Give Health & Purpose to a Neglected Horse

Our answer to that question is that Donella’s life is more important than forcing her to go through a very high-risk labor and delivery.

We have heard the saying “well if it’s a mares only purpose in life, breed her” from a couple of people over the last few month. Some believe that if a mare is not able to be shown, her only value is as a broodmare. We feel that mindset not only disregards Donella’s quality of life, it actually puts her life in danger.

Donella was born on a farm in Germany in 2014. She is by the Hanoverian Stallion Dante Weltino and out of a state premium mare named Weissendra. You can imagine that with those lines she would have been a very desired broodmare, right? Except that Donella has a significant heart issue -- one that has a 50% chance of being inherited and could very well stress her body to the point of death during labor.

Donella was imported into the United States (Boston) as a three-year-old. In 2018 she coliced and the attending veterinarian noted a significant heart murmur. Donella’s owner then took her to an equine cardiologist for a complete work up. The results showed that she had a Grade 4 Heart Murmur caused by mitral valve regurgitation (MVR). While low grade MVR’s are one of the most common causes of murmurs in horses, Donella’s MVR is significant. At the age of 4 years old, Donella’s left atrium was already mildly enlarged. An enlarged left atrium is due to blood leaking back into the chamber when the MVR occurs. This puts additional pressure on the chamber and enlarges that portion of the heart.

A follow up appointment with the cardiologist also showed that Donella’s heart would go into an arrhythmia if she was sedated. This along with the MVR and enlargement of her left atrium indicated to the cardiologist progression of the heart disease. Medication was tried on Donella, but it did not appear to help so it was discontinued. Regular exercise was encouraged to help keep Donella’s heart strong and it was highly recommended that she never be bred. This was due to the fact that labor would put additional stress on her heart as well as the fact that her condition had a high likelihood of being passed down to her offspring.

Unfortunately, when we took in Donella and her herd mates in September (Animal Control Situation), she was heavy already in foal. We moved her to our veterinarians hospital for the last month of her pregnancy due to how high risk her labor would be. The fear was that her heart might be put under too much stress during labor to deliver the foal. Fortunately, the veterinarians were able to be by her side during delivery and helped pull the foal quickly to shorten the time her heart was under extra stress. Donella then had some trouble with bleeding for the next 36 hours.  We are not sure if it is because her normal heart rate is faster (it has to work harder) or if she has some clotting disorder. Either way, it has stopped and both Donella and her Filly Genny are doing great! 

We have a wonderful home lined up for the girls where Donella will never again be bred and were both horses can flourish.  Your continued support means that we can continue to help horses like Donella and Ginny when the call for help comes. Together, we are making a difference!