Let me preface this with, this is a consideration that is a year away, at least. But I thought this might be a good place to get some ideas. I also apologize, as it’s a bit long.
We own a three year old Standardbred filly, that we bred, who is the only daughter (and foal) of our champion trotting mare. There is a whole thread on her and this already, but abridged version: dam died foaling her, of a ruptured uterine artery; the filly was large and was born with a number of issues, none of which are genetic per her vet, but she could not race due to these issues. They don’t necessarily preclude her from carrying her own foal, but there are some concerns in doing so. Per vet she has a “fair” chance of physically carrying/delivering a foal. While she physically may be able to, it’s not necessarily the best scenario for her to be in the typical scenario of racehorse-bred foals, which is large groups of mares and foals outside all of the time. We would really prefer a foal be raised in this environment if possible (i.e., individual or very small group turnout isn’t ideal). Long story short, embryo transfer is looking like a real possibility here. So that brings into consideration the ideal recipient mare.
There’s a good bit of prejudice about ET foals in the standardbred racing community. A lot of trainers view them as inferior and less likely to be successful racehorses. I can’t say I have a real formed opinion on this, but I do feel that the mare they are raised by likely plays a large part. To that end, what we would consider an “ideal” mother mare is one that has successfully carried and raised at least one foal (obviously), but also one that is assertive in the field (not necessarily 100% alpha but certainly holds her own), is fairly active in the field (and also able to live out 24/7), and is fairly easy to handle/work around. Also, large enough to carry said foal, and a good milk producer. Part of me thinks this should be rather easy to find–there are plenty of mares fitting this description that maybe aren’t really commercially viable breeding mares–but where would you really look for such a mare?
I should add that we obviously would really like to breed this filly. Her mother was freak fast, tough as nails, and a really legitimate mare. This is the only shot of continuing her bloodline directly…we do still own her dam and actually have a lovely 2yo full sister to her in training, but as all breeders know, full siblings doesn’t mean equal performance 
We want to do what’s best by the filly, though, and hence the consideration of ET here.
Any thoughts?
