Category Archives: breeding problems

US CEM Outbreak – Update

Posted: | September 24, 2024

US CEM Outbreak – Update The CEM outbreak in Florida continues to produce new cases. The initial animal was a mare identified following breeding in May. Tracebacks commenced and to date there are a total of 43 cases, which include 16 domestic ponies (2 stallions, 1 mare, and 13 geldings), 14 riding horses of various breeds (all geldings),… Read More »

Repeated Embryo Loss in Mares

Posted: | June 2, 2024

Repeated Embryo Loss in Mares is the Result of Retarded, Small for Age, Embryonic Vesicles. By Professor John Newcombe, BVetMed, MRCVS A Normal Foetus and then a Foal Will Eventually Result When a Normal Embryo is Produced: A Case Report ABSTRACT A twelve-year-old maiden/barren part-TB mare with otherwise limited reproductive history, was sent to an equine fertility clinic… Read More »

CEM Identified in Florida

Posted: | May 29, 2024

CEM Identified in Florida “A mare in Florida (FL) has been confirmed culture positive by the USDA APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for Taylorella equigenitalis, the bacterium that causes contagious equine metritis (CEM). The affected mare, the breeding stallion, and one other mare are under quarantine. A comprehensive epidemiological investigation is being conducted including traceback and history… Read More »

N-acetylcysteine Improves Diagnostic Reliability

Posted: | November 26, 2023

Clean Culture and Cytology – Perhaps Not So Clean? For many years, the standard pre-breeding evaluation included a uterine swab culture alone. It was then determined that allegedly “clean” mares were not becoming pregnant, and further investigation showed that there were inflammatory cells present in the uterus, indicating some sort of irritant – usually a pathogen missed with… Read More »

Novel Treatment for Endometritis

Posted: | November 4, 2023

Ozonated Sunflower Oil for Endometritis Treatment The overuse of antibiotics in medicine today – including equine reproduction – has led to searches for alternative novel treatment for endometritis in the equine, as well as in many other facets of the medical field. In human medicine and dentistry, ozone has been shown to be capable of killing Gram-positive and… Read More »

Endometrial Cup Regression

Posted: | October 27, 2023

Is it Possible to Cause Earlier Regression of the Endometrial Cups to Permit a Return to Breedable Estrus in the Mare? Unique to the early equine pregnancy is the invasive trophoblast of the chorionic girdle and its formation of the endometrial cup cells which secrete equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG). This invasion occurs between days 35–38 after ovulation. The… Read More »

Monitoring for EVA

Posted: | September 23, 2023

Does Routine Monitoring for EVA Make a Difference? With the announcement this week of an outbreak of equine viral arteritis in PEI in Canada, a very reasonable question to ask is “does routine monitoring for EVA make a difference?” At the recent ISER meeting in Brazil, Kaps et al. reviewed the effects of monitoring and management practices on… Read More »

EVA Outbreak in Canada

Posted: | September 22, 2023

Canadian Equine Viral Arteritis! There has been an EVA outbreak in Canada reported in Prince Edward Island. Equine Viral Arteritis is predominantly a respiratory disease, which has reproductive implications. Symptoms vary dramatically from none (“asymptomatic”) to a wide variety which may present as any combination of the following: elevated temperature, depression, loss of appetite. Affected animals may also… Read More »

Endometrial Biopsy in the Mare

Posted: | September 2, 2023

Endometrial Biopsy in the Mare – is one sample enough? An endometrial biopsy in the mare is a useful diagnostic to determine cellular health of the uterine lining which will be directly responsible for pregnancy maintenance once placentation has occurred. The biopsy score is correlated to the likelihood of live foal production by use of different scales, such… Read More »

Older Subfertile Mares

Posted: | August 19, 2023

Improve Pregnancy Rates in Older Subfertile Mares! How can one improve pregnancy rates in older subfertile mares? This category of mare is notorious for having lower pregnancy rates, and this becomes even more annoying when one is performing a higher-cost procedure such as embryo transfer. A perennial question therefore is “can we improve pregnancy rates in those older… Read More »