Sport Horse Breeding

1.Why were there poor results with frozen semen in the past?

Basically the problem was threefold.

I) The quality of the semen was not good enough

II) The people who were doing the insemination were limited in their knowledge understanding and experience or did not receive proper instructions.

III) The mares were not good breeding mares.

"When I hear some of the things that went on in the past I am surprised that any mares got pregnant."

When International Competition Stallions started we set up a system to tackle these three problem areas. We are very strict on the quality of the semen we supply and will reject any stallions semen that does not come up to our standards.
We make sure that the vet doing the insemination has the required knowledge and that they have the proper instructions regarding the semen and the insemination process. We will only accept good breeding mares.

2.What is an insemination dose?

This is the volume of semen used to inseminate the mare once. The semen is packed in straws either 1 X 5ml, 1 X 4ml or 0.5ml mini straws whose number can range from two to ten straws per dose.The important criteria are the number, velocity, morphology correct, and the % of progressively motile sperm once the semen is thawed after freezing. We set a minimum standard of 35% progressively motile sperm with 80% morphology correct, a velocity of 35 Mic/sec. With each insemination dose having a minimum of 100 million of these good sperm.

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3.How many doses do I get?

We will supply three insemination doses to achieve a pregnancy. If your mare is pregnant with the first insemination you are free to keep the other doses for another mare. This can be stored with ourselves until you are ready to use it or you can sell it to another party.

4.How do I know the quality of the semen is good?

Each batch of semen that we supply comes with a Post-thaw analysis test result. Basically this means that after freezing, two straws from each batch are thawed and analysed. Any batch that does not reach the required standard is destroyed, leaving only good semen. These post thaw results accompany the semen and when the vet inseminates your mare he analyses the semen to make sure it compares with the test results. That way we know the semen has been handled properly and is in perfect condition when it enters your mare.

5.How do you store & transport frozen semen?

Frozen semen is stored and transported in liquid nitrogen tanks. This keeps the semen at a temperature of 196 degrees centigrade. If the temperature rises above this level for more than ten seconds serious damage will occur to the semen. Great care is required when transferring the semen between tanks.

6.How long can you store frozen semen?

Virtually indefinitely. They have not been freezing semen long enough to say that it will not keep. We have put mares in foal with semen that was frozen 18 years ago and in Germany they have a horse that was conceived with semen that was frozen 23 years before.

7.What is the conception rate using frozen semen?

Used properly with good mare management you would expect to achieve around a 50% pregnancy rate after the first insemination and 75% after two inseminations. Our results over the last five years are 79%, 82%, 76%, 78% & 75% in foal.

Artificial insemination Intro

Artificial insemination FAQ cont

Artificial Insemination In Horses Using Frozen Semen

Sport Horse Breeding

Artificial Insemination In Horses
Using Frozen Semen