Researchers Study Early Postpartum Breeding in Horses

Researchers evaluated the impact of postpartum breeding date on pregnancy, pregnancy loss, and foaling rates.
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Covering broodmares during the first month postpartum, often on the first postpartum estrus (termed "foal heat"), is routine practice at many dedicated breeding operations to ensure mares foal at roughly the same time each year. A mare that fails to conceive shortly after foaling continues to have subsequently later foaling dates, eventually missing a breeding season altogether and creating a financial setback for the farm. Generally breeders have a three- to four-week window of opportunity to achieve pregnancy after foaling to still maintain yearly foaling intervals, but a team of researchers recently set out to evaluate the impact of postpartum breeding date on pregnancy rates, pregnancy loss rates, and foaling rates.

Texas A&M University researchers analyzed data for the breeding cycles of 2,003 foaling mares over a three-year time frame at a Kentucky Thoroughbred breeding farm to determine the relation between postpartum breeding day and fertility outcome (producing a live foal). 

“Use of multiple logistic regression (a statistical technique utilizing several explanatory variables) to control for factors influencing fertility outcomes and a fairly large database allowed us to examine influence of each specific day postpartum at breeding,” explained Texas A&M’s Terry Blanchard, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACT. “Looking at each day postpartum is novel, rather than picking an arbitrary cut-point

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Freelance journalist Natalie DeFee Mendik is a multiple American Horse Publications editorial and graphics awards winner specializing in equestrian media. She holds an MA in English from Colorado State University and an International Federation of Journalists’ International press card, and is a member of the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists. With over three decades of horse experience, Natalie’s main equine interests are dressage and vaulting. Having lived and ridden in England, Switzerland, and various parts of the United States, Natalie currently resides in Colorado with her husband and two girls.

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