“THE THRILL OF FINDING MY FIRST 14-DAY PREGNANCY WAS A HIGH POINT I’LL ALWAYS REMEMBER.”


almost to my shoulder, my arm twisted around to the right, my fingers tingling. I think my hand may fall off soon. Still no grapes. Dr. Kubiak was right… ovaries are hard! “Go back to your landmark,” Dr. Kubiak advises.


So I maneuver slowly and carefully back to the body of the uterus, wait for some feeling to tingle back into my hand, and then back up the right horn to 3 o’clock. 2 o’clock. 1 o’clock. Nothing. “Try the left,” he adds helpfully. Now I’m standing on a stool for better reach, and


I swim left, back to the central body of the uterus, which is starting to feel like home, and then gently up the left horn. Like a miracle, a big black follicle appears at the very end of my reach to the left, at 10 p.m. on the invisible mare-clock. Success! I freeze and measure the follicle, then remove my arm and what’s left of my hand and fingers (still tingling). I did it! After that first sweaty attempt, I was able to find


both ovaries most of the time, especially in the smaller mares. And with Dr. Kubiak’s help I learned to navigate using landmarks and knowledge of a mare’s internal anatomy.


PUT TO THE TEST Back home, my patient mares became my professors, along with books, laminated charts and instructional DVDs. I was much slower than my veterinarian at first, but I was careful. And the thrill of finding my first 14-day pregnancy was a high-point I’ll always remember. In the three seasons I’ve been using my own ultrasound machine on the farm, I have found more pregnancies than I can count, including three sets of 14-day twins that I was able to bring to the veterinarian in time for one to be pinched. I’ve convinced mares at midnight that it’s a good idea to get in the stocks again (bottomless buckets of feed at the eating-end helps) for one more follicle check before an insemination with frozen semen. I’ve found cystic follicles, with their other-worldly honey-comb texture, uterine cysts, which can masquerade as shiny, round 13- day pregnancies that never grow, and always that loveliest of things, the first shimmering pulse of a 30-day-old fetus’ beating heart.


Ann examines a mare on her farm with her ultrasound equipment. I now know my mares like never before—from the inside


out. I’ve discovered a world of seeing with sound and a new way to touch the living essence of a mare. And each spring, kneeling in a bed of straw in the darkest hours of the morning, I greet again these newborn foals I first met as round, black spheres, free floating in waves of gray.


WT


ABOUT ANN DAUM KUSTAR: Ann owns and operates Solomon Farm, a sport horse breeding facility in South Dakota (www.solomonfarm.com). She stands three stallions and breeds numerous foals each year, and is a frequent contributor to Warmbloods Today.


Photos: Ultrasound images are courtesy of Fisher Biomedical. Photos of the clinic and of Ann courtesy of Ann Daum Kustar. Warmbloods Today 51


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68