Carleigh Fedorka, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Kentucky (UK) Gluck Equine Research Center, has started a crowdfunding campaign for her equine hormone therapy research.

The study, “Hormone Therapy: Suppressing your mare’s estrous, or suppressing her immune system?” is part of the Horse Nation Equine Research Challenge Grant on experiment.com, a crowdfunding platform specifically for scientific research. Fedorka hopes to raise $4,500 by June 8.

Fedorka said this research is important because it is believed that one in three mares will be given a hormone therapy at some point in her life.

“In order to improve the overall health of our sport horses, broodmares, and racehorses, it is imperative that we understand the effects of these medications in other parts of the body,” she said. “Data from our lab indicates that altrenogest does have an effect on the immune system, but we have not studied MPA (medroxyprogesterone acetate) or the receptors and pathways through which they both function. Improved knowledge on how they work and the effects that they have will lead to management changes that improve the general health of our horses.”

To learn more, watch a video of Fedorka explaining her project, and support her research, visit experiment.com/projects/hormone-therapy-suppressing-your-mares-estrous-or-suppressing-her-immune-system.

Author: Jenny Evans