An Equine Case to Ponder
A potential client comes in to talk to you about managing their equine breeding program. They have 50 Quarter horse mares and 2 stallions. The average foaling date last year was July 3rd. They bred some mares as many as 6 to 8 times/cycle in February and they did not become pregnant. They had 6 mares that did not become pregnant last year (2 have not been pregnant for the last 3 years, and 2 are 3 year olds that were bred for the first time). Five mares aborted this year. One aborted twins, three came up open after a 3 month positive pregnancy examination, and two were never pregnancy checked (They were assumed to be pregnant because they did not return to estrus). They wish to start breeding some with a stallion in another state, but they do not want to send their mares there. This could be a very lucrative contract for your clinic. Why are they concerned about foaling in July? Is there anything that can be done about having them foal earlier? How would you think about looking at the mares that did not become pregnant ? What would cause them to abort? Is there anything you can do to prevent abortions? How can they breed their mares efficiently? How can they breed to the stallion that is in another state?
Equine
Index
