Hi Everyone,
I thought I should share this with everyone, It is very interesting...
There is some new technology in equine breeding taking place at Mississippi State University right now, It is still in the beginning stages but it will soon spread all across the US, They have found away for a MARE to have multiple foals in a single year and not by having twins or triplets, which we are all aware of the dangers if that happened..... you may be saying NO WAY, CANT HAPPEN
 right about now but it is true
... They have pioneered a new method of embryonic transfer in equine breeding practices. This may be tough to explain, but I will try my best, I understand exactly how it works, but putting it in words is harder...
Ok, Hypothetically, lets say I wanted to have my 29.5" mare Gracie bred to say my stallion Hurricane, on common breeding practices, you could have a foal by this cross once a year, but with this embryonic transfer, you could have 2 or 3, or even more foals of this same cross in one breeding season, first it would start off with hand breeding Hurricane and Gracie, then I think its somewhere between 7 - 14 days later, you would have a vetrinary clinic then remove the embryo (foal) containing Gracies and Hurricanes Genes that Gracie would normally carry to term and foal, and then transplant it in to a serrogant mare to carry and foal, then on next heat cycle, you would rebreed and repeat this process all over in another mare.
This new breeding practice could be used with all kinds of benefits to the smaller horses, Even though I used Hurricane and Gracie as an example, I couldnt actually breed them because of the size difference, with Hurricane around 33" and Gracie at 29.5"., Hurricane is just to big of a stud to breed to her without a big risk, but with this new practice, You COULD actually breed them and then transplant into a larger mare around Hurricanes size, but yet the foal is still genetically Gracies and Hurricanes and would be the same foal that Gracie would have delivered... so If we wanted to incorperate larger horses confirmation traits, that size would normally not allow, you could now do it at the same time working on breeding down to get a even more refined smaller horse over time....
Another benefit is if you have a really expensive mare, and if something happens to her during the foaling process, you could really take a hard fall on it, but with a less expensive serrogant mare, you wouldnt have as much of a loss if something happened.. Not to sound cruel or anything, Its hard for me if something happens to any of my horses, but its a fact of the business, then one of you expensive top quality mares isnt damaged for life and worthless.... There are many other benefits and situations for this, but I want to keep this as short as possible..
The AQHA has already accepted this as a breeding practice and can be used, and the foals by this process can be registered with them..... This technique is already also being used by large and small horse farms around the southeast with great results, but not alot of clinics are set up for it yet and cant offer it, but from what Ive seen on it, that will soon change... Ive seen a couple good segments on the news and RFD-TV about this and how it is now starting to spread and be recognized.... Anyway, I think that it is very interesting to know how breeding is changing with moderen day technology.... This technique could be very worthwile in some situations.... but Im sure AMHA and AMHR would take thier sweet time researching and studying it before it was ever accepted and you could have a registered foal with them from this...
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