Month: September 2016

Is Cloning Here to Stay?

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The Art of Breeding Horses: A Summary of the Methods of Breeding Horses

By Debra Ottier Iron Horse Equine So, you wish to breed your mare but are confused about all this talk about live cover, AI, shipped semen and frozen semen. Which method of breeding gives the best results?  Which is safer for my mare?  What about costs?  These are all questions often asked by the mare

Using Technology to Breed Horses in BC with Stallions in Ontario: An Effort to Aid an Endangered Breed

By Debra Ottier BSc(Agr), MSc Iron Horse Equine Although most breeders cringe when you mention the words “FROZEN SEMEN” due to the lower success rates, there are those whom believe that this is a way to improve the genetic versatility of the breed. Dan Wilson of Ladysmith British Columbia found a superior sire in Bromont

Welcome to the Ice Age: Using Frozen Semen and Embryos in Today’s Horse Breeding Operations

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The New Age in Breeding: Embryo Transfer

By Debra Ottier, BSc(Agr), MSc Iron Horse Equine� Although embryo transfer has been a common practice in the cattle industry for a number of years now, it has only recently gained steam in the equine world. Breed registries have only now begun to allow the use of embryo transfer in the registration of offspring as

Those Feisty Mares

Those Fiesty Mares: How a Mare’s Cycle Can Affect Performance By Debra Ottier Iron Horse Equine You begin your normal daily ride, like so many other days, when your mare decides to be a very unwilling partner. All that work, conditioning and training her, yet sometimes she fights every move you make, pinning her ears

Preparing the Mare for Breeding

by Debra Ottier Iron Horse Equine It’s that time of year again, and here is some useful information to help plan your breeding experience. First off, ask yourself, when do I want my mare to foal? Since the gestation length of horses is 11 months, you should plan when you want to breed your mare

Before the Semen Arrives

By Debra Ottier, BSc(Agr), MS Iron Horse Equine Here is a checklist to help breeders prepare for breeding their mare with artificial insemination. Find a stallion that will compliment your mare in terms of conformation and bloodline Contact the stallion owner to inform them of your decision and to find out what paper work needs

The Pros and Cons of Artificial Insemination

By Debra Ottier, BSc(Agr), MSc Iron Horse Equine   Artificial Insemination using equine semen is of growing importance in North America. The Canadian horse is diversified across Canada with some horses in the western and eastern provinces having little choice as to which stallion to breed their mare to. A stallion owner should be looking

What Makes One Stallion More Fertile than Another?

By Debra Ottier Iron Horse Equine With the breeding season upon us, we should take time to direct our attention to the horse often forgotten about in the fertility equation, the stallion. Yet, it is the stallion that will make or break a breeding operation. If a mare has poor reproductive performance, while unfortunate, it