Breeding Polo Ponies
Breeding season
Mares are usually sexually inactive during the winter. This is because horses, like most
grazing animals, are designed to be born in the spring when the weather is warm and the grass
is growing.
A horse is capable of reproducing at about 12 to 18 months old depending on its size and
diet.
Artificial insemination is a more difficult procedure in horses than other species due
to the storage requirements of horse semen. A veterinarian usually performs this procedure.
Italian scientists cloned the first horse. In 2002 the Laboratory for Reproductive Technology
collected a skin cell from a mare and fused its nucleus with an empty egg from another horse.
The cultured embryo was implanted in the mare’s womb. After 336 days a foal, Prometea, was
born on May 28, 2003.
Researchers at Texas A&M successfully cloned the first horse in the United States. The
mare, Greta, gave birth to a foal, Paris Texas, on March 13, 2005.
Equine Breeding Definitions
- Barren (Not Pregnant)
- A term used to describe a filly or mare, other than a maiden mare,
that was bred (mated) and did not conceive during the last breeding season.
- Bred (Mated)
- Any filly or mare that has undergone the physical act of breeding
(mating).
- Bred (Area Foaled)
- The term "bred" is sometimes used to describe the location where
a foal was born such as Kentucky Bred or New York Bred.
- Breeder
- The breeder of a foal is the owner of the dam at the time of foaling,
unless the dam was under a lease or foal sharing agreement at the time of foaling, in which
case, the party specified by the terms of the agreement is the breeder of the foal.
- Breeding (Mating)
- The physical act of a stallion mounting a broodmare with intromission
of the penis and ejaculation of semen into the reproductive tract.
- Broodmare
- A filly or mare that has been bred (mated) and is used to produce
foals.
- Dam
- A female horse that has produced, or is producing, foals.
- In Foal (Pregnant) Broodmare
- A filly or mare that was bred (mated), conceived and is currently
in foal (pregnant).
- Maiden
- A filly or mare that has never been bred (mated).
- Sire
- A male horse that has produced, or is producing, foals.
- Stallion
- A male horse that is used to produce foals.
Breeding Procedure Definitions
- Aborted
- A term used to describe a broodmare that has been pronounced in foal
(pregnant) based on an examination of 42 days or more post breeding (mating) and lost her
foal prematurely; or a broodmare from whom an aborted fetus has been observed.
- Artificial Insemination
- The process of depositing semen into the reproductive tract of a
broodmare in order to get a broodmare in foal (pregnant) without the physical mounting of
a stallion.
- Embryo Transfer (Transplants)
- The method whereby a developing embryo or unfertilized egg is removed
from its natural dam and implanted into the reproductive tract of either the natural dam
or a host dam for a portion of the gestation period in order to produce a live foal.
- Cloning
- Any method by which the genetic material of an unfertilized egg or
an embryo is removed, replaced by genetic material taken from another organism, added to
with genetic material from another organism, or otherwise modified by any means in order
to produce a live foal.
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