Had my mare checked today at day 15. Day 0 she had already ovulated and also had a 36 follicle.
So here we are with two black circles. ;(. They are in same horn right next to each other and after 3 ultrasounds today are not moving.
Vets seems to think she will most likely eliminate one before day 30.
What has been your experience?
This is a TB mare that had 2 years off and has had 4 other foals and never had a twin. She is 16 this year.
Let me clarify. From what I have heard and read, mares that have twins in one horn usually abort one 85 percent of the time before 30 days naturally.
Just curious what experience breeders have had with this.
So my question is, those of you with mares that twin, how often will they absorb one on their own before 30 days?
I am actually shocked we got a pregnancy at all with her already ovulating the day before and a small 36 follicle at insemination. Both embryos are at 15mm today. Same size which is also weird to me.
I have only had this happen one time. They were side by side and stuck together. We waited and did a lot of ultra sounds. We were ready to make the decision end them on day 30 rather than risk twins. On day 30 ultra sound one was showing that it was smaller and was going away on its own. We continued to watch and ended up with one healthy foal. But it was a nail biter up til day 30.
I am in the same boat! I am hoping this will happen.
We check day 28 in case we have to abort. 
I had this happen last year. Had a lot of discussions with vets, and the “experts” at UC Davis. Davis stated they could remove one of the embryos and it would be something like $8K I think, anyhow it was tres expensive.
My vet said there was an 80% chance the mare would do a reduction on her own, given time. Which I opted for, and she did.
However, she also aborted the second embryo at 60 days :no:
I had a similar experience as HSS last year. We thought we were in the clear but she ended up losing both
Yes, there’s a very good chance she’ll reduce on her own by day 30. I would recheck at day 30 or 31. If she hasn’t reduced it, you’ll need to abort the whole pregnancy and start over. If you leave it until day 45 she’ll have formed endometrial cups and may not cycle back for the rest of the year.
Whatever you do, don’t let a vet touch those embryos again. I give them one chance to reduce, then let the mare work it out. If the embryos go through repeated attempts at manual reduction, there’s a very good chance both will be lost. Ask me how I know… :no:
Yes. Day 15 they were fixated and vet said to just wait. We didn’t mess with them so I am hoping she will take care of one on her own.
Vet is coming back day 29 to check. I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed for you. If the twins are touching the odds are good one will die. However, I strongly recommend that if they are both still alive and well at day 29 you abort them, rather than try to do it later. I had a mare with twins not touching, and decided to abort one at approximately 80 days, at UC Davis. They tried twice, about two weeks apart, but it was unsuccessful so I had to abort the pregnancy and lost the year. FWIW, it was fairly inexpensive, at least compared to $8k quoted one of the posters.
We had non-touching twins last year. We waited and both spontaneously aborted before 25 days.
Whole thing was weird! We couldn’t get shipment until Tuesday morning. She had ovulated her 44 mm follicle from Sunday night by Tuesday morning. when we checked and figured that was too late because we weren’t exactly sure when she ovulated, but she had a 36mm follicle that we thought maybe we would get lucky with. So we bred her.
Well, she was pregnant with twins at day 15 and they were both at 15mm when we checked. Touching and fixated.
So she had to become pregnant on her early ovulation and not the 36mm since the two are the same size?
How often do they throw 2 eggs from one follicle?
This is the first time I have dealt with twins from her so this is all very interesting to me.
could be one follicle, one egg, and identical twinning.
[QUOTE=HiJumpGrrl;8666565]
could be one follicle, one egg, and identical twinning.[/QUOTE]
Horses don’t do that.
Actually, horses can have identical twins. It probably happens more often than suggested in the literature, but it is well recorded. Most likely, in this situation (as long as one of the pregnancies isn’t actually a cyst) she most likely conceived from both ovulations. Post-ovulation breedings that result in pregnancies often are pregnancies that measure one day smaller than a pre-ovulation breeding. So it makes sense that these two could be the same size, from two different ovulations.
[QUOTE=Hillside H Ranch;8667024]
Actually, horses can have identical twins. It probably happens more often than suggested in the literature, but it is well recorded. Most likely, in this situation (as long as one of the pregnancies isn’t actually a cyst) she most likely conceived from both ovulations. Post-ovulation breedings that result in pregnancies often are pregnancies that measure one day smaller than a pre-ovulation breeding. So it makes sense that these two could be the same size, from two different ovulations.[/QUOTE]
Could you point me to the literature that confirms horses can commonly have identical twins?
I never said it was “common”. I said it is possible. There is speculation amongst very well respected vets that it is more common that reported in research, but that is simply anecdotal at this point.
http://www.zerlottigenetics.com/news/monozygotic-equine-twins-after-embryo-transfer-verified-by-dna-typing
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3292.2011.00254.x/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19055562
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8654344
http://csu-cvmbs.colostate.edu/Documents/Learnmares50-pregfoal-twins-oct09.pdf
I had somewhat similar last year. Bred my 16yo TB mare who hadn’t had a foal in 5 years, by design. At 16 days we had twins. Vet came back on day 18 and not only were the twins still there attached but we had a smaller triplet not seen 2 days before. We pinched the two stuck together. The first was easy. The second took a good hour. The twins were in one horn and the single was in a different horn. Mare is 346 days today. Can’t believe through all that we have a foal on the way.
Best of luck.
Terri
At about day 18 you want to pinch one. I would have the vet come back then.
We had a similar situation last year. Mare was inseminated post ovulation, due to shipment being lost at airport. At 15 days she had two embryos side by side. Vet said most of the time there will be a natural reduction of one and we would check again at day 21. At day 21 she apparently only saw on embryo, and checked again at day 45, again sure there was only one and one heart beat.
Fast forward to now, mare went to day 340 and delivered two full sized twins, the first foal born was strong and healthy and made it. Second foal was born unresponsive with a heart beat, he did not make it. All in all Im beyond glad my mare made it through and we have one healthy foal.
I never would want to experience that again and would suggest eliminating one, or the entire pregnancy.
Day 29 today and she did get rid of one on her own. There is one healthy baby!
Is there any way one could be hiding? What other day would be a good time to double check?
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