A day-old colt named Blue Ridge's Another Chance nurses from her mother, Stacy, at the Delp farm in Culpeper. Stacy was bred in Canada, where her urine was collected to produce the main ingredient for the hormone replacement therapy medication Premarin. smc View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

FINDING HOMES FOR HORSES USED TO MAKE DRUG

The Delps of Culpeper County are part of an organization that rescues foals that are the 'byproducts' of the manufacture of a hormone therapy drug, and places them in loving homes

By ADELE UPHAUS

Date published: 5/17/2004

By ADELE UPHAUS

HUNDERBOLT now has her pick of rolling hills to frolic on and fresh grass to munch.

She has equine friends to play with, human friends to stroke her chestnut brown coat--still covered with baby fuzz--and prosperous orange cats to bask in the sun at her feet.

Her life at Eagle Hill Farm, the Culpeper home of Ann and Steven Delp, is idyllic. But if she had stayed at the farm in Canada where she was born, her fate would have been uncertain.

Nine-month-old Thunderbolt is a PMU foal--a byproduct of the production of the estrogen-replacement drug Premarin.

Usually prescribed for women to treat the hot flashes and night sweats that can accompany menopause, or for women who have had a hysterectomy, Premarin is derived from the urine of pregnant mares (PREgnant MAre uRINe).

Farms, mainly in Canada, harvest the urine from an estimated 60,000 mares, which are kept pregnant, each year. The urine is then exported to Wyeth-Ayerst laboratories in New Jersey, which manufactures the drug, said Kathy George, public relations manager for Another Chance for Horses, during a telephone interview.

Thousands of foals like Thunderbolt are left over to be dealt with, Ann Delp said. Often they are sold to feedlots for slaughter, to be exported to countries such as France and Japan where horse meat is a delicacy.

When she came to Eagle Hill Farm, Thunderbolt was 3 months old and grossly underweight. She's still much thinner than foals her age should be, but she's made up for her scrawniness with feistiness.

"She should never have been separated from her mother," Delp said. "But now she's the leader of the pack."

The Delps' farm is a sanctuary for babies and pregnant mares who have been exported from the Canadian farms. They are part of an organization called Another Chance for Horses, a not-for-profit, volunteer-run outfit that attempts to find homes for the animals.

Another Chance and similar organizations pay the Canadian farmers more money to keep mothers and foals together than they would get for selling the foals to feedlots, Delp explained.

George said this amount depends on the price of horse meat, which can be up to 60 cents a pound.

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Date published: 5/17/2004