Mare Having Difficulty Foaling at Minions

Early Saturday evening we received a call from a lady walking in the Minions area, she had come across a very thin mare who was having difficulty foaling. The lady had broken the birthing sac and helped the mare to give birth, however once the foal was out the mare showed no interest in her new born. By this time a member of SWEP staff had arrived and called a vet who gave the foal some colostrum and assessed the mare. The vet agreed that the mare was not interested in the foal and if it was left it would die within hours, the mare had no milk in her udder.

The foal was bought back to our rehabilitation yard and a feeding regime was started, the foal was fed every two hours. Initially the youngster was feeding well and seemed strong, however by the Monday she took a turn for the worse and the vet was called out. The foal was diagnosed with Equine Neonatal Maladjustment Syndrome (Dummy Foal Syndrome), this is a neurological syndrome and is quite common in foals who have been starved of Oxygen at some point during the birthing process, the foal was put to sleep soon after.