Long-term storage of eggs or embryos

[SadieRidingHorses]

Hello all - I am completely new to the prospect/idea of breeding - please excuse my ignorance.

I own a mare that I absolutely adore. For various reasons, I don’t want to take her out of work to breed, but I would love to have the option of having her baby one day. But emphasis on “one day” - I don’t want to have a foal on my hands in the immediate future.

So question for the experts: does anyone have experience retrieving a mare’s eggs and then storing them for a long period of time - let’s say several years - before insemination? Would this be better with an embryo as opposed to eggs?

Thanks in advance!

[BITSA]

I would contact Equine Medical Services and ask them https://www.equmed.com/ I have 4 embryos stored with them and my understanding is embryos can be stored for many years

[SadieRidingHorses]

Thank you!

[Montanas_Girl]

It is my understanding that embryos are much more hardy as far as storage goes than oocytes. But reach out to some top repro clinics (like the one linked above) for more concrete data.

[Laurierace]

I agree that embryos are what get frozen not oocytes. I probably would not bother though. Just wait until you are ready for a foal and start then. You may not get one on the first, or second, or third try anyway.