1963-Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1963 November Voice | Page 7

NOVEMBER
Your “Roving Reporter” has
been asked on several occasions to
prepare some information on a
most unusual phase of the horse
business, that of maintaining
"Water Mares” for commercial
purposes. I contacted two sources
for further information on this:
Mr. Laurence Hudson of the Horse­
shoe Ranch, Lyndhurst, Ontario
and Dr. W. E. Beavers, DVM,
Brookville, Ohio.
Specifically, “Water Mares” are
mares of any breed that are main­
tained for the express purpose of
producing urine for sale, which is
used in the preparation of hor­
mones for human as well as veteri­
nary medicine.
Keeping “Water Mares” is a
most exacting business and strict
rules must be adhered too in order
to maintain the highest standards
of quality and “test” in the urine.
Referring to a periodical P.M.U.
(Pregnant Mare Urine) Bulletin
sent to me by Mr. Hudson, the
following regulations were noted:
“1) All mares must be 4 months
(120 days) pregnant before samp­
ling. 2) All samples must be la­
beled with the producers name
and unit (if any). The breeding
date and number of the mare must
also appear on the label. 3) If a
mare has to be retested, the same
number must be used. 4) All mares
must be stabled not less than (a)
5 days before sampling (b) 1 week
before P.M.U. is collected from
them”. This will give you some
idea as to the importance of speci­
fic care when working with
“Water Mares.”
In his letter regarding “Water
Mares”, Mr. Hudson stated, “We
start to breed out mares from the
last week in May to the first week
in June. Mares must be . bred 120
te '¥‘#^ g
days before they will test and
their urine is good for approxi­
mately five months. The urine has
to meet a certain level of test to
receive top payment. We have to
feed almost clear Timothy hay. We
are allowed to grain the horses dur­
ing the winter months. The mares
on production must be watered
three times a day by pail, exactly
one to one and a half hours after
being fed. Being exact and punc­
tual in looking after these mares
mean a great deal in the way they
test. Our harness for the mares is
made of one inch webbing. The
collection tubes are actually old
inner tubes which hook onto the
harness. The urine must be emptied
from these containers four or five
times daily.”
Dr. Beavers pointed out in his
correspondence that he believes
interest in “Water Mares” is de­
clining due to the increase cost in
production and handling the urine
and also that production of synthe­
tic estrogens are becoming more
economical. In covering the tech­
nical aspects of the Contents of
Equine Urine and for the use of
the product, Dr. Beavers stated,
“The estrogenic hormones are
present in pregnant mare’s urine
from the 120th to the 245th day of
preganncy. There are five estro­
genic hormones all of which are
present in PMU. These hormones
are used in human medicine as
well as veterinary medicine.
The basic use of the estrogenic
hormones, in veterinary medicine,
is to stimulate estrus (heat). There
are many other uses of these hor­
mones; for example,
Cow—pyometra, retained pla­
centa, persistent corpus luteum
and mummified fetus.
h@ RSE
Dogs—Bitch—urinary incontin­
ence and mismating.
Stud—prostatic hypertrophy and
anal adenoma.
The hormones are extracted
from the PMU chemically. Only a
minute quantity of the estrogenic
hormones is present in a gallon of
urine.” If anyone would like more
detailed information on this sub­
ject please contact either Dr. Bea­
vers or Mr. Hudson.
So much for “Water Mares.”
I will be in Florida now untin
next May and will send you all
available information on the “Sun­
shine Circuit” and the activity of
the breed in this part of the coun­
try. See you next month.
Information Wanted
On Wilson’s Red Allen
Some weeks ago the VOICE
Editor received a letter from Mrs.
Stuart E. Burnett, 517 Bagnal
Drive, Sumter, South Carolina.
She is quite eager to get some
material on the show record of a
stallion — WILSON’S RED AL­
LEN (590734), whom she pur­
chased at the Murray Farm Sale
in October, 1962.
The horse came from Bellefon-
taine, Ohio, but a letter to the
former owner failed to bring an
answer, says Mrs. Burnett. She
would like to know how to find
out some information. Can you
help Mrs. Burnett?
HORSE SCIENCE SCHOOL
TO BE CONTINUED
Word from Dr. E. M. Ensminger,
3699 E. Sierra Avenue, Clovis,
California, tells us the Horse
Science Schools held at Fresno,
California, Columbia, Missouri,
and Willow Brook Farm, Catasau-
qua, Pennsylvania, proved quite
successful and will be continued.
Attendance totaled 194 enrollees
from thirty-five states, the District
of Columbia, Puerto Rico and
Canada.
Plans for the future indicate
there will be two sections, lower
costs, more courses and an en­
larged staff at each session.