Breeding advice needed...

Halfpass

Halfpass

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Seahorse and I take out new broodmare to her new home on Friday. We are seriously hoping to put her in foal this year. We have short listed our stallions but now need to know what to do next.

Our vets are experienced in AI etc and are happy to take us on, however I am confused - Does the horse need to go to stud? She will be turned out at a friends stud on friday so can the vet do all the procedures from there or are we better off sending her somewhere until she has her scan to confirm she is in foal.

What blood tests / swabs need to be done and why? As she is not being covered naturally are they necessary?

Can anyone recommend a good book that might help?

Thanks

E
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you will need to send her to the stud who is doing the AI for you normally takes about 3 days they need to scan repeatedly to inseminate at the correct time !!

you will need to get an EVA swab (can be done at home) before she goes to stud though xx

do you know her seasons or will you PG jab her to bring her into season ??
 
my vet does all my mares at home. I couldn't be travelling mares with young foals at foot backwards and forwards to a stud/AI centre. So you need to ask your vet whether they require the mare to come to them, or whether they can do are at home. We get the chilled semen delivered directly to us and vet comes out and pops it in
 
my vet did mine at the yard. he came up for 3 days then she was ready so on the 4th day he collected the semen and AI'd her, he came back on the 5th day to check and she had retained some water , so came back on the 6th day to check then came back on the 14th day to scan her. very stress free apart from the early morning calls
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. would definately recommend that you get a package price though first from your vet. i was lucky that my vet also had a link with the stud and went there daily to collect semen. he does that at most studs in sussex
 
Even if you don't use Millenium this year, you would still be able to send her to Hobgoblins for insemminating by another stallion. One of our mare's is there right now to be AI'd with a Zangersheide stallion - very simple and easy as Maddy does all the arrangements with the stud regardig getting the semen over, etc. I believe you said before you don't live far way, making her an easy choice as she is one of the best in the UK.

I would say it depends entirely though on your own schedules as if she is being AI'd at home you will need to be there at odd hours during the day possibly every day when the vet comes to scan to make sure she takes, which can not only work out very expensive in vet visits but may not also be poss with work committments. Plus, if she is a maiden she might not like the scanning process, meaning she may well need to go into stocks to make it easier/less stressful. Sending her to stud generally means you can take advantage of an AI price package as well that will mean you pay one set price for all the routine work and thus can have as many scans as poss done to ensure she is insemminated at he optimum time, etc.

PG stands for prostaglandin which is a hormone that vets will sometimes inject which will induce oestrus and bring the mare into season outside of her routine. If possible tho it is best to allow the season to come in naturally and so it might be a good idea to hang onto her until she has had a season with you and thus you can tell the stud when her last season was, etc. allowing them to have an idea of when she is due in, etc. May mare's are still transitional at the moment though due to the lovely snowy weather we're had recently and so it is possible that she may not yet have hd a full season yet this year, or if so she may have only had the one so far, in whic case it might be wise to keep her at home till the next season and then send her off to stud.

I understand what Volatis says about AIing at home as she has mares with foals at foot as I myself am loathe to send ours away this year but you wouldn't have that problem as your mare is not in foal.
 
We have decided against Millenium this year
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but have another stunning one up our sleeve
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Thanks for your reply that is all interesting. Will call vet and hobgoblins tomorrow to do a price comparison.
This has all happened rather quickly and although it had been something that seahorse and myself had discussed we didn't expect it to happen quite so quickly but at the same time didn't want to turn down such a nice mare. We are going to have to try and do everything as cheap as possible this year so just trying to look at alternatives to spending lots of money by sending her to stud but from what you have said its sounds like this may work out the cheaper option.
 
It's Highland's Quidam you're going for isn't it??

My personal advice if you are looking at 'cheaper' options for this year would be to go for something UK based. What sometimes isn't taken into when importing semen from abroad are things like the tranport costs as well as the health paper charges, etc. that are necessary to get the semen into the UK.

One of our mare's is currently in foal with her first foal right now. On paper she is beautifully bred and is a stunning animal, yet from a breeding POV she is not yet proven. Therefore last year we opted to go for a promising younger stallion at Brendons (El Thuder), who has an amazing pedigree and is awesome in the flesh, yet due to his age, etc. he is not yet proven and thus had a cheaper stud fee. By using him we have taken a risk (much the same as you would be with H.Quidam as he is only 3), however, his pedigree certainly speaks for itself and he is already out winning this winter SJing so if she has a nice foal then not only will we be incredibly pleased (it will be for sale) but it will have allowed her to prove herself as a broodmare to a certain extent whilst keeping costs down (his stud fee was only £300+vat last year - is only £400 + vat this year)

This year we are intending on sending her to a European stallion, although we were still tempted to use El Thuder again however if we were in the same position again with an unproven mare as you are I would opt for the same thing again. Brendon' stud fees are incredibly reasonable (as are their livery charges - £6/day grass livery), the stallions have top bloodlines (for example Highland's Quidam's dam is a full sister to Caretino Glory's sire Cheenook and I reckon that if you went there and used him you would end up spending less overall than you would with H Quidam when you factor in health paper/shipping costs as well as vets fees) and they use Ed Lyall of Arundel vets who is excellent.

My only other advice would be do not rush into a decision...take the time to do your research, whether it is on the phone, in books or by ringing vets and getting opinions and not just on things like the AI's etc. but have a look at what works well with your mare's bloodlines....her sire stood at Brendons, so look at what bloodlines they crossed with Maestro Nativio and which worked and which didn't, etc.
 
Thanks, we are only about 30 mins away from Brendons Stud so will certainly look into that, and Melody is by Maestro Nativio herself, so that might be a good place to start
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I'm going to have a look at their website now and we can maybe go there and have a look round one day.

Sam x
 
Bear in mind that they have not got the best pics of their stallions on the website. Of the young stallions the one I would (and many other people I know, many of whom are breeders themselves) rate is El Thuder. He is the only one that really stands out at you in the arena and goes look at me and all I can say is WOW with his jump…have videos of him somewhere if you want. Their Zangersheide boy, Chablis Z was very disappointing in my opinion as I didn’t think he used his back end very well over a fence but he certainly is striking to look at. If you are looking at the older boys you couldn’t really go wrong with Caretino Glory if you like H Quidam or Unbelievable Darco is doing so well in competition at the moment that his stock will certainly be going up in value (he is currently the leading SJer on the World Class Development league and IMO could well end up doing the Young Rider Europpeans this year).
 
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Bear in mind that they have not got the best pics of their stallions on the website. Of the young stallions the one I would (and many other people I know, many of whom are breeders themselves) rate is El Thuder. He is the only one that really stands out at you in the arena and goes look at me and all I can say is WOW with his jump…have videos of him somewhere if you want. Their Zangersheide boy, Chablis Z was very disappointing in my opinion as I didn’t think he used his back end very well over a fence but he certainly is striking to look at. If you are looking at the older boys you couldn’t really go wrong with Caretino Glory if you like H Quidam or Unbelievable Darco is doing so well in competition at the moment that his stock will certainly be going up in value (he is currently the leading SJer on the World Class Development league and IMO could well end up doing the Young Rider Europpeans this year).

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Thanks, what do you think of Darco Ferrari? he's very cheap!
 
He’s very nice but doesn’t jump – is concentrating on dressage and whilst I like him from all account I have heard, the reason he is doing dressage is coz his jump isn’t good at all. He is certainly a BIG boy – his dam is a related to my mare so I hope she doesn’t throw them as big. Have seen a couple of Ferrari’s siblings and they’re nice too – all big tho. Also, he isn’t graded at all so not eligible AES reg…think he has weatherby’s covering certs – I may be wrong tho as she may have had him graded since. However as his stud fee is so cheap I would imagine she hasn’t had him graded yet. If you don’t live far you should go over and have a look at them in the flesh….
 
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My girl is awaiting a foal from Darco Ferrari and i got an AES covering cert. He moves fab. can't wait for the foal! due in may

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that's great thanks, we are going over to see him at the weekend. Keep us updated about your foal, what is the mare like?
 
I checked today and yeah Ferrari is now licensed AES. Are you seeing any of the others while you're there?? I believe a couple of their young stallions just got selected for the World Class Pathway as well as others being asked to be taken forwarded for assessment.
 
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I checked today and yeah Ferrari is now licensed AES. Are you seeing any of the others while you're there?? I believe a couple of their young stallions just got selected for the World Class Pathway as well as others being asked to be taken forwarded for assessment.

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I think we will try and have a look at all of them! I'm really looking forward to going there now
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Which one's are selected for the World Class Pathway?
 
Warrior has just been placed on it and Creme Van't Sttentje, Duc D'Arsouilles (I like him BTW) and Darcobal Fravanca have been invited to the next selection which is next week I believe. I would imagine that El Thuder will go forward to it next year as he is only 4 this year
 
sorry - got that slightly mixed up. Creme Van't Steentje is already on the pathway and the others are going to the trials next week. Warrior just won the Newcomers Champinship t Addington with Louise Pavitt last week as well so their stars are on the rise
 
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