May/June 2025 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN May/June 2025 Page 31 Visit us online at www.eastcoastequestrian.net Cornell and Hanover Shoe Farms to Study Early Pregnancy Loss in Standardbreds Press release The Equine Pregnancy Lab at the Cornell Baker Institute for Animal Health, part of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, NY, and Hanover Shoe Farms, Hanover, PA, have created a partnership to study the genetic causes of early pregnancy loss in the Standardbred mare. The leads for this initiative are Dr. Mandi de Mestre, the McConville Pro- fessor of Equine Medicine and Director of the Baker Institute for Animal Health and Russell Williams, President and C.E.O. of Hanover Shoe Farms. About 10-15 percent of all confirmed horse pregnancies fail to result in live birth, and Dr. de Mestre has studied this phenom- enon for more than 15 years during her time at the Royal Veterinary College in London and now at Cornell College of Vet- erinary Medicine. She has found that over 50 percent of pregnancy losses are attributed to genetic ab- normalities in the fetus including chromosomal errors. Dr. de Mestre’s previous studies primarily utilized a Thor- oughbred model. Thie project will include Standardbreds, which use Artificial Insemination as the primary breeding method. According to Dr. de Mestre, “As the largest Standardbred breeding farm in North America, Ha- nover Shoe Farms is a welcome partner for the collaboration and their outstanding staff and noted excellence at managing a large and valuable herd will provide the project with the support to ex- plore the important contribution of this condition in the Standard- bred.”