August 2023 Issue

The News East Coast Horse Owners Need To Know OUR TH YEAR 199 - PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 280 LANC., PA 17604 Vol. 30 No. 6 August 2023 (Continued on page 11) Inside... By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Cara Klothe of Walnutport, PA had a very big surprise on June 14 when her mare Blondie gave birth to twin foals- a colt and a filly. Twins are a rarity in the horse world. Finding out that a mare is carrying twins is not normally good news. The result could be the spontaneous abor- tion of one or both foals; one foal could die and be reabsorbed or cause complications at birth. In the worst case both foals and the mare could die. Because twin births are so risky, veterinary pregnancy ex- ams routinely check for twins. If twins are found, one or both will typically be aborted for the safety of the mare and remaining foal. Blondie went through all the routine exams, including uterine ultrasounds and there was no hint at any point that she was carrying twins. It is possible that one foal was on top of the other or at an angle that it never appeared on the scan. “Horses are really not designed to have twins, it’s incredibly dangerous to both the mother and babies. Very often at least one, if not all three do not survive the birth. After breeding horses, I always have them ultra- sounded to make sure the embryo looks healthy and more impor- tantly there are not twins. Even though my very experienced vets scanned Blondie multiple times these sneaks were not detected,” Klothe said. Klothe is a dressage rider, trainer and instructor at Cara Klothe Dressage. She has had Blondie, a GOV Special Premi- um mare, since she was just a few weeks old and has trained her to Third Level. Her stallion, a GOV Olden- burg named Shavane, is a horse Fall Fix Up feature...pgs. 12 -23 Twin Foals Come as a Surprise to PA Dressage Trainer she had worked with when he was a youngster. When the opportunity to purchase him came up, she was happy to bring him to her barn. “I purchased him last year. I rode him when he was a young horse when I worked for the breeder who owned him before. I haven’t really competed him since he was a young horse, but that will be the plan,” Klothe said. The plan for this year was to breed Shavane to both Blondie and Klothe’s New Forest Pony mare. “My goal was to breed a couple of mares a year so I would have a cou- ple to raise and sell,” Klothe said. This spring, Klothe was in the process of purchasing and moving to a new farm so she de- cided it would be best for Blondie to go to Select Breeders in Mary- land to have her foal. The deci- sion was partly because this was her first foal, and secondly so she would avoid the possible stress of a late pregnancy combined with a move to the new property. “I’m very happy I made that decision to send her down to Select Breeders,” Klothe said. “They’re way more qualified to Grand Prix dressage rider Cara Klothe with her mare, Lhegally Blonde (Blondie), her fiancé, Clint Gyory, and twin foals Emmett, left, and Elle. Because of a planned move, the surprise twin foals were born at Select Breeders in Maryland and spent ten days at New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, PA. The foals are now home, doing well and growing fast. Update on trial of trooper who repeatedly rammed horse …pg. 10 It’s foaling season at area farms … pg. 4 Sensors show promise for predicting racehorse injuries … pg. 8 … and much more!