[Foal diseases and foal loss]

An investigation was carried out upon occurrence and course of infectious and non infectious diseases as well as the mortality in foals born and raised at the State Stud Marbach/Lauter between 1982 and 1991. The foals have been investigated from birth to weaning, they consisted of 177 Thoroughbred Arabians and 285 German Warmblood foals (total 462 foals). The diseases were divided into pre-, peri- and postnatal according to their known or assumed cause and onset. There was a preponderance of prenatal diseases (11.25%) whereas the perinatal rate was 1.30% and the postnatal rate of diseases was 8.66%. The rate of infectious diseases increased from the pre- to the postnatal period of life. A comparison between the two breeds showed that 9% of the Arabian foals suffered from infectious diseases whereas only 4.9% of the Warmblood foals were similarly affected. This is probably linked to the lower level of colostral immunoglobulins in the Arab herd, as previously shown by us. The measurement of mare colostral and foal serum IgG as well as the paramunisation of neonatal and weaned foals are important factors in the prevention of infectious diseases.