Dale,

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Melissa Dale
R. A. Brown
UWRT 1103
Ann-Bib Reflection
22 April 2015
Annotated Bibliography Reflection
My topic for my annotated bibliography was, Why the PMU Baby and Nurse Mare Foal
Industries Should be Illegal. I selected this topic because I have grown up knowing about the
issue and how serious it is but I never witnessed it firsthand until I began my observations at
Spittin Pond Farm. I started observing two PMU babies, Chance and Blaze, and also recently
the farm received three nurse mare foals from Kentucky. These horrendous industries are
completely legal, but the foals are being exploited illegally. The issues with the legalities of the
situation revolve around money; both of the industries make so much money that the
humaneness of the treatment of the animals is often overlooked. America is a capitalistic society
and unfortunately we take advantage of beings that cannot speak for themselves.
This issue tugs at my heartstrings because of my deep love for horses. I cannot imagine
committing such an atrocity against an animal that is so necessary in our world today. Every
experience I have ever had with a horse has revealed to me the generosity of the species and their
love for mankind; it is a shame to see this not reciprocated to them by us. Being in community
with Chance and Blaze these past four months has made me even more frustrated with the issue
because there are so many horses that never get to grow and mature into amazing animals such
as Chance and Blaze did.

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As I looked more into the topic, I was astonished by how many alternatives there are to
the Premarin industry and how illegal the nurse mare foal industry should be. I was also
astonished by how many people of power know about this issue and only see the dollar bills that
fly out of those barns filled with innocent animals. I learned that the production of nurse mare
foals is considered ranching and the farms claim that they do not get rid of their foals until at
least four months old. The one thing that I learned that frustrated me the most was the fact that
horse rescues set up for the purpose of rescuing these animals pay the price that tanners pay to
buy the foals for their leather. This price is usually around $200- $300. In just completing my
research I have lost faith in our species to stand up for the animals that built America.
Over the course of this project, my conviction for the topic has become stronger. There is
one extreme like PETA (which is one of my sources) that supports no animal products whether
they be clothes, food, accessories, or necessities. I am not quite as far left as PETA, but I am
definitely not as far right as the Ranching Association that supports the production of nurse mare
foals and PMU babies. I feel as though I can do more; instead of breeding my mares at home I
can invest in a $400 PMU baby that needs to be rescued. The most important thing that I can do
is spread awareness of this issue and work with my communities to end the violence towards
horses.
The article that was the most useful to me was the North American Equine Ranching
Information Council article that supported the production of PMU babies. This article gave me a
baseline for all of the arguments that I needed to prove wrong in my research. Every major claim
that was made in the article became a point for me to destruct through opposing sources and
research. The NAERIC website served as the hypothetical opposition to the debate I was having
through finding my sources.

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I have learned through this research project how to find applicable and credible sources.
Opinions are everywhere on the Internet and it is up to the reader to use his or her own
discretion. There are certain criteria that a source needs to fit into in order to be credible and
those criteria are going to be extremely useful in my future studies. I hope to apply what I have
learned in this project to future classes that I will take, especially the psychology classes that I
will take for my major.