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Breeding Procedures

Breeding takes place during early November for an October foaling the following year. November is the start of the peak natural breeding season in the southern hempisphere, so by that stage not only will the wet mares have had their foals and be ready to breed again, but dry mares should be well and truly over the spring transition period and cycling normally. Since Terre D'Ange does not breed racing thoroughbreds, the imposed thoroughbred breeding season and its associated problems can be avoided.

Before a wet mare is bred, she is scanned up to assess uterine health. Terre D'Ange does not breed on foal heat for mares foaling early in October, preferring instead to wait until November.

All mares are scanned and palpated at the end of October to assess uterine health. Come November 1st, all mares are scanned and palpated for ovarian activites.

Terre D'Ange prefers not to use hormone treatments in mares, although Ovuplant may be administered upon the discovery of a 35mm+ follicle to aid with fertilisation. As the spring transition period is missed, there is no real need for progesterone treatment.

Scanning takes place every morning to monitor follicular development. Upon discovery of a 35mm+ follicle, Ovuplant may be administered and the mare is scheduled for insemination that afternoon. In the case of a 40mm+ follicle, the mare is inseminated that morning and Ovuplant may be administered immediately after.

Post-insemination, a saline flush and oxytocin may be administered to problem-breeding mares to prevent infection and aid semen movement.

Although Terre D'Ange has a very high success rate on a single serve, any mares who miss are not short-cycled with prostaglandin. Instead Heritage Park prefers to wait the full three week cycle until she comes into heat again. Prostaglandin may also be administered in the rare event of breeding to the wrong stallion to abort the foal if desired. However, even if this did happen the foal would probably not be aborted.

All our mares are bred using artificial insemination, so as not to cause difficulties in coordination between their cycling and the stallions' showing committments.

All stallions are trained for semen collection. Terre D'Ange uses a Colorado State University model Artificial Vagina and a phantom. Stallions are collected regularly for full semen examination. The stallion's testicles and penis are also regularly examined for any problems.

Once the mare has been bred, scanning takes place at day 16, day 30 and day 45. Early pregnancy scans at day 16 also help to discover if there are twins present. If there are, one twin can be squashed. Attachment does not take place until day 17, so this way if the two embryos are in the same horn one can be moved across by palpation to be squashed so as not to adversley affect the other. Day 30 scans are a final check for twinning in mares, as this is the last day a pregnancy can be aborted without having to wait another year to breed. The day 45 scan is the final confirmation that the mare is pregnant. Other scans take place over the course of the pregnancy at Terre D'Ange's discretion.