Hi Lorrain,
I would recommend Mair, Love, Schumacher and Watson (1999) Equine medicine,
surgery and reproduction. WB Saunder Co Ltd: London.
They offer the following on twins.
Twinning as a cause of abortion: Common in all breeds but especially
thoroughbreds. Accounts for about 20% of all aborted foetuses. High rate of
natural reduction before day 40. After day 45 about 60% of twins are
aborted, most commonly mid-pregnancy to full term. Cause of abortion is
placental insufficiency. Often the foetuses appear to die at different
times.
Twinning due to double ovulation: 16% of ovulations. Occurs repeatedly in
certain mares and more common in certain breeds. Conception rates are
higher. If both twins fix in one horn (70% of cases) of the uterus
reduction rates are 89% as opposed to 11% if they fix bilaterally.
Standard veterinary practice in the case of twins is to reduce one
conceptus by crushing.
Hope that's of some use.
Simon.
On Jan 27 2006, Lorrain Higbee wrote:
> Hello All Can anyone point me towards any veterinary articles concerning
> multiple births in modern horses? I'm particularly interested to find out
> how rare such occurrences are and what the survival rate is. Thanks
> Lorrain Higbee
--
Simon McGrory
PhD Student
Department of Archaeology
University of York
The King's Manor, York, YO1 7EP.
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~sm514/index.html
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