Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 105

the rider

Island Life - February/March 2011
and risks.

once the embryo is conceived it can be

• risks of accidental injuries to the

AIl can be performed using fresh,

transferred from one mare to another

mare, stallion and handlers involved in

chilled or frozen semen. Fresh semen

surrogate mare. This enables the top

mating, are much reduced.

must be inseminated within 60 minutes

class horse to carry on competing

• no direct contact between animals

of collection, so the stallion must be

helps prevent spread of sexually

geographically close by. Chilled semen

transmitted disease.

is suitable if inseminated within 24-48

• risk of mating-induced contamination

hours of collection allowing a greater

in mares that are prone to uterine

distance between stallion and mare, if

infection is reduced.

a guaranteed courier service is used.

HOWEVER in spite of the advantages,

Successful pregnancies are equal or

AI is only successful if a high level

better than natural covering, at 70-80%

of expertise is used, involving close

per cycle. Frozen semen can be stored

monitoring of the oestrus cycle and

for virtually unlimited periods, but once

accurate planning to match semen

thawed it must be inseminated within 5

collection, semen transport by express

minutes, as the life span of the thawed

courier and insemination at the correct

sperm is only 8 -12 hours. Using frozen

without having to maintain a pregnancy

time.

semen has a lower success rate than

and avoids the possible risks at

either fresh or chilled semen. Therefore

parturition. The success rate for this

it should only be attempted in fertile

procedure is approximately 50%. This

mares with high quality semen.

specialist procedure is available at the

Average worldwide pregnancy rates

Liphook Equine Hospital.

using frozen semen are reported to be

Q. What will happen if I choose
to have my mare inseminated by
A.I.?

as low as around 40%, although we’ve

Q. How and when will I know if

recorded higher at Liphook.

my mare has conceived?

Q. My mare is a high

A. Repeat ultrasound scans.

performance mare and I
don’t want to interrupt her
competitive career, but I would
like to breed from her. What can
I do?

Ultrasound scans of the uterus should
be performed 14 to 16 days after
mating or insemination to confirm the
presence of an embryo and to check
for twins. F