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Post
Partum Mares
Need
to Knows
For
The EquiGen Educated Horse Owner!
By
Dr. Meisenburg
For the most part, mares do
a pretty good job, all by themselves at delivering a healthy foal.
Despite all that can go wrong, they do it and do it well; Mostly.
There are many great books and popular magazine articles that will take
you by the hand and give you play by play what to do and what to expect at
foaling time. What I find that they
don’t include is what to look for and what to do if things go wrong.. This
month we will outline some of the biggie problems.
Information that you to should be aware of, how to recognize that the
problem exists, and what to do next.
 Post
Foaling Colic in The Mare: Colic
is a generic and collective term for “belly ache of unknown origin”. Here is
a list of some possible contributing factors that can cause your postpartum mare
to show signs of colic.
Women parts gone bad:
Uterine rupture, vaginal lacerations (full thickness), uterine wall hematoma,
uterine artery rupture.
Typical post partum mare gut
problems: Cecal rupture, bladder rupture, large colon impaction or torsion,
bowel vascular compromise due to mesenteric rents or trauma
(sounds
bad because it is bad).
Symptoms: Rapid depression. Rectal temperature above 102 ºF, shock or
symptoms of toxemia. If you do not
know how to monitor a horse for these symptoms ask your veterinarian to show
you, soon. Enjoy your new foal, but monitor your new momma very closely.
What do I do? For the most part, if she was unfortunate to have any of the
above happen to her she may bleed to death internally or leak foaling fluids,
urine or her own poop into her abdomen. All will look like “colic” some will
present as depression. If she shows any of these colic or depression symptoms,
time is not on your side. The attitude of “Aw,
she’s just got a little colic, we’ll take her for a trailer ride and walk
her to kingdom come.” Is a BAD idea. Suck it up, there is a problem beyond the
normal tummy ache. Keep her quiet
and call your vet.
- A
note on keeping your mare quiet. Do
not sedate her with acepromazine “ace”. We, your veterinarians, know
that many of you have this handy little downer in your medicine cabinet.
But, “Ace” causes a marked drop in blood pressure and a post
partum mare with possible hemorrhage does not need an iatrogenic (means we
caused it) drop in blood pressure.
Your vet will give her a
thorough exam and probably try to get a fluid sample from her abdomen. This is
called a “belly tap” and is always a good idea in these cases.
The belly tap will indicate if she is bleeding inside or leaking fluids
into her abdomen. The results will
guide your veterinarian onto a quick and effective course of action to save your
mare.
Uterine Prolapse = mortal danger.
EquiGen embryo
transfer postpartum
mare and foal.
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If after she has foaled you find a wad of
tissue, other than her placenta is hanging out of her vulva, she may have pushed
(or someone may have pulled, tsk-tsk-tsk…) a bit too hard and caused her
uterus to come out as well. This is
another example of “sounds bad doc”, and it is.
Other than her future as a mom, if that uterus breaks she can then begin
to exanguinate (intestines come out like snakes released from a pop-up can) as
well and that is no fun at all. What to do… KEEP HER QUIET. Tie her/ keep her
standing and still. Don’t try to push it in, don’t try to clean it, don’t
smear anything on it, don’t touch it because it is prone to tear at the
slightest provocation in anyone’s hands. Call vet. Now, get a plain ol’
clean but not necessarily sterile plastic bag and gently, with the plastic bag
covering your hands, elevate her uterus to the level of her vulva, keep it there
until the vet arrives. This simple action will help your mare and your vet a
lot. Her prolapsed uterus won’t
swell so bad and the tissue strength will be maintained so that things do not
get worse.
New moms are especially stoic during and after foaling when it comes to
pain. Just because they did not show signs of any trouble does not mean that she
is out of trouble. Mares who delivered effortlessly have been diagnosed on
necropsy (Autopsy is only appropriate when referring to humans, for animals when
we perform a post mortem on them it’s a necropsy.) to have ruptured their
uterus during foaling, even though it “looked” like she had an easy time of
it. So, within 24 hours post
foaling, all mares despite how easy it all looked or seemed, should have a
thorough physical exam by your veterinarian.
If her rectal temperature, attitude, milk production, perineum (ladies
private parts back there), and placenta exam look normal, then the exam will be
basic with no expensive heroics needed. Re-invite
your veterinarian to re-examine your mare to ultrasound her uterus for any signs
of persistent infection or retained fluid when she has her first heat or foal
heat. Even if you do not plan on
breeding her on that heat do this for her future reproductive health.
If she is having trouble with involution (when her uterus goes from huge
to normal size, and from having that discharge to having cleared itself of all
remaining pregnancy derived fluids) the inflammation that follows will damage
her uterine lining. When you go to
breed your “mare-that-always-gets-pregnant-on-the-first-try-doc”, you may be
disappointed when it takes extensive and expensive management of her to get her
to even conceive. After every foaling, a mares’ reproductive tract begins
a-new. The wear and tear of
pregnancy almost always causes some uterine damage even when all goes well.
Don’t allow it to get even worse by not finding and treating what you
are not looking for.
Big Picture at A Glance
- Inspect
your postpartum mare carefully, stem to stern.
- Know
how to identify signs of trouble for your mare like how to diagnose shock
& stoic pain.
- Keep
placenta intact and protected so your veterinarian can evaluate it
completely.
- Monitor
for colic symptoms.
- Post
partum colics are dangerous. Don’t delay veterinary attention.
- Prolapsed
Uterus
- Keep
mare still
- Call
vet
- Elevate
uterus to level of vulva with hands covered in a plastic bag.
- Veterinary
health exam of post partum mare and foal within 24 hours.
- Uterine
ultrasound at foal heat to follow healthy involution.
- This
step may save you thousands in breeding management fees for this mare in
the future!
-
Ask your vet on what she/he would like you to
be looking for when it comes to your post partum mare’s health.
Knowledge is power. Knowing
what can go wrong ahead of time should help you to enjoy your mare’s grand
event, because you now know what to look for and have been empowered with what
to do!
 Happy
and healthy foaling!
Horsefully yours,
Dr.
Meisenburg
Veterinarian-in-charge
EquiGen
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