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Our mare, Sophie,
was bred last February to Norton. She was confirmed
in foal, but the vet said she slipped the pregnancy by her 100 day check up. She
appeared to come
into heat shortly thereafter and we turned her out with Norton for the
afternoon. Within a few hours, she was in serious pain. She was
treated for colic, to which she did not respond.
She was subsequently diagnosed with either an impaction (poor prognosis for
surviving surgery) or an ovarian abscess. We prepared ourselves for what
looked to be the inevitable - putting down Sophie. Our vet put her on
antibiotics in hopes that the problem was an abscess. Slowly, Sophie
improved. Sure her days as a broodmare were over, we resigned ourselves
to Avalon being one-of-a-kind.
In early December, our concerns for
Sophie returned. She had developed a distended belly and her mood had
changed from her usual playful, energetic self to a quiet, sleepy "old
lady." We worried that the abscess had returned or was a tumor.
Perhaps Cushings. At any rate, Sophie appeared to be suffering from some
problem, probably somehow related to her earlier problem. Another round of
vet visits? No...she's an older mare, surgery is out of the
question...just leave her be until or unless she's in pain.
Her belly grew every day. She
showed no sign of pain or discomfort so we decided to just let her be.
Never one to enjoy grooming, Sophie
fusses every time the brush comes near her. She's also quite fond of
rolling in the mud, which makes for one very messy mare. Finally, the mud
coating grew to be too much, and we insisted on brushing it off.
That's when we discovered that Sophie's tumor KICKS!
We never dreamed that she would
have caught and/or held a pregnancy through all of the problems. But, somehow
a miracle happened and we finally have an explanation for the ever-growing
belly.
We don't know if she really
didn't lose the pregnancy and is in foal from the February breeding or if she
caught on the late April breeding. In either case, we're thrilled.
Visit her foalwatch
page to follow the progress. It promises to be exciting, either way!
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