Breeding an H/H mare...

On another forum this is posted. my question is (((WHY THE HECK ARE THEY DOING THIS! )))))




First off Please do not blast me. I made the choice to breed my H/H mare. I need some advise. Before we bred her she was not showing any symptoms. The people we bought her off of has always had her on meds from the day she was diagnosed with HYPP. She has been on a pill and a half. This mare is five years old. She is fed only oats and alfalfa hay, she gets out about every other day. She is due to foal in Feb. But, since gaining the baby weight, and the heat here, her breathing has gotten worse and she seems to be more uptight. She has never had an attack until last week and she had a pretty bad one. Her facial muscles even drawed up. I was hoping that those of you that have foaled out H/H mares might be able to help with some advise on how we can help her along. We really do not want to lose this mare or the colt. Please help! This is our first H/H.
We do not haul this mare nor have we tried to show her either. This will be her 2nd colt. First for us. We tried contact her previous owner and he has passed on. Thank you to anyone that responds.







I had a H/H gelding he was on 5 pills 2 x a day and i worked him everyday until he started to sweat.

I also turned him out at night so he could walk

we sold him to a friend she knew everything about him how it was really important for him to have his meds well she started giving a pill a day
she didnt want to give him anymore because of the expense.

well he died from complications due to HYPP

so im thinking you need to up her meds and keep a gallon of light karo
handy.

If she starts having an attack give her 35cc of Karo then wait a few mins give her another 35 cc just keep giving it to her until she comes out of it and start working her or walking her turn her out and keep an eye on her.

give the karo in the mouth





Glad you came on here for advice...You will get much needed direction here, from many very experienced owners.
One thing to try to understand is """STRESS""" the definition is very different from horses to humans..what a human might think of as stressful,might just send a horse over the top.
Also, try to understand the corrilation between outside influences and the inside of the horse..
Take the weather for example...a very nice overcast day here in Texas...but, what we don't see is the barometric pressure creating havoc on the horses system. Could be no unlike a diver coming up too fast or how your ears react to the change in pressure when going up in a plane...these changes not only have an affect that is physical to the horse but also triggers (no pun) a sense of stress in the horse that we usually do not see until it developes into a full on hypp episode. Also, simple things that normally wouldnot be lifetghreatening like an abcess, a slight case of spring gas colic, maybe a slight bit of mold in your hay...can cause the horse to become distressed and trigger an episode.
I am only bringing these things up because they are often unnoticable to us with the tougher horses until they are down on the ground suffering....THEN we run out and find they are in trouble.
Stress is the main cause of horses death (((imo))) somehow it creates the catalyst.
Figuring out what is stressful to the horse and not necessarily to us,is the key.
I have very good friends in Ca. that raise Friesons...beautiful majestic...and so so laid back.
My friend spare no expense to house these wonderful animals...they have Brass statues outside each stall...the barn is constructed better than most of our houses, carpeting in the aisleway...beautiful trees all around...and flowers, etc...etc...It is a show place right out of Home and Garden......BUT......they know little to nothing about what the horse really wants...and what stresses them. I have watched my friends take a crowd of people with cameras, into the stall, with champagne glasses and bottles, to celebrate the birth of a new foal.....you can well imagine....
They have all the best intentions.....is it stressful for the horse.......??? LOL
The key is figuring out what is stressful to "THAT" horse at that time.
Leaving a horse out 24/7 is great....unless it runs the fence line.. or is afraid of thunder and runs into a fence.
These are extremes and only meant to get the point across, . Figure out what is stressful to YOUR horse..if the other horses are threatening him, then it is stressful.
And, the signals can be very, very subtle...
You will get a ton of information on here about feed...consistency is important. Alfalfa and oats are the best for the average HYPP horse.
If your mare is getting bigger and uncomfortable, you might increase her meds.
Just make sure you let her know that you are there...to care for her. You can't imagine how my mares react when I go out and just lay my hand on them...Big sigh of calm..
Checking up on her everyday at the same time will actually take a lot of stress off of her.
Good luck and keep asking......



Wow, what a well written and informative post.



My H/H mare is on equivilent to 5 pills twice a day, everyday. The humidity and weather wreaked havick on her last week and I had to get the vet out to run fluids on her, nearly 8 liters. She is turned out all day and in at night. Any sign of trouble I run 60cc of syrup, then one dose of meds, wait thirty minutes and give another 60cc of syrup. At that time I will also give her a shot of Banamine. Sometimes it does not matter what you do they are going to have an attack. Candace is right about the stress. I would try to get your mare some more turn out time if she was mine. My mare will tell me when she is getting ready to have an attack and I try to stop it in it's tracks, sometimes I am not successful. I stayed up with her all night long last week when she was so bad off. I held her head and kept cold compresses on her because of the heat. The attack lasted way longer than it should and I knew at the first sign of light to get the vet out here. She is happily eating grass in the pasture as I sit here. Good luck with your mare.



I agree, I would also add that it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the mare foal out at a vets or a breeder who is exp'ed.

Lots of stuff there sister.. Well, the pills were way short on the mare. And, of course we all know (those educated on HYPP) what enviromental things can do..

I had an NH yearling and he was on 5 pills a day. He didn't need them but I was too stupid about it and gave them to him for awhile. Very touchy with those double gened horses.. I know they have to keep them thinner. She also needs to make sure she is not letting trace salt out where she can get it. Only plain white blocks.

You know I do not care about the NH thing. That it's a choice.. All these idiots who bred for HH should be put in a hole and covered up. Those A-Holes are still breeding them and if they turn out HH they just through them away like the trash.

Why not think of the suffering an H/H horse would go threw. I just dont get it. When it can be totally avoided.

People just do not care about their horses some times. It's all about winning and bragging.. LA DE DAH I say.

I wont go there again. Nope, and to resale one.. Have Mercy!

wow... just wow...

I can't believe that anyone would intentionally breed a genetically flawed animal for the sake of looking pretty. However I do understand that since the judges are placing them, they will keep breeding them.

H/H or N/H, either way, still carrying a very flawed set of gene's if you ask me. But people do what it takes to win and make money

Thats just MO of course.

They do this for the same reasons people are still breeding the lines that carry HERDA and the fatal foal desease GBED ( I think that's the letters for it). At least they are required to DNA for HYPP now. The others are not yet. They also found the PSSM is in the mix.

And, you are right about the judges picking them. I still say AQHA promotes it. Now, they are doing embroy transfere in to the big draft mares so they can get the monster babies. Those big mares can grow them bigger and feed two of them at the same time. This is the latest of tricks people are playing to win. It's all about money...

Bluejay wrote:

They do this for the same reasons people are still breeding the lines that carry HERDA and the fatal foal desease GBED ( I think that's the letters for it). At least they are required to DNA for HYPP now. The others are not yet. They also found the PSSM is in the mix.

And, you are right about the judges picking them. I still say AQHA promotes it. Now, they are doing embroy transfere in to the big draft mares so they can get the monster babies. Those big mares can grow them bigger and feed two of them at the same time. This is the latest of tricks people are playing to win. It's all about money...

Yup, extremely right. If they stopped winning, they'd change how they did things. My Problem is nowadays the "halter" horse usually is only able to do halter, because it actually doesnt have withstanding, proper functioning conformation. Not all, but most. They can't move out, and I think if put into any type of showing discipline, they would break down. So nowadays IMO its about politics, rather than the real reason they started the class in the first place, Ideal conformation.

I really wish we could just wipe out the HYPP H/H and N/H horse. Actually, I wish they would do right by the real reason for halter classes, Proper conformation, not the biggest, most muscled upright overweight body builder in the class.

And I didn't know about the draft thing... wow, silly if you ask me. Bigger isn't always better, and it sure shouldnt matter. But if it will make them win, they will try it. Bigger uterus = bigger baby from the get go. How long have they been doing this?