Has anyone bred a mare after she's had colic surgery?

[Nutmeg11]

Hi all! Hoping to glean some knowledge from the more experienced breeders here.

Last year, a very close friend of mine who’s bred Friesians several times in the past very generously offered to let me breed their mare to a stallion of my choice and keep the baby (provided I paid the stud fee/vet bills, ran my stallion choice by her, and made sure the kinship % isn’t crazy because…well, Friesians). But before I could decide if I was going to take her up on her offer, this otherwise-healthy 7-year-old mare severely colicked in January of this year. After trying everything, she ended up needing surgery. She pulled through (thank GOODNESS), but while she was recovering she developed an infection on her incision site, which has slowed her healing.

All that to say…has anyone here successfully bred a mare after she’s had colic surgery or other abdominal surgery? How many years did you have to wait for her to heal? Is it worth the risk? There’s no way in HELL we’d breed her this year, but even next year or beyond, I don’t know if I want to put stress/weight on the part of her abdomen that went through the trauma of surgery and infection if I don’t absolutely have to. While I very much appreciate my friend’s offer and am honored that she’d extend that kind of offer to me, both of us worry that making that mare carry a foal, even if she’s had years to heal, might result in complications (e.g. hernia). My friend has never bred a mare who’s had that kind of surgery before, so these are uncharted waters for her, and she’s understandably apprehensive about the mare’s health going forward.

Thanks for any insight you can give!

[Fillabeana]

I wouldn’t.

There are likely to be plenty of adhesions/scar tissue internally after an open abdominal surgery. These adhesions can cause some pretty intense pain on their own in humans. And when they tear for one reason or another, that is also extremely painful.

Adhesions could cause a mechanical infertility. If the fallopian tubes can’t move freely, they won’t acquire the released egg from the ovary.

And my observation is that horses that have had colic surgery are prone to more colic.

So I wouldn’t even start to try to get a mare bred in that situation.

[Magicboy]

I had a mare that had 3 goals after colic surgery with no problems at all. Probably depends on her health and history. I’d ask a repro vet

[Laurierace]

It depends upon what they needed to do. My mare had colic surgery for a small colon impaction without resection. I asked if she could be bred and they told me that I could breed her AI while she was still hospitalized. I didn’t but it was nice to know they thought it would be zero issue.

[Polydor]

I worked with a thoroughbred broodmare. She coliced at about 8 months pregnant. She had a resection done. She wore a “corset” /bellyband for the remaining duration of her pregnancy. She healed up beautifully, if you didn’t know about her surgery you wouldn’t be able to find her scar the following year.

She may may have gotten the year off but for sure got bred the next year.

P.

[acottongim]

I have. I bought a briodmare (had 2 foals prior to me). I bred her a few months after I got her, when the filly was about 3 months old she colicked. Had surgery (displaced colon). Talked to vets before and after the surgery to talk about viability and also safety if re-breeding. Was assure it’s not an issue and she’s be safe. Val was an every other year mare - she never had foals back to back. But she went on to have 4 more foals for me with zero issues.