Horses and Hot Flashes

Menopause Is Cruel to Mares

For many human females, menopause can be quite a trial. Dripping wet from brow to toe, restless and unable to sleep, prone to irritable mood swings—the aging process can be pretty difficult. It’s even worse for female horses. Though they may not go through menopause, they suffer nonetheless.

Pregnant mare urine (PMU) is one of the ingredients in a vast majority of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs. Such drugs were popular in both the United States and abroad to help women control the symptoms of menopause. Then, in early 2000, studies revealed that these drugs were more injurious to women’s health than supportive of it. General use of HRT drugs dropped dramatically. As a result, many PMU farmers dumped their mares at auction as they could no longer turn a profit. Many of these horses found their way to slaughterhouses.

Today, pregnant mare urine is still being collected and used in the manufacture of drugs purportedly designed to help prevent osteoporosis.

Just Say “Neigh” to Pee Cups

PMU farming began in the early 1940s thanks to chemists who found hormones in pregnant mare urine could be used to create HRT drugs. To collect the urine, mares are forced to stand with buckets between their legs. They are tethered into their stalls in a way that does not allow them to move around or lie down, spending 6 of their 11 months of pregnancy so confined all the while growing larger as their foals develop. This constant standing with an ever enlarging body causes problems with their hooves, legs, and back. They get little if any veterinary care.

Mares are eventually turned out to pasture to give birth. They are allowed to nurse their foals for a few short months. Then they are impregnated and the cycle starts all over again. Once they are no longer able to carry a foal to term, they are sent to auction and most likely on to slaughter. But before they get to their final destination, mares are often confined to double-decker tractor trailers without food, water, or rest for hours on end.

PMU farms, found mostly in western Canada and northern United States, are pretty much self-regulated. Although a recommended code of practices does exist for the industry, there is little oversight of these farms and adherence to the code is strictly voluntary.

A Little Urine with Your Morning Coffee?

While the mares are given adequate food, their water intake is monitored. The less water they drink, the more concentrated their urine becomes. The purpose is to collect the highest concentration of estrogen possible from each mare, making each collection bucket more profitable for the PMU farmer. Giving mares too much drinking water dilutes their urine, producing less estrogen, therefore less profit.

Female foals are often kept on PMU farms to replace their mothers when they are spent. Male foals of course are useless to the trade and may be sold at auction from which they may wind up in slaughterhouses. Female foals who can’t be used go to auction/slaughter as well.

All of this is done to produce a medication that is supposed to take care of human female discomfort during a normal change of life process. Menopause is not a disease, but a living process. For the mares, it is an unnatural process that ends in early death. A horse’s normal lifespan is between 20-30 years; a PMU horse’s lifespan is 8-10 years at which time they are no longer considered good stock.

If you’re not sure you’re taking pregnant mare urine, just break a pill open. You’ll know by the smell. Aside from the fact that it’s totally gross to think of ingesting any living being’s urine, think of the horses who suffer so women can be more comfortable during menopause.

Take Action to Help End the Misery of PMU Horses

What can you do to change what is happening to female horses? First, if you are currently taking HRT drugs, check with your physician to determine if the drug you are taking is made with pregnant mare urine. Other humane actions include:

• If you are taking HRT drugs made with pregnant mare urine, check into alternative HRT drugs that are plant based rather than animal based.
• Talk to your sisters in menopause and let them know of your decision to reject HRT drugs made from pregnant mare urine.
• Adopt a PMU foal or adult horse.
• In general, educate yourself about any medication you are taking—not just the risks to you but the risks to any animal involved in the production of the drug.