Twin Management in Mares

Twins are avoidable and should not persist on well managed breeding farms. Clients understand this and demand the most sophisticated management programmes available. This presentation will focus on the routine twin management techniques on breeding farms and expected results and, as the hospital is a major referral centre that each year is presented with multiple referral cases of twin pregnancy that are diagnosed after cessation of the mobility phase, we will discuss management of these much more difficult cases.

Historically, twins have been the single most important cause of abortion. With the advent of ultrasonography the incidence of abortion associated with twins has decreased dramatically to less than 5% of all abortions. However, twins are often disastrous financially. Most twin pregnancies terminate in early fetal resorption or loss, late term abortions or the birth of small growth retarded foals. Mares aborting twins in late gestation frequently have foaling difficulties, damage their reproductive tracts and are difficult to re-breed. If foals are born alive they are frequently small, demonstrate the effects of intra-uterine growth retardation and have a poor survival rate with many needing expensive sophisticated critical care. [...]