Heart attack, like colic, is a very broad term. IN both, there can be tears and ruptures, and more. It will be interesting to see what actually is the cause of this sad event.
Can you show statistics to back up your claim that breeding stallions in KY seem to have much more instances of heart attacks than other stallions?
Is it because TB stallions with a full book are more likely to suffer heart attack or it is because they make the news over the many other breeds and horses that have heart attacks that no one but their owner and vet are aware of?
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As for heart attack, horses donāt have the same type of āheart attackā that humans usually suffer.
I wish theyād just call it a cardiac or circulatory event and be done with it.
I personally know of two sports horse stallions, not just reading it but heard straight from their involved people, who died of a āheart attack.ā Much lower book, had used AI. One of them I had my mare booked to. No frozen, only fresh, so when he died, that was it. That farm cooperated with another breeder who was standing a son of their horseās and offered this son to cover remaining mares booked to the first stud. I accepted on the āeasiest option at this late pointā logic and got a nice colt. Still wonder at times what that never-performed first breeding would have produced for me, though.
Can you expand on that? Physiologically, wouldnāt a blocked cardiac artery be a blocked artery no matter whose heart it is?
They didnāt say much in the PR. This is just bad.
Dear Zayat Family, So sorry for your loss.
Are TB stallions (or TBs in general) are more likely to have cardiac events than other breeds?
Thatād really be the first question. First hand I know of an inordinate amount of DLB progeny that died unexpectedly/suddenly of cardiac related events (when he himself lived to be 30, but has several sons that died before the age of 14 of āheart attacksā), and for being such a small-time horse person myself, have wondered if it was extraordinarily bad luck, or if it was something else.
I certainly canāt answer that question myself. Itās tragic when it happens regardless of breed. And itās not just TBs that collapse and die either.
Or because there are more TBs covering more mares in Ky the any other state?
I sold a QH gelding years back who dropped about a year later, probable cardiac event, about 14 IIRC. Not only never covered a mare, never set foot on a track but hardly overexerted himself at any time. Been around a good number of horses of assorted breeds over 50 years in boarding barnsthat dropped due to ācardiac eventsā, lifetime pleasure and light duty show horses mostly. IIRC they were all early to mid teens and do remember they were all male. Most geldings. Perhaps thatās more the genetic risk then any specific use or bloodline?
Most horses donāt get necropsied and no large based statistical base exists.
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I think its safe to say that stallions with full books have a lot of wear and tear on their bodies from breeding so many mares. it takes a tremendous toll on their circulatory system among other things to cover many mares over a single season.
as I stated in my original post; heart attacks can happen to any horse at any time. But for stallions, breeding mares heightens that risk exponentially.
IIRC, horses donāt have the same type of fatty diet we do so their āheart attacksā are not, IIRC, caused by blocked arteries.
Again, statistically or anecdotally from what you read in social media?
Yes, breeding is hard on the stallion. Many also deal with back and hock issues.
as noted in another postersā post; no scientific data has ever been compiled on any of this and its effects on the breed. I see someone else noted the Seattle Slew family line. It doesnāt take long to compile your own info over time when reviewing stallion death announcements and autopsy results.
What cannot be denied is the incredible toll that the act of breeding takes on a stallion and multiply that by the amount of mares they breed per year; including the mares they have to service more than once. I do not think it is a coincidence when these stallions die in their teens or even early 20ās of āinfirmities of old ageā.
I donāt believe Nile was ever shuttled to another country but look at these stallions covering massive books of mares domestically and then moving to another hemisphere to cover massive books there. They all will be completely shot by the time they hit 20 if they make it that far.
While not approving AI may keep some genetic variability within the breed; I think its thatās a cop-out. AI would open up the avenue for breeders to use a wide array of stallions across the globe, regardless of travel time and location. I imagine many mare owners try and keep their mating choices to a reasonable distance unless its a top mare. Shipping mares all over the place is a massive risk in itself. but A.I. would take away a considerable amount of bodily stress that these stallions go through facing massive books of live cover.
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I would simply suggest that ādeath announcementsā and publicly released autopsy results would still fall into the category of anecdotal information and not any, at least for me, meaningful cause and effect study.
Just me.
Question: Why couldnāt AI be a strictly monitored procedure: stallion collection over-seen by the vet as much as a live cover is. A very limited number of pipettes available: = live cover.
A LIMITED amount of collected semen could be frozen and shipped to other countries. Again, the same number of mares that would be covered, would be the same via AI. A vet oversees all of it. No more than 2 pipettes per mare, and ONLY if the first insemination didnāt take. Other pipettes are destroyed.
There is DNA typing and micro-chipping. I feel this ācouldā work. Maybe not.
Opinions?
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When hell freezes over perhaps the Jockey Club will allow A.I. 
On a different subject, am I the only one who immediately thinks āartificial inseminationā when A.I. is mentioned instead of āartificial intelligenceā which is what the general public is usually referring to?
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The AQHA was sued when it tried to limit the number of foals a mare could produce in a year (via embryo transfer). They lost the lawsuit, had to change their rules, and pay a financial settlement to the breeders.
AI opens the door to a similar problem in Thoroughbreds. Any restrictions set by the JC would probably be very quickly contested in court where the JC would be likely to lose.
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You can still limit a horseās book if you are doing AI. Can you expand on your ensuring diversity statement? If you limit a horse to 50 live cover mares, versus 50 AI coversā¦what is the difference?
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You conveniently overlook the fact that advances in theriontology have decreased the number of covers required to get ONE mare in foal. Twenty years ago a stallionās book might have been only 60 mares, but that stallion might have to jump many/most of those mares 2-3-4 times before the mare was confirmed in foal. Now, thanks to more accurate methods used to predict ovulation, itās more likely to be āone and doneā.
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Big_Tag, did you read this post?
Yes, but I donāt quite get how that even transpired. It makes sense to me that youād limit a mare to 1 foal a year bc thatās all they can actually produce on their own. Standardbred stallion breeding is almost entirely AI (at least at the commercial level) and itās not some limitless free for all; a stallions ābookā is closed after a certain number of mares. No one is getting sued over this practice so Iām not sure why it couldnāt work in TBs.
To be clear, I have no idea if AI is better or worse than live cover for a stallion; Iām just addressing AI feasibility.
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Standardbred people are perhaps less litigious than TB people because you guys have let that restriction stand. It probably wouldnāt happen in the TB industry where everything is a numbers game and the only thing stallion owners really want is more, more, more. At any rate, the JC doesnāt want to have to defend a lawsuit that they would probably lose based on precedent.
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