07.17.07
Rare Twin Paint Fillies Born
It is hard for me to share this story, as it is close to my heart; this is both a happy and a heartbreaking tale. It is highly unusual in the horse world for twin foals to be born alive and to survive. Sadly, only one of these paint fillies survived. Rose was first born and the stronger, and was nursed by the mother mare; Lilly, the weaker of the two, was rejected by the mare and hand-fed mare’s milk substitute. She fought hard for life for a few days but could not beat the odds.
If twins are delivered alive, many or most of them suffer complications requiring aggressive medical and even surgical treatment, and from which they may never recover to be fully healthy. Often they are born underweight and suffer developmental problems or deformities to their legs. Veterinarians are very reluctant to have a twinning mare try to carry to term, and will recommend early termination or partial termination of the pregnancy.
Typically, the twinning mare will not carry two foals full term. If twins develop, often they are spontaneously aborted by the mare (this happened to our own mare once.) The mare herself may be lost. Veterinary supervision at the time of breeding, and medical intervention if necessary, can help avoid this truly dangerous event; the vet can potentially save one of the twins, which is most possible very early in the pregnancy (around 3 weeks after conception.)
Tilda with Lilly and Rose at about 3 days old
This story of these paint twins is unusual because one of the foals DID survive. Following are some notes about their birth and Lilly’s short life which their owner has shared with HorseGal. I pass this on in hopes that increased awareness of the bleak outlook for twin horses might help horseowners ward off or prevent some future foal deaths…
FROM OWNER TO HORSE GAL–
Tilda delivered twin baby girls [foals] on Friday morning.
Mom and both baby girls are doing well. Tilda is busy taking care of baby 1
and we are busy taking care of baby 2.
Mom is “Tilda” or Freckles Sunny DE
Baby 1 is Rose
Baby 2 is Lilly
Born Fri am at 7:45. They were full term and even a few days late which is
very rare in the rare case of twins.
Vet gave a poor chance for Lilly’s survival in the morning visit, but by the
noon visit she had a fighting chance. ( We had 3 farm visits on day 1).
First milestone was 24 hrs, next big milestone is 2 weeks and last big
milestone will be 4 months.
My daughter [young girl in photo] & I are her moms and she is with one of us 24/7.
We weighed Lilly yesterday and she was up to 40 lbs.
We did not weigh her when she was born, but our guess is about 20-25 range.
My vet and office workers are great and very supportive. Lilly is on a mare
substitute formula.
FROM OWNER TO ME–
I am at work and will give a quick answer. I did not
know that Tilda was having twins. I did not have her
checked. She was full term and even 4 days late.
Rose was first born and Lilly was 2nd born. Rose was
the bigger and stronger foal that Tilda accepted.
They were born on 5/4/2007.
Lilly brought us so much joy and happiness I find this
hard to say, but Monday she didn’t have a good day and
we had the vet come out. He took a test sample for
the lab and when I called to find the results
yesterday morning it was not good, she was septic (not
sure if I spelled that right). I could not see her
suffer any more than she did during the night so we
took her in the car to the vets to be put down. On
the positive side, I brought her with me to U.Mass. and donated
her for research. My hope is that she will help
future twin foals and students. I’m very sorry to
have to share the sad news.
As my daughter and I discussed from the time of her birth
(at which time she had less than a 20% chance to make
it) it is quality of life that is most important and
how you live your life is more important than when you
leave this world. We gave her a chance and she was a
fighter. With that thought in mind, Lilly was the
richest horse I know.
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RELATED POSTS:
Equine Reproduction
Equine Practitioners 52nd Annual Convention
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