested, then feel free to drop me an E Mail note.)
Please keep us all up to date with Rocky's progress. Wish the little guy every good wish for his well being. Sincerely, Dorothy Brandie. Templar Croft Arabians, Scotland.

Just wanted everyone to know that the little twin Rocky had to have a operation on his lil private thingy,, it wasnt coming out of the sheath and he was peeing all over himself,
and we did bllodwork and a few other things to see whats going on in his little system,,

he is having a rough time right now

mike

Hi mike

Sorry to hear that Rocky is going through a bad patch at the moment; I hope things pick up for him again soon. It must be very distressing for you to see him suffer. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and little Rocky.

Regards

Barbara

Good luck and best wishes for little Rocky we all think of him

Carina

Please,

let us know how is doing ROCKY!!!!!


manuela

Hi Mike

Please do let us know how little Rocky is, I am worried something has happened to him as it is a while since you posted. I hope there will be some good news from you.

Regards

Barbara

Heh all,
I,m so sorry,, i plumb forgot i even posted about Rocky in this forum,

Rocky is doing very very good! he will be 3 months old the 1st June, we had several close calls,thought he had liver shunt problems for awhile, had him on expensive antibodies a few weeks for some misteriousillnes that cause his blood count to go off the map, But the last few weeks he is doing good, his front legs are as good as they will ever be, and hes still down on his pasturns,but ifeel like they will improve some!
He is a whopeing 29in tall!!!!!!!!!!! and spoiled rotten but not a bit mean ,he listens to commands and obeys certian rules, his daddy Mon Amir BWA taught him to eat grass,hay and pee and mark his territory he was the ONLY horse i had here that wouldnt be mean to him, I have a few pictures ill share with you all,
But hes doing great and i,m sorry i didnt keep everyone posted!

heres some pictures















Heres a few,, the first one is rocky and a little girl whos father has a stallion here,, the second,, my wife took when Rocky was so sick and i love the picture because he,s so trusting,,the 3rd is of course is Mon Amir and Rocky when Rocky was about 3 weeks old

Enjoy!

Mike & Rocky

Dear Mike

Thank you for the post. I am so pleased that Rocky is OK, I was dreading bad news after all the love and care you have given him. Although he had a bad start he is very lucky to have such a caring owner and it is nice to see the bandages off his legs.

Do keep us updated from time to time as it is great to hear about foals who survive against all the odds. His dad is a very special stallion, too.

All the best

Barbara

Thank You,

We are tickled the lil fellow has made it, and we just love him ,,he will stay here now his whole life!
ill try and keep everyone posted!

Thank You All,


Mike & Rocky

Hi Mike,
What a wonderful job you have all done with Rocky, the pictures are great to see, these horses truly have a big heart and a great will to live, what a blessing.
Mon Amir looks so proud with his son, just like us when we show up at the hospital and our wife has just had a new baby.
God Bless you and Rocky and say hello to Dale and the children.
Thinking of you all.
Bob & Kelly,
Echo Hill Arabian Preservation

All very nice stories.

Normally out of 1000 twin pregnancies in the mare 3 will be full term births giving at least one weak foal (if not both) with a lot of problems !
Most twin pregnancies will end with abortion at 9 to 10 months of pregnancy or premature birth with both foals dying within 24 hours.
The mare should be checked at least 3 times with ultrasound: I like to check them at least at day 16, 19 and 35. If a twin pregnancy is present I try to pinch one of the embryos if they are in seperate horns of the uterus. If they are to close to eachother I starve the mare in the hope that one of the twins will die off. If they are both still there at day 35 I inject the mare with Pg so she will come into season again.
The uterus of a mare is not big enough to carry two foals !

Hope you have a good breeding season !

Dr. Hans.