I was watching Dr.Pol and his mare foaled. A little stud colt. Unfortunately it didn’t make it. It was so sad.
I also like watching Dr. Pol on t.v. Not because he is also Dutch but because I like his dedication and energy. It is a shame that that foal did not survive.
2 Likes
Dr Pol should have his license stripped permanently this time and perhaps do some jail time.
32 Likes
Please elucidate
His pregnant friesian mare was left in a runout situation to foal completely unattended. A dirty open barn with old manure soiled straw and pasture. Her feet are flared and chipped and horrible. Her foal is born without anyone on watch. The foal is left for hours without any intervention even though he is not nursing. Two days later they find the foal dead from systemic infection. Gee you think?! At the least he is directly responsible for the foal’s death due to neglect and possibly criminally negligent in my opinion.
28 Likes
Um, lots of mares foal out in a runout situation and lots of mares are left to foal out with out supervision, etc.
If we arrest Dr. Pol for doing that then there are going to be lots of people that need to be arrested.
23 Likes
And remember, we cannot know exactly who checked what when and how much time was spent with the foal. This was edited for TV. Editing for TV can take a lot of important content out of a movie. Just think what it can do to an everyday situation.
11 Likes
A foal that is not nursing is an emergency. To deny it vet care is neglect and a direct result of that neglect is death.
28 Likes
I don’t watch the show and certainly didn’t see this episode, but I will point out for fans that this is faaaaaaar from the first time Dr. Pol has failed to act.
Fined and placed on probation for negligence and incompetence
Probation for negligence again
More appalling care and a discussion
I would be screaming at the TV watching this stuff.
I don’t understand why people think his treatment of animals is okay at all.
18 Likes
I know that everyone treats their horses differently. But when my mares were close to foaling (starting at 320 days) I had eyes on them around the clock. Whether it was me, a family member or friends. And with the new technology, my last mares cameras were synced to my cell phone.
Just so sad and probably so preventable.
3 Likes
I did not see this episode but this does not sound good.
Episode was created with the general public in mind and not a training program for people who foal out the mares. Impression of episode was to get one last foal from the older mares. Foal was born and looked small, sickly and having problems nursing. Milk in nostril doesn’t mean foal is nursing. It means to me that foal is having problems sucking and swallowing. Foal should have had fluids and more bloodwork done to diagnose illness. That would have made for better TV. Where is Ig bloodtest to make sure it is getting colostrum? Lots of holes in the episode. Makes for good viewing but not really informative.
3 Likes
I am glad others have spoken up about this episode of Dr. Pol. I was horrified at the care this mare and foal were given by what seems like a very caring and educated Dr. I will never watch the show and not have this (his OWN mare and foal) on my mind. Sad, just Sad!!! So many things he did not do to help the foal…
3 Likes
Well, they did try to get the foal to nurse. They didn’t show any blood being drawn for testing. They did explain that the foal died from a blood disease.
They did say it was imperative that the foal nurse but the foal didn’t seem to be interested.
it was a very small foal.
I don’t watch the show all that much. I just watched it because it had a mare ready to foal.
I am a very experienced foaling professional, and I have rarely called a vet for a newborn foal, but you can bet if I had one not interested in nursing, within the first hour or so, I would be on the phone!
4 Likes
Sounds like its somewhat normal operating procedures for Dr. Pol. I get that he is a likable guy and entertaining, but I stopped watching after seeing one to many times when its just seemed unsanitary what and how he practiced. i get he is an old school country vet, and that sometimes we take things to an ultra paranoid level of sterile cleanness. But I just wasn’t impressed with his level of care. Also google him… he has a lot of lawsuits that have been brought against him, and its over the years. And he has been fined and regulators have called him out for his practices. I’m sure some of it could be due to jealousy or what not, but it seems to keep happening on a regular enough basis that it makes one start to wonder. just my two cents…
8 Likes
After hearing all this, I do not think I will ever watch his programme again.
2 Likes
At the beginning of the episode where his foal died he stitched up a laceration on a horse’s leg. I almost completely lost it. Lady hauls horse to clinic, laceration down to the bone on lower hind leg. Dr Pol sedates the horse in the parking lot, splashes water out of a bucket on the wound and stitches it up with what looks like sutures you would use on a pig or cow. Splashes some more bucket water with his bare hands and puts some vet wrap on the leg.
YIKES!!!
6 Likes
Wow - thanks for those links. I had no idea. I’ve often thought that he was extremely non-sanitary out in the field. I’ve seen him stitch up cows and horses with no anesthesia of any kind. But I had no idea he had official complaints against him. And letting ten puppies die in utero? NO EXCUSE. Originally, I thought “he should be in jail!” was over the top. Now I’m not so sure. At a minimum his license should be revoked and Nat Geo Wild needs to publicly admit their duplicity. How could they cover it up saying it was for “an administrative error.” Horse shit
3 Likes
I watched this episode in horror!! We like to watch this program, but this was aweful!! No “safe, secure” place to foal…other mare invading her space. NO treatment of the umbilical stump. When the foal had trouble nursing he should have been tubed and given colostrum. No enema post foaling. NO INTENSIVE CARE OR INTERVENTION!! Shame on Dr. Pol for this one!! The colt was small, but didn’t need to be left to die!!
1 Like
