“It’s been quite a successful year,” said Dr. Martin Furr, the Adelaide C. Riggs Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and the clinical faculty member who coordinates Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine’s Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center’s neonatal care service. “We’ve had a number of really intensive and atypical cases that have turned out okay.”

“About 60 foals were admitted to the hospital for neonatal intensive care during the February to May 2006 foaling season, and about 80 percent were successfully treated,” Furr added.

The normal gestation period for a horse is about 345 days. But sometimes, as a result of placental infection or other causes not well understood, a foal is born too early. When that happens, serious medical complications may arise