In 2016, SAFE was contacted about taking in a young pregnant mare. The mare had a large sarcoid on her face near her mouth that likely needed to be removed. She was one of 7 horses that had belonged to an elderly couple, and when the man passed away, ownership of the horses was transferred to his granddaughter. The horses were running together in a herd that included a stallion who had since been gelded. The granddaughter intended to find homes for the remainder of the horses. She seemed to think that she could afford to care for six of the horses, but caring for the mare, pregnant and probably in need of surgery to remove the sarcoid, was beyond her means.
At the time that this request came in, SAFE was full and already turning down other intake requests, so opting to take this mare was not a clear-cut or easy decision for us to make because we were already committed to helping the horses we had.
As is often the case, the background story began to change. The person who had contacted us was not the granddaughter, but a friend of hers. The grandparents has had 13 horses, but they had taken the seven in the worst condition, including the mare and the stallion. Ownership of the mare had been signed over to the person who contacted us, but she considered herself a rescuer, and expressed reluctance to sign SAFE’s surrender agreement due to its provision forbidding her to own or acquire any more horses. Things were getting messy. And as concerned as we were about the mare, we were equally concerned about the rest of the horses.
A blood test had shown that the mare was pregnant, but no one knew how far along she was. We were able to contact the veterinarian who performed the blood test, and she provided more information about the mare. She was underweight for being pregnant but seemed to eating without difficulties, despite the fact that the sarcoid was in her mouth and beginning to wrap around her teeth. She hadn’t been able to do a thorough examination since the mare couldn’t be sedated. It would need further examination and was likely to require much more treatment than a normal sarcoid. This could include biopsies, radiographs of the head, radiation, and reconstructive surgery necessary to close the holes left in the mare’s face. She had no history of vaccination, worming, dental, or farrier care, and the pregnancy complicated things greatly . The question became: could she survive long enough to have her foal? Should she be made to go on in such poor shape?
When we were allowed to visit the mare and see her in person, what we saw was appalling. She was emaciated, pregnant, and standing in a field of solid mud and filth. She had no shelter and no blanket. She had lice and ticks eating her alive. And the sarcoid was far worse than it appeared in the photos we’d been shown. We picked her up and took her straight to Pilchuck Vet Hospital.
Settling into her isolation stall, the mare appeared relatively calm and comfortable. She was able to eat, drink, and poop. But her udder seemed to be getting bigger. Pretty soon it was clear that she was bagging up and waxing, all signs of an imminent birth. An ultrasound was performed and the vet was able to rule out a placental infection. But after examining the fetus and measuring the size of its eye, our vet determined that the foal was approximately 280–300 days old. The normal gestation period for an equine is 335–360 days, with 340 days being the average. A foal born before 320 days would not be viable.
The bagging up probably indicated that the mare’s body was trying to abort. The level of amniotic fluid present in her womb was very low. And the foal had a low heart rate. In short, nothing was going right, and it was looking less and less likely that the mare was going to have a viable baby, much less a healthy one. We felt it would be wrong to allow her to go through the birthing process, only to deliver a dead or dying foal. As difficult as this decision was, the kindest choice was to let her go right away.
The small consolation is that the mare spent her last few days in a warm, dry stall with plenty to eat and people taking care of her around the clock. It was something to be grateful for. Still, this situation was one of the most traumatizing we’d gone through…and because of our commitment to respect the privacy of the owners of this horse, we couldn’t share this story with our supporters until now. We did report what happened to Animal Control and request a wellness check on the rest of the horses. Beyond that, there was nothing more that we could do. We remember this sweet, docile mare, honor her struggle, and give thanks that we could bring her peace and end her suffering. Rest in peace, dear lady.
