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lantairvleaThe PMU program, standing for "Pregnant Mare Urine," is a way in which people get horomones for women's horomone replacement therapy. Most often used during Menopause to prevent some of the unpleasant side effects that come with transitioning into the next stage of life. I believe one of the drugs that results from this is called "premerine," but I am not certain.
Kachina was a PMU mare. She was initially from Canada and has a freeze brand on her left hip. If I remember right her number is 109, but I'm not positive. She was approximately 11 years old when we picked her up and she was in Canada until she was 9 or 10, which means that she might have been in the program 5 or 7 years.
Now collecting urine from pregnant mares isn't an easy thing, so they use cathiders and keep the mares in small stalls so they can't move around much. As if being crammed in a stall for some eleven months wasn't enough, we were informed of something else that the program entails.
Apparently they allow the mare to have her first one or two foals, carrying them to full term. Now since they have to have all the mares pregnant all the time, they don't want to have a hundred or more grade foals that they have to try to sell or give away. Thus, they stop the pregnancies at 10 months. The mare carries the foal and is forced to abort it a mere month before the foal would be due.
Absolutely disgusting.
This, we believe, is part of the reason that Kachina needed progesterone to help her carry the foal a little longer. This is also possibly the reason for her bladder infection when she was around eight months along as she was used to the cathider during previous pregnancies so as things became more compacted, it was harder for her to properly pass urine.
Not only has her time in the program caused her physical issues (though we can't directly link it), we believe that it's also part of the reason for her unsure, untrusting nature. She is better than she was, but still has a long, long way to go.
I don't think the benefit that humans recieve, outweighs what people put these horses through to get the horomones. Of course, now they find that artificual horomones aren't exactly good for women in the long run.
I could rant and gnash about how horrible the whole thing is, but I think the simple notations are enough.
Kachina was a PMU mare. She was initially from Canada and has a freeze brand on her left hip. If I remember right her number is 109, but I'm not positive. She was approximately 11 years old when we picked her up and she was in Canada until she was 9 or 10, which means that she might have been in the program 5 or 7 years.
Now collecting urine from pregnant mares isn't an easy thing, so they use cathiders and keep the mares in small stalls so they can't move around much. As if being crammed in a stall for some eleven months wasn't enough, we were informed of something else that the program entails.
Apparently they allow the mare to have her first one or two foals, carrying them to full term. Now since they have to have all the mares pregnant all the time, they don't want to have a hundred or more grade foals that they have to try to sell or give away. Thus, they stop the pregnancies at 10 months. The mare carries the foal and is forced to abort it a mere month before the foal would be due.
Absolutely disgusting.
This, we believe, is part of the reason that Kachina needed progesterone to help her carry the foal a little longer. This is also possibly the reason for her bladder infection when she was around eight months along as she was used to the cathider during previous pregnancies so as things became more compacted, it was harder for her to properly pass urine.
Not only has her time in the program caused her physical issues (though we can't directly link it), we believe that it's also part of the reason for her unsure, untrusting nature. She is better than she was, but still has a long, long way to go.
I don't think the benefit that humans recieve, outweighs what people put these horses through to get the horomones. Of course, now they find that artificual horomones aren't exactly good for women in the long run.
I could rant and gnash about how horrible the whole thing is, but I think the simple notations are enough.
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Date: 2007-04-03 05:15 pm (UTC)Premarin is the drug derived from it, but the Wikepedia article doesn't have a lot of information... It doesn't even mention that most of the foals are aborted.
...Besides, who in the world found out that the urine of a pregnant mare helped with menopause? "Oh look, she's with foal, I think I'll see if her pee will help my wife with her hot flashes!" It's another of those things that makes me wonder what the train of thought was. .. Kinda like eggs.
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Date: 2007-04-03 06:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-04 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-04 12:13 pm (UTC)Oh I'm sure that someone was analyzing something or another and thought, "hey, this horomone is also found in human women! We could use that!"
I'm sure they had good intentions, but it's too high of a cost in my opinion.
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Date: 2007-04-04 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-04 12:27 pm (UTC)The good news is, I think, that it isn't as prolific as it used to be.