FoalMaker = double-blind + placebo-controlled study published + patent (breeding stallions + semen quality + pregnancies per cycle) for a 62.5% relative increase in per cycle conception rate.
Optimal is to start supplementation 60–90 days pre-breeding. The patent is for improving per-cycle conception rates through nutritional supplementation. Both the stallion and mare products are covered by the patent work.
In other words: there was no statistical change in the non-supplemented control stallions, but those getting FoalMaker created MORE pregnancies, with 128 FEWER cycles!.
We will have a limited supply in this pre-launch year. Depending on the timing of responses, it is likely that shipments will be split so every committed customer can be covered for the entire gestation. In future, the goal is to provide 14 months in a single shipment and payment for each mare in her first year on product, then 12 months for following years.
There is one clearly identifiable published abstract that tests FoalMaker in breeding stallions, earlier reporting on that controlled trial, and a separate body of mechanistic papers. The distinction matters. Many papers cited around glucosamine and glycosaminoglycans support a biological rationale for ingredients. They do not, by themselves, test the finished FoalMaker product.
Nie G., Rohrback B., Wenzel J., Bennett B., Bailey J., Martin J., Davenport D. (2003). “Effect of Feeding a Nutritional Supplement (FoalMaker™) to Breeding Stallions on Semen Quality and Pregnancies per Cycle in a Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Study.” Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 22(5), p. 475, Abstract 79.
It was also presented at the 2003 American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium at the ACVIM Annual Meeting, and as a poster at the American College of Nutrition 44th Annual Symposium. The title itself identifies the design: double-blind, placebo-controlled, breeding stallions, semen quality, pregnancies per cycle. This is the citation to put first. It is an abstract, not a full peer-reviewed paper.
In January 2002, DVM360 reported midpoint results from the double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Stallions receiving FoalMaker showed about a 30% improvement in per-cycle conception rate compared with the control group at the midpoint. The report also described increases in total sperm count in certain stallions and noted that thousands of ejaculates had been analyzed.
Mares were bred by artificial insemination using a controlled number of sperm cells. The report treated the sperm-count change as separate from the conception-rate change. That is a stronger reading than “the stallions simply produced more sperm.”
A published article by the developers discusses experience with a glucosamine-containing equine reproductive supplement identified as FoalMaker. The authors reported experience, along with faculty from two veterinary teaching hospitals, indicating a positive influence on per-cycle conception rates and total sperm per ejaculate, without observed negative effects on stallion health. At the time that article was written, those data were described as submitted for publication.
The same article discusses use in reproductively difficult mares, including mares previously bred that remained barren. Those mare observations are clinical and field experience. They are not equivalent to the controlled stallion trial.
The female-reproduction literature cited around FoalMaker covers glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine, glycosaminoglycans, cumulus expansion, oocyte maturation, sperm–egg interaction, zona pellucida biology, and fertilization. Cited work reports that glucosamine-related pathways participate in cumulus-oocyte complex expansion, and that disrupting glucosamine synthesis can inhibit cumulus expansion and suppress ovulation in experimental systems. Other cited work examines glycosaminoglycan production in bovine cumulus-oocyte complexes.
That is useful mechanistic support. It should stay separate from claims of demonstrated FoalMaker efficacy. The male-reproduction bibliography includes N-acetylglucosamine and sperm physiology across species, and equine work on stallion sperm binding to oviductal epithelial cells.
➔ Nie et al., JACN 2003, Abstract 79 — direct controlled study of FoalMaker in breeding stallions.
➔ 2003 AAVN/ACVIM presentation — the same FoalMaker research presented scientifically.
➔ American College of Nutrition poster — the same research as a scientific poster.
➔ 2002 DVM360 report — midpoint controlled-trial results, about 30% improved per-cycle conception.
➔ Multi-year commercial field work — additional experience with conception rates and sperm output.
➔ Published glucosamine and GAG reproductive literature — biological plausibility, not a finished-product trial.
➔ Problem-mare clinical experience — supportive observations, weaker evidence.
62.5% is the relative increase from 24% pregnancies per cycle before supplementation to 39% during supplementation in the stallions assigned to FoalMaker. It is not a 62.5-point jump.
The calculation is (39% − 24%) ÷ 24% = 62.5% relative improvement. That 24% to 39% comparison appears in the patent’s detailed description of the study. Treatment-group stallions settled mares in 83 of 351 cycles (24%) in 2000, before supplementation, versus 86 of 223 cycles (39%) in 2001 while receiving the supplement. (In other words: there was no statistical change in the non-supplemented control stallions, but those getting FoalMaker created MORE pregnancies, with 128 FEWER cycles!)
The study involved 12 Tennessee Walking Horse stallions at a commercial breeding farm in middle Tennessee. Stallions were grouped by age and randomized to treatment or control for the 2001 season. Farm personnel were blinded to treatment assignment. Treated stallions received the nutritional supplement. Controls received an inert placebo. Supplement or placebo was divided between morning and evening feedings.
All mares in the fertility analysis were bred by artificial insemination with fresh semen, not by live cover. Semen volume, concentration, motility, morphology, and viability were evaluated. Pregnancy was confirmed at about day 16. Pregnancy data were analyzed with a mixed-model repeated-measures procedure, with stallion included as a random factor.
➔ Before supplementation: 83 of 351 breeding cycles — 24% pregnancies per cycle.
➔ During supplementation: 86 of 223 breeding cycles — 39% pregnancies per cycle.
➔ That is 15 percentage points greater, and a 62.5% relative improvement.
➔ During the defined T2–T4 treatment periods, the supplemented stallions’ improvement versus their own previous season was reported as statistically significant (P<0.05).
➔ Fertility among controls stayed essentially unchanged. The direct treated-versus-placebo comparison in 2001 was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The investigators noted that loss of two control stallions reduced the control group and may have limited statistical power.
Mean sperm motility, sperm concentration, and total sperm number were not significantly different between treatment and control stallions over the evaluation period. Because mares were bred by artificial insemination under controlled breeding management, the investigators concluded that the pregnancy-rate increase could not simply be attributed to production of a greater total number of sperm.
➔ JACN Abstract 79 — Nie et al., Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2003;22(5):475. The issue table of contents is the public journal record. Abstract 79 is the FoalMaker stallion abstract on page 475.
➔ 2003 AAVN/ACVIM presentation — American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium, held with the ACVIM Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. A separate 2003 abstract page is not posted. ACVIM is the meeting host.
➔ American College of Nutrition poster — 44th Annual Symposium on Advances in Clinical Nutrition, October 2003. The College is now the American Nutrition Association. A separate poster file is not posted.
➔ U.S. Patent 7,776,366 B2 — issued patent with the 24% to 39% study numbers.
➔ U.S. Patent Application US20040156923A1 — Method and Nutraceutical Composition for Mammals, Davenport and Martin, assigned to MD's Choice, Inc.
➔ FoalMaker on MD's Choice — current product page for the stallion and mare reproduction packets.
➔ Research page — the same citations, with the patent section last.
Nie G, Rohrback B, Wenzel J, Bennett B, Bailey J, Martin J, Davenport D. Effect of Feeding a Nutritional Supplement (FoalMaker™) to Breeding Stallions on Semen Quality and Pregnancies per Cycle in a Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Study. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2003;22(5):475. Abstract 79.
The same work was presented at the 2003 American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium, held with the ACVIM Annual Meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and as a scientific poster at the American College of Nutrition’s 44th Annual Symposium on Advances in Clinical Nutrition in October 2003.
The study and supporting experimental data are also described in U.S. Patent Application US20040156923A1, Method and Nutraceutical Composition for Mammals, filed by David F. Davenport and J. Eric Martin and assigned to MD’s Choice, Inc. A subsequent patent issued as U.S. Patent No. 7,776,366.
Scientifically precise conclusion: stallions receiving the FoalMaker nutritional formulation increased pregnancies per breeding cycle from 24% in the preceding season to 39% during supplementation, a 62.5% relative improvement. The within-treatment historical comparison was statistically significant during the principal treatment periods. The contemporaneous treatment-versus-placebo difference did not reach statistical significance. (In other words: there was no statistical change in the non-supplemented control stallions, but those getting FoalMaker created MORE pregnancies, with 128 FEWER cycles!)
➔ Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2003, volume 22, issue 5 — the issue that carries Abstract 79, page 475. A separate public abstract page for Abstract 79 was not found.
➔ Google Scholar search for Nie et al., Abstract 79.
➔ ACVIM — host of the 2003 AAVN Clinical Nutrition and Research Symposium in Charlotte. A public proceedings file for that FoalMaker presentation was not found.
➔ American Nutrition Association — current organization of the former American College of Nutrition, host of the 44th Annual Symposium poster. A public poster file was not found.
➔ U.S. Patent 7,776,366 B2 and the earlier application US20040156923A1.
➔ It does mean the pregnancy-per-cycle rate rose from 24% to 39% in the treatment stallions. That equals a 62.5% relative improvement.
➔ It does not mean 62.5 percentage points were added. The result was not 24% to 86.5%. It was 24% to 39%.
➔ It should not be described as a 62.5% improvement demonstrated in Thoroughbred stallions. The controlled population documented in the patent was Tennessee Walking Horses.
➔ It should not be described as proven under live-cover Thoroughbred conditions. The study used artificial insemination with fresh semen.
An older MD’s Choice brochure states that documentation from studies over four years, involving more than 30 commercial stallions, showed an average 62.5% improvement in per-cycle conception rates. The underlying datasets or separate peer-reviewed publications covering all 30-plus stallions have not been located here. That statement is best classed as company-reported field documentation, not as a peer-reviewed publication that independently documents 30-plus stallions.
The strongest independently traceable chain is: 12-stallion commercial controlled study, JACN Abstract 79, AAVN/ACVIM presentation, American College of Nutrition poster, detailed numbers in the patent, then later company field documentation extending experience to 30-plus commercial stallions.
A fertility or conception claim on a commercial feed label can raise animal-food regulatory issues. A careful on-label line is “Studied in breeding stallions in a blinded, placebo-controlled commercial breeding study,” rather than a large 62.5% efficacy claim, unless feed-control counsel has cleared that wording.