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Infertility Overcome in a
Mare of Rare Morgan Blood Line
by Darin Watkins, WSU College of Veterinary Medicine

The sight of “Sara Rose”, a frisky colt romping in the pasture warms the heart of her owner, Dawn MacNamara of San Diego, California. “She is just so special,” she said. “Dr. Tibary made it all happen.”

Several years ago, MacNamara and her husband bought a rare Lippit Morgan mare named “Megan” in hopes of continuing this special bloodline. Many consider Lippit Morgans to be one of the oldest American breeds, with only about 2,000 left in the U.S. “We think these animals are a part of American history that is worth saving,” MacNamara said.

Unfortunately, the 12-year-old mare had a difficult time becoming pregnant. After a number of visits to area veterinarians and a long list of treatments, the MacNamaras worried their dreams of a new foal were slowly coming to an end. “We had a trainer even tell us that sometimes mares just can’t produce, and that we had to accept that. But we just weren’t ready to give up.”

Soon after, the couple heard about and consulted with Dr. Ahmed Tibary, WSU’s renowned large animal theriogenologist at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Pullman, Washington. As a large animal reproduction expert with more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Tibary provides a number of equine reproduction services, including breeding soundness evaluations for mares and stallions, pregnancy and fetal well-being evaluations, semen collection and freezing, embryo transfer, and artificial insemination with fresh-cooled and frozen semen.

Coincidentally, Dr. Tibary was working with a Lippit Morgan stallion, whose owner agreed to help the MacNamaras. Megan was transported to the WSU veterinary college in Pullman from San Diego to be artificially inseminated with fresh-cooled semen from the stallion. “She needed very close supervision,” Dr. Tibary recalled. “She was a mare with a typical susceptibility to endometritis, which is an inflammation of the uterine lining.”

Soon, the MacNamaras received the good news that their mare was pregnant; the artificial insemination had worked. Within the year, Megan gave birth to a healthy foal named Quail Mountain Sara Rose, or Sara for short.

“I think it was critical to have Dr. Tibary on the case,” MacNamara said. “Dr. Tibary had the knowledge and the commitment to make it happen. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

“I am touched by the compliments of the owner,” said Dr. Tibary, who says he often wonders how such cases turn out. “We work many times with mares like this that come from different states and I always wonder what happened with the pregnancy.”

Now Dr. Tibary and the students involved in this case have a photo for their wall as a living reminder of the specialty they bring to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.

For more information about how to deal with infertility in mares, contact Dr. Tibary at tibary@vetmed.wsu.edu or 509-335-1963, or read about this topic in Spring 2005 issue of Equine News at www.vetmed.wsu.edu/depts-vth/EquineNews/index.asp.

Reprinted from the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Equine News Spring 2006 issue.