Reproduction Research
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Dr. Jim Weber regularly involves students in his research projects. Photo by Monty Rand

It may be a compliment when a physician tells a patient he is healthy as a horse, but for veterinarians and horse breeders, the old adage can belie the truth when it comes to equine reproduction.

Horses in captivity have one of the lowest reproduction rates of domestic livestock, with only about half of all bred mares delivering a foal. Despite advances in veterinary medicine, the foaling rate has not changed in a quarter-century.

Infertility in horses can be the result of poor equine management and health, especially bacterial infections. Low foaling rates have both animal welfare and economic development implications.

At the University of Maine, veterinarians and faculty members Dr. Robert Causey and Dr. Jim Weber are involved in biomedical research that addresses issues related to equine reproduction and infertility. Their work, which benefits the animals and the horse-owning public, is integral to UMaine's Equine Program, with its emphasis on the science of equine management.

Through their research, Causey and Weber are exploring the causes of infertility in both stallions and mares, and investigating treatments that can help mares deliver healthy foals at the end of their 11-month pregnancies. Their focus is on the biology of reproduction, including why some mares are more susceptible to the most common cause of equine infertility – uterine infections. In research to better understand the struggle between host defenses and invading bacteria, Causey and Weber are looking at the effect of different intrauterine medications and the animal's immune response.

The bacterium Streptococcus zooepidemicus, the organism most commonly isolated in infected mares, shares attributes with the group A streptococci, the human pathogens that cause such illnesses as strep throat and rheumatic fever, as well as uterine infections. Advancements in the treatment and prevention of uterine infections in horses, part of the push to fill in important gaps in our knowledge of equine infertility, could have human health implications.

Work by Causey and Weber on the immune response of mares to bacteria-induced uterine infection, was presented at the Society for Theriogenology Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2001, and at the Eighth International Symposium on Equine Reproduction last year in Colorado.

In addition, Weber has spearheaded Maine's research in artificial insemination in horses. While his primary research focuses on bovine reproduction, Weber also works with Maine horse breeders and veterinarians in such areas as equine embryo transfer, in vitro fertilization, and semen freezing and preservation. Such assisted reproductive technology in horses and cows is particularly important when it comes to producing genetically superior animals.