It's just like ordering pizza

An interesting note after the KWPN Stallion Show the other week is that men seem to be more open to use ICSI on horses than women.

For the ones that know me both from internet and in real life it cannot come as a surprise that I have opinions about [especially the crazy overuse of] ET and or ICSI.

The way things played out during recent years have made cloning to seem like a more natural way to breed horses than ever, at least when one put it side by side with the current ICSI situation amongst the show jumpers.

💡 Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) is a specialised form of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). The process of ICSI involves the injection of a single sperm directly into a mature egg.

Custom made foals

For example the Mares of Macha concept is really not my cup of tea. But more to be considered as a "Congratulations on your retirement, here's your one way ticket to Italy, ENJOY!" kind of situation.

At least for the sport mares that are being signed up for the program. Normally this is done at the same time as their owners make official statements on the topic "how much loved these lady horses are, and how wonderful it is they now can retire to breeding duties".

Which is not really accurate now is it.

Cause instead of standard breeding duties, these mares are now being harvested of their eggs to create "custom made foals" for the prospect buyers.

The other week in den Bosch this whole ICSI thing came up in a discussion where my new found like minded fellow human being suddenly blurted out:

To me it is just like ordering pizza, you open the catalogue, find what you like, you pay for it, and then you'll get it delivered..

Exactly that! No more, no less.

Once upon a time

Before ICSI became more of a money speculating part of the show jumping scene ET [not the little guy who wants to phone home], as in Embryo Transfer, was the big thing.

💡 Embryo transfer (ET) is essentially a surrogate pregnancy. A donor mare is inseminated, but instead of carrying the pregnancy herself, the embryo is flushed from her uterus and implanted into a recipient mare, who then carries the pregnancy to term and delivers the foal.

It's still a big thing.

One off the side ventures in den Bosch focused on the topic how one create a mare line. I find it a bit hard to take that kind of discussion seriously.

At least when we're being told to never breed a bad mare [whatever that is], at the same time as we know most of these breeders, that now have big status, actually started of their horse breeding careers using quite ordinary mares.

The difference between these guys [mostly men] and normal people is most of us don't have the resources to overuse either ET nor the newer ICSI. The only reason we know this overuse has been done, is the fact there are high profile stallions out there who come of mothers that produced way over 40 foals!

A qualified guess is that is not even an accurate number. Since it is easy to assume only the best of the best siblings of these stallions are likely to be entered into the databases of HorseTelex or Hippomundo.

Which means the rest of us, breeding the one foal a year out of our mares, have a bit further to travel when building up both our breeding program as well as the mother lines.

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❗ The views and ideas of The Hoofbeat Chronicles are personal and belongs to the author. Which mean they may or may not line up with your own personal views and ideas. Do you want to share your thoughts? Please leave a comment in the comment section 👇🏻