Ah, the miracle of childbirth! It is, without a doubt, one of the most incredible but most stressful things anyone can go through… and that “anyone” most certainly includes horses! What do I mean?
Students at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at Oregon State University were very fortunate as they got to experience an incredibly rare occurrence when a mare gave birth to twin foals. To get a better sense of just how incredibly rare this event really is, consider that the odds of twin foals being born alive are one in 10,000 and then the odds of the twins surviving the first two weeks is one in 15,000. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and this is only the second set of live twins I’ve seen,” explained Dr. John Schlipf.
But meet Mocha and Cappucino, twin male foals that defied the odds. When they were born, the twins were unable to nurse from their mother so they were provided with antibiotics and plasma. Students from the CVM Foal Team fed the foals and provided them with round-the-clock care, giving them the love that they needed until Mom could fully take over.
After a week of care, Cappuccino was healthy and full of energy, while Mocha, the smaller of the two, was being treated for an angular limb deformity. But Mocha’s outlook is very positive! “He will always be the smaller horse but with bandaging should have normal limbs” explained Dr. Trina Westerman.
Check out the video below to see these miraculous twins and don’t forget to share this story with your family and friends!
