Male Horses: A Role in Early-Term Abortion?

Early-term abortion in mares is a frustrating problem for breeders, as often the cause is nearly impossible to determine. But a team of researchers from the Czech Republic might have uncovered one possible reason why mares abort in certain management
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Early-term abortion in mares is a frustrating problem for breeders, as often the cause is nearly impossible to determine. But a team of researchers from the Czech Republic might have uncovered one possible reason why mares abort in certain management situations. According to lead researcher Ludek Bartos, MSc, PhD, ScD, of the Institute of Animal Science in Prague, mares are more likely to have an early-term abortion if they’re pastured adjacent to geldings or beside stallions that are not the sires of their fetuses.

"Fetal loss is a common phenomenon in domestic horses, being usually substantially higher than that in other domestic ungulates (hooved animals) and it has been a puzzle for generations of vets," noted Bartos, who is professor and head of the institute’s Department of Ethology.

Their retrospective study idea grew out of an examination of infanticide–killing or attempted killing of young–in another equid species. "By studying infanticide in captive plains zebra, we found out that the probability of fetal death was greatest when the new male joined the herd just after conception and decreased with increasing time between conception and date of the new male introduction," Bartos explained. "The chance of a foal surviving was less than 5% when the male joined the group just after conception and more than 50% when he joined at the time of delivery. Based on this we predicted that something similar could happen in domestic horses."

The researchers surveyed breeders from across the Czech Republic and obtained 81 breeding records from mares of 21 different breeds. The mares were 4 to 24 years old and ranged from maiden mares to experienced broodmares. Artificial insemination was used in 20% of the breedings and the rest were bred via live cover. The team took into consideration normal foaling rates among this population of mares when examining the data

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Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

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