University vets await a special birth�.

Horse experts at the University of Edinburgh's Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies have successfully carried out an equine embryo transfer (ET) which will allow a recipient mare to carry and give birth to a foal for another horse. Although the technique has been an accepted clinical procedure for more than 20 years, this will be the first foal to be born, for a client, following equine ET at a United Kingdom University veterinary school.

The recipient mare is about six weeks pregnant and will give birth next spring. The foal will be brought up by the mare as its own and will be suckled, then weaned, in the normal way and to the usual timescale. The only difference will be that the foal will be registered in the studbook as being the offspring of the donor mare and not the mare that actually 'gave birth' to the foal.

Equine reproduction veterinarians Matt Hanks and Javier Aguilar explained that the equine ET technique is used for a number of reasons, including for the health of the donor mare, which might not be able to carry a foal to term. Sometimes the technique is used to produce foals from mares which are too busy competing in competitions to have a foal, or where there is a wish to obtain more than one foal a year from a pedigree mare, although the regulations regarding this can vary. For example, this procedure cannot be performed in thoroughbred horses that are intended for the racetrack.

Matt Hanks says: "The donor mare unfortunately nearly lost her life during her previous pregnancy and this procedure has allowed her to breed again with little to no risk to her health. The donor mare's owners are obviously delighted with the way things have gone, and are looking forward to next spring. The recipient mare has been provided by the university and has had a foal of her own in the past. Offering this procedure not only provides an excellent service to our clients but also gives our veterinary students a unique opportunity to learn about equine ET techniques."

Professor Elaine Watson, Head of the Veterinary School and an international equine fertility expert, said: "We are the first UK university to have a commercial ET recipient herd and I am very pleased that this service has got off to a flying start, with a pregnancy at the first attempt. We hope to expand the facility in the future."

Sum The first successful equine embryo transfer was reported in 1972, but it was not until the early 1980s that the technique became an accepted clinical procedure in the equine breeding industry.

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