Horse Lovers Blog Festival Today ! Arabian Horse Twins Born at Toskara Arabians

First off, don't miss out on the Horse Lover's Blog Carnival today hosted at Horse Approved. There are lots of great horse articles posted there.


After all of the heaviness of the unfortunate foaling of Sassy, the mare (horse) carrying her fourth set of twins (horse foals), I thought it might be refreshing to hear a twins (horse) story that has resulted in a much better outcome for the horses and the people involved.

On March 20, 2007 twin Arabian fillies (horses) were born at Toskaha Arabians. The mare (horse), Angells Essence, is a MHR Nobility daughter. She was bred to the stallion (horse), Psylebrty. Both horses are owned by Brenda and Art Laurel of Laurel Arabians in Fort Worth, Texas.

While the size of the mare before foaling had caused some concerns, twin foals (horses) were not suspected. The mare (horse)had not been ultrasounded because the horse had been sold and the breeding was done by the new owner. Due to an unexpected tragedy the buyer was unable to complete the transaction and returned the mare (horse). The ultrasound and twin pregnancy slipped through the cracks in the confusion.

Both foals (Arabian horses) were fortunately delivered in a normal position. (The number one cause of death in twins (horses) who do survive alive to term are the complications arising from dystocia.) The delivery was an easy process for the mare and both foals (horses). The presentation of the second foal(horse) caught the attendants totally by surprise.

As you can imagine, the startled owner made a frantic trip in middle of the night to see the newest additions to her Arabian horse herd. Even after the 1.5 hour drive to Toskara Arabians, her hands had not quit shaking enough to take pictures. She tried, but her shoots all cam out too blurry to use.

Both foals (horses) are fillies. One (horse) was larger and stronger and soon nursing on her own. The second filly (horse) was weak and needed to be bottle feed in the beginning. She, too, was standing and nursing on her own within the first 24 hours. The mare(horse) has taken to her two charges like a champ and is producing ample milk.

Both fillies (Arabian horses) had low IgG scores and were transfused with plasma. The second set of IgG scores after the transfusions were in normal ranges. . The pictures look like there are some minor angular limb deformities but othre than that both foals apear to be doing fine

You can read more about these remarkable foals on ABlackHorse on their thread on twins arabian foals
There is also a video on utube that was taken when the twin Arabian filiies (horses) were a few days old. Twins video on U tube. The owner was frustrated because she didn't notice until after she'd shot the video that she had an old date stamp on the camera. So the date stamp is not correct.

While most foalings of twins (horses) do not end in this kind of outcome, it is a relief to see that all twin pegnancies in horses don't end in tragedy. Having dealt with my own set of miracle twins (Arabian horses), I know the extreme emotional and financial ramifications of twin foalings gone awry and am grateful that these people don't have to deal with the more extreme costs that seem to be inherent with twins.

For more information see Basics about Twin Foals or read about my own, not so smooth adventure with surviving twin foals, Scandalous Trouble and Scandalous Surprise read Reflections on Foaling Season 2006

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