When it comes to raising horses, technology has given us many options, from traditional methods to sub-fertile mares producing foals by long deceased stallions.
The natural versus artificial breeding process
It's not uncommon for larger ranches to turn a stallion out with a specific band of mares for pasture breeding, simply letting mother nature take its course.
Hand-breeding, careful preparation of the mare and stallion for monitored live cover is largely exclusive to the Thoroughbred racing industry; however, it's often the method of choice for “local” stallions that only cover a handful of outside mares each year.
The most common method today is artificial insemination via cooled or frozen semen. For this process, the stallion's semen is collected and shipped to the mare's location. It's important to note that stallions aren't collected every day; rather, they have an every-other-day collection schedule. This makes monitoring a mare's cycle extremely important.
Frozen semen is generally offered on deceased stallions, those still performing or those with extremely full books. While it does make it more accessible in reaching the mare's breeding facility, frozen generally adds to your veterinary fees because it's more labor intensive.
“Your window for conception has
