Hey guys, I am new to the site and I am going to school to become a vet. I am working on an AI project and I am trying to make a rough estimate as to how many horses are bred via AI in the US. I have done some fairly extensive google searches and have struck out. I would really appreciate any help in making this calculation, even if it is really rough. Thanks for your help!!!
Equinemajor16
I’ll start - ALL the Thoroughbreds
None of the mustangs
Most sporthorses
Few of the range bred ranch horses
None of the back-yard horses - he’s got nuts, she’s got ovaries, gotta breed her, ya know. (Although I call myself a back-yard breeder and I don’t do that.)
Non-registered horses - don’t know at all…not much help, sorry.
Uh - TBs are not bred via AI. They are bred via Live Cover. And even then you can’t say all of them, as you have your ones bred for sport that don’t care about JC registration.
I’d say probably 75% of AQHA, APHA, ApHC are bred via AI.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;7520717]
I’ll start - ALL the Thoroughbreds
None of the mustangs
Most sporthorses
Few of the range bred ranch horses
None of the back-yard horses - he’s got nuts, she’s got ovaries, gotta breed her, ya know. (Although I call myself a back-yard breeder and I don’t do that.)
Non-registered horses - don’t know at all…not much help, sorry.[/QUOTE]
I think you meant to say NONE of the Thoroughbreds? Artificial insemination is allowed within very narrow parameters, and requires that the stallion mount the mare first.
The only way I can think of to find out that statistic is to try contacting the AAEP, or, contacting all the sporthorse registries, and include Arabian and Quarter horse, and paint horse associations to try to get them to tell you approximate numbers.
Almost all Standardbreds are bred via AI.
Oops - ahf - all TB’s are bred live cover, sorry. You are right!
AI can be more expensive, so much depends on the breed and the stature of the stallion. You can find stallions all over the country of (almost) all breeds who stand for $200-500. But those stallions rarely ship, because it’s an added expense for both mare & stallion owner.
But to actually get a number will be close to impossible to do. You would have to contact each registry individually and some may not keep data on how the foal was conceived. I know most WB registries do and the Arab one does.
As others have noted, the vast majority of TBs are conceived LC, but certainly not all.
Personally, I would not waste time trying to figure out the number in ALL of the US, but either stick to one breed or just say “it is increasing”. I think that would be a safe statement.
All registered TBs are live cover. If they aren’t registered they aren’t really TBs.
Well, I would have to disagree with that ^^^. You can call a table a chair, but that doesn’t make it one. Goldmaker is a great example. He was conceived with shipped semen (or AI, I forget the story), but after bouncing around for afew years in a state of limbo, they finally got his registration instated.
http://www.avalon-equine.com/registration--test-scores.html
If I was breeding TBs for sport…say, eventing…and I had a mare I wanted to breed to a TB stallion across the country, I would not hesitate to do so. Simply register both horses with a group like PHR and get both horses DNA’ed.
I’m sure this would be enough for most people…and I can’t imagine how these horses would NOT be considered TB’s. Registries don’t wave a magic wand over a horse and make them a breed; they just record pedigrees.
I’ve bred three in my lifetime so far… and all ahve been AI…my best suggestion, start calling vet clinics, or try big veterinary colleges (maybe Virginia Tech etc)…
[QUOTE=Kyzteke;7523530]
Well, I would have to disagree with that ^^^. You can call a table a chair, but that doesn’t make it one. Goldmaker is a great example. He was conceived with shipped semen (or AI, I forget the story), but after bouncing around for afew years in a state of limbo, they finally got his registration instated.
http://www.avalon-equine.com/registration--test-scores.html
If I was breeding TBs for sport…say, eventing…and I had a mare I wanted to breed to a TB stallion across the country, I would not hesitate to do so. Simply register both horses with a group like PHR and get both horses DNA’ed.
I’m sure this would be enough for most people…and I can’t imagine how these horses would NOT be considered TB’s. Registries don’t wave a magic wand over a horse and make them a breed; they just record pedigrees.[/QUOTE]
What? He was conceived AI and registered TB?
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7522239]
All registered TBs are live cover. If they aren’t registered they aren’t really TBs.[/QUOTE]
Sorry, but that is a ridiculous statement.
No it isn’t. A horse that is unregistrable is grade.
It’s a question of semantics -a chair is still a chair, no matter what you call it.
I bred a sporthorse TB and she was registered CSH and PHR - she was DNA’d and her pedigree clearly showed she was a TB. Certainly no racing TB, her lines did not indicate any great successes there, but good movement and good , stylish jumping.
Then there are the shipments of semen from overseas - how do you start counting?
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7524393]
No it isn’t. A horse that is unregistrable is grade.[/QUOTE]
No, a horse whose pedigree/bloodlines is unknown or mixed is a grade. A horse with nothing but TB in it’s pedigree is a TB, even if it’s not registered. Registration is just the “seal of approval” from a registry.
You could breed 20 generations of unregistered TBs and as long as you used nothing BUT TBs in the program you will still end up with 100% TB…not matter what the JC decided to call them. Genetically they would all be TBs.
As for “counting” number of horses conceived via AI, I would say that is pretty much an impossible task. The number is vast.
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