Premarin vs. Horse "abuse"

[DavisBeefmasters]

I don't normally post on horses... we work our cattle on foot...

...but I got this thing in the mail the other day about Premarin (a medicine for humans) is harvested off of Pregnant mares urine and it went on and on about the abuse to collect the urine by tying mares up in a stall for months at a time...

...and of course it was asking that I sign a post card to send on to our legislators to fight such abuse along with a little donation...

...is there any truth to that mailing or is it just junk?

Please let me know. Thanks.

 

[pdfangus]

well there is some truth to it but the premarin ship has pretty much sailed off into the sunset.

Demand for the product has declined seriously in the last few years and the company (wyeth) has severed its contractw with about 2/3 fo the former producers.

I used to be in a foal rescue group that bought the foals and tried to find home for them. I have 2 of them at hiome now and one is as nice a horse as i have ever owned.

to learn more about pmu rescue try a web site called Prism horse rescue. they still work with some farms trying to find home for the foals.

Premarin was a good product that helped a lot of folks until other stuff came along.

i never bought into the cruelty stuff. I still keep in touch with the guy who raised my horses and he still raises horses but is no longer a Urine collector.

for a horse to be in a barn and fat and sassy and warm and well fed during an alberta winter does not seem tooo cruel to me. folk I trust have told me that the collection harness is not at all uncomfortable for the horse.

there are career do gooders in the world who want to do away with everything. they weary me.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

Thanks for the details... I don't like cruelty to animals, but the whole thing sounded a little exaggerated... of course when you're pleading for money you have to paint an ugly picture I guess...

Thanks again.

 

[sjr725]

I have good friends in Manitoba that raise horse and collect urine for Wyeth pharmacueticals.
If you look at the whole issue from the agriculture producer standpoint you'd never buy into the abuse issue. It would make no sense for a producer to starve, abuse, deny vet treatment to his animals. Healthy, well nourished animals are better producers - no matter what the product. Now that most PMU farms have realized the benefits of producing foals that are a highly marketable product on thier own, they are improving their breeding programs to produce better and better horses. Our friends, have 4 registered Hannoverian stallions they purchased from Spruce Meadows and have 2 of them in the showjumping circuit now. So they may be making more money off the foals than off the urine? Look at the bottom line - with any ag producer it's the $$, and you can't make money starving and abusing your livestock whether it's cattle, sheep, pigs or horses. If you look at the websites, you'll see fat healthy horses living happily all summer on big grass pastures and spending the harsh Canadian winter snug in a warm barn with plenty of hay and good feed. The industry mandates excercise time, feed and vaccination schedules for these horses, and cleanliness and husbandry to very strict standards. The whole "rescue" thing has been blown way out of porportion IMO

 

[I luv herfrds]

It is mainly used as a hormone replacement for women who are going into menopause.
There was such a stink about it alot of people no longer do it.

 

[Horse Guy]

The problem with PMU when it was going was that a lot of the farms were basically flooding the market with cheap dink horses<think slaughter industry>.