LSU Equine Health Studies Program Launches
Stallion Service Auction to Expand Intensive Care Unit
The Equine Health Studies Program (EHSP) in the
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine will launch its first annual multiple-breed
Stallion Service Auction in September to generate funds for expansion of the
Equine Intensive Care Unit in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and Clinics.
The new intensive care unit, projected to cost
$845,000, will be expanded from a two-stall facility to a ten-stall facility,
better meeting the rising demand from the expanding Louisiana horse industry.
"The equine case load at the veterinary school has increased approximately
15 percent annually since 1990, with 20 to 25 percent of the admitted horses
requiring emergency and critical care services," explained Dr. Rustin
Moore, EHSP director. The new unit will include four stalls specially designed
for critically ill neonatal foals and their dams, and one stall with padded
walls and an overhead hoist for horses with severe neurologic or
musculoskeletal disease. The other 6 stalls will be equipped to accommodate
critically ill and injured adult horses requiring advanced emergency and
critical care veterinary services. The equine program has currently raised
$450,000 through fund-raising events and charitable gifts.
"The Stallion Service Auction offers mare
owners the opportunity to select top quality stallions for breeding with
potentially discounted fees," said Dr. Moore. Currently, stallion owners
from Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Virginia, California, Oregon, New
York, and other states have donated over 100 stallion breedings to the auction.
Their are no direct costs incurred to the stallion owners; stallion owners will
be recognized as participants in the auction; stallions will be promoted and
the farms marketed in numerous local, regional, and national equine
publications and on the internet; and contributions are tax deductible in the
full amount of the stallion's regular stud fee, regardless of what it brings in
the auction.
All stallion services offered in the auction
are intended for the 2002 breeding season and individuals may bid on any number
of stallion services. Bidding on the stallions opens September 1 and closes
October 15 at 12 p.m. Bids will be placed on the Internet with the highest bid
always being current, and bids made over regular stud fees are tax deductible
for the mare owners. Auction winners will be notified by October 16 and the
auction results will be announced on the Internet by November 3.
More detailed auction information and bids are
available at http://equine.vetmed.lsu.edu. If you would like to donate a
stallion service, make bids on the stallion services, or for more information
on the Stallion Service Auction, visit the auction website listed above or
contact Dr. Rustin Moore at (225) 578-9500 or via e-mail at
ssa@vetmed.lsu.edu.
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