 From left, Lynn DuBose, Jill Beech, Bill Beech, Carrie Benedict and Lisa Teel celebrate the foals' sixth-place ribbon in the Mare and Foal class Wednesday night at the Celebration. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo] |
The reason -- When the mare Perfect Cut Jewel was led into the Celebration ring for the mare and foal class Wednesday night, she was followed by not one, but two foals, little chestnut twins only a few months old.
Despite a recent rash of successful twin births, they are actually very rare in the equine world, and it is even more rare for both twins to survive and thrive. A mare owned by Christy Swaze of Shelbyville and her daughter, Evelyn Swaze of Murfreesboro, gave birth to twins in May and almost exactly a month later, a mare owned by Tammy and Ray Pope of Halls Mill had twins.
In all three cases, the twins came as a surprise.
"No, we didn't know," said Lisa Teel, who owns Harmony Farms with Mitzi Butler. "As soon as we realized there were twins coming, we called the vet."
Because a horse's uterus is not really designed for multiple births, carrying twins can cause serious problems for the brood mare. When twin pregnancies are detected, they are usually aborted for her sake. The Harmony Walkers mare had been examined not once, but twice, by a veterinarian at different stages in her pregnancy and both times the smaller, male, foal went undetected.
"He was hiding behind his big sister," said Lisa. "The vet told us it was like a 3 percent chance for twins, and for both to survive, it was a miracle."
A miracle -- and a little help from Lisa herself. The filly, Miss Congeniality, was born first and Mitzi began taking care of her, when the colt, Mr. Personality, made his presence known.
"He wasn't breathing," said Lisa. "I told Mitzi he was dead and she just said, 'Try! Try! Try!'
"It's the first time I've ever done CPR on a horse."
She said after about three breaths, she could see the colt's neck move and he started breathing on his own.
The foals were bottle fed every two hours for the first four days, but then the dam's milk came in.
"She's been able to feed them both," said Lisa. "She's amazing."
The three share a box stall and the twins often lie down next to each other, more like a couple of tumbled puppies than horses.
"It was a rocky start, but they're doing well," she said.
A rocky start, but the babies have gotten the star treatment in Shelbyville. The filly took fifth in her walking weanling filly class at the Futurity, qualifying her for a championship class on Saturday in the walking weanling class; and the family of three won sixth place in the mare and foal class.
But the real attention came outside the ring, when everyone stopped to comment on the bright foals following their dark mother. They aren't identical, obviously, because one is male and one female, but there are other differences as well. Miss Congeniality is a little bigger, with fewer white markings (or "chrome" as some in the horse world call it.) She's already had a taste of the show ring lights and poses like a pro.
Mr. Personality lives up to his name. He was much more interested in nuzzling his admirers, a flock of 6- and 7-year-old girls, than he was in the ribbon fluttering on his halter.
"He's got personality, all right," said Lisa, laughing.
![[Order this photo]](http://t-g.mycapture.com/mycapture/remoteimage.asp?backtext=Return%20to%20site&backurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-g.com%2Fstory%2F1456993.html&thumbpath=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-g.com%2Fphotos%2F11%2F65%2F68%2F1165687-S.jpg&previewpath=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.t-g.com%2Fphotos%2F11%2F65%2F68%2F1165687-L.jpg&pricingsheetid=1482){kind=link}