Horse with difficult pregnancy gives birth to foal. Then came an even bigger surprise
A mare was expected to have a difficult time giving birth and had been checked by veterinary staff in Georgia throughout her pregnancy.
Despite those checks, no one realized she was pregnant with twins.
“What a surprise it was for everyone when two little bundles popped out,” horse owner Melissa Jarvis said.
Tilly the mare, who belongs to Jarvis’ daughter, gave birth to male and female foals, “both small in size but both with spunk and zest for life,” Jarvis wrote on Facebook.
It’s rare for mares to be pregnant with twins and even rarer for a mare to give birth to two live twins, according to Jarvis, who said she has worked in veterinary medicine for over two decades.
But so far, the colt and filly have defied the odds. They were delivered at the University of Georgia’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
“We have around-the-clock monitoring for pregnancies that we’re worried about,” Dr. Robyn Ellerbrock with UGA’s veterinary hospital told WXIA-TV.
The first foal seemed small, Ellerbrock said. But then the horse pushed again.
“Definitely my first time delivering twins,” Ellerbrock told the news outlet. “Most of the time it’s a once in a career occasion for sure.”
The foals still face some uphill battles. They didn’t have enough space to stretch out inside the womb, so their limbs didn’t straighten all the way.
The foals received splints and antibiotics for their immune systems. They can be seen in Jarvis’ photos and videos lying on their sides with wraps over their legs.
The colt also needed emergency surgery for a hole that caused urine to leak into his stomach, Jarvis said.
Even with their slow start, the babies appear to be improving.
“Our visit tonight made both our hearts feel happy and relieved,” Jarvis said on Facebook. “We say that because tonight the twins were acting much more like actual foals versus wee tiny fur blobs.”
She called the foals’ births “truly a miracle.”
When a mare is pregnant with two foals, often one will be aborted to give the mom and other foal a better chance at life.
“Fewer than 9% of pregnant mares carrying twins can carry both fetuses to term,” according to research published in the National Library of Medicine.
But the twins defied the odds. Their primary doctor said they look good, and the babies are “determined to survive,” Jarvis said.
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Horse with difficult pregnancy gives birth to foal. Then came an even bigger surprise."