Category: Breeding and Birthing

The Veterinary medicine and science that support our breeding efforts: from breeding to birth. Hormones, ultrasound, medications, and treatments.

Breeding and Birthing
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When is my mare going to foal?

Foaling season every year makes us second guess our ability to predict foaling, experienced breeder or newbie is always a bit of a guessing game with mares as to when they will foal. But while I can’t give you a 100% guarantee of predicting exactly when your mare will foal I will share here some tested methods for narrowing your guesses. As usual: for those that want Cole’s note version of the longer article: Mares have no due date- The AVERAGE gestation duration is between 320-350 days with an absolute average between 340-345 days. There is no ONE clear signal that tells you that your mare is about...

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Breeding and Birthing
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Timing of frozen insemination.

The popularity of frozen semen appears to be on the rise as technology becomes more commonplace and knowledge, and availability increase. Breeders are always on the lookout to have access to the best and most marketable sires available and a lot of them are only offered with frozen semen. As we saw in our previous blog on frozen semen (The agony and ecstasy of frozen semen.) there are definite advantages and disadvantages to using frozen semen. One of the main challenges is this sensitivity to timing. It always made me curious: Why is frozen semen was so sensitive to timing in regard to ovulation? Back to basics. The...

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Breeding and Birthing
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Tick Tock The Breeding Clock

When it comes to horse breeding timing can be everything. During the breeding season, horse breeders are not only frazzled and irritated by the lack of sleep and perpetual worry and anxiety but also because we have to keep track of many key milestones and numbers. Why is this so complicated you ask? Because the vast majority of sport horse breeders use artificial insemination, hours of the breeding season are spent calculating the timing of everything from ultrasound evaluation to the injections of hormones,  insemination, and pregnancy checks. There is also the timing of the FedEx pick up and delivery, the meeting of veterinarian and the regular activities...

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Breeding and Birthing
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Potomac Horse Fever and the breeder.

This winter, at almost exactly 8 months of gestation, Zigami aborted her Rotspon pregnancy without any warnings. It was understandably a gutting experience to lose a foal from any mare at any time but this was a cross I was really looking forward to. It was to be Zigami’s first full warmblood foal. It raised many questions of course. Why? Why now? Was it infectious? Is my other pregnant mare at risk? Could have I done anything to prevent this? What went through my mind? Of all the causes for abortions in mares, the number one culprit is placentitis: it’s a very general term that means that the...

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Breeding and BirthingWarmblood breeder corner
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The Agony and The Ecstasy of … Frozen Semen.

I really struggle every few years when it is time to re-stock the semen tank with frozen semen. Owning horses is risky, breeding them even more so. But breeding them with frozen semen can be both extremely convenient AND extremely risky financially speaking in this case…. The ecstasy: The choices Frozen semen can truly be the candy store of the Sporthorse world. The selection and variety are just incredible. You can breed to old favorite stallions as well as the up-and-comers. Olympic caliber stallion, or their sire. You can breed to stallion stationed in Europe or in Australia. Rare breed or rare colors not available anywhere near you....

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Breeding and BirthingWarmblood breeder corner
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Speak stallion to me…

  This the season. Stallion service auctions are in full swing, the glossy magazines are being printed. You are casually looking at some stallion to maybe breed your mare and you come across an ad that advertises a good-looking lad for what looks like a very reasonable stud fee. Before you think this might be a good deal let’s understand the meaning of what is really being advertised here. Like everything horse breeding has its lingo. Here are some terms to help you keep track of all the glossy advertisements flashing around if you are considering breeding your mare. Stallion: what is in a word? Stallion: a male...

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