Have 2 mares I want to get in foal w/ frozen semen. Where can I take them for best results? Any suggestions? Experience?
I would check out Blue Ridge Equine and Mountain View Equine. I have friends that use Mountain View for embryo transfer and for collecting stallions. I have used Blue Ridge for non-repro procedures including surgery. First rate outfit.
Good luck.
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Thanks for the info and good wishes.
Is ERC in Amissville too far? They are EXCELLENT.
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I’ll second Equine Reproduction Concepts in Amissville! I have 2 ET mares from them. Great experience.
Don’t know what you consider “Richmond”, but Dave Stanford has done an excellent job with frozen on some very subfertile mares. Neither here nor there, since that’s really outside the Charlottesville strike zone.
Keswick Equine stores the frozen for Team Nijhof, but since Martha Mellish left, I’m not sure if they have anyone with a great passion for repro. Worth inquiring.
Mountain View Equine were my breeding vets for 13 year, and I bred primarily with frozen with outstanding conception rates, and while I was working I had my mares foaled out there. They remain my vets for my retired broodmares. I highly recommend them. Dr. DiGrassi is a theriogenologist, and has that all-important “feel” for predicting ovulation. They are not in your immediate area, but it’ worth the trip over Afton mountain.
ERC in Amissville, nothing positive to say. I’ll leave it at that.
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On the contrary, I had a very positive experience with Dr. Katie Huffman at Little Hawk this year. If your experience was with Dr. Newton, you should give Dr. Huffman a try.
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Veterinary care is expensive. 
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You know what? I should let this go. But I’m tired of colleagues being portrayed in a negative light online with no recourse.
My own broodmare had a retained placenta, and I am a veterinarian. Said mare was hospitalized for 4 days with her foal, with appropriate round the clock care that I could not provide, for about half of what I expected the cost to be.
Breeding is expensive. We all go into it knowing that there are many variables and the work can add up quickly. Don’t blame Dr. Huffman for that.
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Might be past your breeding timeline by now but I’ve had good luck with Dr Brady a number of years ago at Old Dominion Equine associates. I did mostly fresh but had one mare I bred frozen who had not taken with a previous owner and she took with Brady on the first try, as did all my fresh breedings with him. Not sure on the difference in semen quality between the breedings.
As a member of a profession in which multiple people have committed suicide due to negative online reviews, I 100% disagree with you, and that’s why I am coming to my esteemed colleague’s defense.
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Hello to a colleague and fellow parrothead! Unfortunately while I empathize having walked in the shoes of many of our profession, the public reviews - negative, positive, and neutral will always be there. The public has a right to express their opinion though doing so fairly and in a level-headed fashion would be most constructive. We (as in the profession) do need to support each other and I feel that simply letting each other know that we’ve all been judged by those with a very different perspective, many times without having all the facts or refusing to admit to unrealistic expectations…and lived to continue our work another day with many appreciative of those efforts does more than getting into an online discussion on a matter that we had no direct involvement. Trust me every time I read such type of comments especially in a field or discipline that already comes with a deck somewhat stacked against those trying to work with mother nature makes my head spin; but, every interaction with a client imo is a learning experience. I’m hoping that the dissatisfaction was dealt with in a direct fashion with the parties that were involved so that they had an opportunity to resolve things and/or learn from it and change accordingly. Regardless unless the colleague in question has given permission to do so, discussion of any type here is really not fair.
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Va2txrider - It would be more productive if you would at least give some details as to what spurs you to right a negative review on this practice. It really is unfair to just leave a “cannot recommend” comment and then insinuate something regarding costs - and leave it at that. What you may think is a “big deal” worthy of negative criticism just may be “no big deal” to others. You really can have a major negative or positive impact on people’s lives/livelihoods with these online reviews. And so imho it is only fair to back up negative reviews such as yours with details of the account.
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I agree with flying change, my experience at Little Hawk Equine was both with Dr. Tom AND Dr. Katie Huffman. Pregnant mares and I was happy!
I had a mare for breeding at Mountain View and despite REPEATED calls could not get any info concerning her status.
Until I complained on here on COTH.
I got a call back within a half hour from Dr Di Grassi herself, mentioning that she did NOT appreciate my comments and was one of only 2 or 3 therios in VA. She did make a point of informing me that most of her clients only wanted to know when to come get their mares. I don’t know if the breakdown was with her or her staff, to be fair.
No, she wasn’t in foal.
I had great luck with Mike Stanford of Glamorgen Vet but he moved to the West Coast.
I don’t have any “dog” in any “repro” fight – my one breeding almost 20 years ago was handled by my regular vet using fresh cooled, and took the first try. But what in the world? I think it’s ok to leave reviews, even if negative ones, but if the vets and/or some other posters on this thread don’t think that’s appropriate – ok, point it out, but EVEN HANDEDLY.
But why single out va2txrider? ahf said almost EXACTLY the same thing – the identical descriptive words – and said it FIRST, and none of the vets got defensive or batted a virtual eye. Singling out one poster while ignoring an identical post by another poster really stands out in a very negative way.
Post #8 on this thread:
Post #10
And va2txrider said nothing further, any more than ahf did, until questioned, and still tried to keep it general, which considered by many the appropriate way to go about it, though I think it can be very situation dependent whether specifics or more general negative statements are the better way to go.
Honestly, though, that sort of vague warning is pretty bland, and reminds people to do their due diligence in selecting service providers, and maybe pm the person writing the negative review. But how strange to jump on one poster, but ignore another saying the IDENTICAL words.
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