Mares With Corrected Mesenteric Rents Can Return to Breeding
Mares discharged from the clinic following surgery have an excellent prognosis for survival and producing foals. | Photo: iStock
Pregnant mares or mares that have recently foaled may be more likely to experience an episode of colic. The good news is that with proper treatment mares diagnosed with duodenojejunal mesenteric rents have a high rate of survival and are there is a good likelihood they can continue to be a productive broodmare.

“Mesenteric rents cause small intestinal lesions when the small intestine passes through the tear and becomes entrapped” and the blood supply is compromised, said Shauna Lawless, MVB, a surgical resident at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences’ James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Mesenteric rents have been anecdotally associated with the periparturient (foaling) period, particularly in mares that have foaled before, she said. It’s thought that vigorous foal movement during labor could cause the tear.

To gain a more concrete understanding about the short- and long-term survival of horses with duodenojejunal mesenteric rents, Lawless and colleagues recently conducted a retrospective study on the topic to examine the association of specific factors before, during and after corrective surgery that impact survival and or the likelihood of another colic diagnosis after discharge

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