dcrivers

When breeding horses, is artificial insemination used? Or do they get to do it the old fashioned way? I'm under the impression most cattle breeding is done artificially, but I don't remember reading or seeing anything about horses. Or at least nothing modern day.

mark

Seems like I remember seeing something about the owners putting blankets or cushions on the female so she wasn't hurt by the male when he was on her. So I guess at least sometimes, the breeding is done the old fashion way.

QuarterHorses

This depends on the breed standard also. There are some breed standards that do not allow artificial and some do. Most high dollar owners don't like the real time because there is a big chance of their mare or stallion getting hurt. They have big bucks in the horses and don't want to risk it.

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Quarter Horses, nothing is better!

Thaworth

I have breeder friends, and they sometimes do artificial, but natural most of the time.

BlackStallion

Well I guess that depends on the owner of the horse and the kind of horse is breeding. The horses also have the right to have pleasure in making love. But if its in the overall good of the horse, sometimes insemination is the right thing to do.

SpiritWind

The ranch my grandfather worked on would just put the mares to pasture with the male of their choice. The man I work for tethers the mare and leads the male to her.

As for the right to pleasure of making love... lol Horses don't mate for pleasure. The only other animal that does that besides humans is the dolphin.

dcrivers

I was going to ask about that pleasure statement, SpiritWind. Thanks for answering before I asked. And I never even heard that dolphins get pleasure from mating. I guess I thought that was something only humans did.

BlackStallion

Gee, that just reminds how ignorant I am still when it comes to horses. Well I stand corrected and thanks for giving that information. So I guess other animals just made for the continuation of their species.

Willow

It depends on the stallion location, too. Frozen semen is being shipped around the world.

Remark

As a former Breeder of Arabian horses, I must say that artificial is used by almost all the top breeders. It protects those high dollar horses from injury and is far less stressful. I had a good friend that shipped his $100,000 16yr old mare to a breeder in VA that decided to use natural methods. The mare had never been bred Natural and the trauma caused her to colic. I also believe that a Mare should be allowed to settle into a new place before being bred whether Natural or Artificial.

I did use natural breeding with my Stallion but only with Mares that I owned.

mema

Is that always the reason (them getting hurt) to avoid the natural way or no? I was aware it was for some breeds, but I never really knew why.

Buckskin

It depends on the breed. I know that all thoroughbreds must be born of a natural mating, which is why shuttle stallions are flown around the world to serve in both the northern and southern hemisphere breeding seasons. Many other breeds permit AI or embryo transfer, although I don't think any breed registry has considered the possibility of cloning.

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Rameses

Is there a consideration of the economic value of artificial insemination versus live mating? I've heard of semen going for upwards of $1000 per sample but there's no real guarantee that the mare will have a successful pregnancy.

hossingaround

When you think of the amount of money already invested in some horses, a thousand dollars isn't that much. Especially when you look at what the return would be if a champion should be bred. Once you have a proven champion, especially from a prestigious pedigree line, you can make more money that way then when the horse was racing.