A few months before Gordon and I got married, I was looking at a website for a farm that I had worked at, a few years before, and I was just curious what they had for sale, when I saw they were selling a mare, for a client, named Messenger of Light. She was a gorgeous mare, foaled in 1988, sired by Halo, and out of the Chieftain mare, Tribal Envoy.
At the time, she had 4 foals of racing age, but all of them were sired by low level Texas stallions, a fairly well known pedigree expert actually told me to through those out, as they were "Texas trash". None of these had raced and the lady selling the mare claimed that she had been told by the lady she bought the mare from, that the foals were being shown, instead of racing. The mare was so nice looking, it was easy to believe such a story.
Messenger of Light, then had changed hands, after Texas, and was bred to Announce and Jules, quite a bit better than what she had been bred to. One was an early 2 year old and the other was a yearling, at the time. The current owner had bred Messenger of Light to Genuine Risk's son, Genuine Reward. So, again, not to a very promishing stallion.
Gordon and I discussed it, the mare was very nice, came from a nice female family, as her 2nd dam was also the 2nd dam to champion Skywalker. We were not interested in the foal she was carrying and we knew the lady who was selling her, was not happy about selling the mare, as she really wanted the foal, so I devised a plan to offer the lady the foal, if she would come down in the price. I got her to reduce the price by almost half, so we decided to go ahead and buy her, upon my personal inspection and a vet checck.
So, Gordon and I went out to see her. She was in the field and was so sweet. She was just as pretty and perfect in conformation, as her pictures had shown. She then passed her vet examination and so we bought her.
Because her cousin, if you think of it in human terms, was Skywalker, and Gordon and I are big sci-fi fans, and love "Star Wars", we decided to call her Leia.
The farm wasn't ready yet for horses, so we kept her at the boarding farm a bit longer and then a new neighbor of ours offered me a stall, so she could be just down the road. I paid them board and I went out to see Leia as much as I could for the few weeks she was with them.
Once the barn and fencing were up, she joined Baron, Bunny, and Angel, at the new location for Perfect Peace Farm.
I tried to have the four horses out together, but for some unknown reason, Baron did not like Leia and would chase her. So, I had no choice but to separate the group. Bunny, who was pregnant with Belle, was kept with Leia, so the two pregnant mares were together, and Baron and Angel were paired up.
Leia was due about 6 weeks after Bunny, but since Bunny carried 10 days late, Leia foaled just a month after Bunny.
Leia delivered a nice looking colt that was a bit weak, at first. He seemed fine the first 12 hours, so passed his first vet check, but when he was about 30 hours old I started to worry about him. It was a Saturday morning, of course, and only one vet at the pracitce I used was on call. I called her and told her my concerns, but since she was a new vet and not that experienced with foals, she was not concerned. I was pretty upset with her lack of knowledge and concern and I did not like being treated like I was over reacting.
Luke was breathing heavily, his heart rate was high, and he was starting to develop a fever.
Still being new to the area, I did not know all the vets in the area, so I called the people down the road, that I had kept Leia with the previous summer, to ask for another vet recommendation. They gave me their vet's number and she agreed that Luke sounded like he needed help.
I called this vet, told him what was going on and he said, "I'll be there in a half hour!" So, that showed experience and concern, that I wasn't just over reacting.
Once he got here, he said that I had acted quickly and praised me for being aware of what was going on with the colt. He said that if I had waited any longer, that Luke would have developed pnuemonia. Since it was borderline, we went ahead and treated him as if he had it, just to be safe. He got a catheter put in his neck, so we could give him the antibiotics straight into his bloodstream. We had to flush it out several times a day and give him the meds after flushing it.
Luke was a good patient and he quickly gained strength and soon was a healthy thriving colt. His owner was very pleased with him. We sent her pictures quite often.
Leia was then sent up to Northview Stallion Station in Maryland, to be bred to Waquoit, a son of Relaunch. Relaunch had sired Skywalker, and Waquoit had a reputation of crossing extremely well with daughters of Halo, so we were very excited about this mating.
Leia got in foal quickly and was soon back home. Luke grea a lot while theyw ere gone. I'm always amazed at how fast foals grow.
Since Belle was now in the stall, due to her fractured pelvis, Luke had no one to play with, until Belle was finally cleared to go out that July. They became quick friends and loved playing with each other. Leia and Bunny were great co-moms, they'd let the other foal come near them, if their foal was at their side. They helped each other out and took turns babysitting.
Belle and Luke were weaned in late August and in September, Hurricane Isabel hit us. Belle and Luke shared a stall and were perfectly content. All the horses were very calm during the storm.
We were without power for a week, after Isabel, and shortly after that, Luke left us to go to his owner's farm in Pennsylvania. Luke was registered as Feel The Force, because I could feel his strength as he fought, those first few days and you could tell he was a fighter. It just came to me, and yes, it has a "Star Wars" sound to it, too. I suggested it to his owner and she loved it.
I usually try to register the horses I breed with religious sounding names, but as I said, this name just came to me, so I figured it was just meant to be his name.
His owner said she planned to train him herself and race him, but I have not heard anything from her since Luke was a 2 year old. I do not know what happened, we had a wonderful relationship, had become email friends, so I worry that something happened to Luke and she just didn't have the heart to tell me. I stay in touch with just about everyone who gets a horse from my breeding program, as I try to keep track of what I breed or what I have even just owned, not bred, for a short time, so I know they are safe and I let everyone know that if they ever need to give the horse away, it needs a retirement home, etc, that I want to be the first person they call and I will take the horse or pony, if I have the space. And if I can't take the horse or pony, I will do all I can to help them find it a good home.
So, if anyone out there ever hears of a Thoroughbred by the name of Feel the Force, born in 2003, sired by Genuine Reward and out of Messenger of Light, please contact me, so I know where he is.
Showing posts with label breeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breeding. Show all posts
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Angel of Perfect Peace Farm
I emailed out updates of my horse exploits and other news to family and friends on a regular basis, sometimes including photos. In the late winter of 2002, after seeing one of these updates, I got an unexpected reply from an email friend.
He lived in California and had been really impressed by the latest pictures, which had shown me turning Bunny loose in her pasture, and then she proceeded to follow me around with no halter or lead rope, she just walked right beside me, head low, content look on her face, etc and Gordon had caught several pictures of her doing this with me. It was one of those very special memories that I have of my Bunny.
I had been friends with this man since 1997, so he was very familiar with my experience with horses, my history with Bunny and all that I had gone through with Bunny, Mayo, and Baron. I had sold Mayo in April 2001, so he knew I was down to just 2 horses, due to being out of work, but now I was engaged to Gordon, so things were a bit different. We had found a house with land, that we had bought in December 2001, to become our farm, planning our wedding, etc.
This friend told me about his mare, Big City Miss, who was boarded at a farm in Kentucky. The farm was going out of business and she would have to find another place to be boarded. The problem was her fertility was not the best. She had not had a foal in a few years and the vets in Kentucky were at a loss as to what was causing her not to ovulate properly. He knew it was a longshot that she'd ever get pregnant again, but he also wanted her to have a nice home and be safe. So, he offered her to me.
I looked up her pedigree and produce report and was in shock that I was being offered such a nice mare. She was by Kris S. and was a full sister to several stakes winners. She had also already produced one stakes winner, herself, and several of her full and half sisters were also stakes producers. If she had been fertile, she was easily worth over $100,000, I would imagine, but her fertility issues put her into the situation of needing a safe place, in case she truly was no longer fertile. He felt I was that safe place. He told me I was welcome to try to breed her, if my vet thought there was a chance.
Gordon and I discussed this opportunity and though we knew it was a long shot, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. So, I made arrangements for her to come from Kentucky to the boarding stable that I was still having to use.
A month or so after the first email from my friend, Big City Miss arrived and this gorgeous big chestnut mare, with a small white star, stepped off the trailer. She was at least 16 hands and was so sweet and gentle. We toyed with two names for her, Angel and April. The barn owner thought I should call her April, but Gordon and I just kept thinking of her as Angel. Everyone told me that horses nicknamed Angel, were usually not very nice, but I knew different, so we settled on Angel.
After letting Angel settle in for a few days, I introduced her to Bunny and they instantly became friends.
A few months later I sent her to a breeding farm to try breeding her to Secret Hello. But, it was just not meant to be. Her ovaries were small and hard and she was not producing viable follicles. The vet that saw her, a reproduction specialist, was at a loss. She was tried on several drugs, one finally sent her into heat, but she ovulated a follicle at about half the size it should have been. They tried breeding her, but she did not get pregnant, so I had her brought home and told her she was retired from breeding and was safe.
In August 2002, when the farm was ready, Bunny and Angel were brought to Perfect Peace Farm, where they were introduced to Leia and met back up with Baron. Since Baron didn't seem to care for Leia, for some odd reason, we separated the 4 horse herd and kept Leia and Bunny together, as they both were pregnant, and then Angel had to buddy up with Baron, who looked just like her, both bright red chestnuts with stars, Angel was just a little bit bigger than Baron.
Angel and Baron became friends and though Angel was the alpha, they could sometimes be found standing next to each other. They'd share a hay pile, with no problem or a big round bale. They got along great.
That fall, I got Admiral, a large Mini colt and he was put out with Angel and Baron. The three of them really enjoyed playing.
As winter came, it soon became apparent that Angel suffered from arthritis in her front legs. I tried supplements, pain relievers, and the like, but every morning she was so stiff, I felt so bad for her, as that winter was so cold. She started to drop weight, so I added a high fat supplement to her diet, but she just maintained weight, wouldn't gain. I kept hay infront of her constantly. Nothing really seemed to work in putting wieght on her or to help relieve her arthritis pain and stiffness.
As spring turned to summer, I came to the hard decision that I didn't think it was fair for Angel to go through another Virginia winter. I talked to her previous owner about the situation and he said it was okay for me to try and find her another safe home, further south.
I had contacts with some horse rescues and started talking to them. In July, a home was found for her in Texas. So, we made arrangements for her to head to her new home. She left on August 3rd and arrived very late on August 4th. The transport company had known about her arthritis and took excellent care of her. They gave her breaks, had an air ride trailer, etc.
I knew it had been after 10 PM when she had arrived, so the next day, August 5th, my Birthday, I awaited for word on how she was settling in at her new home. It seemed like forever, but finally around 2 PM I got the phone call.
I could tell there was something wrong by the tone of the lady's voice. She started to tell me about how Angel had arrived. She said she was put in the paddock that was basically her backyard, so she could keep a watch on Angel. She checked on her at midnight, at she was fine, but when she went to check on her around 2:30 AM, she found Angel down. She thought that maybe her arthritis was bothering her, so she turned to go to the house to get some pain reliever. She heard Angel get up behind her, so she turned to watch, and Angel struggled to get to her, almost made it and then Angel collapsed on the ground.
Angel died quickly, we are not sure if it was a heart attack or some kind of annurism. She had been completely and thoroughly checked out by my vet before she had left. i'd even asked specifically, "Do you think she can make the trip to Texas, safely?" My vet listened to her heart, checked pulses, checked gum color, and more, she got a very thorough exam, and he really thought it would be okay.
When I talked to the hauling company, the report from the drivers was that she travelled fine, was fine at the rest barns, never showed any sign of distress, etc. The owner of the company called me a bit later to express his condolences. They felt really bad, too, as they knew it had been a rescue type situation, knowing I was trying to get her to a warmer climate with less harsh winters.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have just kept her here. Some have told me, over the years, that Angel wanted it this way. That she had bonded so much with me that she did not want to die infront of me. She knew she was leaving and held on to make it to her new home, where she knew she'd die with dignity and be buried properly.
The lady she went to buried her and planted a bunch of wild flowers over the grave.
Angel will always be remembered here at Perfect Peace Farm. She had a place she loved to stand and dig in the mud. She dug a hole so deep that it was past her knees. Through time, it has started to fill in a bit, but there is still a low spot there, by the 2nd fence post to the right of the barn.
Continue to Rest In Peace sweet Angel.
He lived in California and had been really impressed by the latest pictures, which had shown me turning Bunny loose in her pasture, and then she proceeded to follow me around with no halter or lead rope, she just walked right beside me, head low, content look on her face, etc and Gordon had caught several pictures of her doing this with me. It was one of those very special memories that I have of my Bunny.
I had been friends with this man since 1997, so he was very familiar with my experience with horses, my history with Bunny and all that I had gone through with Bunny, Mayo, and Baron. I had sold Mayo in April 2001, so he knew I was down to just 2 horses, due to being out of work, but now I was engaged to Gordon, so things were a bit different. We had found a house with land, that we had bought in December 2001, to become our farm, planning our wedding, etc.
This friend told me about his mare, Big City Miss, who was boarded at a farm in Kentucky. The farm was going out of business and she would have to find another place to be boarded. The problem was her fertility was not the best. She had not had a foal in a few years and the vets in Kentucky were at a loss as to what was causing her not to ovulate properly. He knew it was a longshot that she'd ever get pregnant again, but he also wanted her to have a nice home and be safe. So, he offered her to me.
I looked up her pedigree and produce report and was in shock that I was being offered such a nice mare. She was by Kris S. and was a full sister to several stakes winners. She had also already produced one stakes winner, herself, and several of her full and half sisters were also stakes producers. If she had been fertile, she was easily worth over $100,000, I would imagine, but her fertility issues put her into the situation of needing a safe place, in case she truly was no longer fertile. He felt I was that safe place. He told me I was welcome to try to breed her, if my vet thought there was a chance.
Gordon and I discussed this opportunity and though we knew it was a long shot, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity. So, I made arrangements for her to come from Kentucky to the boarding stable that I was still having to use.
A month or so after the first email from my friend, Big City Miss arrived and this gorgeous big chestnut mare, with a small white star, stepped off the trailer. She was at least 16 hands and was so sweet and gentle. We toyed with two names for her, Angel and April. The barn owner thought I should call her April, but Gordon and I just kept thinking of her as Angel. Everyone told me that horses nicknamed Angel, were usually not very nice, but I knew different, so we settled on Angel.
After letting Angel settle in for a few days, I introduced her to Bunny and they instantly became friends.
A few months later I sent her to a breeding farm to try breeding her to Secret Hello. But, it was just not meant to be. Her ovaries were small and hard and she was not producing viable follicles. The vet that saw her, a reproduction specialist, was at a loss. She was tried on several drugs, one finally sent her into heat, but she ovulated a follicle at about half the size it should have been. They tried breeding her, but she did not get pregnant, so I had her brought home and told her she was retired from breeding and was safe.
In August 2002, when the farm was ready, Bunny and Angel were brought to Perfect Peace Farm, where they were introduced to Leia and met back up with Baron. Since Baron didn't seem to care for Leia, for some odd reason, we separated the 4 horse herd and kept Leia and Bunny together, as they both were pregnant, and then Angel had to buddy up with Baron, who looked just like her, both bright red chestnuts with stars, Angel was just a little bit bigger than Baron.
Angel and Baron became friends and though Angel was the alpha, they could sometimes be found standing next to each other. They'd share a hay pile, with no problem or a big round bale. They got along great.
That fall, I got Admiral, a large Mini colt and he was put out with Angel and Baron. The three of them really enjoyed playing.
As winter came, it soon became apparent that Angel suffered from arthritis in her front legs. I tried supplements, pain relievers, and the like, but every morning she was so stiff, I felt so bad for her, as that winter was so cold. She started to drop weight, so I added a high fat supplement to her diet, but she just maintained weight, wouldn't gain. I kept hay infront of her constantly. Nothing really seemed to work in putting wieght on her or to help relieve her arthritis pain and stiffness.
As spring turned to summer, I came to the hard decision that I didn't think it was fair for Angel to go through another Virginia winter. I talked to her previous owner about the situation and he said it was okay for me to try and find her another safe home, further south.
I had contacts with some horse rescues and started talking to them. In July, a home was found for her in Texas. So, we made arrangements for her to head to her new home. She left on August 3rd and arrived very late on August 4th. The transport company had known about her arthritis and took excellent care of her. They gave her breaks, had an air ride trailer, etc.
I knew it had been after 10 PM when she had arrived, so the next day, August 5th, my Birthday, I awaited for word on how she was settling in at her new home. It seemed like forever, but finally around 2 PM I got the phone call.
I could tell there was something wrong by the tone of the lady's voice. She started to tell me about how Angel had arrived. She said she was put in the paddock that was basically her backyard, so she could keep a watch on Angel. She checked on her at midnight, at she was fine, but when she went to check on her around 2:30 AM, she found Angel down. She thought that maybe her arthritis was bothering her, so she turned to go to the house to get some pain reliever. She heard Angel get up behind her, so she turned to watch, and Angel struggled to get to her, almost made it and then Angel collapsed on the ground.
Angel died quickly, we are not sure if it was a heart attack or some kind of annurism. She had been completely and thoroughly checked out by my vet before she had left. i'd even asked specifically, "Do you think she can make the trip to Texas, safely?" My vet listened to her heart, checked pulses, checked gum color, and more, she got a very thorough exam, and he really thought it would be okay.
When I talked to the hauling company, the report from the drivers was that she travelled fine, was fine at the rest barns, never showed any sign of distress, etc. The owner of the company called me a bit later to express his condolences. They felt really bad, too, as they knew it had been a rescue type situation, knowing I was trying to get her to a warmer climate with less harsh winters.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have just kept her here. Some have told me, over the years, that Angel wanted it this way. That she had bonded so much with me that she did not want to die infront of me. She knew she was leaving and held on to make it to her new home, where she knew she'd die with dignity and be buried properly.
The lady she went to buried her and planted a bunch of wild flowers over the grave.
Angel will always be remembered here at Perfect Peace Farm. She had a place she loved to stand and dig in the mud. She dug a hole so deep that it was past her knees. Through time, it has started to fill in a bit, but there is still a low spot there, by the 2nd fence post to the right of the barn.
Continue to Rest In Peace sweet Angel.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Artificial Insemenation (A.I.) and Thoroughbreds
A few days ago my husband posted to his Blog about A.I. and Thoroughbreds, which seems to have sparked quite the debate on another site (Pedigree Query). You can see his blog post at: http://perfectpeacefarm.blogspot.com/2011/09/rich-people-apparently-get-turned-off.html
He did a good job explaining the situation, but I thought I might go ahead and chime in on this one.
We breed Thoroughbreds for racing and sport, but we also have bred Anglo-Arabians and Half Welsh Ponies. We have bred mares via live cover and A.I. so we are talking from experience in knowing the costs of both, the in's and out's of both, and so on.
The Jockey Club refuses to allow A.I., one of their arguements is that it would narrow down the gene pool of the Thoroughbred and there woulod not be as much diversity in the breed, but I strongly disagree, because we are already narrowing the gene pool and I think by allowing A.I. it just might spread it back out, again.
If you look at the number of stallions that the big Kentucky farms stood at stud just 10 to 20 years ago, and compare it to now, you'd see that most of the big farms are standing about half the number that they once had.
When I went to Kentucky in 1990, I went to Claiborne, Spendthrif, and Gainesway, all 3 had just about all their stallion barns full, very few empty stalls. I lived in Kentucky in 1997 and visited Lane's End, which also had it's barn full of stallions. I then visited Kentucky in 2006 and again in 2010, visiting some of the same places I'd visited in the past, along with a few I hadn't been to before, and what I saw was a lot of empty stallions in those stallion barns.
These farms weren't really breeding any less mares than before, but what they had done was increased the number of mares each stallions bred, so standing fewer.
Kentucky seems to get rid of stallions a lot quicker than they used to, if it doesn't get good sales prices of it's first few crops and if it's first two crops to race don't set the track on fire, they quickly send it to a regional market or even sell it to go overseas.
I have seen on quite a few occasions, that they get rid of a stallion way too quickly and the year after it leaves Kentucky, it gets a hot horse. Sometimes the stallion is welcomed back to Kentucky, but most of the time they have moved on to the next hot retired stallion prospect.
Now, I realize that the number of mares bred has dropped the last two years, but this is due more to the economy. I will be perfectly honest here, if A.I. was allowed, I would have a lot more foals than I currently do.
To breed my mares to anything decent, I have to send them out of state, because of the lack of quality stallions standing here in Virginia, these days. I could go on about that subject, but I'll save that for another time. We have bred Thoroughbred mares in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, when there was something worth breeding to here.
Shipping has cost us anywhere from $300 to $700, one way, depending on where the mare was going. Kentucky is usually the most expensive place for us to ship to, but I have looked into shipping to Florida and that would have actually cost me more. Then, once the mare is at the boarding farm, which is usually not where the stallion stands at stud, it costs $25 to $30 a day for a mare without a foal and $30 to $35 a day for a mare with a foal at her side. The shortest time I have kept a mare at a boarding farm was about 45 days, because she cooperated, came into heat as soon as she got to the farm and got in foal (pregnant) on that first heat cycle. You have to wait 14 days, minimum, to see if a mare is pregnant, and a heartbeat can be detected between 28 to 32 days. I usually try to wait for this 2nd check before I will go ahead and make plans for the mare to come back home. Add the vet costs ontop of the shipping costs and boarding costs and we have spent between $3000 to $5000 for just one mare, in one breeding season, to get her pregnant, and that doesn't include the stud fee that we pay for the privilege of breeding our mare to the stallion of our choice.
If I could breed via A.I., I would not have the mare's shipping costs to worry about or the boarding costs. Yes, I'd have vet bills, but my home vet charges less than the Kentucky ones and the cost of shipping semen is no more than the cost of one way shipping of a mare. There are collection costs and shipping costs for the semen to get to you, but this usually costs me, in total, for one shipment, between $250 to $350, depending on the collection costs that the stallion's vet charges and the distance the semen has to travel, as it has to be shipped overnight, if it is just cooled semen, versus frozen semen, but even that has to be sent quickly.
I'd save anywhere from $2000 to $4000 if I could breed via A.I. and I could put that money towards paying for a higher quality stallion to breed even better stock.
Now, just because The Jockey Club opens up A.I., hypothetically speaking here, this does not mean that every stallion or farm has to do it. There are plenty of non-Thoroughbred stallions that are in registries that allow A.I. that do not have shipped semen available for a variety of reasons.
There are stallions who's semen just doesn't ship well, for some reason, the stallion may not like the collection process, and so on. And there are also mares that do not do well with receiving shipped semen, I've had one of these, so know the troubles that can come with a mare that reacts badly to the extender that is used to help keep the semen alive during shipping.
The Quarter Horse registry, AQHA, when it first opened up A.I. to the registry, first allowed only on site use of A.I., which means the stallion and the mare had to be on the same farm at the time of collection and then insemenation, no extender was allowed.
When I was in college, I assisted and watched as one of my riding instructor's AQHA stallions was collected and then we insemenated 3 mares from that one collection. All 3 mares got in foal. Then during a breeding class, we went to a Tennessee Walking Horse farm and watched them collect a stallion and then insemenate 4 mares from that one collection.
In Kentucky they have to breed the stallions up to 3 to 4 times a day to cover the number of mares they want to, especially if he is breeding over 100 mares. If they allowed A.I. they could just collect him once and breed all of those mares at one time. And if there were more mares than 3 or 4 in heat and needing breeding that day, they could collect him twice and double it to 6 to 8 mares being bred in one day and since he was only collected twice, he's not being overtaxed, overused, and so his semen quality will remain stronger. This could possibly help stallions that are starting to suffer some fertility issue.
The Jockey Club already allows the collection of the dismount, which not to be crude, but to explain, is the semen that spills out of the mare or is dripping from the stallion, after he is done breeding her. They can collect this and then put it into the mare, so they are already insemenating her artificially helping.
Collecting a stallion is safer than live cover. Stallions have been kicked and killed, have been thrown off balance and fallen, breaking legs, which has led to their being put down, and many other injuries to the stallion or mare, not to mention the injuries that can happen to the humans involved in this process.
Stallions that are having back trouble or any other issues that make it uncomfortable for them to live cover a mare, could be used longer if taught to ground collect, which means that all four of their hooves remain on the ground, while the semen is collected from them.
Allowing A.I. and shipment of the collected semen would mean that I could then breed to the Florida stallion I like, the California stallion I like, and so on, I wouldn't have to limit myself to breeding my mares within a few state proximity. Plus, I could spend the saved money on breeding to a higher quality stallion or even the purchase of another quality mare.
I think opening up A.I. and shipped semen would give others that chance to look all over the US for stallions for their mares and hence would increase the gene pool and not shrink it. Sure, there will be stallions that will always get over 100 mares, but the farms standing them could always help themselves and limit the number of mares that the stallion breeds, something they already do, but just because you can breed more, don't, so the value of the foals stays up, for those wanting to sell the offspring. But, for someone like myself who wants to breed a racehorse, not one that looks pretty in September of it's yearling year, looking like a 2 or 3 year old prematurely, it really would help me and the others like me, to get to that stallion who sires consistant solid runners. I already try to do this, but I have seen stallions in other states that I'd love to breed my mares to, but logistically I just can't do it and can't afford it, as I'm not rich.
And I don't think Kentucky would have to worry about a mass exodus of mares, because they still have the limestone rich pastures that are sought after by breeders and if they have a good incentive program in their state, make it even stronger than it currently is, it will just keep mares there so they can keep producing Kentucky breds. They may lose some of the seasonal boarders, like myself, but not the year round boarders.
I honestly don't think rich people are turned off by A.I., they don't care, they want whatever will get them the return on their investment. In fact, I bet they'd go for A.I. if they were a stallion owner and realized their top stallion could sire even more foals, meaning more money.
Part of this is tradition. Things seem to move at a snail pace, when you talk about change in the racing industry. They don't want to change their traditions, but times are changing and you need to move with the times to stay alive.
Again, Kentucky stud farms would not have to offer shipped semen or A.I. if they don't want to and it may not hurt them, because of the year round boarding mares that are already there, they'd stay there to breed to those stallions and if there is a stallion you really want to breed to and shipped semen isn't available, if you can afford to ship the mare and pay for those additional boarding costs, you'll ship the mare to breed to that stallion. This would only open up choices to everyone.
If there was a stallion in a nearby state that I really wanted to breed to and it was by far and away what I considered to be the best match for my mare, and they did not do shipped semen, I'd send my mare to be bred, if I had the money. So, there should be no threat hear by allowing A.I. and shipped semen for the Thoroughbred.
They are restricting trade here and also, I believe, hurting themselves, by not allowing A.I. I think it is fear of change and such, but I really don't think it would change the look of Kentucky by that much. So, I sure hope they will start allowing A.I. and shipped semen and sooner than later, please.
He did a good job explaining the situation, but I thought I might go ahead and chime in on this one.
We breed Thoroughbreds for racing and sport, but we also have bred Anglo-Arabians and Half Welsh Ponies. We have bred mares via live cover and A.I. so we are talking from experience in knowing the costs of both, the in's and out's of both, and so on.
The Jockey Club refuses to allow A.I., one of their arguements is that it would narrow down the gene pool of the Thoroughbred and there woulod not be as much diversity in the breed, but I strongly disagree, because we are already narrowing the gene pool and I think by allowing A.I. it just might spread it back out, again.
If you look at the number of stallions that the big Kentucky farms stood at stud just 10 to 20 years ago, and compare it to now, you'd see that most of the big farms are standing about half the number that they once had.
When I went to Kentucky in 1990, I went to Claiborne, Spendthrif, and Gainesway, all 3 had just about all their stallion barns full, very few empty stalls. I lived in Kentucky in 1997 and visited Lane's End, which also had it's barn full of stallions. I then visited Kentucky in 2006 and again in 2010, visiting some of the same places I'd visited in the past, along with a few I hadn't been to before, and what I saw was a lot of empty stallions in those stallion barns.
These farms weren't really breeding any less mares than before, but what they had done was increased the number of mares each stallions bred, so standing fewer.
Kentucky seems to get rid of stallions a lot quicker than they used to, if it doesn't get good sales prices of it's first few crops and if it's first two crops to race don't set the track on fire, they quickly send it to a regional market or even sell it to go overseas.
I have seen on quite a few occasions, that they get rid of a stallion way too quickly and the year after it leaves Kentucky, it gets a hot horse. Sometimes the stallion is welcomed back to Kentucky, but most of the time they have moved on to the next hot retired stallion prospect.
Now, I realize that the number of mares bred has dropped the last two years, but this is due more to the economy. I will be perfectly honest here, if A.I. was allowed, I would have a lot more foals than I currently do.
To breed my mares to anything decent, I have to send them out of state, because of the lack of quality stallions standing here in Virginia, these days. I could go on about that subject, but I'll save that for another time. We have bred Thoroughbred mares in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, when there was something worth breeding to here.
Shipping has cost us anywhere from $300 to $700, one way, depending on where the mare was going. Kentucky is usually the most expensive place for us to ship to, but I have looked into shipping to Florida and that would have actually cost me more. Then, once the mare is at the boarding farm, which is usually not where the stallion stands at stud, it costs $25 to $30 a day for a mare without a foal and $30 to $35 a day for a mare with a foal at her side. The shortest time I have kept a mare at a boarding farm was about 45 days, because she cooperated, came into heat as soon as she got to the farm and got in foal (pregnant) on that first heat cycle. You have to wait 14 days, minimum, to see if a mare is pregnant, and a heartbeat can be detected between 28 to 32 days. I usually try to wait for this 2nd check before I will go ahead and make plans for the mare to come back home. Add the vet costs ontop of the shipping costs and boarding costs and we have spent between $3000 to $5000 for just one mare, in one breeding season, to get her pregnant, and that doesn't include the stud fee that we pay for the privilege of breeding our mare to the stallion of our choice.
If I could breed via A.I., I would not have the mare's shipping costs to worry about or the boarding costs. Yes, I'd have vet bills, but my home vet charges less than the Kentucky ones and the cost of shipping semen is no more than the cost of one way shipping of a mare. There are collection costs and shipping costs for the semen to get to you, but this usually costs me, in total, for one shipment, between $250 to $350, depending on the collection costs that the stallion's vet charges and the distance the semen has to travel, as it has to be shipped overnight, if it is just cooled semen, versus frozen semen, but even that has to be sent quickly.
I'd save anywhere from $2000 to $4000 if I could breed via A.I. and I could put that money towards paying for a higher quality stallion to breed even better stock.
Now, just because The Jockey Club opens up A.I., hypothetically speaking here, this does not mean that every stallion or farm has to do it. There are plenty of non-Thoroughbred stallions that are in registries that allow A.I. that do not have shipped semen available for a variety of reasons.
There are stallions who's semen just doesn't ship well, for some reason, the stallion may not like the collection process, and so on. And there are also mares that do not do well with receiving shipped semen, I've had one of these, so know the troubles that can come with a mare that reacts badly to the extender that is used to help keep the semen alive during shipping.
The Quarter Horse registry, AQHA, when it first opened up A.I. to the registry, first allowed only on site use of A.I., which means the stallion and the mare had to be on the same farm at the time of collection and then insemenation, no extender was allowed.
When I was in college, I assisted and watched as one of my riding instructor's AQHA stallions was collected and then we insemenated 3 mares from that one collection. All 3 mares got in foal. Then during a breeding class, we went to a Tennessee Walking Horse farm and watched them collect a stallion and then insemenate 4 mares from that one collection.
In Kentucky they have to breed the stallions up to 3 to 4 times a day to cover the number of mares they want to, especially if he is breeding over 100 mares. If they allowed A.I. they could just collect him once and breed all of those mares at one time. And if there were more mares than 3 or 4 in heat and needing breeding that day, they could collect him twice and double it to 6 to 8 mares being bred in one day and since he was only collected twice, he's not being overtaxed, overused, and so his semen quality will remain stronger. This could possibly help stallions that are starting to suffer some fertility issue.
The Jockey Club already allows the collection of the dismount, which not to be crude, but to explain, is the semen that spills out of the mare or is dripping from the stallion, after he is done breeding her. They can collect this and then put it into the mare, so they are already insemenating her artificially helping.
Collecting a stallion is safer than live cover. Stallions have been kicked and killed, have been thrown off balance and fallen, breaking legs, which has led to their being put down, and many other injuries to the stallion or mare, not to mention the injuries that can happen to the humans involved in this process.
Stallions that are having back trouble or any other issues that make it uncomfortable for them to live cover a mare, could be used longer if taught to ground collect, which means that all four of their hooves remain on the ground, while the semen is collected from them.
Allowing A.I. and shipment of the collected semen would mean that I could then breed to the Florida stallion I like, the California stallion I like, and so on, I wouldn't have to limit myself to breeding my mares within a few state proximity. Plus, I could spend the saved money on breeding to a higher quality stallion or even the purchase of another quality mare.
I think opening up A.I. and shipped semen would give others that chance to look all over the US for stallions for their mares and hence would increase the gene pool and not shrink it. Sure, there will be stallions that will always get over 100 mares, but the farms standing them could always help themselves and limit the number of mares that the stallion breeds, something they already do, but just because you can breed more, don't, so the value of the foals stays up, for those wanting to sell the offspring. But, for someone like myself who wants to breed a racehorse, not one that looks pretty in September of it's yearling year, looking like a 2 or 3 year old prematurely, it really would help me and the others like me, to get to that stallion who sires consistant solid runners. I already try to do this, but I have seen stallions in other states that I'd love to breed my mares to, but logistically I just can't do it and can't afford it, as I'm not rich.
And I don't think Kentucky would have to worry about a mass exodus of mares, because they still have the limestone rich pastures that are sought after by breeders and if they have a good incentive program in their state, make it even stronger than it currently is, it will just keep mares there so they can keep producing Kentucky breds. They may lose some of the seasonal boarders, like myself, but not the year round boarders.
I honestly don't think rich people are turned off by A.I., they don't care, they want whatever will get them the return on their investment. In fact, I bet they'd go for A.I. if they were a stallion owner and realized their top stallion could sire even more foals, meaning more money.
Part of this is tradition. Things seem to move at a snail pace, when you talk about change in the racing industry. They don't want to change their traditions, but times are changing and you need to move with the times to stay alive.
Again, Kentucky stud farms would not have to offer shipped semen or A.I. if they don't want to and it may not hurt them, because of the year round boarding mares that are already there, they'd stay there to breed to those stallions and if there is a stallion you really want to breed to and shipped semen isn't available, if you can afford to ship the mare and pay for those additional boarding costs, you'll ship the mare to breed to that stallion. This would only open up choices to everyone.
If there was a stallion in a nearby state that I really wanted to breed to and it was by far and away what I considered to be the best match for my mare, and they did not do shipped semen, I'd send my mare to be bred, if I had the money. So, there should be no threat hear by allowing A.I. and shipped semen for the Thoroughbred.
They are restricting trade here and also, I believe, hurting themselves, by not allowing A.I. I think it is fear of change and such, but I really don't think it would change the look of Kentucky by that much. So, I sure hope they will start allowing A.I. and shipped semen and sooner than later, please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)