Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Pregnant Maiden Mare

From: Randy

Dr. Jahiel,

Today our mare acted like she was colicing and after further checking my wife discovered clear yellowish droplets from her nipples. The mare was cramping and wanting to roll around. Of course my wife called the Vet and the Vet told my wife to adminster 10cc of Banamine inter muscularly. For 1 1/2 hours she continued to wring her tail and was looking back at her rear end and stomping her feet. One hour and forty minutes later all symptoms subsided and that's all she wanted to do was eat. The Vet wants her checked each hour through out the night. A friend's Vet said that the droplets were "Witches Milk" whatever that is. The mare also passed soft cow pie manure during the colicing session. She also urinated normally. My wife would like your opinion since she is very concerned and worried that she might be aborting. We will keep you informed and understand that you may not be able to respond right away.

Bonnie and Randy (Bo Ran Farm)

Hi Bonnie and Randy! I hope your mare has come through this episode of colic -- colic during the last months of pregnancy is nasty and unpleasant, but it doesn't always mean that the mare is aborting! Does your veterinarian feel that there is some reason she might be likely to abort -- did she miss her rhino shots, or was she grazing infested fescue? Does he think there might be a fungal infection, or -- heaven forbid -- is she carrying twins? All these can cause abortions late in pregnancy. Is he worried about something specific, or is he just concerned because he's a good veterinarian, and ANY colic is a concern (which is quite true)?

"Witches milk" is a nonsense term, don't worry about it. It's usually used to refer to the milk that sometimes comes from the nipples of newborn baby girls, it's very temporary, and it's nothing more than a reflection of the hormones that the mother was sharing with her baby before birth.

Your mare is producing fluid, but not yet milk. If you tested what's in her udder right now, you would probably find a very low calcium content. That calcium level typically increases dramatically in the last days before foaling -- in fact, there's a kit many people use to predict the day of foaling, and the tests in that kit are simply a way to measure the changing calcium levels in the mare's milk as she gets ready to foal.

- Jessica

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