Part of Gina’s breeding soundness exam was a uterine culture, which yielded bacterial growth and required treatment before breeding.

My vet recommended treating the bacterial infection with intrauterine antibiotics administered daily for three days. I hauled Gina down to the vet last week for the treatments; I watched the first treatment and had a chance to chat with my vet about breeding, which was interesting and informative!

Well, one of us found this more interesting and informative than the other.

Well, one of us found this more interesting and informative than the other.

My vet wasn’t concerned about the bacterial growth on the culture; she said it isn’t uncommon and is easily remedied. I asked her about the cysts she found- were there an usual number? What caused them? Am I setting myself up for failure? My vet advised that she wouldn’t choose not to breed because of the cysts- there weren’t an unusual number, they weren’t very large, and it’s very common for older mares to develop them. She’s optimistic that Gina will be able to conceive and carry a foal without problems.

I also asked about riding; I’d really like to qualify for Green Country Dressage’s year end awards, which requires me to have at least one more score. The club doesn’t have much going on in the summer because it’s so hot, so I won’t have another opportunity to show until September. My vet assured me that it was totally fine (and even advisable) to continue riding Gina until the third trimester or so. She said since Gina’s in good shape and used to regular exercise that it’s better to continue to work her rather than have her do nothing.

Now that Gina’s cleaned up, we’ll do another culture in a couple of weeks. If there’s no bacterial growth, we’ll breed on the next heat cycle! That puts us around the second week of June. I’m super excited- keep your fingers crossed that Queen G doesn’t grow anything else!