Broken Horses Healing Broken Kids in Colorado

Charis Youth Ranch has rescued horses from PMU farms.  What is a PMU horse?  

 PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) horses are pregnant mares used to produce the urine from which the hormone replacement drug Premarin is made.  To produce Premarin, the horses are impregnated and locked in a stall that is 8 feet long x 3.5 feet wide x 5 feet high. A typical mare, depending on the breed, will be around 8 - 9 feet long, 2-3 feet wide and 5 feet high.  The horses are very cramped inside the stalls and are unable to move - basically, they are in a small cage. Their urine is captured into containers which is then made into Premarin.  Gestation is 11 months and the mares are confined in the stalls for 7 months.  They are let out to pastures during their last months of gestation and give birth during late April, May, June and July.  There is a stallion in the pasture and the mares are re-bred as soon as they are in heat.  In September, they are put back into the stalls  and the process begins again.  The foals are taken from their mothers and go to feedlots where they are fattened, sent to auction or slaughter houses. If a mare does not become pregnant, she is sent to a slaughter house.

PMU farms used to exist all across the USA and were also prevalent in Canada.  Due to increasing pressure of animal welfare regulation, and public outcry over the horrible fates often suffered by the foals, current PMU production has moved overseas.