Tania Mackie of GFS Sport Horses was in for quite a surprise when her mare, Destiny, gave birth to her second set of twin foals after giving birth to her first set of twins in 2018—GFS Shockwave and GFS Aftershock. Destiny shocked the world this February by delivering her second set of twins, Pesky and Peek-a-Boo.
For Destiny, an Irish Sport Horse, to have twins in the first place is a chance of ten thousand to one. However, the mare wasn’t quite done defying the odds, as she went on to give birth to her second set of twins.
The odds for a horse to give birth to twins twice are around one million to one. In most cases, twins do not have a high survival rate in horses. Many times, in the case of twins, an embryo is aborted, as there is a high risk of the foals and mother dying during birth or shortly after. This makes Destiny truly incredible, as she gave birth to healthy twins not once but twice. Destiny’s first set of twins were identical colts, and her second pair were a colt and a filly.
The second set was truly a surprise, as the scans showed just one ovulating follicle and only one fetus after conception. If Tania would have known the mare was carrying two foals, she would have taken the extra steps needed to handle a pregnant mare with twins. Destiny showed no signs throughout her pregnancy that she was carrying twins, once again giving quite a surprise to her owners when they arrived. Amazingly, the twins were nursing and on their feet in no time, eager to explore the world.
Though it is a mystery how the second foal went undetected during pregnancy, Tania is thrilled that the two babies and their mom are healthy. She is well aware that, despite the miracle of this incredible event and the likelihood of two sets of healthy twins being born to the same mare being akin to being struck by lightning twice, there will be many people choosing to put a negative and unkind slant on this. That is fine. We are thrilled that both twins survived and feel that it is a balance of fate, luck, excellent care, and probably a pinch of fairy dust too that saw these two little miracles arrive, survive, and win our hearts.
Since birth, Peekaboo and Mupsy have proven to share a close bond. GFS Sport Horses says the pair are agile, athletic, and fast, eager to show off to anyone who watches. It is truly an incredible feat that Destiny gave birth to two pairs of healthy twins that are all thriving. Though she has proved to be a wonderful mother, Tania does not plan to breed Destiny again. After raising two pairs of twins, she certainly deserves lots of praise.
Be sure to follow GFS Sport Horses on Facebook to see updates on the twins, as well as their other stunning horses. Our fantastic mare, Destiny, foaled a perfect pair of foals again. Read the announcement: A filly and Nicole presented themselves following a brief and relatively easy birth. Both Destiny and her two foals were on their feet, all three enjoying the well-earned feed rapidly. The two little ones zooming around the stable and exploring their surroundings, and no doubt enjoying more space than they had become accustomed to.
According to a statement from GFS obtained by People, Destiny is 19 years old, and the breeders planned for this pregnancy to be the horse’s last. The sire of the twins is a stallion named Lord of the Dance. The breeder added that GFS also said that they weren’t aware Destiny, an Irish Sport Horse, was carrying twins. In fact, they explained that they usually avoid the dangerous double pregnancy scenarios—twins, as most of us know, are not desirable due to their poor survival rate and the inherent danger to the mare.
The farm wrote on Facebook, ‘This is why we routinely scan for multiple pregnancies and take immediate action in a timely fashion upon the discovery of such.’ Ahead of giving birth to both sets of twins, Destiny was scanned by a qualified vet for a twin pregnancy, and neither of the twin sets was detected. The mare managed to beat the odds both times by having both her twin pregnancies go undetected and lead to two healthy sets of miracle twins.
According to the horse trainers, it is uncommon for a mare to carry to term and produce two healthy twin foals. Marveling at the unlikelihood of the horse offspring, the farm called it a miracle, comparing the scenario of a single mare producing two sets of healthy twins to being struck by lightning twice. ‘We are thrilled that both twins survived and feel that it is a balance of fate, luck, excellent care, and probably a pinch of fairy dust too that saw these two little miracles arrive, survive, and win our hearts,’ GFS wrote.”
