UC Davis Seeks Recipient Mare Donations
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The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) is seeking donations of young, healthy mares for its teaching herd. The Equine Reproduction Service at the VMTH and the Center for Equine Health will care for these horses as they serve as embryo recipients for hospital clients with mares participating in the embryo transfer program.
UC Davis is committed to giving the donated horses a quality home during their time in the program. If a mare successfully receives an embryo, she will then be sold to the client whose mare provided the embryo. That client then will care for the recipient mare until the foal is born and is weaned. Following that, the client has the option of bringing the recipient mare back to UC Davis to be sold back to the recipient herd.
To be accepted into the recipient herd, mares must meet the following criteria:
- Be at least 15 hands and (ideally) 1,100 pounds
- Be between three and 10 years of age
- Be (preferably) Warmbloods, Standardbreds, Drafts, Quarter Horses, or Thoroughbreds
- Be "broodmare sound" (i.e., sound in a pasture situation, but not necessarily sound enough to ride or perform)
- Be halter broken
- Be free of any history of reproductive problems or subfertility
- Can be a maiden or foaled mare
“We deeply appreciate everyone’s generosity in helping us build our recipient herd,” states Bruce Christensen, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACT, chief of the Equine Reproduction Service at the VMTH. “These mares will play a critical role as we expand our student teaching and resident training programs, and fulfill our teaching and service visions
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