question/suggestion

[Maxkhaos]

why do none of the horses have twins? Is there a way that you game owners can put that in the game?

Horses have twins more than one would think. Two of the nine or ten standard bred mares here at my college had twins last year. That's a pretty good average for twins.

I think there should be twi births.

[SangoTaijiya]

YES! *votes*

[hrschic37334]

In real life twins are a curse. Most twin foals have A. 1 sick foal dies B. 2 sick foals die C. the mare dies from trying to deliver them.

[Maxkhaos]

please everyone give a reason why yes or no. this may help sway things. thanks.

[Simplicity55]

actually...both mares had successful birthings and all four babies are healthy and alive...they are yearlings now. The barn down the road from me has twins every so often, and it's rather rare to see the complications. Usually, if there are going to be complications in the twin birthing, they will selectively euthanize one of the twins while they are both still inside the mare's womb. Otherwise, they let the mare carry on with her pregnancy and birth both foals.

[Jazzy]

This has been discussed before. It wouldn't be fair for people to have twins. Just for starters, if you pay to breed to a stud, and get 2 foals, the owner of the stud would be getting ripped off, and then, if that stud was a rare colour, and both foals happened to get the rare colour, the owner of the stud would be ripped off again. And like I'm sure its been said, a lot of twins born in real life do not survive.

[Simplicity55]

Alright, accepting the fact that it won't be happening on this site, I just want to point out a few things. First, I would like to say that yes, twins are a more rare occurence because owners selectively euthanize one of the babies to make it safer for the mare. BUT...if the mare is deemed healthy enough and the twins are not in jeopardy of being stillborn or having complications, then the mare is allowed to carry BOTH foals to term and birth them both. Sure, one might be much smaller than the other, and sometimes there can be health complications, but that is more rare than both twins actually surviving to be weaned and then moving on. I've been living around horses my entire life and have seen quite a few twins in my time. I've even seen the extremely rare occurence of HEALTHY triplets. Granted, that's not what we're talking about, but I'm trying to get my point across. If the mare is allowed to carry BOTH foals to term, chances are that they will both live and be relatively healthy. For the most part, the reason twins are so rare is because owners choose to have vets euthanize one of the babies BEFORE it's even gone to term.

[Maxkhaos]

well said simplicity

[hrschic37334]

I've been with horses since I can remeber and I've seen both sides. Twins aren't a good sign. Everyone can survive but the norm is that someone does die.

[Hound]

Even a more conceiving twins is a rare occurance. Horses are genetically programmed to have less chances of birthing twins. Why? It dates back to their original prehistoric lifestyle and their changing over time. There wasn't enough food source available, so mares bodies adjusted with their genetics limiting them from the chances of twins. However, there are strains of horses that frequently birth twins. This is because they've been raised for an extended period of time with constant succesful climate conditions providing approriate food and nourishment. You can see it much more easily with deer, and so I'll use them as an example. In my area, southern ontario, twins is rare. Quite rare. Why? Because there is not enough vegetation to support a doe AND two fawns. So the average here is one fawn per doe. I usually see at least one doe with twins every year, but overall, it's rare. However, their are states in the US (can't remember which ones exactly, will look it up tonight in dads Whitetail book) who have 50% of their does giving birth to twins. There has even be many causes reporting quadruplets. Why? Because the conditions are perfect for them, not excessive hunting, and PLENTY of vegetation to support an entire family.

My point with this rambling is, that horses do not naturally give birth to twins. One foal is the norm, and constant.

As for twins being rare because most owners euthanize a foal prior to birth, that's not entirely true. As stated above, twins are rare to begin with. And many horse owners don't check to see if their mares are going to give birth to twins or not, so they wouldn't have the chance at euthanizing one even if their mare was carrying two. Many breeders will, which is understandable when you look at the money figures of the horses their dealing with. But many pleasure owners will not spend that kind of money to see only if the mare is going to have twins, because the odds of it happening are slim to none. I have only recently gotten my own mare, but have been around horses my entire life. And I've encountered twins only once, and that was with a Dutch Warmblood. He owned three mares, and two were foaling. One of the mares happened to foal twins. Unfortunately she needed to be put down due to the complications afterwards, and one of the foals died. They did manage to save the larger of the two, the other mare who was foaling accepting it and raising the other.

As for triplets.. I'd need to read hardcore evidence to prove that. I've never even heard of it, and have read a LOT about horses in my day. I'm not saying it's not try, just that I have never come into contact with any information supporting triplets.

Repeating myself again, but the main reason twins are so rare is because over history horses have been programmed to support only one healthy foal due to their environmental conditions.. Most mares may originally carry twins, but will often abort one, and frequently even both. Many twins that are brought to term are often quite small and have bent and twisted limbs due to the mares womb being too small to support two full size foals. Not because most are euthanized.

In fact, many breeders will not even breed a mare that is prone to birthing twins. Why? It's expensive and only causes problems. A mare who is prone to foaling twins, can pass this trait onto her offspring. Breeders do not want to deal with the added expense of monitoring mares, monitoring foal growth and possible corrective measures if the foals are born with disfigurments(sp) due to the womb only being big enough to support one healthy foal.

Most mares will abort twins naturally by Day 200 because a mare's uterus is not designed to carry two pregnancies. If both survive, one or both of the twins will be developmentally compromised because they did not receive adequate amounts of oxygen and nutrients.

The odds are even against delivering a live foal when dealing with twins that make it close to term--often one or both will be born dead. If they are both born alive, one often will die within a few days.

"If they get this far (close to term), what usually happens is one of them will starve to death and die," says Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Walter Zent. "Then, depending on when it dies and where it is, sometimes the other one will go on and develop normally and be alright. However, if it happens too late the other one, if it is born alive, will still be too small because the placenta can't get over in the part of the uterus where the dead fetus is, or the mare will abort the dead one and it will take the live one with it. This is probably the most common thing that happens, and they both end up dying."

Yup. My ramble for the day. ^^ I suppose in total my vote is No, for all of the above reasons. I personally dislike the idea of allowing a mare to birth twins, it's usually very stressful on the mare and healthy cases are rare. The majority of mares will abort twin foals, and so it makes sense that they would do that on here if it were implemented. If twins were to be added, all of the complications would have to be added to it to.

Like I said.. I like to ramble. ^^ And in case anyone's curious, the most successful breed to carry healthy twins to term is the arabian.. Go figure. :P

And, on another foal note, two foals are arriving in May. -excited- A QH and Paint.. Whee!

P.S. The quotes are taken directly from an article specifically on twinning on thehorse.com