I am desperate and do NOT know where to begin but I know if I am to solve this situation, this puzzle, I need help and maybe someone on here WILL know what I need to do.

To make a long story as short as possible....we breed Thoroughbreds and just started with our Arabs. We were successful with all 6 of our mares getting 5 of them in foal on their first cover....for those of you that don't know Thoroughbreds are live cover only. Our Arab mare was pasture bred.

All of ours mare were getting an injection of progesterone every 10 days until their blood levels were checked; ultrasounded every 4 weeks, fed the same type of feed, the same type of hay and the ONLY difference in the care of our mares was that 1 mare was not turned out with the others. I'll explain why shortly.

It was discovered recently that our neighbors septic system leeching lines came on to our property extending roughly 200 feet through the lot behind our barn that led to ALL of our pasture. Their septic system failed and was leaking 1000's of gallons of raw sewage onto our property. There was NO way to get our mares to our pastures without their being exposed to this raw sewage.

We spoke with the owner of the property, he said it wasn't his problem and refused to correct the problem. We contacted our local health department, who took their time investigating our complaint and when they finally did, they checked the neighbors property for the leakage, not ours where we told them it was.

Finally after 3 months of fighting, the neighbor replaced his system last month. We cleaned up his lines on our property spending thousands of our money because he feels no responsibility what so ever for this mess.

This raw sewage is why the 1 mare was not out, she just had a foal any exposure is potentally lethal to a foal until it develops its own immune system...even then I wouldn't risk it. The other 5 mares were exposed as we had to leave an area wide enough for them to go through to get to our fields, everything else we knew of, as soon as we knew was contaminated we fenced off.

Our vet was here just a week ago and informed that 5 of our 6 mares have aborted their foals. The mares pregancies ranged from 67 days to 99 days and all had healthy, viable foals 28 days prior. 2 maidens, 1 that we aborted twins in the same sac last year and 2 that have had several foal and never lost a one. The ONLY mare still in foal is the mare that was not exposed to any of this raw sewage.

We need to prove that this sewage is the source of their abortions knowing that is the ONLY variable in the care of ours mares is not enough. I can not get any help or direction anywhere. Our vet said to test for nitrates but I know the first thing used in any defense is that horse manure caused the high nitrates. It will be same for ecoli testing.

This worthless human being accepts no responsibility and I need to ensure this is not going to be something that continues to cause problems. The foal losses have been devasting. The financial losses are huge due to the 4 Thoroughbreds being sent out of state-transportation, board, stud fees, etc...but the long term impact is unknown. I have called everyone from our local (worthless) health department to the EPA and have been told that since these are "simply livestock" and not "edible" I shouldn't worry about it anymore because it will work itself out since the leakage is now stopped . These people think the 150,000 plus gallons of raw sewage dumped on our property is something I shouldn't worry about and "will work itself out"!!!

I need to know how to ensure our mares and their foals are no longer at risk. What can I test for? Where can I get it tested? How can I clean it up properly? Who can I call that will understand what I am talking about? How can I prove it was the raw sewage exposure that caused 5 of our 6 mares to abort?

PLEASE ANYONE?

I am not sure what to tell you but I belong to a wonderfull foalwatch group filled with very experiance mare and foal persons and with your permission I would like to cross post your measage and maybe find some answers for you. I just can't emagin how you must feel right now!
Cathy C

You can go to this group yourself if you'd like, they have saved my mares countless times.

Cathy C
foalwatch : A list for all those going through foaling season and the waiting game that comes with it. Would love to share stories, detail

Here is the first reply I got from your post , This one is from Margo:

I would call an attorney who is aggressive in contamination cases and sue everybody who did nothing that should have...That would get their attention.

As an architect, I know for a fact that you are not allowed to let your storm water pour onto other people's property, let alone raw sewage.

You [humans] are probably at risk as well if you have to venture into the pasture, and that would add impact to your case.

Margo

P.S.
I meant to add that their drainage pipes should have never been on your property either, and the Health Dept. should have done something about that right away!

I don't suppose you had insurance for these mares? They would be the ones to handle it if you do.

In my part of Texas, there is a firm that handles exposure to hazardous substances and contamination. Maybe she could search out a firm which specializes this in horses.

Margo

Yes, please post. That is so kind of you and very much appreciated. I can not thank you enough.
This situation is a nightmare! The attornet we saw last Monday stated we MUST prove that the foal losses are a direct result of the sewage exposure. Without that proof we have no chance of recovering breeding expenses, foal losses, etc. This homeowner will not even provide his insurance information to cover our cleanup expenses.
What adds insult to injury is that in the State of Ohio a property can not be approved for sale by the Health Department without the proper legal easements for septic lines crossing property lines and guess what our local Health Department approved the sale of this property without an easement. Think they are really going to help us or do their best to cover this up?
Thank you so much

I would get in contact with the closest Equine Vet Referral Hospital or University, and talk with someone in the Reproduction department to start. Also, Did you by chance have cultures taken on your mares after they reabsorb/aborted the foals. This would show that the mares had no uterine infections, Also get reports from the stallion(s) owner(s) stated that the stallions are free of any sexually transmitted diseases. Did you get pictures of your place and the sewage. Make sure you know what plants are growing on your property, that way they can't say that your horses ate something. If you have trouble getting in contact with one of these places, have your vet get incontact with them for you. They should be able to steer you in the right direction as far as the test that you should have done to your property, and your mares.

Hope this helps.

I am sorry for your loss.

Mares were cultured both before breeding and after their losses. No infections.

A far as the stallions, our mares were bred at some of the largest stallion farms in Kentucky, multimillion dollar earners, by Preakness/Belmont winners and these stallions have more testing done to prevent that from happen than most people could imagine. Open/slipped mares are required to have clean cultures before being bred as well as those mare making multiple visits.

I have spoken wth one of the repo specialists at Rood & Riddle in Kentucky and her suggestion was to test for ecoli which we are able to do with any water but finding a lab to test the soil for it is another issue.

When it comes to the plants I'm good. My other passion is plants. I have video of our property all stages, all seasons under all conditions and can I identify each and every plant on our property. We spent a great deal of time and money removing trees, brush and all the undesirables before we put any horses in any area.

This what is the most frustrating part of this, we have done everything possible but can not find the one piece of this puzzle that is missing.

Thank you so much for caring

Sounds like you have done everything right.

Does the University not have a place where you can send the soil samples to be tested, or a least a recommendation.

You could try the agricultural department in you county/state and they should be able to set you up with a lab that does soil samples.

Hope you find that missing link.