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Road to a Foal: S's Breeding Saga Pt. 2

 When I last left off with Part 1, Sierra was freshly inseminated.

I remember as a child, feeling like time had physically slowed down as I awaited something exciting - Christmas, Birthdays, Vacations, etc.  I can remember vibrating with excitement for days with anxious anticipation, but as I aged, that slowly waned.  Now as I've gotten older, that same level of excitement is there; just for different reasons.  I could barely sit on my hands long enough to await Sierra's first pregnancy check, but as days ticked by eventually the time came.

Sierra double ovulated roughly 24 hours apart, but I did my first check 10 days from the first ovulation.  After what felt like searching through her uterus for hours yielding no vesicle, I hung my head and decided to try again the next day.  I wasn't feeling terribly optimistic, but knew it was still very early and I anxiously awaited my second check.

Luckily, my excitement was reignited the following day, when my scan showed a small vesicle! It measured more consistent with a 10-Day size, but alas - it was there! I decided to check back in 2 days for growth, and luckily it was still there and growing at an appropriate rate despite still measuring about 1 day smaller.

Sometimes, some embryo's just measure a little smaller, but as long as they're growing it's nothing worth worrying about but in Sierra's case, given that I know she double-ovulated, I think it's most likely she actually caught off the second ovulation instead of the first.

I checked Sierra a few more times since then; once to do a final twin-check before the vesicle implanted into the uterine lining, once more to check for growth, and then a final time to check for a heartbeat before making her pregnancy public knowledge.

Meeting her 14 Day-Old baby? 


23 Days


30 Days

Luckily a beautiful heartbeat was observed, and Sierra's off the hook for scans now for about a month when I will do a 60-Day check.

Onto the next one!




Comments

  1. Congrats!! It is so cool that you do your own u/s work... We had 1 mare check +ve at 14 days and then zilch at 45. Boo. Confirmed at 60 with bloodwork that the pregnancy had been absorbed. Talk about a bummer... :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ugh no kidding!! So sorry to hear! I'm really hoping mine hold on, because this late in the season if they don't, it'll be too late to try again.

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    2. Fingers crossed for you! Def. was too late for us to try again with the one mare. Need to learn more about how to minimize risk of absorbtion - I hear some mares need meds through the full pregnancy or parts of to keep the foal. Lots to learn!

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    3. Yes! Regumate can help mares with lower progesterone. I typically put mine on progesterone for the first 30 days, then test to see if they can come off it.

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