Anyone used AI when breeding horses?

neasham

neasham

Rach
Nov 20, 2006
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N.Yorkshire
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I'm hoping to get my friesian mare minke in foal next spring and am just on with picking out a stallion for her.However AI is used alot in friesian horse breeding as all the stallions with breeding privaleges are in Holland or America at the moment.Was just wondering if anyone had any experience with breeding horse via AI?

Thanks

Rachael
 
Many stud farms on the continent do it that way these days... but you have to be careful about the quality of... ahem... the semen :o. If you pay per dose and the quality is not so great, it might cost you a whole lot more than putting your mare out on grass with a very keen stallion for a week or so...
 
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Most sporthorse stallions are AI only. Partly as there is too much risk of them getting kicked when they are due to compete and also because it means they can cover more mares.

So very common. Terms and conditions will vary. Fresh or chilled usually comes with not in foal 1st October free return, occasionally there is a live foal guarantee. If the mare doesn't take they will supply further doses with only transport/health paper costs. Frozen is mostly a pay per dose - usually a lower stud fee but no free return terms. Some will supply several doses of frozen and you just return any unused. if you do use frozen you need to check what the motility is for the stallion's frozen semen - some stallions don't freeze well.

Belle (my 2½yo filly) was conceived by AI.

Conception rates vary but that is usually down to the skill of the vet or AI technician and the timing of the insemination. Ask the vet you plan to use what the conception rate is.

I sent Peri (Belle's Mum) to the stud for he AI as they have a superb success rate (100% for 4 out of the last 5 years). Also worth shopping around as prices may vary. I paid just over £300 which covered up to 3 cycles and included any necessary drugs and all scans to 30 days. I know folk who are paying that much per cycle!
 
Friesians can be tricky to inseminate as you need a vet with experience with the breed due to thier weird follicle size compared with all other breeds. The follicle is much larger than normal and would be considered cystic in another breed - another thing to thank the tiny gene pool for!:rolleyes: Also you will find alot of friesian stallions do not offer frozen as they just don't freeze well or have border line semen quality - something that the majority of friesian stallions fail on when they go to the stallion gradings in holland - the gene pool is very tiny and getting smaller so fertility is decreasing alot, so make sure you get a really good vet.
Has your mare had a foal before?
What are you looking to produce?
 
No she has never had a foal before as she has only just turned 4.I am hoping to get the best foal out of her I can as if it is a good quality filly I would keep it to do further breeding with and obviously a better quality colt would fetch more (I dont have the facilities to keep a stallion and obviously getting a friesian stallion good enough for breeding privaleges is about 1000 to 1!).I have been doing alot of research on friesian stallions and will be using a fully registered stallion which means it will have had all the tests done which does make things safer but not less expensive!At the moment I have found Felle 422,Sape 381 and Tietse will all ship frozen semen to the UK.However my mares faults I would like to improve are the length of her forearm which would hopefully improve on her trot and she has a slightly weak back.

Lgd- what stud farm did you use for your horse?

If anyone knows of any good yards specialising in AI most probably using frozen semen then that would be great!

Thanks for your help!
 
Twelmlows in Shropshire has very good AI rates, my stallion Wessel went there to have his semen collected, after heaps of tests - we got all the tests you can get done so his tadpoles can travel anywhere in the world!!:D
Have you got a conformational shot of your mare?
 
you dont mean wessel 237?!?I dont have any very acurate conformation shots of my mare but bellow are a couple taken from the friesian gradings the one with her stood is not straight to the camera though so not sure how well it shows any faults!:

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blackhorses said:
Twelmlows in Shropshire has very good AI rates, my stallion Wessel went there to have his semen collected, after heaps of tests - we got all the tests you can get done so his tadpoles can travel anywhere in the world!!:D
Have you got a conformational shot of your mare?
Click to expand...

Yes they are excellent- The stallion on our yard used to stand there Now he goes to Westpoint stud in shropshire! To deliver his fresh tadpoles! It is interesting to go and have a look what goes on! :o

AI is def a safer option as said there is no risk of being kicked etc
 
I use Holdenfold stud in Lancashire - was using one of their own stallions so the mare keep is cheaper, AI costs the same regardless of if their stallion or not, the vet who does their work is Aldington Vets

Another good repro vet who would be nearer to you is Jonathon Pycock, although think he is more expensive.
 
I visited a sports horse stud recently and she gave me a whole lot of vital information on it which was really handy as it may save me an arm and a leg. Ill be posting about my visit in the general forum. I have bred from her twice but both times natural.
 
She's lovely, although I can see what you mean about her long back, her length of forearm is fine, it will be the fact she has a long back that will not enable her to do such a high stepping trot as she can't bring her back legs far enough beneath her to collect herself, you just need a stallion with a nice short back that passes it on. Make sure you do look at lots of a stallions offspring though to see if it does pass on its action as alot of stallion are trained to do the high stepping trot and don't do it naturally, which can be annoying when looking for a match for a mare. Go for one of the older stallions as they tend to be more compact.

No my boy is not Wessel 237 - I think he died quite a while ago!, my boy is by Feitse and thank god is not a stud book stallion just foal book registered so his pure foals can be put in the B-book, although I don't register any of our own pure foals as they are baroque so no point! I would never put a horse through the training process in Holland for the stallion keurings, I wouldn't want him ruined, plus they don't like crossbreeding. I love the results we have got so far, and none of them will have the genetic problems that friesians have, we are really picky though what mares go to our boys - they must be a certain callibre of girl you know!!!:p;).
 
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