I’m a first time breeder with a maiden mare. I’ll be blogging about the entire breeding process over the coming year and hope to welcome a new foal in 2016! Click here to read part 1 and here for part 2.
Slippery little sucker.
I have been reluctant to post an update about Fey’s pregnancy because I didn’t want to jinx anything. But here I am learning about the ups and downs of horse breeding right from the get go.
While I was away from home on a business trip in mid-April, Fey had her first ultrasound after a live cover breeding to Mysterious Peintre, a French Thoroughbred stallion standing at Ketchen Place Farm. She was confirmed 15 days in foal, and I couldn’t believe our luck with a pregnancy on the first try. I made an excited announcement on Facebook and started creating a list of potential names.
The vet looked carefully for signs of twins, and although there were none, I decided to go ahead and have her scanned again at 28 days just to be sure. I was present this time and was really disappointed that we could not locate the fetus, and we concluded she had lost the pregnancy. So it goes.
We continued teasing Fey daily, waiting for her to come back in season so we could breed her again. After nearly three weeks she had not yet come back in heat, so we had the vet out again for another scan thinking maybe it had been hiding before. I was hopeful.
The third ultrasound was done 45 days post breeding. At this point we should have had no trouble spotting a fetus, but there was none to be found. She also had huge follicles on both ovaries, suggesting she was getting ready to ovulate. However, several clinical signs suggested an existing pregnancy, such as uterine tone, lack of edema and the fact she wasn’t teasing in. Things weren’t adding up.
The flower girl. Photo by Darby Doll Photography
So there are two things I’d like to point out here. For one thing, Fey was somewhat of a miracle baby herself. Her dam was not supposed to be pregnant, but a surprise foal appeared by her side one morning 13 months after she had been bred (in other words, Fey cooked for a long time). Might I assume unconventional pregnancies run in her family? Nah. Her mother has had several uneventful pregnancies since.
Secondly, while false pregnancies are rare, rarities are ironically common for animals our family. We call it the “Threlkeld Animal Syndrome.”
At a 60 day check, we knew for certain Fey wasn’t pregnant, but the results of the ultrasound still hadn’t changed (giant follicles, no edema, uterine tone). We were scratching our heads as to what to do next, so our vet consulted with reproduction specialists at a state vet school. They determined that one of two scenarios could be occurring.
1. There might be a corpus luteum secreting hormones that are preventing Fey from coming back into season. If this is the case, a round of Lutalyse injections should “kickstart” her system and get her cycle back on track so she can be bred again.
2. There might be endometrial cups that cannot be seen on the ultrasound. They could be secreting hormones that make Fey’s body believe it is pregnant. If this is the case, there is nothing medically that can be done and we just have to wait it out. It could take up to 120 days from the time she lost the pregnancy for her come back in to season.
I was attempting to avoid chemical manipulation of her system, but I’m also not keen on breeding her in August as the foal would be born in the heat of summer. So I have some decisions to make in the best interest of the mare and her future foal. Meanwhile, we’ve continued her teasing schedule and we will simply have to see what happens! What is most important is she is still a happy, healthy horse who makes me smile every day.
Thanks for reading!
