UK article about mares aborting foals from "foreign&quo

[Toccet02]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9440000/9440222.stm?utm_so

[xfactor fan]

So get a towel covered with the covering stallions urine to send home with the mare?
Put Menthol on her nose before and after?

Interesting article. I always thought that the forced copulation with zebra stallions was the cause of abortion in zebra mares.

[Toccet02]

This article came out right after Z aborted.
She was shipped to another farm for the breeding.
Interesting.

[xfactor fan]

Wonder if they looked at abortion / re-absorption rate of mare that use AI. Would seem to be a natural "control" group. The mare isn't moved from her home.

If the confirmed pregnant rate, vs live birth rate is very different in mares from live cover and moved, and AI and not moved, they might be on to something.

[Shannon]

I think they'd be better off spending their money studying something else...

Sorry, but of COURSE a pregnant mare covered by a stallion after being bred and in foal will likely abort...she won't cycle, and breeding will be RAPE! The hormonal reaction to attack in a flight animal could cause abortion alone (as it does in humans also). It will cause damage within the vagina, and can dislodge the mucous plug at the cervix, to say nothing of infection and possible bleeding from a "dry" breed. A mare not in season does not produce the natural lubricants and biological defenses that protect their delicate parts from damage during the act of breeding.
As far as the moving of mares and them aborting or losing the pregnancy at home, I'd be more inclined to believe that the stress of hauling and environmental adaptation/feed changes cause more biological disruption rather than the scent of foreign/local stallions.
I worked on a QH farm that housed 9 stallions, and received shipped semen from other stallions. Mares were teased with different stallions throughout their heat and early post breed days. Very, very few lost pregnancies once they were in foal, whether they left the farm or stayed full term. We had an average foaling rate of over 86%, which is pretty good overall.

[xfactor fan]

Are the newly bred mares turned out with their home farm stallions? Which seems odd. Are the mares allowed access to their home stallions in order to engage in "promiscuous sex" ????
And it sounds like the idea of "promiscuous sex" is coming from the mares which would in human terms make it consensual sex not rape.


There are enough odd things in the article to make me wonder what the original research looked like. Remember the article that was posted was from a reporter who wrote the article--and may or may not have had a clear understanding of horse reproduction.

Also this was based on an online survey from a horse magazine, not a real scientific sample.

[LB]

This article came out right after Z aborted.
She was shipped to another farm for the breeding.
Interesting.

She did not abort, she reabsorbed a 3 week old embryo. Which happens not infrequently.

She was also never exposed to home farm stallions.

[Diane]

It's the stuff movies are made of. Need I say more?

[Toccet02]

This article came out right after Z aborted.
She was shipped to another farm for the breeding.
Interesting.

She did not abort, she reabsorbed a 3 week old embryo. Which happens not infrequently.

She was also never exposed to home farm stallions.

well OK I used the term loosely, meaning the living thing was no longer living. OK?
Also, I thought her smelling the stallions counted.

[LB]

This article came out right after Z aborted.
She was shipped to another farm for the breeding.
Interesting.

She did not abort, she reabsorbed a 3 week old embryo. Which happens not infrequently.

She was also never exposed to home farm stallions.

well OK I used the term loosely, meaning the living thing was no longer living. OK?
Also, I thought her smelling the stallions counted.

I have no idea over how far a distance horses can smell. But just to put things in perspective, Lanes End covers several square miles. Stallions are housed in one area, broodmares in another.

Now...if a mare's sense of smell is that well developed, could be that she is also smelling 3 Chimneys, Winstar, and Ashford stallions. Those farms are also in the vicinity. Which begs the question, how would she know which of those were "home stallions"?

[Toccet02]

A rather good point. Who knows. Maybe Zenyatta will tell us exactly which skanky guys she smells in her next web post.