AI or Embryo Transfer?

[Welshielover24]

Hi everyone,

I was looking for some advice about putting my mare in foal.

Some background info on my mare: I bought her when she was 10 as an unbroken broodmare. She had been used at a stud until that point - unsure how many foals they had off her but it was a few. I broke her in at 10 and she’s enjoyed a happy ridden career with me. She’s now 17 and
was looking at taking a foal off of her.

I was concerned that I was too late (she ended up doing fairly well and never seemed the right time to take time off) and was worried about how she would carry and foal being older so was looking at embryo transfer.

However, after a chat with my vet today he has said that he doesn’t think there’s any reason why she couldn’t carry the foal herself. She’s fit and healthy with no known illnesses or ailments but she will receive a full examination before anything happens to confirm this.

She’s been an excellent horse and I would be keeping the foal for myself.

Im looking for some honest advice about what you think - I’ve never personally put a horse in foal before but I’ve had youngstock and the YO are very knowledgeable as they’ve bred horses so they’re would be onhand to help.

Her health is my main priority over all of this and if the vet was to say it was too risky or there were doubts she won’t be having it.

Has anyone bred a mare this old? And has anyone underwent embryo transfer and had it be successful?

 

[ihatework]

17 is perfectly fine for a fit and healthy non maiden.

There may be very minor fertility decrease but I would discount that for the purpose of this discussion.

There are always risks associated with a pregnancy that will be there irrespective of her age, I doubt that they will be increased to any great extent in a healthy 17yo.

But by ET you obviously place the bulk of those risks onto the recip.

I would imagine the stats of getting a successful pregnancy ET rather than AI are lower and the associated cost higher. That said investing in the right repro vet should minimise the divide.

Do consider that the nurturing of mare does influence the foal and for that reason I’d always want to know and approve the mare carrying the foal. That isn’t always possible if you are using a repro unit who are syncing a number of mares at once.

Personally, in your shoes, I’d AI your mare

 

[lme]

She’s not too old. We put our maiden mare in foal at 17 at the suggestion of our repro vet. She had pre breeding checks, took 2 attempts to get in foal by AI, had a caslicks procedure and daily Regumate up to a certain point (both because she was older) and delivered a colt foal within a couple of days of her due date. She’s proving to be a fantastic mother and clearly adores her foal.