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“buyers” trip to a Canadian PMU farm. Her rapid-fire recount of the trip quite suddenly came to an abrupt pause. “Please know that what I am about to share with you in no way obligates you or your ranch in any way. In our purchase, we acquired a very special little horse that I would love for you to come and see …”
    I whipped my hat back on my head before it was cold. I quickly rationalized, “Dinner is overrated and any excuse is good enough for me to go and look at horses.” Laughing to myself, I shoved a power bar into my pocket and headed back out the front door.
    While driving the distance between our two ranches, I tried to piece together all of the fragments of information that Virginia had just given me. I wasn’t sure what I was about to see when I arrived at her place. They had just brought down one hundred weanlings, who were now in a very large corral recuperating from their 1,200-mile journey.
    In addition to being identical twins, Virginia and Vickie are well known in Central Oregon for many things. Together with their employer, they purchased the freedom of several hundred industry horses and brought them home to begin a new life in Oregon.
    Aside from their excellent work ethic and easy humor, they, more than all others combined, have brought PMU awareness and action to our beautiful state.
    PMU is an acronym for Pregnant Mare Urine, which isthe source of hormones used to create the enormously popular hormone replacement therapy drug called Premarine. It’s also used in many over-the-counter “anti-aging” cosmetics. Harvesting mare urine for these products has been going on for the last sixty years. This is done by placing mares in a specialized “collection” stall. This space, which becomes their home for six months or more, is not wide enough for them to turn around in or lay down flat. Once they deliver their foal, the mares are immediately rebred, because it is only when they are pregnant that they produce the highly sought-after hormones. The resulting foals, especially the colts, are of little value to these farms, and are routinely sent to feedlots where most are sold for slaughter.
    Seeing the great need to intervene for these imperiled foals, Virginia and Vicki began their mission. By purchasing quantities of weanling colts and fillies, they initially hoped to train them up for numerous “dude strings” throughout the area. As these young horses entered the community and started proving themselves, their popularity began to soar.
    As most who have ever owned animals understand, it is relatively easy to find homes for young, cute, pliable individuals. Sadly, the aged, broken, and fearful ones do not have this ease afforded to them.
    When studies revealed that cancer could be linked to Hormone Replacement Therapy treatment, drug sales dropped dramatically and suddenly 30,000 PMU mares were out of work. At their age, and being large, heavy horses with virtually no training or socialization, nearly all were in grave peril of being slaughtered.
    When the devastating news of the PMU mares’ jeopardy reached Virginia and Vicki, they did more than just feel badfor them. Instead of only “feeling,” they
acted
.
    In what could perhaps be an Oregon-to-Alberta-to-Oregon turnaround speed record, they purchased as many mares as their convoy could move. Their final tally was 240 pregnant mares—all of whom now have a safe home and will never be in danger of slaughter again. However, any accolade that might be given to either of the dynamic twins would just be matter-of-factly shrugged off. While punctuated with an expression of satisfaction, they would merely view it as all in another day’s work.
    Even though PMU farms have been in existence since 1942, it has only been in the last decade that urine harvesting practices have been more readily revealed. The horses involved in this industry are primarily heavy draft and draft crosses. This is to ensure greater volumes of urine per horse. A