COVER 1 - NMHBA SUMMER 2017 low res

eedings” were truly far-reaching. Think
about the people who were trying to
build a breeding program on horses who
weren’t who they were supposed to be.
Or think about the folks who attended
a sale, looking to purchase a colt or filly
with specific bloodlines. They were happy
as a lark and pleased as punch when they
loaded up their newest barn addition and
headed home. More often than not, a good
chunk of time passed before alarm bells
started ringing. One long-time horseman
issued a clarion call that demanded the
industry stand up and take notice. He
was convinced the mares he booked to a
specific farm were not bred to the stallion
he’d selected. He based his accusations on
the offspring produced by those mares,
contending they had no characteristic or
similarities to their alleged sire.
Enter blood-typing, which proved the
horseman’s accusations to be correct.
Then came DNA testing. The party was
over for the handful of charlatans, but the
rest of the industry moaned and groaned
about the cost of the required testing. It
was, they said, another financial burden
piled on already-breaking backs. In truth,
the cost of the DNA testing was out-ofline.
Eventually, things settled down and
tempers cooled. The test costs backed up
significantly and thoughtful heads began
prevailing.
One of the most difficult tasks facing
the AQHA was to determine how to
implement the testing. What was the
best and most significant starting point?
Just how far back should the testing
requirement extend?
After a great deal of head-scratching
and discussion, it was decided mares foaled
in 1989 forward would go through DNA
testing. The exceptions would be mares
bred AI on the premises and/or pasture
bred with exposure to just one stallion.
There is some lingering confusion when
it comes to strictly defining the difference
between DNA testing and parentage
verification. It’s easy to understand the
confusion since there aren’t a great deal
of differences between the two. Simply
put, DNA identifies an individual horse’s
genetic marker…..comparable to an
individual human’s fingerprint. No two are
alike. Stallions that are actively breeding
must be DNA tested, as well as mares born
in 1989 or later and who are being bred.
Genetic testing is a one-time expense
in a horse’s lifetime. A horse’s sire and
dam must both be DNA typed before
parentage verification can take place.
AQHA automatically parentage verifies
most horses.
Parentage verification also identifies a
horse’s genetic marker. That information
is then taken a step farther, comparing the
genetic marker to the horse’s recorded sire
and dam. If everything matches correctly,
there can be no doubt that the names of
the sire and dam listed on the registration
papers are the names that should be there.
There are certain extenuating
circumstances that make parentage
verification mandatory. Two of them are 1)
if the horse was the result of an embryo/
oocyte transfer and 2) if the horse was
conceived through the use of transported
frozen or cooled semen. Which brings us
back to the issue of frozen semen.
It didn’t take long for transported
frozen semen to become an ordinary,
everyday happening. As a matter of fact,
it became the way to do things. Why
risk shipping a mare and her still-wobbly
baby hundreds of miles? Why subject
an older, possibly crippled, mare to the
same rigors? Why go through any of that
when the alternative was so quick and so
easy….just pick up the phone and order
the semen. Your personal vet can tell
you when your mare is ready, providing
accurate information as to when the semen
should be available for optimal breeding
conditions.
Picking up the phone became the
prevalent method of choice.
The uses for frozen semen expanded.
One of the most critical avenues was
establishing frozen semen banks, especially
for the most popular and most successful
stallions. Would people really want a
breeding world without the likes of Chicks
Beduino or First Down Dash, to name
just two? It’s accepted that these, and all
other stallions, would die someday. How
many generations would it take before their
influence began fading from the gene pool?
Did we really want that to happen?
Many people answered in the negative.
Once again the remedy was easy. Simply
collect the stallion during the off-season.
Divide the collections to fill as many straws
as possible, freeze them and store them
in liquid nitrogen. Stored, frozen semen
became an insurance policy that would
allow these stallions to speak from the
grave. (The same thing would soon happen
with mares through a flushing technique
that allowed multiple embryos/oocytes
to be collected. Some would be placed in
recipient mares, who would carry the baby
to full term. Others could be frozen for
later use, even after the mare was dead.
A 2015 study found that, since 2000,
414 foals were born after their mamas
were dead. The litany of the reproductive
technologies affecting the distaff side of the
equation, however, must wait for another
story time.)
Okay. We’re collecting semen and
freezing it – sort of like a rainy day fund.
We’re keeping alive the lines of the great
performers. The more frozen semen we
have, the longer we can keep deceased
stallions relevant within the active,
contemporary gene pool.
Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
What would be a mare owner’s choice
if a deceased, but highly successful,
stallion’s semen were available as opposed
to a young, unproven son of that stallion?
Obviously, the decision would be
influenced by the thickness of the mare
owner’s wallet but, all things being equal,
who would he choose?
What if the majority of the mare owners
choose the semen of the deceased stallion?
In 2015 a new rule was approved by AQHA that affects ONLY those horses born in 2015 or later that states
sperm from foals born in 2015 or after can only be used for two calendar years following that horses death
or sterilization.
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