In retrospect, her comments are somewhat contradictory; as she felt double ovulators were an advantage for AI v. live cover, yet the breed she deemed as having the most double ovulators was one that does not utilize AI at all. Maybe I misunderstood her at the time. Or maybe she was just rambling and had nothing credible to base her speculation upon. Although she was (and is) well-versed in repro…
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Definitely there is a consensus that TBs double ovulate a lot-- I believe the percentage is about 25% of cycles. So conceiving twins isn’t necessarily unusual. But if you’re pinching very early (like 15-16 days) the success rate is usually really, really high.
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I seem to recall hearing that same number at one point in time. Nice to know the memory isn’t totally shot.
It’s always seemed like TBs double ovulate more to me, too, but TBs also make up the majority of broodmares I’ve worked with and scanned. It’s hard to say if my own perception is just biased due to numbers.
hCG contamination?
Well…our luck turned around today!!! Oklahoma is under a week of severe weather…excessive rain, 6+ inches since Friday. I gave my last dose of Domperidone last night…vet put meds in their box for me…but our road is under 3+ feet of raging water…Hoped I could get out today to fetch the meds. .My best TB mare, bred to our 16.2 paint stallion… is at 367 days…big as a house (twins??) I got DROWNED walking 80 feet to the broodmare suite at midnight…nothing going on…two mares munching hay.
I open the door to feed this morning and catch a flash of bright white. There stands a huge, clean, dry. dark brown/white tobiano filly sucking on a teat!!! Thank you God or whoever is responsible!! She “looks” a month old already!! She is soooo sweet (parents both have exceptional dispositions). You can touch her anywhere, treated the navel, gave the emema…and she stood like an old lesson horse!!! She CAN buck and play though!!! Life is good. Water is still high, wind is blowing and it’s damn brisk…but we have a healthy foal!!! One more to go!!
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Congratulations on the new (single) filly!
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Thanks!! I needed THAT!!!
Congrats crosscreeksh!
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I think I hold the record on twins. Some mares were ultrasounded a number of times, without finding them. Some were mine, some were outside mares, different vets, different breeds, different stallions. Pinching when ultrasound has found twins has had mixed results, not always a successful outcome, and has created more problems on occasion. When I hear owners confidently announcing that a scan has found a single pregnancy at 14 days after cover, I say “how nice”, and shudder inside. No matter what any vet tells you, breeding horses is still a crapshoot. JMHO. I never even think that I have a live foal until it is standing there in front of me, a week old. Until then, it is only a potential foal.
PS. I’ve had a mare owner ask me this exact question that you have posted here. Tough to answer that.
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Thanks NancyM. We’ve been breeding for a long time and thought I knew EVERYTHING that could go wrong…WRONG!! I have just never seen so many twin pregs as I’ve seen since moving to Ok. 12 years ago!! More good news…this morning we had another “Single” kid born. HUGE black ISH colt (big enough to start breaking tomorrow) He has crazy high white stockings with jagged black streaks…and ONE big jagged splash of white on his right shoulder. Sire is HZ tobiano…so when I saw the solid black on his left side I thought it was a trick. But he IS a legal pinto!! Now we’re done!!! Thanks for all the input!!
