Breeding - Natural or artificial?

[vennessa]

As i am not into breeding i am just interested.
Breeding the natural way - Stallion running with mares
Breeding the artificial way - frozen sperm, insemination etc.
Which way do you use and why?

 

[magic104]

A stallion can run with mares, there is an ID stallion up the road who does just that. As someone has found out though this does not always work and it makes it a lot harder to know when/if the mare has been covered. AI on the otherhand enables mare owners to use a stallion that might not even be in this country. It is safer for all concerned, less stressful for maiden mares and a lot cleaner. The stallion could cover more mares because he is not wasting seman. As I have already said to you in a previous post, we no longer keep our horses in a natural way. I know I would go the AI route everytime now.

 

[vennessa]

[ QUOTE ]
A stallion can run with mares, there is an ID stallion up the road who does just that. As someone has found out though this does not always work and it makes it a lot harder to know when/if the mare has been covered. AI on the otherhand enables mare owners to use a stallion that might not even be in this country. It is safer for all concerned, less stressful for maiden mares and a lot cleaner. The stallion could cover more mares because he is not wasting seman. As I have already said to you in a previous post, we no longer keep our horses in a natural way. I know I would go the AI route everytime now.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thankyou for that. Not being into breeding it is something i know little about. Mares haveing foals is a different matter

I do understand more now. You can acheive more selective breeding. I do understand selective breeding - i am not that thick but dense enough not to think about travelling the mare and useing a Stallion from a different country

Also i suppose not knowing if a mare has been covered you would be less aware of if she was infertile i suppose.
I do keep my horses as natural as possible but that is my choice and as they are rescues nearly all unrideable i am able to. I do understand it is not possible in this day and age.
Does it show i have learnt from oldies?

But i am always eager to learn and keep up.

A lot has changed for the better.

 

[vennessa]

P.S. Magic104 you have a good memory. I can't remember you saying we no longer keep horses in a natural way

I often don't get back to threads though, i have now learnt to toggle them

 

[Penniless]

You left out in-hand covering.

 

[vennessa]

[ QUOTE ]
You left out in-hand covering.

[/ QUOTE ]
lol

Shows how little i know about it

 

[nikkiportia]

I vote for in-hand covering too!
Damn it, us TB breeders are easy to spot aren't we?

 

[vennessa]

[ QUOTE ]
I vote for in-hand covering too!
Damn it, us TB breeders are easy to spot aren't we?

[/ QUOTE ]
lol

 

[Navalgem]

Nikiportia - Newmarket kinda is a giveaway too lol.

I think covering in hand has it's place, but I do thing AI is much cleaner and safer for both mare and stallion, it also allows mare owners a greater choice of stallions including those from abroad, therefore better selective breeding programmes for dressage/eventing/showjumping horses for those people who can't afford to travel their mare abroad to stud. Also as magic said more mares can be covered as in AI approx 3 doses (correct me if I'm wrong) can be taken from a single collection of sperm which normally would have ended up in just a single recipient.

BTW (showing my ignorance now

) why are TB's covered naturally?

 

[nikkiportia]

Because transferring to AI would destroy the industry! And my job!

 

[CrazyMare]

I've only bred one, she is from natural inhand covering. It worked and suited us. In future I would use it again, if that is what the stallion offered, but equally if he only offered AI and he was the perfect stallion then I would use that.

 

[Navalgem]

I've used both AI and natural, I just prefer AI for the reasons magic and I have stated.

Also the first year I tried to cover my tb mare naturally, no stallion could get into her because her vulva was sunken, so she was AI'ed, without AI I wouldn't have had my 2 yo, who I'm very grateful to have as my mare has since died.

 

[danni1986]

My mare will kill any stallion that comes near her, unless he is what she classes as a 'supermodel' and then you cant get her away. She also has 'sucky' ladybits

so its AI and a caslick for mine haha. I think you have to do what suits the mare. My friends mare has kissing spines and the risk of in-hand covering on her back was too great so AI for her. But for some, i definately agree with in-hand, its safe and they get to have a bit of fun

 

[Penniless]

[ QUOTE ]
I vote for in-hand covering too!
Damn it, us TB breeders are easy to spot aren't we?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh dear - are we THAT obvious! See our vets are still very busy - we had ours arrive at 7pm last night for a routine scanning job. Mind you, bless him, we did have him here the previous day for 2 hours when our number one boy (not the stallion) suddenly collapsed. Sorry to anyone if he was late arriving at your yard for routine rounds.

 

[Penniless]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW (showing my ignorance now

) why are TB's covered naturally?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well if TBs went the AI route - then everyone would be wanting Sadlers Wells foals and nothing else. Apart from that, these TB stallions are worth millions and the chances of letting one of them run loose with a mare just wouldn't come into the equation for fear of injury. The top TB stallions only get the top mares - studs like Darley are Coolmore (basically the two top TB studs) will always look at the mares pedigree and if it isn't good enough - even if you've got the money - it's tough luck - you can't use their stallion. In-Hand covering is the safest route for their boys. As for limited with how many coverings a stallion can do in-hand - these top stallions are covering 4 mares a day from February 14th to mid-July, get a month off, and then get transported to the other side of the world to cover mares there again - they are covering about 400 mares a year. Out of interest - I'm sure someone can answer this - but what is the most popular stallion (here or abroad using AI - and how many mares would be pregnant in one season by him? Be interested to know these figures up against the top TB stallion coverings using natural in-hand.

 

[almorton]

totally agree with AI, so much safer especially if you have a dummy mare to collect off! can understand the TB point tho. i think the tb world is soooo different, people forget that ALL tb's are handled for their entire lives by professionals, and that includes the mares! so they are so much easier to handle. whereas, to be fair, with sport horses etc, when there is naturally so much more horse in front of you, its easy to literally be walked all over, especially with mares from private homes. manners are everything!