Things You'll Need
- A mare who ideally has a good breeding history
- a clean breeding exam- take care of any infections or issues early in the season
- a choosen stallion
- a vet with experience working with chilled semen
Instructions
Have a veterinarian perform a general health check and reproductive examination on the mare. She should also be vaccinated and have her teeth checked.
Choose your stallion and take time to read the contract. Does the stallion collect every day? Is the stallion avaible all spring and summer? or does he have a limited breeding season. What is the stallions live foal gaurentee? These are all important items to check into before signing that contract.
As breeding season approaches have your vet determine where in the cycle the mare is. This is often done by palpating or ultrasounding every couple of days. The vet will help determine an expected ovulation date as the mare enters estrus.
Contact the stallion and let them know of the expected ovulation date. Insure there are no other conflicts. Insure your vet or AI specialist will be available when the mare is expected to ovulate.
Make sure you know which method of shipping will be used and any conflicts (carrier hours of operation etc). Pick the semen up and arrange for your vet to meet you at the barn. A sample of the semen will be checked to insure good motility and numbers.
The follicle grows about 3-5mm per day and mares usually do not ovulate before 35mm. Once the semen is ordered and recieved your vet will warm one of the doses and inseminate the mare. You are wanting to inseminate with in 24 hours of ovulation. Of course the mares dont' always co operate and can decide to not ovulate on the calculated time. Your vet may inseminate both doses at the first time, or your vet may hold one dose and inseminate that dose 24 hours. Either method is acceptable and often the decision comes down to wether the mare has already ovulated or is very close to ovulating.
After insemination insure the vet fills out the paper work that the stallion sent with the shipment.
If the mare does not ovulate with in 48 hours of the first insemination it is ideal to order and recieve a second shipment as soon as possible. Unfortunatly this does not always work and the mare may ovulate before it arrives but it can result in pregnancy with in that same heat cycle.
If ovulation occurs your vet will then ultrasound the horse approximately 17 and 30 days after insemination to confirm pregnancy and deal with any twins present.