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June 22, 2006

Breeder, PU expert agree that twins’ birth is very rare

By Brenda L. Holmes The Tribune Star Thu Jun 22, 2006, 10:05 PM EDT

CLAYTON, Ind. — When Sharon Pheifer walked out to her barn last month, she got a little surprise — actually, two little surprises. Her Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse had given birth to twins.

“She gave me no hint the night before that she was ready to have her baby,” Pheifer said. “So I saw the baby lying over there and did not realize we had twins until a few minutes later.”

The colts were born in a barn adjacent to Pheifer’s home, situated on 3.25 acres in Clayton.

Twins in the horse community is pretty rare, Pheifer said. They will be featured in next month’s issue of the Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse Association’s magazine.

“I’ve heard that there are only about one in 10,000 twin births where everyone is healthy,” she said.

Dr. Janice E. Sojka, associate professor of large animal medicine at Purdue University, agrees that the twin birth is reason to celebrate.

“I’m fairly sure nobody has done an exact study to find out how many survive per live birth, but it’s certainly no more than 1 in 10,000,” she said.

Sojka said twin ovulation occurs 2 to 3 percent of the time, but the vast majority of times one fetus dies early in the pregnancy.

“Because of the likelihood that twins will abort, it’s not uncommon for veterinarians to remove one of the twin conspectus very early in the pregnancy (less than 30 days after conception),” she said.

Sojka said she has encountered two other sets of healthy twins in her career.

“I’ve seen quite a few weak foals that were born along a stillbirth twin,” she said. “Twins are not considered at all desirable, due to the very high rate of death and complications.”

Pheifer said she was scolded by her veterinarian, Angie Blackwell of Mooresville, for not having an ultrasound done on the twins’ mother, Ebony Moon.

“I’m glad we didn’t do one because she would have gone in and taken one of the embryos,” Pheifer said. “And they have just been such a joy.”

Both colts — named Chocolate Nugget and Painted Surprise — are male and both are healthy, as is their mother.

“The girls in the office came up with ‘Painted Surprise’ for his name,” Pheifer said. “I just thought it was perfect.”

The name fits so well because neither Ebony Moon or the sire, Kilimanjaro, owned by Dan and Judy Heart of Easy Gait Farm, are painted horses.

“We found out that three generations back there is a paint,” she said. “So their great-great-grandsire was a paint who never sired a paint.”

Pheifer said she has a small horse farm operation and is what people in the horse community call a “backyard breeder,” often having only one mare to breed.

“I wanted to have a baby again before I quit breeding,” she said. “They just play and jump and run around all day. They are just so precious. I just love to sit out here and watch them play.”

BRenda L. Holmes writes for the Hendricks Co. Flyer in Avon, Ind.

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Breeder, PU expert agree that twins’ birth is very rare

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