My Horse For Sale

Royal Blue Boon meets Royal Blue Boon (clone)

Written by: Sherri L. Barclay

Barclays Arabians

When most of us envision cloned animals, we think of the larger than life Jurassic Park released in 1993. Then there was The Lost World of 1997 or going to the other side of the realm, the movie about human clones called Multiplicity released in 1996. Some if us looked at these movies as pure science fiction while others of us were left wondering if we should even “go there!”

While Jurassic Park had us questioning if it was at all possible to even achieve such a feat. Many of us were left saying well that’s what you get for messing with Mother Nature! Others yet are still “out for debate” on the subject. No matter what your opinion of this cutting edge research is it is happening and it is a modern day reality.

Livestock cloning company ViaGen, Inc. has partnered with equine marketing firm Encore Genetics to bring this fantasy to life with the first commercial horse cloning operation in the country. On March 30, 2006, these two companies announced the news of the birth of two famous horse clones as well as news of yet other pregnancies.

Royal Blue Boon is a legendary cutting horse registered with the American Quarter Horse Association. She is now a part of history for being the first mare to be commercially cloned here in the US. On February 19, 2006, the foal, Royal Blue Boon Too, was born to a recipient mare in Purcell, Okla. on Royal Vista Southwest Farms. The foal was born with no complications and continues to thrive on the farm where she was born.

Not soon after, a clone of the mare Tap O Lena was born on the same farm arriving on March 9, 2006. Nine additional clones of other celebrated horses are to be born in 2006 alone. There are still many other ViaGen/Encore mares that foaled this year as well. These two companies had also gene banked more than 75 additional champion horses from multiple breeds and disciplines. Due to some client confidentiality agreement, names of these horses could not be released.

Dr. Jim Bailey, DVM and manager of Royal Vista Southwest oversaw the entire cloning process. “From the time I transferred the embryo into the recipient mare, these pregnancies were normal in every way and the births followed suit. The resulting foals were born normally and immediately stood to nurse. They bonded well with the recipient mares and continue to grow and play in the sun.”

Unlike the movie Jurassic Park, in order to make a clone of a horse the technique is a bit different as well as fairly simple. First, there is a biopsy of tissue taken from the horse to be reproduced. Once ViaGen’s lab receives the sample, cells are grown in a culture. Then a process called Nuclear Transfer takes place. This is where DNA from the donors cells are transferred into enucleated oocytes (eggs from which the genetic material has been removed). The embryos are then grown in an incubator for several days before being transferred to a recipient mare. This process is the same as with traditional embryo transfer. Finally, once the mares reach the normal gestation period. The cloned foals are born.

Still a bit confused? Let’s look a bit deeper into the cloning process. Livestock cloning is the most recent evolution of selective breeding in animal husbandry, which dates back to the dawn of time. Many of our readers may not know this however, Arab sheiks first used artificial insemination in horses as early as the 14^th century. Techniques such as embryo transfer, in virto fertilization, embryo splitting and blastomere transfer have become common place in just the last fifty years. These processes provide farmers and ranchers powerful tools for breeding their best animals. The cloning process also accelerates the birth of the best possible stock by allowing horse breeders to be certain of genetic make-up of a particular animal.

Clones are not genetically modified organisms or GMO’s as some people may believe. Cloning is considered quite simply to be assisted reproduction. Clones are basically identical twins separated in time. These twins are genetically identical to its single parent and is developed from a single donated cell.

While cloned animals are genetically identical that is where the similarities may stop. For instance, during fetal development the cells that produce pigment called melanocytes, migrate around the fetus. The final location of these cells is not controlled by genetics and can be affected by the uterine environment. Because of this the color or pattern of a clone may be slightly different from that of the original. In scientific terms, their genotype – the clones genetic makeup as opposed to its physical characteristics. Cloning cannot control the clones phenotype – or the physical expression of a trait, like the placement of any of the clones particular markings. So, if you are looking to create an identical twin of your favorite horse it may not happen. The clones markings may be slightly different then the donor.

Clones also have the exact same potential as the cell donor or original. You must consider however that these clones are brought up in a different environment at a different time. Essentially; nutrition, socialization, exposure to foreign pathogens, etc. can affect behavior and the ability to perform. Clones may therefore be different from each other and from the original cell donor. This means that just because your horse acts exactly how you want it to, your horse’s clone being exposed to a different environment, may not act the same or do well in the same discipline as the original.

Cloning does have other challenges. Higher rates of fetal and neonatal issues were observed with assisted breeding techniques. This includes virto fertilization and embryo transfer. It has also been noted with cloning.

At this time there are no equine registries that will allow cloned animals to be registered. They are still considering it as an option however to date none of the registries have opened up to cloning. The Jockey Club is considered by some to be the purest of all breeding institutions. They believe that both the short term and long term health of the Thoroughbred breed is best served without the use of many current breeding practices. These practices include artificial insemination, embryo transfer and cloning.

Next month we will continue to look at this controversial process and explain how you can gene bank your own horse.

By: Tina Lewis, Lewis Stallion Station

Most serious breeders breed their mares every year so they can get a bigger return on their investment and so that their mares can effectively “earn their keep”. Horses are officially a year old on January 1 after their birth date and must continue to use that date as their “universal” birth date.  Because of this, it is optimal, in the show world, to have a foal born on January 1^st.  This makes for a bigger yearling, but, by the same token, it would be highly detrimental if a foal happens to be born on December 31st, as it is then considered a yearling the very next day and would be a very small yearling in the show ring. Most mare owners try to have their foals born as close to that “universal” birth date of January 1, as possible, by breeding as early in the year as possible.  Having foals born early, means bigger weanlings and yearlings for showing and winning.

If a mare, for one reason or another, is due to foal late in the Spring or early Summer, some breeders will elect not to re-breed her when she foals and put her under lights over the winter to induce estrus early the next year.   This way, she can be bred for a January baby the following year.  In reality, this does not skip a whole year, it only loses a few months and gains the advantage in the show ring.  Some breeders may also elect to skip a year and give the mare a break or rest, or to keep down the herd, as it is sometimes not cost effective to have too many mouths to feed and gives them time to break and sell the horses already on the ground, especially in a slow market for horses.

Most good broodmares will breed, take, and carry foals until they die. Choosing the time of year you want to have a foal hit the ground, especially for your area, is important when deciding when to breed your mare.  If you have severe weather in the winter, you will not want a January baby unless you have an enclosed barn to keep it warm until the weather is better.  If you are trying to gain a few days each year and get your mare foaling earlier in the season you will need to either skip a year and put her under lights and start early the next season or simply be diligent in breeding on the foal heat each year, thereby gaining about 10 days per year (easier said than done, at least, consistently).

It is common practice to breed a mare on her foal heat as long as there were no foaling problems, such as a retained placenta, she kept her weight well, and she is healthy.  Some breeders believe that keeping that reproductive tract active helps to keep it in good working order. Catching a mare on her foal heat, is a bit tricky.  Unlike the regular heat, normally 5-7 days, the foal heat generally lasts only 3 days beginning on about day 9-12 after the mare foals.  The success rate for getting a mare in foal on her foal heat drops to about 50%, for several reasons.

Once the mare foals, the ovaries will begin to start cycling.  Unfortunately, they start from a stage that is similar to being about half way through a normal heat cycle, so it is only about 10 days until the ovulation occurs.  This can vary from 5-16 days.  Getting a mare to even tease to a stallion, much less breed on her foal heat is quite a task, understandably, since it has only been 10 days since she delivered a 150 pound foal, placental tissue, and the fluids that surrounded the foal.  Her uterus is contracting the muscle in the walls, and is frantically trying to evacuate itself so it can clean up any residual left behind from the birth.  These contractions are strong and cause considerable discomfort.  Often times a mare will pass the tenth day and not have shown any signs of heat at all by normal teasing methods, but would have had a normal follicle show on an ultrasound exam.  Some mares will be physiologically in heat, but not psychologically receptive to the stallion due to the new foal and a mother’s concern for her foal’s safety in the presence of the screaming, charging, stallion.

If the mare does not show any signs of heat, but you can determine she is in standing heat via an ultrasound exam, and has a breedable follicle, artificial insemination would best be used in this case, to keep from injuring the mare, foal or stallion.  If the mare is receptive to the stallion, the foal can be put into a safe foal pen, near the mare, to keep her anxiety levels down, while she is being bred via live cover.  For shipped semen, it would be best to have a culture done, skip the foal heat and short cycle her with Prostaglandin and catch her when she comes into heat a few days later.  You will still gain a few days but lessen the chances of having to ship again and lose more valuable time and money, since the foal heat is not ideal for conception via shipped cooled semen.

Most breeders start teasing or checking their mares about day 6 after the foal is born so as not to miss that short, 3 day heat.  Once it’s gone the only recourse is to short cycle her and bring her back into heat (or wait for the next heat which usually occurs when the foal is about 30 days old).  This heat should be a normal 5-7 day heat but she still may not show any signs with regular teasing methods due to motherly instincts, and the foal at her side.  This is one of the main reasons that some breeders, in years past, only bred some mares, every other year.  Until ultrasonography, there was no way to tell when these mares were actually in heat and some mares wouldn’t allow the stallion to breed her at all when she had a foal at her side.  Some breeders would actually guess and use artificial insemination or even restrain a mare for live cover breeding at days 9 and 11, crossing their fingers that she would have semen inside her when she was ovulating a follicle. Today we have ultrasound, phantoms (dummy mares), Artificial Vaginas (AV’s) and Artificial Insemination (AI) to help us overcome some of the obstacles that caused so much stress to breeders over the years.  We can now deal with the fears of a new mother and her brand new foal, never having to have her, or her foal, in the presence of the stallion.  I believe this makes for a happier, less stressed mare, as well as mare owner, and probably greatly improves the conception rate on the foal heat.

By Tina L. Lewis

Preparing Your Mare For Breeding

By now you have probably chosen the Stallion you want to breed your mare to this Spring.  The stallion you have chosen compliments your mare perfectly in conformation, disposition, pedigree and color and you are so excited you simply cannot wait, not only to get her bred, but for that gorgeous foal next year.  Don’t wait.  Get started now to insure you not only have a gorgeous foal next year, but that you have a foal next year by preparing your mare for a successful breeding, conception and full term gestation of that foal.

There are so many things to consider with regard to your mare’s health and breeding soundness and, depending upon the weather in your area, when you might want a foal to be born.   In order to plan this well we need to first understand the mare’s estrus or “heat” cycle.

During part of the fall and most of the coldest winter months, nature gives the mare a break and she will stop cycling temporarily.  This is called anestrus. This is nature’s way of preventing the mare from having a foal at a time of year that would not be favorable for it.  Remember that the horse is a herd animal and in a herd environment, it is very hard for a foal to survive during the winter as food is scarce and the herd must move constantly to find feed, and wild animals prey upon the young, especially in the winter when they, themselves are hungry and food is scarce.  A foal is an easy target.  Spring is the time that a mare will naturally cycle.  Depending upon where you live, anestrus can be a short period, or a very long period, as longer days and warmer weather determine its end.  The beginning of the estrus cycle is known as proestrus or “transition period”.  This is usually when there will be more activity on the ovaries and indicates that the mare is coming into her estrus cycle.  The actual “heat” cycle is known as estrus and as estrus increases the mare begins to secrete hormones and will begin to show outward signs of heat, that will include, but not be limited to, squatting, turning her rear to the stallion, urinating (usually more of a milky urine than normal), tail lifting, and winking (rapid open and closing) of the vulva, and will exhibit general interest or attachment to the other horses.  This is when the mare is most receptive to the stallion and will ovulate and be capable of conception.  The estrus cycle of a mare usually last from 5-7 days.

After the mare ovulates and goes out of estrus, or heat, she goes into a period called diestrus.  This is the period between estrus cycles during the Spring and Summer months.  It will last until the next estrus cycle begins, about 14 days, for a total of about 21 days in her estrus cycle (give or take a day or two).  The cycle of estrus and diestrus will continue all season until fall when the mare will go back into anestrus again for the winter and will no longer be receptive for breeding and will not conceive.

Most stallion owners and Stallion Stations will begin to accept mares about February 1, each year, for the breeding season, and begin their teasing program, but most mares will still be in proestrus or transition until the days get longer and warmer.   If you want to breed as early as possible for a January foal you can put your mare under lights for about 90 days in her stall, beginning about November 1.  She needs 16 hours of total daylight and it needs to be consistent.  Most mare owners put the lights on a timer so they come on about  4 PM before it begins to get dark outside and stay on until about 11 PM or as many hours as necessary to reach 16 hours of daylight in your area.   The key here is to have a total of 16 hours of daylight adding artificial light at the end of the day.  Check your Time Zone for your local daylight hours and adjust your timer or schedule of turning on the lights in your barn accordingly.  Remember, you should be able to easily read a newspaper in the darkest corner of her stall for the lights to be bright enough to simulate daylight and be successful in tricking her body into believing that it is Springtime and she should begin to cycle.

If you are going to allow your mare to cycle naturally then you can plan on about the first of March or, if she is in foal, you will need to plan according to her due date.  Some mare owners like to catch the foal heat particularly if the mare is due to foal late in the season as this will move you up about 10 days to 2 weeks for foaling next year.  The foal heat, unfortunately is very short, about 3 days or so, and it is tougher to get the mare in foal on this heat for this, and other reasons.  You may want to opt for breeding her on her next heat for a better chance of getting her in foal, especially if you are shipping cooled semen or utilizing frozen semen.  This heat cycle is usually about 30 days after her foal is born.

The body condition of your mare is also key in the success of getting her in foal.  Your mare should not be too thin or too fat as both of these can cause your mares cycle to be slightly off or inactive and make conception difficult and even impossible.   Monitor her weight and be sure she is free of parasites, on a good deworming schedule and fully vaccinated and up to date on all of these before taking her to be bred.  Her teeth may also need floating to ensure she is getting the nutrition needed to keep weight on.  You will also want to have her on a diet appropriate for her age and activity so as not to cause her to drop weight when it is so badly needed to keep her body condition in check and prepared for breeding, carrying a foal for over 11 months, delivering and nursing.

Lastly, an important step on the road to getting your mare in foal is a breeding soundness exam.  It is crucial and should include a uterine culture.  Many mare owners, understandably, try to cut a few corners here and there but this is not one that should be cut.  It may cost you more time and more money in the long run. Typically, most breeding contracts require a current negative uterine culture and a breeding soundness exam and there are two important reasons why.   If the mare is infected, she will not get pregnant and it will be a waste of everyone’s time and your money to continue to breed her live cover, artificially inseminate her or ship semen to her.  These costs add up quickly.  The stallion owner has a limited amount of semen, even with a live stallion as a stallion can only produce so much semen and the energy it takes to get a mare bred.  It is a waste of time as well as stallion energy to collect and ship it to or breed to those mares who cannot conceive due to infection or breeding unsoundness.  It also makes the stallion’s conception rate seem low, when, in fact, it is the mare who is responsible because she is unable to conceive in poor condition or with bacteria in her uterus.  In addition, if the mare’s uterus is just slightly infected, she may get in foal.  However, keep in mind that when the mare conceives, her cervix closes tightly to protect the fetus.  It is like a steel door.  Anything that has not been removed is trapped.  This means that any bacteria that may have been present when she conceived, is in the uterus with your maturing foal.  The chances of her aborting are greatly increased.  The bacteria will continue to grow and, at some point, it will affect the maturing foal.  To increase your chances of a live, healthy foal, the mare’s uterus needs to be healthy. Remember, achieving pregnancy is only one aspect of the breeding process, getting to term is quite another. There are many cases where mares were only slightly infected and were bred anyway.  These mares conceive, only to abort the foal later in the pregnancy, too late to rebreed that year and all that time and money is lost forever.  Taking the time to “clean up” the mare and insure she is breeding sound is an important and extremely cost effective aspect of the breeding process, whether she is being bred via live cover, artificial insemination or cooled shipped semen from across the country.  You want to know your mare is clean and breeding sound and can conceive when she is bred, and so does the stallion owner.   Most Stallion Stations and stallion owners have their stallion’s semen tested for concentration, progressive motility, morbidity as well as freezing/shipping ability to ensure they can, and will, impregnate your mare if she is breeding sound.  These stallions are also capable of, and usually have, many foals on the ground to further prove their fertility as they can have many foals a year where a mare can only have the one with many more factors affecting her fertility each year. If your mare, for instance, had retained a placenta, even briefly, her last foal or was Artificially Inseminated unsuccessfully last year or lost a foal mid pregnancy.  She is high risk for bacteria in her uterus and should be cultured before trying to breed her again. If you do not culture your mare and she does not get in foal right away or loses the foal mid pregnancy, this might be something to consider and a breeding soundness exam with a negative uterine culture would be advised before trying again.

BREED Q&A from MyHorseForSale.com

QUESTION: What should a stallion’s shipping rate be in order to insure my mare gets pregnant on the first shipment?

ANSWER: There is no way to insure that any mare gets pregnant on her first cycle even when using live cover or fresh semen, let alone the first shipment of cooled or frozen semen.  The stallion, and his semen are only half of the equation and the mare and her follicle are the other half.  The mare owner, if he or she does their homework, can insure that the stallion they have chosen to breed their mare to is standing at a reputable Stallion Station and has proven semen that has been tested for it’s cooling or freezing ability.  The mare owner and his/her Veterinarian will even get the information regarding the stallion’s semen, included with the shipment of semen, that will tell them exactly what the stallion’s concentration, volume, and motility were, at time of collection.  Most Stallion Stations/stallion owners even guarantee, in their shipping contract, that the stallion’s semen, when collected and packaged for shipping, will be of such a degree of concentration, volume, and motility, and packaged professionally and in accordance with industry standards so as to be reasonably acceptable for breeding, or it will not be shipped.  The mare owner’s Veterinarian also has the right (and is encouraged by the stallion owner) to test the semen once it arrives, for motility under a microscope before inseminating the mare, with the right, in that contract, to send it back and have another shipment sent, at no charge, if it is not reasonably acceptable for breeding.

The stallion owner, on the other hand, has absolutely no control over what happens to the semen once it leaves their hands and is shipped by overnight courier.  They have no control over who will handle the semen once it arrives at it’s destination and no control over how it will be handled, if the recipient mare is breeding sound, if she has had previous foals, cysts or infection or bacteria in her uterus, venereal diseases or may be too old to get in foal, etc.  The stallion owner has no way of knowing if she will even be ready to ovulate once the semen arrives.  Even if the Stallion owner or Stallion Station Technician is in contact with the Veterinarian on the other end and confident in his/her ability and breeding soundness of the mare, there is no way for the Veterinarian to be able to insure that the mare will ovulate with the semen in her once it gets there, even if it arrives in perfect condition for breeding.  Mares are individuals and they are all different.  Each cycle of each mare and each follicle she forms, is different from one mare, one cycle and one follicle to the next.  A 40 mm follicle that a Veterinarian would normally assume would progress may order the semen and give the mare a shot to help her ovulate only to find that she may hold that follicle (despite the drugs) for a day or two longer than he/she expected and even regress instead of progress or not hold that follicle long enough for the semen to get there, ovulating before the Veterinarian can get the semen into the mare, and no matter how good the semen is, or how good the Veterinarian is, he/she may not be able to get the mare in foal on that first try.  Breeding is a gamble at every turn and conditions must be just right in order for the miracle of conception to happen, even under the best of circumstances and the most prime conditions.   There are never any guarantees with regard to a mare getting in foal on the first cycle or getting pregnant with just one shipment.  The stallion owner just cannot make that kind of guarantee no matter how good the Stallion’s numbers or track record are, as he/she cannot control the conditions on the other end of the shipment, and, as they say in the reproductive world, “some mares just don’t read the book”.

Most stallion owners do offer live foal guarantees (some offer live colored foal guarantees if they stand a homozygous stallion).  A live foal guarantee is basically a guarantee that your mare will get in foal and you have 2 full seasons included in the cost of that one stud fee, to get it done.  Some Stallion Stations offer multiple mare discounts and the opportunity to synchronize your mares and ship 4 doses together, in one shipment, saving you half the cost of shipping semen, even if breeding to different stallions.

There is a standard breeding dose that is acceptable in the Equine Reproductive Industry for shipping a stallion’s semen, whether it be frozen or cooled, and a standard breeding dose that is used for on farm breeding with fresh semen when a stallion’s semen must be divided up in order to breed multiple mares on the farm.  There is a basic math equation that is used with each collection, wherein each stallion’s numbers (volume, concentration and progressive motility) are plugged in, before packaging and shipping the semen, and tells the Stallion Station Technician how much semen and how much extender is needed for each shipping dose and insures that each recipient mare will receive, on the other end, enough semen to get her in foal with that one shipment.  The end result of that simple math equation, using those variables, is considered a standard shipping dose which is equal to a full breeding dose.

At some of the larger Stallion Stations, it is quite common for there to be several shipments sent out in one day, to several different mares, from a single stallion’s ejaculation, as long as the numbers add up to a full shipping dose for each mare on the other end.  This is one of the reasons why it is customary for Stallion Stations to require 24 hours notice, or at the very least, a phone call by 6 p.m. the evening before, to order a shipment of semen and many have a rule of only collecting stallions on certain days, such as odd or even days or Monday, Wednesday, Friday, giving the Stallion’s a chance to recoup from the rigors of breeding and the staff time to coordinate collection, shipping and on farm breeding.  The Stallion Station must plan for the amount of mares that need to be bred by one stallion, with one ejaculate, on any given day, and plan for how many mares on the farm will need to be bred with fresh semen and how many mares must have semen shipped to. Traditionally, the breeding of on farm mares, done by live cover or fresh semen via collection of the stallion and artificial insemination of the mares, takes precedence over shipped semen mares and order of booking comes into play if demand happens to exceed supply.  Booking your mare early each year earns you more than just a discount on the stud fee (at most Stallion Stations) and is more than just a deposit and a promise to breed your mare to their stallion.  Booking early gives you seniority if your mare and another mare are ready to breed at exactly the same time and there is not enough semen to go around.  Booking early may keep you from having to wait for your mare’s next cycle or short cycling your mare in order to get semen, which can cost you dearly in both time and money.  A stallion is generally only collected once per day and is best collected every other day to ensure peak fertility.  It is common to send 2 doses in each shipment of cooled shipped semen by overnight courier so the Veterinarian can use one dose for breeding the first day it arrives and the other for breeding the next day if the mare has not yet ovulated and he feels it is necessary to do so.  If the mare has ovulated, of course, the second dose would not be necessary and may be discarded.

Stallions are as individual as mares are with the way their bodies and reproductive systems work.  One stallion may have a large volume of semen while his concentration (total amount of sperm cells per mm of ejaculate) or percent of progressively motile sperm may be a little on the low side.  Another stallion may give smaller volumes of semen, but make up for it with higher concentration and a higher percent of progressively motile sperm cells in each ejaculate.  It is quite possible to end up with virtually the same amount of shipping or breeding doses with 2 different stallions with 2 totally different sets of numbers with regard to volume, concentration and progressive motility.  Stallion Stations and stallion owners usually have tested each stallion prior to the breeding season for shipping ability in the lab by taking several samples of semen and performing test cools, checking the semen under a microscope after 12, 24, 36 and even 48 hours so they know how well each stallion cools and ships.   The bottom line is shipping a breeding dose with at least 500 million progressively motile sperm cells, making it a sufficient amount to impregnate a mare in just one shipment.  The rest is up to the mare and the educated and capable hands of her Veterinarian on the other end.

Answer submitted by Tina Lewis of the Lewis Stallion Station. If you have a Breeding question send to info@myhorseforsale.com and check back for the answer!

Prior to searching for and selecting your new equine companion you need to ask yourself the following questions and determine what it is you want the horse to be able to do, what  your child’s goals and ambitions are and if you have any desire to participate beyond paying the bills.

Questions to ask Yourself

What are my goals?

What are my child’s goals?

What kind of riding do I want to do?

What kind of riding do my kids want to do?

What level am I?

What level are my children?

How much time do I have to spend with the horse?

How much money do I have to spend on feed, care, stabling, expenses?

How much money do I have to spend on a horse?

Do I want to own or lease?

Questions to ask the Seller

How old is the horse?

How many months/ years training has the horse had?

How often has the horse been ridden in the last year?

Who has ridden the horse the most in the last year?

How long have you owned the horse?

Is this horse safe for beginners?

Does this horse require any special feeds, shoes, stabling accommodations?

What does he eat on a regular basis? What kind of feed, roughage?

Does the horse have a history of medical problems such as colic, or lameness?

Does he stand for the farrier, vet?

How often is the horse dewormed, shod

Is he easy to catch in the pasture?

How is he to handle after being out for a long time?

Is he used to being hauled?

How does he react in new places?

Does the horse have any vices (biting, cribbing, kicking, etc)?

Why is this horse for SALE?

APPALOOSA HORSE CLUB ANNOUNCES HOLIDAY GREETING CARD CONTEST

MOSCOW, Idaho—The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) gave members and enthusiasts the option to spread more holiday cheer this year with Appaloosa holiday greeting cards! With the success of this year’s greeting cards, the ApHC has decided to make it an annual tradition by implementing the Holiday Card Contest!

The ApHC is inviting members to submit their fondest holiday memories featuring their breed of choice…the Appaloosa! Submit your original artwork, painting, drawing or photo and it may be featured in the 2010 Appaloosa holiday greeting card collection. It is easy to enter, simply send your original  artwork with a description and your contact information to:

Production Director

2720 W. Pullman Rd.

Moscow, ID 83843

All entries must be received in the office by Oct. 1, 2010.

Keep an eye out for the entry form in upcoming issues of Appaloosa Journal! For more information, contact the Production Director at (208) 882-5578 ext. 230 or production@appaloosajournal.com.

The Appaloosa Horse Club (ApHC) was established in 1938 with a mission of preserving, promoting and enhancing the Appaloosa breed. The ApHC has since registered more than 670,000 Appaloosas, which are known for their distinctive color, intelligence and even temperament. True to their reputation as an extremely versatile breed, Appaloosas can be found in nearly every discipline including racing, endurance riding and serving as reliable family horses. The international breed registry is headquartered in Moscow, Idaho, the heart of the Palouse region—the Appaloosa breed’s namesake and point of origin.

MyHorseForSale.com would like to introduce our NEW Breeders Q&A.

Answers to your questions are submitted by Tina Lewis of the Lewis Stallion Station, CA.

QUESTION: What is EVA testing and what does it mean if I am a mare owner?

ANSWER: EVA , which stands for Equine Viral Arteritis, is an infectious viral equine disease affecting several major horse breeds, but is most commonly found in adult standardbred horses.  Though it is thought to have been around for hundreds of years, it has only been documented since the early 1950’s with the most recent epidemic in 1984, in Kentucky.

EVA exhibits flu-like symptoms and causes, most significantly, abortions in pregnant mares which makes mare owners a key player in the fight to control this destructive disease.  EVA is spread via the respiratory and reproductive systems of the horse and isn’t usually fatal (except to unborn foals) and it’s gestation period is relatively short-lived in all but mature stallions, making stallion owners the other key player. An infected stallion can pass the disease to a mare during breeding and then the mare can pass it to the rest of her heard via respiratory means making that one breeding capable of destroying an entire year’s worth of reproduction with spontaneous abortion of the foals in the entire herd.

The disease, when spread reproductively, can be spread via Live Cover or Shipped Semen and does not appear to be killed off by the freezing process in the case of Frozen Shipped Semen.

The USDA has developed a test for EVA and a vaccine to be given yearly in order to stop the spread of this disease. Many stallion owners today are testing for EVA and vaccinating for it on their own and advertising their stallions as tested and vaccinated for the disease in order to reassure mare owners of the safety in breeding to their particular stallion.  The USDA is also requiring stallions be tested and vaccinated for the shipping of semen overseas in compliance with International regulations.

As a stallion owner, you should, if standing to the public, have your stallions tested for EVA and then vaccinated each year.  As a mare owner, especially if you are breeding to a Standardbred Stallion, you should make sure the stallion you are breeding to or receiving shipped semen from, is tested and vaccinated for EVA.

With these, and other important steps, that are being taken today by mare and stallion owners within the breeding industry, combined with the efforts of the USDA with regard to the shipment of equine semen, Internationally, the disease can be controlled, and even one day, completely irradiated.

If you have a breeding question you would like answered please send to info@myhorseforsale.com

THE EQUINE AFFAIRE, POMONA
by: Tina Lewis of the Lewis Stallion Station

The Equine Affaire in Pomona, California, held it’s 10th Anniversary Exposition and Trade Show this year at the Fairplex, on February 4th through the 7th with several large exhibit buildings full of horse trailers and barns and anything else you could think of, related to the riding, care, nutrition and health of a horse.  There were Trade Show exhibitors and clinicians with informative training clinics, seminars and demonstrations on subject matter covering a wide variety of breeds and disciplines as well as plenty of food and beverage available, literally, on every corner.

The crowds of people came out, in what looked to be record numbers, some, traveling hundreds of miles to shop and take advantage of the many bargains, ideas and helpful, low pressure retailers throughout the Trade Show.  Even a little rain didn’t seem to bother anyone since most of the shopping, clinics and seminars could be found indoors under the shelter of the exhibit buildings or under the covered arena area.

Craig Cameron’s Extreme Cowboy Race, fast becoming a favorite at the show, was held on Thursday and Friday evening from 7:30-9:30 PM with the finals held on Saturday evening, all under the covered arena, which was, once again, packed.  There were people sitting on the ground on blankets, and standing for lack of space in the bleachers to sit.  This race is an extreme competition where 36 horse and rider teams compete for $4,250 in cash as well as other prizes.  The course includes obstacles and activities, such as dragging logs, jumping obstacles, backing through a pattern, pole bending, rollbacks and spins, working gates, conquering dirt terrain, carrying water, going over or through tarps, etc.  It is a timed event during which the performance of each team is judged for quality of horsemanship and for each individual obstacle, the judges award performance points on a scale of 1-10.  Horses and their riders must complete each obstacle within a given time frame and the horse and rider team with the highest overall point score wins the race and most of the prizes and money.  This year there was a saddle and $2000 given to the first place winner, with $1500 for second place and $750 to the team that came in third.

Many people wait all year for this event and make trips to the parking lot, to drop off loads of shopping bags full of dewormer, horse blankets, rakes, whips, jewelry, boots, and jeans and many do this for all 4 days of the event.  In addition to the fabulous deals and shopping is also an abundance of interesting material and brochures that can be picked up at booths throughout the facility such as FrontierPackTrain.com, offering full service packing trips on horseback, Broken Horn Saddlery, Hooves & Paws, and Big Jim’s tack or from a clinic or training seminar put on by experts such as Dr. Jim Kubiak with TheBreedersAssistant.com offering classes in all aspects of Equine reproduction including artificial insemination and ultrasound as well as cooled and frozen shipped semen.

The Nation’s Premiere Equestrian Gathering, as the brochure says, seems to be just that, as it seems to be the focus of every horse lover in the state with clinicians, trainers and retailers coming from all over the country for this huge Equine Affaire.