Carol Wrote
I believe some of the pain she had this winter(noted unusual gait of back end) and still present is from her inability to ovulate

Dr K my question is this..Are there any contraindications in doing an ovary removal on a mare like this when they do test positive for either IR or Cushings? ( I understand THIS particular mare at 23 it is kind of a moot point, but if they had figured this out earlier ) Going by Carol's post I can imagine that during her show career they may have had dreams of producing foals, but now , knowing the mare I doubt thats a possibility..and an ovariectomy ( Ok I know I porobaby spelled that wrong) is not THAT expensive to do at least here .I think Nandi Vet ( Dr Hurtgen) only charged one owner I know around 500.00 and that was done orthoscopically from what I was told. Mare went home next day and was ridable within a week.Now that was a few years ago so it probably has gone up , but still cheap compared to years of regumate .
I have some mares here that the thought has crossed my mind to do it because I feel they shouldnt be bred for various reasons, and with the farm situation with my Boss' health and age I am betting these mare will leave the farm while still technically breedable. One or two of these mare are IR., but under control.Other than a slightly lower immune system, any other reason against , and on the other hand, any reason FOR doing it in a metabolic horse?

Sheri in PA

Dear Sheri PA,

you wrote
"Going by Carol's post I can imagine that during her show career they may
have had dreams of producing foals, but now , knowing the mare I doubt thats a
possibility."G

Actually this mare was very fertile and in fact was the first to produce 6
foals in one year embryo transfer--she had two on her own--a total of 10--the
first time she foundered was at the embryo transfer vets--he fed massive
amounts of grain-(first thing I said to him when I took her there is don't founder
my pony she is 14 3)-she was I think 13--I brought her back to sound and she
was for 5 years--until we had 4 ft of snow and no way to get exercise--and
the IR reared up--her videos are on you tube --just put calmypal38 into search
engine---
carol



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--- In EquineCushings@..., "Sheri Becker" <fsmcbic@...>
wrote:

Dr K my question is this..Are there any contraindications in doing

an ovary removal on a mare like this when they do test positive for
either IR or Cushings?

That's always my knee jerk reaction to (and would have parted with my
own more than once when they were still working!).

The down side is that the sex hormones, when normal, have a
regulatory activity in the brain, at least on Prolactin. They also
may have a role to play (again, when normal) in insulin sensitivity.
IR in stallions is virtually unheard of, but not geldings. In woman,
and presumably mares, insulin sensitivity varies throughout the
cycle; high when estrogen is high, lower when progesterone is high.
Menopause lowers both and lowers insulin sensitivity.

When the ovaries are abnormal, it's a chicken or egg question but I
suspect the IR comes before the ovarian problems. If the IR is
corrected, the ovaries return to normal function.

Bottom line is a I don't really know if it would benefit them,
metabolically anyway, but suspect not.

Eleanor