Am really glad I stopped watching Autumn the other day.
With 2 breach births with horses in my lifetime, I wouldn't have been able to watch.
Anytime you have "hooves up", you get a vet ASAP. That means it's coming out backwards. The largest area to pass the birth canal is the shoulders. When the baby is backwards, the contractions put pressure on the rib cage and the lungs, trying to pass the shoulder..........this causes the baby to suck amniotic fluid in and out of their lungs as the contractions start and stop, the birth sac acts like plastic wrap on it's nose and mouth. The baby basically suffocates.
In a normal hooves down, head between forelegs, the pressure from the contractions is on the upper legs and the neck/airway is protected by the bones from the forelegs and back of the neck. Once the shoulders pass, the baby just slips out.
Hooves up can also cause bruising hemorrhaging and/or tearing of the uterus and birth canal.
If the baby dies inside the mother, it starts the process of decomp. Bacteria from that passes through the umbilical cord into the mother's uterus and bloodstream. She may get peritonitis and septicemia. She might also become barren.
When I was last watching Autumn and posting, I saw movement on either side of her tail............this doesn't happen when the hooves are down and forward. That's when I had to turn it off. I don't know why the attendants didn't catch that. When the hooves presented, I don't know why they didn't have a vet there immediately to sedate and assist. Maybe they just allow nature to take it's course?
I hope they give her plenty of time to recover.
Now I'm debating on whether to get an ultra sound on this mare to see if everything's going the way it should. :gaah: