Double Trouble

Well there now. It finally happened. I cannot say I wasn't expecting it. In fact, I've had a premonition for  months now about the event. It's almost a relief that it has come and gone so now I can move on from the dread. We have foaled a set of twins at Fields Quarter Horses.

The odds are long and even the best bookie would approve as the likelihood of a mare carrying a twin (even just one) to term are a discouraging bet. Mares are not designed to carry, deliver, nor raise multiple offspring at the same time. Their reproductive systems do not approve nor do their foaling attendants.

Yesterday, Nona Bay, a seventeen year old Quarter Horse from Vermont began what would become the most difficult delivery of my career as a mare midwife. Nona has been suspicious since arriving back at the farm several months ago. She was larger in foal than her gestation dictated and her condition was quite poor. Now we know that she was attempting to feed two foals in utero, not just one.

Several weeks ago, she waxed which is a sign of impending labor and delivery. It is the production of colostrum which will nourish and protect the foal once born. The development of colostrum is triggered in the final stages of pregnancy by hormones. When Nona did not go into labor, we began to expect trouble was afoot. Little did we know what was in store for us.


I received the call that Nona was down and had begun foaling I entered the stall and saw that the water had already broken- it was pungent and not the correct color so I watched the mare for one contraction and examined her. At that time, I found an amniotic sac. I thought that was odd since I observed a huge amount of dark colored amniotic fluid already in the stall. I examined the mare to determine the nature of the problem she was experiencing.

I felt a large muscle but could not trace it to anything recognizable. Then, I felt a spine that was very small and counted ribs. I immediately knew that this was a job for hero/superperson/ninja vet Dr. Mather and got her headed to the farm in emergency drive fast mode. Then called Nona's owner Lucy and informed that we may have a breech delivery and that I had a gut feeling there may be more than one foal (because of the size of the mare, the size of the rib cage, and I had been dreaming about twin foals for a week). I then began to attempt to identify body parts. All foals must be delivered with their feet first so it was going to be necessary to find them. Amber and Rachel both took turns so that we could all confer and reach a decision. We then removed the mare from the stall and began trotting her. This is the very best way to keep a mare from pushing and causing more problems when trying to reposition a foal.
Dr. Mather arrived and we moved the mare to a larger stall as we knew that this would be a team effort. She examined Nona and informed me that the muscle was the foal's neck bent completely back around over his hips. There were no legs present. We took turns reaching in and looking for knees. All the while, we also were pushing the neck and thus shoulders back down and deeper into the mare. The vet found the first knee and moved the foot forward out of the mare. The effort to do this is tremendous. She rested and I took a turn for the second knee. (We were now at 35 minutes since the water had broken). I retreived the knee and was able to bring the leg forward. Now we had two front legs but no head. Dr. Mather located an ear and I followed her hand into the mare (it's important when working as a team that everyone communicate position to each person who is helping turn the foal- the seconds can save the foal). I found the foal's ear, then jaw, then mouth but did not have the strength to bring it forward. Rachel had fresh arms so she took a turn and quickly followed my hand to the mouth, hooked her fingers into it and under the jaw, and with a rush of adrenaline, pulled the head forward while Dr. Mather pushed the shoulders back. The colt is only about 40 pounds so it was easy at this time to deliver him from the mare. They held him suspended him upside down still connected to the mare and thick amber fluid drained from his lungs. He was unresponsive.


Rachel and I began to administer emergency CPR, Amber held Nona, Wayne ran support with oxygen, drugs, towels, and supplies, and Dr. Mather delivered a disgusting mound of rotten flesh that she called the placenta. A few curse words were uttered and she called over to where we worked on the now gasping newborn that there was a second foal. She delivered it from the mare. It was a non-viable filly who had likely died a week or so ago when Nona began to drip milk. I left the stall at one point during that part of the delivery and became sick. The rancid smell of the rotten corpse filled the entire barn.  It was sickeningly sweet yet pungent.

Photos of the both foals are below. There are areas where flesh is missing from the deceased filly. It sloughed off during the delivery in large chunks. It is likely that although Nona was flushed immediately and checked for large debris, there may be pieces of the dead foal's tissue left behind. She will be watched carefully in the following days.

The survivor is a colt. He was born at 328 days and is a premature foal. His legs are not quite fully developed and his skin/hair/ears are that of a premature foal. The dead filly weighed approx 30 pounds so she was near his size.

As I write this tonight, the colt has just returned from a late night visit to a hyperbaric chamber used mostly on racehorses. It is our last hope to save him. His life thread is stretched thin and he hangs in the balance right now. His owner is debating names for him- I hope he survives till morning to accept a name. The mare stands quietly over him as if she knows that he is not well. She seems depressed and somber and I can't help but wonder if her heart is heavy with either worry or grief.