After a long battle with placentitis we are very sad to report the loss of Musical Lyrics Colt Foal

Nine weeks before her due date Musical Lyrics started running milk and showing signs of stage 1 labour. We began aggressive treatment for placentitis (the most common cause of premature foaling) giving antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and regumate to try to treat the infection and supress Musical Lyrics’s reaction to the infection. The treatment seemed to be working and as the weeks gradually passed by with no further incident our hopes began to rise that she might go full term. Under the instruction of the vet we ceased her treatments 2 weeks before her due date and had been watching her closely.

Last night at 5pm Musical Lyrics gave birth to a dark bay colt foal. The bag broke early and he was not positioned correctly, coming nose first with no legs present. We managed to manipulate him to get his front legs up and successfuly delivered him however it was clear right away he was dysmature. Initially quite lively it was obvious that his back legs were very weak and he had a poor suck reflex. With no chance of him being able to stand to suckle we immediately milked the mare and began bottle feeding him. After quite a bright start he rapidly started to weaken, losing his suck reflex and sleeping more and more. We kept him warm in foalsaver rugs and cuddled him but he gradually slipped away, and after a heart wrending discussion with our vet we decided the kindest thing was to bring his short life to a peaceful end sooner rather than later. This loss has left us all feeling very empty as Musical Lyrics is one of our original and favourite mares and the foal was her third by our young stallion Future Illusion.

Musical Lyrics herself is well despite a severe placental infection and the loss of her foal which she has dealt with very pragmatically. Following further antibiotic treatment our vet expects her to make a full recovery.