A Premarin pill consists of…

alpha-dihydroequilin
calcium phosphate tribasic
calcium sulfate anhydrous
carnauba wax
cellulose
conjugated estrogens
D&C Red No. 27
equilin
estrone
FD&C Blue No. 2
FD&C Red No. 40
glyceryl monooleate
lactose
magnesium stearate
medroxyprogesterone acetate
methylcellulose
pharmaceutical glaze
polyethylene glycol
povidone
stearic acid
sucrose
talc
titanium dioxide
tribasic
yellow ferric oxide

and….

100% suffering

As unlikely as it sounds, the most widely used drug in the United States is made from animal waste. The drug is an estrogen (female sex hormone) substitute that is used by millions of women worldwide to ease the symptoms of menopause (permanent cessation of menstruation). Wyeth-Ayerst (the drugs company) claims that the "secret ingredient" (pregnant mares' urine or PMU) sets it apart from other estrogen drugs on the market. But it contains another ingredient as well: ANIMAL SUFFERING.

Tens of thousands of pregnant mares are confined to tiny stalls for 6-7 months (of their eleven-month pregnancies) at a stretch out of every year, for up to 20 years. Most of them don’t see daylight for months. This confinement is for the sake of collecting urine, to be used for the manufacture of this estrogen replacement drug called Premarin.
The pregnant mares are tethered to the front of stalls measuring just 3½ to 5 feet wide (1 to 1.5 meter) and 8 feet long (2.5 meter). For six months or so, while their bodies are producing the highest amounts of estrogen, these mares are unable to take more than a step or two at any direction.
They cannot turn around or even lie down. As a result, mares often suffer from lameness.
The mares are forced to wear cumbersome rubber urine-collection bags, 24 hours a day, which chafe their legs and cause sores.

Farmers limit the horses' drinking water so that their urine will yield higher concentration levels of estrogen.
Besides the agony of the constant thirst, this act of greed causes mares to suffer from kidney and liver problems. It also causes the mares to struggle and injure themselves during water-distribution times, when they try to get to the water they so desperately crave for.

During pregnancy the mares produce higher amounts of estrogen, therefore they are systematically raped. The born foals are forcibly separated from their mothers in order not to “interrupt” the farmers.

Ripping a foal from a mare and moving one or both animals to a new location is so stressful that sometimes one or both die consequently.
The traumatic experience suppresses the immune system. The mare can experience a serious udder distention. Both animals become susceptible to colic and various eating disorders. Incessant vocalization (frantic whinnying), pacing the fence line or stall, biting and chewing are high stress symptoms that result from the separation.

Still in trauma from having their babies taken away from them, the mares are re-raped and then tethered again in the small wooden stall.

The mares are re-impregnated within days of giving birth. Many are going through this harrowing cycle for more than 20 years!

To the PMU farmers, the foals worth more dead than alive and so become horse meat for humans. Just as the male calves born to dairy cows are considered a by-product of the dairy industry, the foals of PMU mares are considered nothing more than a by-product of Premarin.
These foals worth less than the urine their mothers produce.

Most of the foals die soon after birth. 65% die in their first week. 45% are unable to survive the bitterly cold temperatures of the shed.
The main causes of death are starvation and the exposure to the cold temperatures.
The mares are usually locked up in large unsheltered open paddocks to deliver their foals, very often in sub-zero temperature. It is not surprising. The workers see these animals only as objects that provide them the next salary. Like in any other industry.

Few foals are used to replace worn-out mares, on what farmers call 'pee-lines', but most are sent to feedlots where they are fattened and then slaughtered for meat.

When the mares become old, infertile or crippled, they are auctioned and send to slaughter. At the auctions, PMU foals and worn out mares join other horses who are "unwanted" or "surplus" – most of whom are sent to slaughter.
The PMU foals are only between two to four months old when they are sent to auction. Too young to be weaned, these tiny foals can be regularly observed trying to nurse each other.

The auctions provide an "easy out" for horse owners, where all they have to do is 'drop off' an animal at an auction facility and wait for a payment. Auctions have been found selling sick, sore, lame, disabled, blind and pregnant mares on numerous occasions. For every animal that is sold, the auction collects a fee, so, it is in the best interest of the auction's pocket to accept and sell as many animals as possible. Horses that are no longer profitable to their owners are sold this way so that the very last nickel possible is squeezed out of them.
The only thing that matters is how many pounds of usable meat will come from the horse.
Economic considerations dictate the conditions.

Horses bound for slaughter are usually shipped for long distances. They usually can’t rest, are not fed, or watered during travel. Terrified horses are crammed and transported to slaughter in double-deck trucks. The truck ceilings are so low that the horses are unable to hold their heads in a normal, balanced position. The flooring of the trailer becomes increasingly slippery and slimy with manure and urine. Exhausted horses, desperately try to maintain their footing, as the trailer careens along interstate highways. Small ones are crushed to death when larger horses fall on them. The worst case is of pregnant mares which give birth to foals on the trailers – while they're in route – with the helpless newborns getting trampled to death underfoot.

By the time the trailers arrive to the slaughterhouse, the very long and harrowing trip has taken its toll. The horses who have managed to survive the trip are completely exhausted, starving, dying of thirst, in pain, and frightened. Many of them have injuries – such as broken limbs or gouged out eyes.
A rope or a chain is used to drug the dead and the downed but still alive horses, out of the trailer.

Once inside the slaughterhouse, more callous workers, standing high on the railing that line the stalls, beat the horses on the nose, forehead, neck, back or hindquarters to get them to move. The beatings continue until they enter the kill chute.

"Two egregious acts of cruelty took place right in front of me". Said an eyewitness. "Running across the floor of the barn was a grate-covered drain about three feet deep. A section of the grate was missing in one of the stalls through which horses were being forced. Because they were crammed into a space and panicking, each horse fell into the open hole, unable to get out since the floor was wet and slippery. Workers continued to beat the horses until they were able to throw their bodies out of this hole. Due to the overcrowding and panic, a large male got his leg hooked over one of the upper rails. Again, workers proceeded to beat him continually until the horse lunged forward gouging his leg open on the solid metal fence, which force his leg free of the rail."

Nothing unusual about this description.

It is estimated that there are more horses today (used for equestrian events, PMU farms, horseracing) than there were in the days of the horse-drawn carriage.