The Future is Here...

Frozen Semen and Embryo Transfers are Approved!

We offer many services to our clients and other farms in both the Miniature World and
Quarter Horse World. We are thrilled to announce the Approval by the
American Miniature Horse Association for the use of
Frozen Semen and Embryo Transfers beginning January of 2008.

We are proud to offer shipped Frozen Semen within the United States on many of our fine Stallions.
In addition, we have many years of experience with Embryo Transfers in quarter horses.
We will be ready to offer this service to the miniature horse industry
in our state-of-the-art stallion station and breeding facility in 2008.

Not all stallions are good candidates to be successfully frozen. Frozen semen is stored in liquid nitrogen at -196°C (-320°F). At this temperature, studies estimate frozen semen can last for 50,000 years. When using Frozen Semen your rates of conception are not as promising as fresh or shipped-cooled semen. However, regardless of the decline of conception rates, frozen semen use in miniature horses will prove to be beneficial to stallion owners and breeders alike.
 

What is Embryo Transfer?

Embryo transfer involves removing the embryo (a fertilized egg) from the uterus of the donor mare 7 days after she was bred and ovulated. The embryo is placed in the uterus of a recipient mare that also ovulated 7 days ago.  The embryo becomes a foal that develops in the recipient mare. When the foal is born, it retains the DNA of the original donor mare and the stallion to which she was bred. 

Advantages of Embryo Transfer:

• To increase the production of genetically superior mares.
• To allow mares to continue to show and still produce foals.
• Identify good crosses sooner.
• Preserve superior bloodlines by producing more foals a year.
• To decrease the risk of foaling complications in smaller superior mares.
• To obtain pregnancies from old valuable, yet superior mares that have been incapable of producing a foal.
• Old mares with a sub fertile uterus who are prone to losing pregnancies would benefit from the transfer of an their embryo in to a healthy uterus of a younger mare.
• Mares that foal late in the season are often left open and not rebred until early the following spring. Embryo Transfer (ET) offers the advantage of allowing a mare to produce a foal via embryo transfer and still remain open so she can be rebred early the next year.
• There is no increased risk of embryo loss or birth defects from embryo transferred foals than from conventional breeding.

Disadvantages of Embryo Transfer:

• Miniature horses do not function reproductively in the same matter as other breeds, subsequently, they are less responsive to hormone therapy which is used to sync the donor mare and the recipient mare.
• It is more expensive than conventional breeding programs, on average ranging between $3000 to $6000 for the ET procedure, not including the cost of the recipient mare, purchased or leased.
• The meticulous handling of the embryo procedures require the skill and experience of a licensed veterinarian.

Common Misconception:

• Embryo Transfers will "Flood" the market with more foals than it can sustain.

Although this is a common thought, it is simply not true. As, you discovered in the material above Embryo Transfers are not an easy task for many reasons. The standard embryo transfer rate of a large horse is 50% to 60% recovery using super ovulatory drugs. These drugs, as mentioned above, do not work on miniature horses. In addition, across the board the preferred semen choice by a veterinarian when artificially inseminating is fresh or shipped cooled semen, not frozen semen, regardless of breed. In the miniature horse arena, shipped cooled semen is not an option because prediction of ovulation is unlike a large horse; therefore, when shipping semen the only option in the miniature horse world is frozen semen, at least for now. All this considered, it is possible to perform an Embryo Transfer in horses regardless of their size.