Editorial—Report from Argentina

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It is easy to be impressed with the horse industry in the United States, with our large variety of breeds and the strong horse economy. However, I recently had the opportunity to visit Argentina and experience firsthand a very unique segment of the horse industry, the Polo horse. Although I knew that Argentina was a leader in production of Polo horses, I had no idea of the size of the industry or the number of veterinarians focused on reproduction in Polo horses. Some of the top facilities in Argentina sponsor professionals who play polo during the season in Argentina then fly the horses to Florida for another season, then on to England and, finally, back to Argentina.

This unique industry is somewhat analogous to our Cutting Horse industry, in that multiple embryos are obtained from the good mares and put into recipients; the best Polo mares produce two to three foals per year. There are approximately 8–10 large embryo transfer facilities that are within 1–3 hours from Buenos Aires. Some of these facilities perform as many as 1,000 transfers per year. Equine vets in Argentina are very interested in the latest technologies for estrous and ovulation control, as well as embryo freezing. Embryo freezing allows them to reduce their recipient herd and store embryos in the event that a recipient mare is not available. These embryos can be transferred at a time of year when more recipient mares are available, or early in the year to allow foals to be born early in the breeding season.

On the way back into the city of Buenos Aires, one of the farm managers took me through several complexes where very valuable houses were built on Polo fields, much like we would build houses on golf courses in the United States. In the middle of these complexes were several stables where Polo horses were boarded. Instead of getting out to hit golf balls in the morning, one can go to the stable to play a few chukkers before going to the office.

I would like to visit each of these countries to learn about their niche markets firsthand.