Abby L. Fowden, University of Cambridge, UK, discussed nutritive and endocrine functions of the equine placenta at the first Equine Placenta Workshop held at the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky on Dec. 5-6. She said the functions of the placenta are as a barrier, for transport of nutrients and waste, nutrient production, and hormone production.

Placental efficiency of the horse is good. She defined that by looking at grams of fetus that can be produced based on grams of placenta. She said the horse comes out on top when comparing various mammals, with 20 grams of fetus produced per gram of placenta based on maximum values. For comparison, humans only produce six grams of fetus per gram of placenta