Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

scerab · Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 3

Greetings
I just bought my first horse, a young Mare, and I wanted to get her conceived from a pure Arabian stallion, the problem is I need to make sure that my mare is free of any disease that might harm her or the stallion during the mating process. When I asked a few experts they advised me to inject Flagyl (metranadzol) an antibiotic given to people prior to surgery and is used in UTIs as well, I am not sure if a human medication is suitable for a horse. I would greatly appreciate any advice on the matter. How can I rid the mare of any genital disease?
I was also advised to use an antifungal drug named Penistine.
I fear the consequences of applying a human treatment to a horse. Please if you have any insight on the matter I would appreciate it greatly.
Note: where I live there are no good vets, they are just over priced and they practically do nothing.
Thanks in advance

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

Really? Experts huh...... Not very good advice actually. There is no easy way to make sure there is no risk to your mare or the stallion except multiple lab tests and potentially semen collection for artificial insemination which will reduce the risk to the stallion to about zero.

Lets start from the beginning. Has your mare ever had a foal before? Has she been bred before? How do you know your mare has genital disease? Any other health issue for the mare? Is she being worked now or recently? What about the stallion? bred mares before? any problems with health of fertility? When was his last foal?

Metronidazole injection? okay....... so you assume your mare has some anaerobic infection going on? Penistine I have never even heard of... must be some human drug that we don't use... do you know what is the active ingredient?

Where do you live/ have your horses?

scerab · Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 3

Thank you for your reply.
When I said experts I was referring to people who have lived along side horses and invested in the equestrian business for a long time, not medical experts. I know their advice was not fit medically speaking but with all do respect they have had horses for over 15 years and some used such drugs for a long time with out regret so far, how ever I do agree with you, antibiotics should never be handled carelessly.
I live in the Middle East and finding a good vet here is not easy. There is no vet health center, and the few vets I know use hospital labs to get their sample analysis.
Any way my mare is a 6 year old Anglo Arab; she was never bred and is used solely for pleasure riding. The stallion however is constantly breeding and just recently acquired a venereal infection where his owner sent him to another city to receive the medical attention he needed, and he just returned so I assume he is healthy.
My question is this, are there any prophylactic drugs that I could use to ensure the safety of both the mare and the stallion?

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

The most important thing is to address is the specific venereal disease in which he has acquired during his breedings. Different diseases can be controlled differently so defining the problem should be your first step.

Yes, some drugs may be good but at the same time, some may be harmful. It really depends on what aetiology exactly are you hoping to control.

Be careful with advice from the long time "experts". They can be true and great but some will be actually harmful and dangerous and they just so happened to escape/ not be able to identify the side effects.

With all that said, I have never been to the middle east so I am not very familiar with the situation there.