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Foals second tongue

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  • 22-11-2010 8:26pm
    #1
    ScallowayLass
    Closed Accounts Posts: 28 ✭


    Can anyone tell me what is the 'second tongue' a foal is said to cough up after it's born. I have seen them but cant find any info on them. Cheers :)


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    #2
    finbarrk
    Registered Users Posts: 5,421 ✭✭✭finbarrk


    Never heard of it. Or never saw it either.


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    #3
    ScallowayLass
    Closed Accounts Posts: 28 ✭ScallowayLass


    I have seen it a couple of times, once with a cob foal and once with a Shetland colt, they cough it up just after being born and the story goes if you find it, dry it out and feed it back to the foal they will be easy to handle for the person who fed them the tongue forevermore. I'm trying to explain it to someone and trying to find an actual biological explaination for the tongue itself.


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    #4
    mack2
    Registered Users Posts: 48 ✭mack2


    Hi the second tongue (excuse my lack of vet. terminology!) is where there is a soft flat stone sized thing (sorry not sure what it is!) that stops fluid going down the foals throat ie down into lungs, when its in the womb.......the foal once born will cough it up or pass it (naturally) and according to old tales if you find it, leave it dry on the sill of the mares stable and it turns hard as flint in a few hours and was used by old stable hands then to sharpen knifes etc.... its meant to be lucky for the person who finds it.
    I have found a few that foals have either coughed or passed....dark in color and flat/oval shaped quite soft - you would mistake it for dung.......i have put them on the sill and they have hardened but of course being the dark color it always went missing so never found out the rest of the story!!


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    #5
    ScallowayLass
    Closed Accounts Posts: 28 ✭ScallowayLass


    Cheers for that, I have found it twice but never got as far as feeding it back, never heard about it being used as a sharpening tool beofre!!!!


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    #6
    LisaO
    Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭LisaO


    Think the proper name for it is a hippomane.


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    #7
    junca
    Closed Accounts Posts: 37 ✭junca


    Often a brown "liver-like" material, termed a hippomane, is found floating in the allantoic cavity. Dr. Jim Rooney theorizes that the hippomane arises as an out-pouching of the allantois which eventually forms a pedicle and separates to float free in the allantoic cavity (3). Other references suggest that it is a collection of debris, thought to be deposits from the foetal urine and cells (4). Histologically, it appears to be a concentric deposition like a urinary calculi.


    not there to close the foals airways , as fetuses swallow the amniotic fluid in utero.


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