Pregnancy disruption in artificially inseminated domestic horse mares as a counterstrategy against potential infanticide.
Abstract: In a previous study, we suggested that the common practice of transporting a mare for mating and then bringing her back to an environment that also contains males that did not sire the fetus may be a major cause of high percentages of pregnancy disruption in domestic horses. In this study, we tested whether disruption of pregnancies induced by AI occurs as frequently as after mating with a strange stallion away from home and is affected by the same factors in the home social environment. Based on 77 records, the probability of pregnancy disruption after AI depended on the social environment in which the mare was maintained after mating and the number of foals the mare had delivered in the past. Also after AI, as with natural matings away from home, the probability of pregnancy disruption was higher when the mare had no male company in her enclosure but stallions or geldings were present in an adjacent enclosure than when the mare was sharing the enclosure with geldings (generalized linear mixed model = 8.68, = 0.007, odds ratio = 8.17). These data support the prediction that the mare perceives conception after AI equally to natural mating with a strange stallion. The results suggested pregnancy disruption may be stimulated by the social circumstances of the home environment in mares artificially inseminated as in mares mated naturally away from home. The practical implications of this result is that after AI, to reduce risk of pregnancy disruption and improve welfare, horse breeders should place the pregnant mare into an environment with no stallion or stallions/gelding or geldings or to an enclosure together with the male or males.
Publication Date: 2015-12-08 PubMed ID: 26641065DOI: 10.2527/jas.2015-9384Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
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The research suggests that the success of pregnancy in domestically bred horses post artificial insemination might partly depend on the mare’s social surroundings and birthing history, hinting at how they perceive conception. The results imply that mare welfare can be improved and pregnancy preserved by preventing exposure to stallions or geldings who are not the sire.
Objective of the Paper
- The study was undertaken to understand why there are high instances of pregnancy disruption in domesticated horses after artificial insemination (AI). One aspect the study delved into was whether such disruptions occur as frequently as natural matings away from home.
- The researchers also examined if the social environment where the mares are kept after mating and the number of foals they’ve previously delivered have any influence on these disruptions.
Experimental Process and Findings
- The researchers based their findings on 77 records of artificially inseminated mares. It was discovered that the likeliness of pregnancy disruption post AI was closely linked to the mare’s social surroundings after insemination and the number of foals she had previously given birth to.
- It was found that like natural matings away from home, pregnancy disruption post AI was more probable if the mare did not share her enclosure with male company but there were stallions or geldings in an adjacent pen.
- The statistical models implemented yielded the odds ratio of 8.17, suggesting that the mare perceives conception post-AI similar to natural mating with an unfamiliar stallion.
Implications of the Study
- The study’s results imply that the failure of pregnancy in mares post AI may be prompted by the social conditions of the home environment, like those mated naturally away from home.
- Taken practically, this suggests that horse breeders, to lessen the risk of pregnancy disruption and improve mare welfare, should position the pregnant mare in a setting with no stallion or stallions/geldings either in the same or adjacent pen.
Cite This Article
APA
Bartoš L, Bartošová J, Pluháček J.
(2015).
Pregnancy disruption in artificially inseminated domestic horse mares as a counterstrategy against potential infanticide.
J Anim Sci, 93(11), 5465-5468.
https://doi.org/10.2527/jas.2015-9384 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
MeSH Terms
- Abortion, Veterinary
- Aggression
- Animals
- Female
- Horses / physiology
- Insemination, Artificial / veterinary
- Male
- Pregnancy
- Reproduction
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