Twins

Has anybody on here had a mare thats had twins.If so did they survive,how she cope carrying them.Did she have them early.Was she heavy early on in the pregnancy.

My mare was scanned with twins but the vet popped one,she is due end May beg June.However im not convinced they popped one she is huge and she has been huge all the way along and its not her being over fed either. We have plenty of movement going on to the point i think she has a barrel racer in there.

She is due her EHV jab in March,is it to late for a vet to check her over to find out.

Have her checked out just for piece of mind better to know and be sure what you are dealing with. If you have a super big foal in there I would want to know for sure and be ready to make some plans- maybe foal her out at the vet clinic etc.... wishing you the best and that all is well!

I agree with Lynn on this - I'd definitely have her checked again. A friend of mine had twins; one didn't make it, and the other was always very, very small, although she went on to win Youth everything.

I know the rule is, you better pinch them by 30 days, after that, it's if'y. We had one mare that ultrasounded with twins, pinched one, and lost both... ARGH! Hoepfully my one and only experience with twins!

I will get her checked out.
The vets are adamant they popped one.Im just not so sure.
Im worried that maybe it was hiding behind another or something like that and missed it.Im hearing all sorts of horror stories.

I had a set of twins years ago. I am sorry to say I lost them both, they were born way to early and were the size of my dalmation. They lived for a couple of days. I had to hold the one up to nurse, the other one I had to milk the mare and feed her with an ear syringe.
I am sorry to say it was the worst experience I had with foaling and pray to God that never happens again.

I would for sure have her checked, Do not wait it out.

I agree 100% with the mind set of have her checked again - it won't hurt anything to know and if she does have twins - you can be prepared...

shazgeoff wrote:

I will get her checked out.
The vets are adamant they popped one.Im just not so sure.
Im worried that maybe it was hiding behind another or something like that and missed it.Im hearing all sorts of horror stories.

Didnt they Ultrasound after they popped one off?

Im not sure,im pretty sure they didnt.
Would have been in my report from the person who did the AI as he was real thorough in sending me info and bills of everything including the collecting of the stallion and inseminating my mare thought that was included in the stud fee but i was wrong.Found that out when i had a huge bill at the end.

If Im not mistaken... I think Merinkle had twins a couple of years. Maybe talk to her.

My vet always does to make sure he Got one. We have also changed the mares feeding program, to try to get her to absorb, the smaller of the two. We ultrasound weekly to make sure it is working. HOPE was a twin, but won out.

Kate and Paint wrote:

If Im not mistaken... I think Merikle had twins a couple of years. Maybe talk to her.

Indeed I did have a set of twins in 06. We were very lucky... My mare was checked for pregnancy but not by U/S (Will never not U/S now), She was maiden, and looked about normal size. She went a month over due, and I missed the birth. Had I not missed the birth, I would have had 2 roughly equal sized twins (two fillies). I would think that had the sac broken on the second filly out, she would have survived, however she didn't. I missed it by very little, however it was still too long.

She didn't look too pregnant, she was maiden and went 1 month over due... so not really typical for a mare carrying twins.

A couple days before she foaled... a very uncomfortable gal -

The surviving filly was quite small, but the mare was only 14HH on a good day.

(for size referance, Im approximately 5'4, and the mares withers were below my chin)

Here is the newborn survivor twin -


Twin at a week old -

The filly is now a coming 2 yr old, and is taller than her mom was


However, on the other hand, I must say some mares just carry big, or with a lot of fluid. Here is a maiden mare (preggo last year with a normal sized colt) at around 3-4 months pregnant



She's even bigger this year. U/S early in the pregnancy... and Still only 1 in there! I watched her water break... She carries A LOT of fluid up in there!

I also have a clients mare here who is absolutely ginormous... U/S with only one... Just depends I guess. But When I had my vet out to double check my TB who looked too big for her 6-7 months prego... They told me at that point its hard to tell... Its a black blob on the screen, and would be too hard to tell where on leg ends etc.

Thanks for that.
Will let you guys know what the vet says when he comes out,he due next week.

Looking at the picture of the rather large mare,that is what my girl is like now.This will be her 3rd foal.

Just a heads-up on this... my vet told me it's the mare that carries the twin gene, not the stallion....I got rid of my mare pretty quick - that cost me a lot of money just leaving her open that year.

Funny, that we had her dam for oh, let's see 9 years of foaling, and never ultrasounded with a twin...

Thats odd 7c.3 mares that went with the stallion got scanned with twins all had to have 1 popped.So i thought with those odds it was the stallion.

Ok - yall have me confused now...
Twins are normally determined by the female regardless of species. There are rare occurances where an egg splits after fertilization resulting in identical twins. I'm not even sure if this has been possitively tied to the male.

Depending on the size of the stallions book (number of mares bred) having 3 "twins" doesn't really sound that abnormal. The conditions surrounding the mare are more likely the influence. Mares can superovulate just like people - thus twins.

The stallion's influence in this is as a broodmare sire more than anything.
The mare produces the actual follicle that becomes the foal - if there are two, that is ALL the mare - the stallion just produces millions of little dudes that may or may not hit their mark. Additionally - prior to insimination, a vet should be able to tell you if it appears that there is more than one follicle ready for ovulation (I knew from the get-go that we would have to pinch one with a mare we had).

On a pinch - the vet SHOULD ultrasound after it is completed (I forget the number of days...around 14 I think) to verify that one embryo actually attached and is still there and the other isn't hiding somewhere. I would be highly surprised if they didn't do this - especially since once you pinch one you run the risk of the mare slipping the other.

shazgeoff wrote:

Thats odd 7c.3 mares that went with the stallion got scanned with twins all had to have 1 popped.So i thought with those odds it was the stallion.

I had 2 in one year! Just my luck!

Triple J i do love your picture of your pally,def a peek a boo moment

Kid is right. its the mare all the way. Same with humans.

I have yet to find research into the identical twins topic, but possibly it could be either the stallion or the mare in that scenario?

People don't realize such large numbers of mares *do* double ovulate... But many will either abort the entire pregnancy, or reabsorb and "deal" with the second embryo on her own.

However its always safer to check. Better safe then sorry!

shazgeoff wrote:

Triple J i do love your picture of your pally,def a peek a boo moment

Thank you! I think she s cute but then Shouldnt I. Hee Hee..
Just found out Mom is in faol to a own Palomino Son of Zippo Pine Bar, He has 116 Pleasure points total.. ONLY ONE THIS YEAR! Woo Hoo!

Congrats, that will be an early baby. Nice to get them in foal on first try. How nice a yellow zippo son. I hope you get yellow.

Shazegoff, well, does she have twins or not? I think my vet told me when I had the "episode"... you better pinch one before it's 30 days... after 30 days and it's real if'y!

So let us know... what'd the vet say?

I have seen twins survive, not survive, turn out Ok and turn out to be dinks.. None of mine.. But, you do not want them in any case.. Normally the mare will abort them if there are two in there.. There just is not enough space to them to mature normally.. Always remember when in doupt check it out..

Twins are created when the mare has a double ovulation one day apart. These girls can be complicated..

We dont have twins,but we do have a very large foal.

My poor mare is going bald around face,is very tired and generally out of omph.Weve had full blood work done on her and everything and she fine.Just the baaby is taking everything from her.
She got 3 months to go yet,vet seems to think she will foal early as so do i.

Poor girl. Need to really pump the nutrients to her to keep her healthy during this time..

GOOD NEWS we give extra to protien to our mares, for sure during the 90 days. Bump it up.. Give her Iodine baths where her hair is coming off, rinse with 1 cup bleach to 10 cuts water. that should cover any fungus that may cause her hair to be coming off.