You may be accustomed seeing twins in the human world, but in the horse world it is a rare sight to see twins. Twin foals are very rare. In fact, only 1 in 10,000 is a twin foal, compared to 3 in 100 humans.
The mares pregnant with twins, only about 9% of mares reach full term.So when 16-year-old American paintball horses named Tiki gave birth to twins, their appearance caught the attention of the whole country.
This affectionate older mom did everything right during her pregnancy while the Mason family watched to see if she had regular ultrasounds to monitor her baby. Her adorable pups were born healthy in 2011 at Conley and Koontz Equestrian Hospital in Columbia City, Indiana.
According to the Huntington County Tab, “The 86-pound foal was born five minutes before midnight, as healthy as a horse. The mare was born about 10 minutes after midnight and weighed 59 pounds. The mare turned out to be the stronger of her pair, although she was the smaller of the two. She got up and started walking within 10 minutes of her birth. ‘ says Laura Mason.
Her owner kept a close eye on Tiki as twin mares often leave one or both of their cubs, but Tiki did not reject Woodcock and the Charming Opal. She turned out to be a loving and attentive mother. Horses are not designed to give birth to double foals, so it’s not only beautiful but extremely rare for Tiki to give birth to healthy double foals at 16 and not give up a single one.