Researchers successfully make horse embryo with IVF, a first in Florida

by Meredith Bauer-Mitchell

The performance horse industry had a problem: Some of their most beloved and sought-after mares simply couldn’t have foals safely. To make matters more complicated, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) had not yet produced a healthy equine embryo, despite years of success in other species like cattle.  
 
But in a significant step forward for the industry, University of Florida Department of Animal Sciences researchers recently announced they were finally able to successfully fertilize an equine egg using IVF, the first time this feat has been accomplished in the state of Florida.  
 
The Florida horse industry is a significant economic driver, with breeding, training, show events, racing, rodeo and polo supporting an estimated 244,200 jobs and an annual economic impact of $6.8 billion, with indirect impacts like equine tourism contributing an additional $11.7 billion, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 

This discovery has resounding implications for the performance horse industry, which prefers to choose talented and highly valued mares to have the next generation of foals but need those mares to do so safely and in a way that keeps them healthy. The study was published online in Reproductive Biology and scheduled for print publication in June. 
 

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