“Advertisements” for the all-star stallions are more like brag pages; nothing wrong with that. Sort of like “Congratulations to Our Honor Students” pages parents and schools sometimes pay to publish in the local paper.
In some cases I can see where an ad for (an example) No Nay Never might draw a person’s interest to the Coolmore website and thus pique interest in one of their second or third tier stallions who might be more accessible/affordable to that mare owner.
When is an advertisement for any stallion NOT a brag page? Isn’t that the entire point of advertising a stallion? To brag to the world about what they’ve done/what their get have done?
Worth repeating again.
If a TB mare does not get pregnant in a cycle, the owner is only out the vet bills for ultrasound and palpation. Oh well, try again in 14-21 days.
If an AI mare does not get pregnant, you are out $350 in collection and shipping, plus more vet work. If FedEx loses your semen or it arrives after ovulation, that is money and TIME that is lost.
I have so much more faith getting a mare pregnant by hauling her 700 miles from Ocala to Lexington (with foal at side) overnight, than crossing fingers and toes that FedEx will arrive by tomorrow. I’ve done both, and I’ll choose the trailer ride every time… That semen won’t go bad sitting an extra day in his testicles if the mare throws on the brakes and ovulates a day later than expected and needs a double cover.
Don’t forget that the USTA allows AI now. I’m not completely sure how long they have allowed it but I know it is currently allowed.
This is NOT MY Area of Expertise… but you seem to know a lot about it. I recall … years ago when syndication of TBs was just getting started when 40-60 live-bred covers were a full season. There was no overseas shipping. No double seasons for teh stallions. No 200 mares are covered per the two seasons. Season, etc., No TB seems to be doing well without AI. Why would one want to introduce AI into the TB breeding system? What is teh advantage??? How would that affect the cost of yearlings at Keenland, etc?
Perplexed about AI.
TYPO “No TB seems to be doing well without AI.” should read " No leading TB seems to be doing poorly without AI."
It’s been 25 years at least!
This is what has happened to the QH. Small shows became almost non existent. The industry has changed again and open breed shows are popping up again. I think that you can count on a similar type of thing happen to the TB.
AI will do that much quicker though.
The use of frozen semen can be limited to the lifespan of the stallion. When the stallion dies, he frozen semen can no longer be used.
Welcome @Sunny_Sam! If you don’t get much response to your post, it’s because you replied to a thread that’s a year old. But feel free to join in any conversations. We almost always have a lot to say. 
That’s a good idea.
Absolutely correct! TPTB are trying to force things to stay in the dark ages. That’s like trying to force people to not purchase things on-line but go to brick and mortar stores just to prop up those stores.
The live cover requirement is completely inefficient and unhealthy. For instance, a mare foals 1700 miles away from Kentucky. The foal and mare have antibodies to the environment where they originated. Then at 5-6 days post foaling they are loaded onto a van with other horses from who knows where and who knows the health status of those traveling companions and hauled across the country. Now the foal with it’s immature immune system and no antibodies to the Kentucky environment gets sick. It’s not only unethical, it’s just plain STUPID to do that to an animal especially a baby when alternatives (Shipped semen and AI) are available.
Equine parasites have become very resistant to common de-wormers, Pyrantel pamoate and ivermectin. Boarding your mare and immune naive/immature foal at a farm with hundreds of other horses is a great way to get your horse infected with a resistant strain of worms, make it sick and then bring that parasite home to your barn and other horses.
Those Jockey Club nincompoops will eventually be shown to be the idiots that they are.
Meanwhile, I will not breed my mares to any stallion if live cover is required for registration. My mares and my babies are staying at home and I am breeding them to quarter horses using shipped semen.
Thank you!
I do not understand what you are trying to say.
For TBs, frozen semen can’t be used (except, in some cases, to supplement a live cover).
For other breeds, frozen semen CAN be used after the stallions death. For instance, the Connemara stallion ArdCeltic Art died in 2013, but his frozen semen is still being used to produce registered Connemara offspring.
It can? How so? In what sort of cases?
To your other point, I think there is still semen available from Abdullah, and he’s been gone for a long time by now.
The scenario you’ve described probably happens in fewer than 5% of the TB crop. I’d actually be surprised if the number is as high as 1%. The vast majority of TB mares are bred to stallions in the state in which they reside (to keep them eligible for state-bred bonuses.) Mares who have to travel long distances to be bred, are usually shipped to their destination pre-foaling, so that the young foal won’t have to travel at all. The visiting mares will then remain at their boarding farm through either the 45 or 60 day foal check before shipping home again. I only know how things are done in Kentucky because that’s where we breed, but I’ve never seen a mare with a foal at her side transported in a van with random other horses “from who knows where”.
These “stupid” things you’re describing not only aren’t the norm, they happen so rarely as to be considered truly unusual, if for no other reason that because with stud fees up to 250K, who would risk the health and well-being of a very young foal, after having already paid $XX,XXX to produce it?
I’d be curious to know where your information comes from because, to me, it just doesn’t make sense.
It seems I mis-remembered slightly.
See "Live Cover" as defined by the Jockey Club? from 2007, particularly posts 2 and 4. It needs to be fresh (VERY fresh), so NOT frozen. Here is the precise wording:
D. To be eligible for registration, a foal must be the result of a stallion’s Breeding with a broodmare (which is the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion with intromission of the penis and ejaculation of semen into the reproductive tract). As an aid to the Breeding, a portion of the ejaculate produced by the stallion during such mating may immediately be placed in the uterus of the broodmare being bred.
Thanks. That was more the impression I had.
Which would make more sense, because why would they even have anything frozen on hand for the thoroughbreds? Or the containers or any of the other equipment?
This is exactly correct. We are considered very long shippers - to the point of stress to the stud farms, and we are only 215 miles from Lexington. And we definitely use a private van when shipping.
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