Special Report on Diseases of the HorseUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Horses -- Diseases
The period and pains of parturition arrive, but in spite of continued
efforts no progress is made, neither water bags nor liquids appearing.
The oiled hand introduced into the closed neck of the womb will readily
detect the spiral direction of the folds on its inner surface.
The method of relief which I have successfully adopted in the cow may be
equally effective in the mare. The dam is placed (with her head uphill)
on her right side if the upper folds of the spiral turn toward the
right, and on her left side if they turn toward the left, and the oiled
hand is introduced through the neck of the womb and a limb or other part
of the body of the fetus is seized and pressed against the wall of the
womb, while two or three assistants turn the animal over on her back
toward the other side. The object is to keep the womb stationary while
the animal is rolling. If success attends the effort, the constriction
around the arm is suddenly relaxed, the spiral folds are effaced, and
the water bags and fetus press forward into the passage. If the first
attempt does not succeed, it may be repeated again and again until
success crowns the effort. Among my occasional causes of failure have
been the prior death and decomposition of the fetus, with the
extrication of gas and overdistention of the womb, and the supervention
of inflammation and inflammatory exudation around the neck of the womb,
which hinders untwisting. The first of these conditions occurs early in
the horse from the detachment of the fetal membranes from the wall of
the womb; and as the mare is more subject to fatal peritonitis than the
cow, it may be concluded that both these sources of failure are more
probable in the former subject.
When the case is intractable, though the hand may be easily introduced,
the instrument shown in Plate XIV, figure 7, may be used. Each hole at
the small end of the instrument has passed through it a stout cord with
a running noose, to be passed around two feet or other portion of the
fetus which it may be possible to reach. The cords are then drawn tight
and fixed around the handle of the instrument; then, by using the cross
handle as a lever, the fetus and womb may be rotated in a direction
opposite to that causing the obstruction. During this process the hand
must be introduced to feel when the twist has been undone. This method
may be supplemented, if necessary, by rolling the mare as described
above.
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