I am so sorry. Even though you are far away, I am sure up over the Rainbow, the horses can cover distances and hope he will be met by a beautiful black TB mare who left us today. Darn colic!
I hope your mare is fine.
So sorry there wasnt better news for you.
Thank you. Falseimpressions, I am so very sorry to hear about your mare. My mare is black too and so was the colt, it gives me some comfort to think of my little guy meeting your lovely mare and I am sure she will look after him up there. My mare is doing as well as can be expected after the trauma of an early weaning in awful circumstances. She has been sedated and is out in the paddock she was previously in, I thought it may be more comforting for her to be with her friends than in a yard or stall. At 18, and with this being her 8th foal, she is a gentle old girl. She is not calling out but is fence walking, not manically, and grazing intermittently. She has also had some hay and a drink. She is 30days in foal, so we will start her on regumate as I am concerned about her aborting through stress. If anyone has any tips about to help my mare in this awful situation please feel fee to share. Horses… They are do fragile physically and in the face of this they make me so fragile emotionally. 
I’m very sorry that your foal could not be saved.
Hugs and comfort from Colorado. Hang in there! :yes: :sadsmile:
This was not my mare, but a very loved and talented mare at the barn where my daughter boards. We will all miss her and I really hope she finds your foal up there.
Christmas time is supposed to be a joyous occasion, but it sure has not been the last 3 weeks.
Take care of yourself too!
So sorry for your loss. RIP little guy.
I’m so sorry to hear about your foal. I ultimately lost my foal too - from a secondary complication directly stemming from her original problem.
If it gives you any peace, I highly doubt an IgG test run 7 weeks earlier would have predicted or changed the outcome…
I had a pregnant mare lose her 2013 foal to an obstruction after she ate something in the pasture. We lost her at the vet hospital and had to trailer the mare home afterwards. We did not do anything special for the mare, other than put her back with her friends and she delivered a healthy filly in 2014.
Thinking of you and your mare.
Sorry to read this.
There is no benefit second guessing yourself or beating yourself up with a bunch of “what if’s”. It does not help.
But the thread was interesting and I wonder if you have any lessons that can be learned for the rest of us. You jumped on the problem very early, and with foals that is critical.
We have good vets all around here, but foals can be deceptively hard to diagnose.
Thank you everyone. It is really lovely to have the support and kind words of people I have never met, on the other side of the world.
Fortunately the mare is doing really well today. She is still slightly unsettled, but hanging out with the other 2 mares and their foals, and eating and drinking as normal. Just a little sad and looking around from time to time.
I am feeling a little bit better today and had a good ride on my green tb which helped. He requires 100% of my attention and energy so that helped to take my thoughts away from the colt for a little while! Unfortunately I just about had a heart attack last night at feed time when I noticed my number 1 man, my 3* eventer, was acutely lame behind. He is prone to stone bruises and the hoof testers indicate that this is another one, my lovely farrier is coming out later to pull off the shoe and see if he can find anything. Needless to say I have taken his temperature and that is all fine - I think I will be a bit paranoid for little while!
So sorry for your loss. RIP little one.
I’m so sorry :(. It’s awful to lose a baby like that.
Foals are such fragile little people and come with a list of potential problems longer than your arm. :sigh:
I am sorry for your loss. Your little guy will have good company in heaven… I lost my old gelding last week to a pasture accident, and my mare earlier this year to colic. I hate this part of horse ownership. {{hugs}}
So very sorry. I’m glad your mare is doing ok.
And sorry, tbgurl, for your losses.
They bring us so much joy and heartbreak…
What a sad thing. I’m so sorry this happened and I hope your mare does well.
Did the vets have a clue about how this happened? Is it just a systemic thing or could a bump or injury to the hip turn into an infection?
I am very sorry for you and your mare. The dear ones are so fragile for the first few weeks especially. I look forward to a happy report on your mare’s 2015 foal.
So sorry to hear about your foal. Good thoughts for your 3* eventer and quick recovery.
Breeding is definitely not for the faint of heart, and I think all of us have had to deal with heartache a time or two.
Thanks everyone 
The mare is absolutely fine today, even doing some babysitting for the other mares so they can have some “time out” grazing on their own - such a sweetheart. And my eventer has had his shoe taken off and with his hoof packed he is sound again today, shoe will go on in a week or so if the farrier is happy.
Peteypie, this would definitely have been systemic, not the result of a blow to the area. With the immune systems of foals being so fragile, bugs that do not affect adult horses and older foals do affect them, and from what I understand, in layman’s terms, get trapped in joints and fester. Generally antibiotics alone cannot combat these, the joint needs to be lavaged as well. This was a major problem for my little guy, as the hip is such a difficult joint to access and treat in a horse. If the joint ill affects a joint such as the fetlock or hock, it is usually diagnosed earlier due to swelling and the prognosis is therefore much better. There was no swelling visible in this case, as the swelling was effectively absorbed by the surrounding tissues.
In terms of how my story could help others, I am still in that grieving stage where you cannot think entirely objectively and have a tendency to blame yourself and lament not doing things you could have done. My big take aways are: know their vitals, ie each foal’s temp, respiration and if possible heart rate. Monitor these. Don’t be afraid to call the vet if these change.
Eliza, thanks for making me feel a little better by saying that igg’s 7 weeks earlier probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome. I intend to do a bit more reading about this in the new year.
One thing I have never done and it is probably a topic worthy of a separate thread, I fact there have probably been others on it, is routinely administer antibiotics to foals. I know others do. I have always felt that the overuse of ABs in humans and animals, particularly as a preventative, is counter productive. However, it is awful to think that if this foal had randomly been given ABs at just the right time, they may have nipped the infection In the bud before it settled in and took hold. Another topic to research and discuss next year.canother thing I have pondered is whether taking bloods at random intervals would be wise. Eg, when my mare went in to be inseminated 30 days or so ago, would the white blood cell count in my foal have been already on the climb at that stage?
At the end of the day, some are just not meant for this world and I have to remind myself of that and be thankful for what I do have. I have this colt’s half sister by the same stallion (Heraldik/For Pleasure/Grundstein) out of a beautifully bred mare and she is now three and a half months old and beautiful and healthy. She has had extra cuddles these last few days. My lovely mare is not in foal to that stallion this year, she has gone to a Mr Blue son, but all going to plan next year she will return to the Heraldik son for a repeat breeding of that precious colt.
I am sorry also to hear of others’ losses, breeding - and indeed horse ownership - is most definitely not for the faint hearted! I guess the depth of the lows makes the highs all the greater.
Sorry for your loss. And welcome to COTH. It sounds like you can provide a lot of knowledge to this community so I hope you stick around.
I am so very, very sorry for your loss. You did everything possible to save your little one. Sometimes nothing is enough. They are so very fragile. Sending my best thoughts on this sad day.
My heartfelt condolences. Losing a baby is so painful. Very sorry.
