Varicose Veins?

TB Dreamin' · Postby **TB Dreamin'** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:05 pm

I recently bought a pregnant mare from a sale. Within two days of having her home, I noticed some drops of blood in her stall and in the shavings that were caught in her tail. (from rolling) I've never encountered bleeding from a pregnant mare that was a positive sign, so called the vet out immediately. Consensus: varicose veins bleeding. Does anyone else have any experience w/this? Any information appreciated...I still feel a little frantic.

Thanks!
Amy

Mood Swings · Postby **Mood Swings** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 6:12 pm

Hi Amy, we also had a mare purchased through a sale in November start "bleeding". I discovered approximately 1 cup of blood in her shavings (rather alarming I thought :shock:

) The vet performed a speculam exam and saw that the blood was coming from a varicose vein, luckily she does not have any seperation or thickening. Essentially harmless to the mare and the pregnancy. This mare is on regu-mate and mega-blud. There are concerns if the mare is losing very large quantities of blood and of course the blood itself is a breeding ground for bacteria. Apparently it is not all that uncommon. Good Luck with your mare!

A great website you should check out is : www.equine-reproduction.com

Thanks for the well wishes in regards to my mare

freshman · Postby **freshman** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:18 pm

I saw it in an older broodmare--she bled last year and this year. No problems foaling at all. Hopefully this will be the case for your mare, too.

TB Dreamin' · Postby **TB Dreamin'** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:55 am

Thanks for the responses, I, too, found about 1/2 cup of blood in her stall and the vet came out, did a palp and ultrasound. Unfortunately, he did note thickening in one part of her placenta, but said it was 'unrelated' to the blood in her stall/tail. (?) He does not see any seperation, but says just in case the thickening is caused by infection, we should treat her to be safe. "before something small turns into something big." Thanks, too for the link to more info, I just can't find any technical books on this. I have quite a few foaling books, but they don't go into enough detail on things like this...any suggestions?

Amy

Bondama · Postby **Bondama** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:33 am

The thickening sounds like it could be a condition called "placentitis". My mare had this, unbeknownst to me until she had a stillborn foal in Nov. The placenta was so thick and so huge, it filled up a 5 gallon bucket to overflowing. It was the largest the vet had ever seen. This mare gave no signs, so that you have signs is encouraging - perhaps your mare can be treated before anything bad happens. Good luck and keep us posted!

B

Kristie · Postby **Kristie** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:33 am

A couple years ago my mare had the same problem. Tried everything to get it to stop, but after nearly 2 weeks finally ended up sending her to the equine clinic for a couple days. They tried cauterizing the vein but that didn't work, so ended up having to open her caslick and go in and tie the vein off. She carried the baby to term, but baby and placenta all came out at the same time, so obviously had some effect.

LKR · Postby **LKR** » Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:12 am

We had a mare that did that 4 years ago after she had foaled. She continued to bleed so we left her open, hoping that it would resolve itself.
She quit bleeding and we thought it would be fine. However, the following spring, upon examination it turned out that she had HUGE varicose veins which the vet said could rupture at anytime. We chose to put her down rather than have her possibly rupture and have problems later. Kathie