Page 21 - April 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, April 2005 21
SHOULDYOU GAMBLE ON A PREEMIE FOAL?
If you're a breeder, you know all about the worry and the anticipation that's involved with the arrival of each year's new foal crop. Though the vast majority of equine deliveries are uncomplicated, and ‘most’ foals have a normal, healthy introduction to life, it makes sense to prepare yourself for the fateful day when not everything goes according to nature's plan.
A foal is at his most vulnerable when he first leaves the sheltered environment of the womb and enters the cold, harsh outside world, where micro-organisms are clustered on every surface and in the air he breathes. Though a foal's immune system is intact at birth, it needs
the "jump-start" of his dam's colostrum (the antibody-rich milk mares produce in the first 12 to 24 hours after birth) to start providing him with protection from disease. If he doesn't get that infusion of immunoglobulins in the crucial time- frame in which he can absorb them (a condition called "failure of passive transfer", or FPT), a newborn foal is at high risk of infection or disease from practically every pathogenic micro-organism in his environment. It's estimated that some 25% of foals suffer from some degree of FPT .... which is a lot of vulnerable babies.
FPT isn't the only risk factor that can predispose a neonatal foal to health problems. A difficult delivery (a breech presentation, for example), induced birth, placentitis, twinning, a dam with a history of uterine infections or other forms of troubled pregnancy .... any of these can directly affect the health of the newborn foal that results.
Premature birth (defined as an arrival before the 320-day mark) also has a huge impact on a foal's prospects. Foals who are pushed out into the world even a week early may have difficulty adapting to life outside the uterus. Not having had the chance to fully develop in his dam's womb, such a baby will be abnormally small, have a very thin, silky haircoat, soft cartilage (with floppy ears and structurally weak legs), pliable hooves, and will sometimes be too weak to stand and nurse. Often, the internal organs are immature as well, leaving a preemie vulnerable to disorders ranging from respiratory distress to poor thermoregulation (the ability to maintain the internal body temperature). Angular and flexural limb deformities are common too.
And because a premature newborn has little in the way of fat stores, he is susceptible to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), a condition which can take him from bright and alert, to weak and fading, in a matter of hours. Complicating this is the fact that some preemies have such underdeveloped gastrointestinal tracts that they're unable to digest milk -- so in order to provide them with the glucose they need, without triggering bloating and colic, they have to be fed intravenously.
The length of a mare's pregnancy isn't related to fetal maturity, as it is in humans, so there's tremendous variability in the length of gestation in
horses. Sometimes even a baby who is born after
a 'normal' length of gestation will still have the characteristics of an immature foal (a condition technically called "dysmaturity"). The good
news is that veterinary science has come a long
way in the past 15 years; many major universities
now have equine neonatal units, where the
success rates tend to be 65% or better, and even
foals born prior to day 300 of gestation have been reported to survive with aggressive intensive care.
Still, you'd be wise to ask yourself whether you're prepared, financially and emotionally, to deal with the intensive therapy needed to help a critically ill, premature foal. Small breeders, in particular, may not realize how
much time, money, and emotion is involved in trying to save such a baby. Your decision will of course be based on the foal's breeding and his potential worth as a racehorse, but you should also factor in the amount of extra care he'll require, often right up until weaning time, and the odds of him going on to have a successful career at the track.
Equine Health
by Karen Briggs
Dave Landry Photo
New Stallion
PRIDE OF NEW YORK
is now the Pride of Ontario
Pride of New York -
Mt. Livermore - Peruvian Pride, by Baldski Undefeated in two starts Half-brother to Champion Palestino & New York Champion Ransom’s Pride
2005 Fee: $4,000 NominatedtoBreeders’CupandOntario SireStakes
Pride of New York (2001) brings with him an impressive family:
By Classic Sire MT. LIVERMORE - Sire of more than 60 Stakes Winners, Nine Millionaires & Six Champions.
Out of PERUVIAN PRIDE - Arguably the Best Female Line in Canada!
Dam of 6 to race, 6 winners including 4 stakes winners (3 G1 & 3 G3). Full Sister to CHAPOSA SPRINGS winner of $762,000 14 wins in 23 starts incl. 2 G1, 1 G2 & 3 G3.
Half-sister to You and I winner of $701,000 incl. 2 G1, 1 G2, 3 G3. 2nd dam LA CHAPOSA - Winner of 2 G1 and 1 G3. Half-sister to 3 stakes winners. Dam of 9 winners 4 G1, 4 G2, 3 G3 totalling more than $2 million in progeny earnings.
3rd dam BELINDA - Half-sister to stakes placed Jangua. Produced 8 winners, 4 stakes winners who produced 5 stakes winners accumulating 35 stakes wins or placed.
Anson Stud Farm
905-584-4969 Fax: 905-584-5045 email: ansonstudfarm@netscape.net
Inquiries to Sonja or Andy McKinnon 17655 Innis Lake Road, Caledon East, ON