PMU Foals and Their New Lease On Life

Pregnant Mare's Urine (PMU) foals are youngsters who come into this world as byproducts. They are the result of an industry's supply & demand need of the drug Premarin which is an estrogen replacement drug that has been on the market for decades. The drug is partly derived from pregnant mares' urine.

A PMU foal is born after a pregnant mare spends about 7 months on the urine collection lines of the production farms. When the mare is about 2 months from foaling, she is turned out to pasture. Once the foal is born, the mare is eventually placed back with the farm stallion & rebred. In September, there is a reported 30,000 foals weaned & left in the hands of fate.

There are a few rescue organizations with representatives throughout the United States & Canada looking out for the foals, trying to find good experienced homes for them. FoalQuest, Ltd. and the PMU Foal Adoption Network, Inc. are two of those organizations.

The foals are not of subquality. They primarily are Draft, Thoroughbred & Quarter Horses, usually half breeds. The two organizations mentioned in the article, have the same goals for the PMU foals but have some different guidelines. Their contact information is at the end of each submission. Please check out their websites listed in this article & do some internet surfing on your own & see some of the nicest looking babies anywhere.

FoalQuest LTD.

PMU Foals are weaned at three to six months of age, depending on when they were born. All foals are sold from the farms beginning the first of September and continuing through to the end of September. In most cases the foals are weaned only a day or two before being sold, therefore they are under a certain amount of stress, no matter how much we try to reduce that risk.

The foals will be taken from their farms of origin to our host farm in Central Alberta. Luckily this is a very short trip for the babies, usually taking from 45 minutes to 3 hours. Here they will be kept in corrals with other foals from the same farm. After a few days of rest, the foals will all be haltered and dewormed, blood will be drawn from them for their Coggins test. ALL foals will have a Coggins test performed.

Even if you will be picking up and hauling your own foals, they must stay here until their Coggins ttests come back. This takes an average of 5-7 working days from the time the blood work is sent to the lab. If you are driving out, please leave time for this paperwork to come back in your travel time. It is highly recommended that you check with us prior to departure to make sure that your paperwork will be back and ready to go by the time you get here. We don't want anyone stranded in Alberta waiting for papers.

We do not buy foals that have any detectable signs of illness or disease...but stress from weaning and traveling can bring on any underlying illness much sooner and make perfectly healthy foals more susceptible to illness. We would suggest that your own vet check all foals shortly after they arrive home.

All foals, as with any new animals brought to your home, should be kept in quarantine for a minimum of three weeks in order to protect both the foal and your other animals from any disease that may be transmitted.

Handing Your Foal

Although PMU foals are not exactly wild, they are also not used to a lot of human contact and handling. For the first few days it is very possible that your foal will be frightened and avoid you as much as they can. The best thing to do is to give your foal(s) the distance they need at first. Hand feed them, talk to them, sit in or near their pen while they eat until they get used to your presence. It is best to keep your foal in a smaller pen or corral so they cannot run too far from you. Training will go a lot slower if your foal has a large pasture to run in. A lot of patience is required to gain your foal's trust, but once you do they will learn to depend on you very quickly and start to halter train, and working with your foal will be a lot easier to do.

Your Foal's Health

The most common problems to watch for upon arrival are signs of Shipping Fever. This is a stress related illness and if detected early is of no serious concern to your foal. Signs include runny nose and eyes, slight fever and decreased appetite. Most foals will get over Shipping Fever on their own as soon as they are settled in to their new homes. If your foal seems to be getting worse instead of better, please make sure to have your vet check for signs of pneumonia. Call a vet any time a foal has an elevated temperature. Foals can also develop swollen hocks and legs from their time in the trailer. Time and exercise once they get home should clear this temporary problem up.

Although PMU foals can come down with Strangles, the incidence is no greater than in that of the general equine population. We just want everyone to be aware of what can happen and be on the lookout for any health problems. Prevention is the best cure for any and all ailments. These foals are under a lot of stress and can be more susceptible to catching diseases due to their decreased immune system response.

Feeding Your Foal

As soon as the foals arrive at our farm they are introduced to hay and grain. While here, foals will receive a daily ration of good quality Timothy/alfalfa/grass hay (free choice) and about 1-2 pounds of ration. The ration we use is an equal mix of rolled oats with molasses and high protein foal pellets. The foals also have access to free choice block salt and a dry mix mineral.

2002 Foal Quest Adoption Information (US)

Prices for US adopters are as follows in US funds. Please note that funds must be submitted via money order, certified check, or Western Union. Personal checks are not acceptable.

Light Horse (Quarter Horse, Paint, Appaloosa types): $525

Draft Cross (Percheron, Belgian, Clydesdale, Shire crossed

with Light Horse): $625

Full Draft (Percheron, Belgian):$725

Prices increase with the size of the foals. Full drafts and draft crosses are bigger and therefore weigh more than the light horse types. This means it takes more money to outbid the meat buyers at the sales. We do NOT take specific requests for registered foals. This price includes all sales tax, vet certificate, Coggins test, deworming, border crossing and U.S. Customs broker fees, and feed and care of said foal for up to 30 days. If your foal must remain for longer than 30 days, there will be an additional charge for board and care of $3.50 per day - this will not include costs for medicine or medical care if needed. It is not our intention to delay the arrival of your foal in the attempt to collect board money from you.

FoalQuest Ltd. has area representatives throughout the United States & Canada. Washington's representatives are: Sandy Heisey, Fall City WA, 425/222-5804 or sandyh@microsoft.com and Johanna Zamora, Seattle WA 206/325-1753 or courbette@yahoo.com. Additional state & Canadian representatives and information can be found at www.pmufoalquest.com

The PMU Foal Adoption Network, Inc.

The PMU Foal Adoption Network Inc. is a Non-Profit organization (currently filing for 501(c)3 charitable status) dedicated to minimizing the number of PMU foals that end up at slaughter by facilitating the adoption of these foals into good, loving homes. Our goal is to work with, not against, PMU farmers in the best interests of the foals in need.

Adoption Process

Interested adopters will need to fill out an application form and return it along with a $10 application process fee by Aug. 15. Once approved, adopters will be sent a contract, which will need to be signed and returned along with the adoption fee and shipping deposit. Upon receipt of the contract and adoption fees, adopters will be sent a receipt and given choice of foals on a first-paid basis. We should have photos of available foals on our website starting in late May. Adopters will be able to choose foals by picture or by a wish list (where they describe to us the type of foal they want and we select one for them). Foals will be shipped in mid to late September, and will be about 4 months old at the time.

Adoption Costs

Our goal is to make the foals available at cost to our adopters. And since there will be some variance in what the foals will cost us, adoption costs will vary to some degree depending on the foal. Full drafts will generally cost the most as they weigh the most and light foals the least as they weigh the least. The farmer will set the prices, and it's quite possible how much "flash/color" the foal has can factor into the price they set as well. But here is an idea of what we expect foal costs will be (including required Coggins Test, Health Certificate, and Border crossing fees for Canadian foals - but excluding shipping):

Light Foals (QH, Paint, etc): $400-$450 (US Dollars)

Draft X Foals: $450-$500 (US Dollars)

Full Draft Foals: $500-$550 (US Dollars)

Shipping Costs:

At this point, it looks like we'll be shipping foals from North Dakota, Manitoba and possibly another Canadian province. We're still working out details and shipping costs will vary depending on how far from these locations the adopter lives (i.e., it will cost more to have a foal delivered from MB to S. CA than to WA as WA is closer). We expect shipping costs to run $250-$450 per foal depending on your location (for the NW, it shouldn't be more than $350/each) and if we have volunteers hauling to that area or if we have to hire the hauling done. For the Northwest region, we'll have a drop-point in (or near) Duvall, WA, another possible in Bend, OR, and we'll facilitate others where there is demand and an appropriate facility. Adopters will need to pick up the foals from those drop points, but we do have volunteers to help with this if adopters have trouble providing their own transportation.

Other Adoption Information:

Potential adopters should know that upon arrival these foals have had next to no handling, and are definitely not halter broke. Therefore, adopters should have previous horse experience. Quarantine for at least 3 weeks is strongly encouraged upon the arrival of the foals to their new homes.

The Northwest Representative and WebMaster for PMU Foal Adoption Network Inc. is Amy Hagstrom in Duvall WA. You may contact her at 425/788-6654 or aha@cablespeed.com. Their website is www.pmufoaladoption.org

Offering a home to an unwanted animal of any type can be a very rewarding experience. These two organizations are dedicated to the PMU foals & their positive adoptions. There are endless possibilites to what these PMU foals can achieve, given a stable experienced home and some understanding.