[dbeers2618]

I have a mare, arabx? that we rescued. She is about 12 years old, sweetest thing.I have a little lesson program and use her for my intermediate riders.

Well about 2 years ago, we came out to bucket fulls of mucus on the pavement part of our paddock area. We panicked a bit, called the vet, she came right out. She determined that the muscus was getting trapped in the uterus ( I have the general idea correct, but may be getting small details wrong). It was heavy enough to rip a hole and then that is when the mucus poured out. Our vet, who is great, went in and tried to open the hole further, hoping it wouldn't close back up again. But it did, there is so much scar tissue and damage, that nothing short of a laser surgery is going to open her cervix back up. I wonder even if the laser surgery would eventually close again just making it so that we have to keep doing that (which we could not afford.). Our vet has calls in to new bolton to see about our mare seeing their Repo guy for a consultation and see if there is something we could be doing to help.

Right now, it is not dangerous. .. she gets colicky symptoms but it is just her trying to push the mucus out even though she can't. There is no infection. The problem would come in if she ruptured and she would die on the spot.

Sorry for not having things exact? If anyone has dealt with something similar I would love to hear from you. Our vet has dealt with it 2x in her years of practice and she said our horse is 10x worse then the other horse was.

[greenapples]

Wow, no experience but sending jingles!

[jetsmom]

Would just spaying her solve the problem?

[LauraKY]

Wow. Can you just spay her?

[vxf111]

Another person asking whether spaying would solve this once and for all. Poor girl!

[deltawave]

When I bred my old WB mare she developed a mucocele in her uterus--had to be dilated to let the QUARTS of mucus drain! Thankfully it was never a problem again since we obviously decided not to try and breed her again, but I wonder if some sort of stent (it would have to be a pretty beefy one) would work in the cervical canal to keep it propped open, maybe after an ablative procedure to make room? Or perhaps an endometrial ablation to remove the lining of the uterus more or less permanently so no more fluid is produced? Short of that, yeah, I guess you'd have to consider a spay. Wow--good luck!

[BuddyRoo]

I don't have any first hand experience here, but my two thoughts would be:

1) Is it possible that there is an irritant? A foreign body? Urine getting in there?

2) If she's got essentially a tipped vaginal canal and urine or feces are getting in there, would a caslick's type procedure help?

Again, I don't have any experience with this. It just seems odd to me that she'd be producing a lot of mucus like that without there being an irritant of some sort involved provided there's no actual infection as you said.

Will follow along and see how this goes. Jingles for your mare!

[Win1]

I'm also wondering about the spay. If they have to put her out and go in with a major fix can they just remove the uterus?

[deltawave]

Relatively speaking, and I could be way off, I think the uterus is by far the biggest part of the "job" in a spay. The ovaries and tubes are relatively small, no?

[dbeers2618]

Vet called today. Bad news.
After she talked to new Bolton, she said that they said, removing their uterus is very unsuccessful. They are too hormone driven. Vet at new Bolton also said that she is pretty old to still be living with it. Most die younger. She has being a pony on her side.

Our vet will go in at the farm and try to puncture a hole to let mucus out. She could go in with a knife but that is too risky. if she hits the wrong thing it would kill her automatically. Eventually that will not be able to be done bc of scar tissue. She said it will eventually rupture and kill her. There are no known successful procedures.

The new Bolton vet said she most likely had a violent birth that caused this. We will continue to give her a great life and hope she lives a long life regardless. She is in no pain therefore no reason to put her down.

[deltawave]

Oh, how sad! I wonder if a gynecologic oncology surgeon (the human kind) would have some clever ideas to palliatively do something to allow the mucus to drain. Often things that are considered deadly or inoperable in animals are actually tackled in humans by innovative surgeons. Poor little mare.

[r.j.246]

I don't have any experience with this either, sorry to hear about your situation. Could they place some sort of temporary drain as needed? I just read somewhere about lavaging with mucomyst along with IV oxytocin and dex.
Hope you find a solution for your girl.

[AKB]

I know someone who had her older mare successfully spayed at the Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, VA (vet hospital for Virginia Tech/UMD vet school). You might have your vet call there and see what their success rate is.

[Gustav]

How much repro experience does your vet have? It sounds like your mare has a closed pyometra. You said that there is no infection, just mucous. Has she been cultured? Did you vet ultrasound the mare? If so was the fluid hyper or hypo echoic? How much fluid was there?
I have a mare who had a dystocia resulting in C-section. She has an abnormal scarred cervix and has similar problems to your mare. Generally speaking mares can live a happy and healthy life even though they are suffering from pyometra. (Unlike dogs for example.)
We have managed my mare successfully for over 2 years. She is a 19 year old Standardbred. PM me if you are interested in details. I would be more than happy to help.

[Gustav]

AKB: the mare was actually spayed? As in uterus removed as well as ovaries?
TIA

[californianinkansas]

Vet called today. Bad news.

I'm sorry to hear that. Tremendous stress for your and for your mare.

Perhaps you may wish to consider getting a second opinion from an equine version of an OB/Gyn, or another equine vet?

I work at a human hospital. If you ask two physicians about a case, you'll get three different strongly-held opinions.

Thank you for going above and beyond for this little mare.

Kind Regards,
Amber

Abilene, Kansas

[doublesstable]

No experience with this but sending prayers and jingles your way. Thank goodness this mare has you!

[dbeers2618]

The horse would have to have her uterus and ovaries taken and that is considered the unsucessful part. . .I guess when it has been done, the horse is not the same, nuts, etc. That would almost be worse to us. She is such a sweet girl. Maybe each case is unique . . .i don't know.

The vet consulted from New Bolton is a reproduction vet.

They have things to dilate her, but it is all topical. And the place it would need to be put, is what we are unable to get to.

The first time we went out when we didn't know about her condition, there were buckets full of mucus all over the paddock. Then the vet went in and flushed out at least another 3 or so bucket fulls. We haven't been really able to get in since, the slice where it all came out unexpectedly is now healed with scar tissue and there must be a pin hole somewhere because once and a while we are able to see some come out. . . for lack of a better term.

The new bolton vet suggested our vet grow her finger nail really long. The other suggestion was to use a scapel but we decided against it. .. .one wrong slice and she would die instantly. Right now she is in no real pain. They seem to think she has had a violent birth that has caused this. On this last visit the vet felt a hard ball, we thought a possible bone chip. New Bolton said it was most likely a calcified hematoma. Gustav, would you mind PM'ing me your number. .. .I would love for my mom to talk to you. She knows the medical terms better then me. I think there are different levels if I understand correclty. Our mare, it is the worse that our vet has ever seen. Other horses they can manage with it. When they see it as severe as they do with Belle. .. then it becomes too difficult to treat.

Our vet is wonderul....she has done numerous ultrasounds, and has done cultures as well. We have consulted a few people .. . all say the same. . .the New Bolton vet was last on the list and she is pretty well known in reproduction it seems.

[Laurierace]

Simply based on the info you have given, I would take my chances on the spay. She has to be uncomfortable.

[Finzean]

Not that this helps any b/c I would imagine, as with people, each case has its own unique aspects...BUT we used to board a Saddlebred show horse - before the days of Regumate - who was apparently just totally out of whack with her heat cycles. We only knew the mare after the vet school diagnosed something dreadful and did a full spay on the mare - took it all. After her surgery, the mare went back to showing and with greater success. We knew the mare for 6 or 7 years, she was never anything other than a pleasure to be around. She colicked at around 28 years old and was put down.

It sounds like Belle's issue is sort of a ticking bomb...I'd try the spay unless it was strongly advised against. The acting colicky must reflect a certain level of discomfort. Whatever y'all decide to do, I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I hope there is a successful resolution to this.