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The Jockey Club rule book states: “To be eligible for registration, a foal must be the result of a stallion’s Breeding

with a broodmare (which is the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion with intromission of the penis and ejaculation of semen into the reproductive tract). As an aid to the Breeding, a portion of the ejaculate produced by the stallion during

such mating may immediately be placed in the uterus of the broodmare being bred. A natural gestation must take place in, and delivery must be from the body of the same broodmare in which the foal was conceived. Without limiting the above, any foal result-ing from or produced by the processes of Artificial Insemination, Embryo Transfer or Transplant, Cloning or any other form of

genetic manipulation not herein specified, shall not be eligible for registration.”

Given these constraints, the Thorough-bred breeding shed still has many tools to assist in getting a mare pregnant, and these tools have been around for many, many years. However, technology is creeping its way into the shed, particularly for docu-mentation purposes.

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The Well-Equipped Breeding Shed

By Liza HollandPhotos by Anne M. Eberhardt

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The number of staff working in a Thoroughbred breeding shed varies from farm to farm

Live cover breeding has its own set of requirements and restrictions, so make the best of the chances you have

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For this article we draw on the years of expertise from Gainesway Farm’s resident veterinarian Dr. Tom Little and stallion manager Marion Gross, and Three Chim-neys Farm stallion manager Sandy Hatfield. Both farms are located in Central Ken-tucky.

Little put the goals of the shed very clear-ly: “We are trying to get as many mares in foal as we can, but we’ve gotta do it safely, and we’ve gotta do it efficiently. Safety, pro-ductivity, and efficiency—preferably in that order. In order to accomplish that, you have to start with good people.”

THE HUMANS

Perhaps the most valuable tool in the breeding shed is a good crew with a solid working knowledge of equine behavior. The “live” element of Thoroughbred breeding is not to be underrated. The teams are dealing

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The goal is to safely and efficiently get as many mares in foal as possible

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with live animals weigh-ing about 1,000 pounds that are in an excited state. That makes it dan-gerous work. There are many people who make

up the team, and each person needs to have a solid knowledge of how horses act. The people prepping the mares need to know how a mare acts when she is ready to breed. They need to be able to evaluate if a mare is scared, timid, not ready, whatever. They are

key players in the preparation process and as safety control. Sometimes the signs are obvious; sometimes it takes a person who recognizes the nuances of equine behavior.

Some sheds use more staff than oth-ers. Gainesway uses a full complement of six or more people. One person controls the mare’s head on the left side and holds the twitch, one is on the other side of the mare’s head, one is at the mare’s tail (the “entering man”), one serves as the stallion handler, one person stands on the opposite side of the mare holding the mare’s tail and a breeding roll (used to prevent a stallion from penetrating the mare too deeply and tearing her reproductive tract), and perhaps one or two others assist, depending upon the circumstances.

These crew members might hold another breeding roll, support the stallion, support the mare, or hold one of the mare’s front legs up with a strap until the stallion has mounted, so she is less likely to kick him. Add to this total a veterinarian and some observers, and you have a full shed.

The mare handlers have the toughest job, according to Hatfield. Everything in the shed keys off of the mare. Mares are your biggest risk, especially maidens. They have a natural instinct to run when they are scared, and the shed is an environment that prevents them from doing so. The natural reaction then is to fight. Many horses and handlers have been kicked by upset mares.

The entering person has a very important role in the process. His or her primary duty is to guide the entry of the stallion’s pe-nis, but the entering person assesses when ejaculation is complete and collects a dis-mount sample as well. The stallion manager and/or veterinarian is responsible for dou-ble-checking the correct mare is matched to the correct stallion, ensuring the video is recording the cover, checking each dis-mount sample, preparing and administer-ing a reinforcement breeding, if needed, and taking detailed notes on each cover.

Lots of people work in concert to ensure a successful breeding. They are the most important tools in a well-equipped breed-ing shed.

THE ANIMALS

Taking the process from beginning to end, there are a variety of tools used in the Thoroughbred breeding process.

As the mares arrive to be bred, an ade-quate loading and unloading area is impor-tant. The needs in this area have changed in the past several years. At one time, most mares were delivered in box vans and re-quired a loading dock. Today, most are de-livered in a truck and trailer combination. At Three Chimneys, for example, the receiv-ing area has been revamped to accommo-date the room needed for additional parking and turning trailers around.

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The mares are brought into a receiving area and put in a teasing area that has a stall for the mare and a stall for the teaser stal-lion. There is a window that can be opened and shut with a guillotine door to allow the two to interact. The recent spread of neu-rologic equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) has caused Three Chimneys to institute a “no head-to-head contact” policy.

This area is set up so the mare can settle down, begin to get ready for the breeding, and “let down” or urinate prior to breeding. Urination is an important sign of readiness. It needs to happen before entering the shed, because, as Little said, studies show that urine contact with semen reduces fertility rates. Therefore, the mares are not taken to breed unless they have let down. Tail rais-

ing, squatting, and urination are important signs of receptivity or readiness for breed-ing.

Part of this process is the interaction with the teaser stallion. Teasers are often said to have the toughest job at the farm because they get kicked at regularly. The teaser performs several important tasks, includ-ing teasing mares to ensure readiness for breeding and “jumping” (mounting without penetration) maiden mares who have never been bred.

If a teaser needs to mount the mare, the leather shield he wears that protects the mare from penetration is a key tool. Hatfield feels this is a huge improvement on former methods—in the past, a person would have to deflect the penis from pen-

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Teaser stallions are part of the prep work done before the mating takes place

According to Sandy Hatfield at Three Chimneys Farm,

everything in the breeding shed keys off the mare; many horses

and handlers have been kicked by upset mares

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etrating the mare, and it was an opportunity for human injury.

“Whoever invented that should get an award,” said Hatfield. “It’s an excellent piece of safety equipment.”

During the teasing jumps to get a mare ready for breeding, the teasers

take the brunt of the mare’s kicks, but people are also at risk. Three Chimneys routinely uses padded boots) on the mares’ hind feet.

Both Gainesway and Three Chimneys have two non-Thoroughbred teasers. Gross said they don’t use Thoroughbreds as teasers because “they are not tough enough.”

Gainesway has added a unique speaker sys-tem that plays mating noises. The staff feels this auditory addition has really sped up the process of getting the mares ready to breed. Once mares are ready, they are taken to a chute (stocks). These padded stocks hold the mare while the prep person washes her geni-talia and wraps her tail with gauze to keep her tail hairs away from the breeding area. This is also when mares are checked for sutures (Caslick’s procedure to prevent contamination of the reproductive tract), which can be removed prior to breeding if they are too tight to safely accommodate the stallion during mating. The mare is also examined for signs of venereal herpesvirus or other infection.

Little feels the Caslick’s procedure is very important in mares with poor reproductive conformation. A normal mare has a natural vulval seal that protects her reproductive tract from inflammation-

causing contaminants. In animals with poor conformation, the seal is not tight and there is a danger of bacteria or fecal matter getting into the reproductive tract.

Once the mare is washed and prepped, the prep person deter-mines if the mare needs to be jumped by the teaser and marks it

on the mare’s ID tag. If the mare is skittish, a mild tranquilizer is administered and a few minutes are permitted for the drug to take effect. Little likes to use combinations of acepromazine and torbo-gesic or ace and dormosedan. Once the mare is fully ready; it is on to the breeding shed.

IN THE SHED

There are many tools used inside the breeding shed. The facility has a number of important elements. First, the entire area should be padded to protect horses and people. The ideal is to have rounded enclosures (without corners) so the horses don’t get themselves, other horses, or people caught in corners if they get away from handlers.

Gross said the size of the shed is important. “I love this shed (at Gainesway) because it has enough room,” he said.

The footing is very important in the shed, yet there are a variety of materials used, including Fibar, shredded tires, Polytrack, and poured rubber. Footing often boils down to a personal preference.

It is important that the mare and stallion both have secure footing for the breeding process. There also is the problem of tall mares/short stallions and vice versa.

Both Gainesway and Three Chimneys use cocoa mats for the ac-tual breeding area. Gainesway places them either over the Fibar or porous rubber flooring and layers them in order to level the area and provide secure footing. Three Chimneys uses two areas in the breeding shed for the actual mating; one is level and the other is sloped. The cocoa mats are placed over a poured rubber surface and the surrounding areas are covered in shredded tires.

Both sheds are equipped with a padded chest board for the mares to lean against and prevent them from moving forward during mat-ing. This structure is free-standing in the Gainesway shed, allowing people a bit more access to the mare from the opposite side. At Three Chimneys, the chest board is taller and positioned directly against the wall. Interestingly, this configuration was developed when leading sire Seattle Slew was having stability issues during breeding due to EPM and vertebral problems, and the crew liked it so much that it became the farm standard.

When the mare is brought into the shed, staff double-checks her identification and the video camera records the entire event. The video system allows documentation in the event in case of later par-entage disputes.

There are several restraint and protection devices available for use, including twitches, lip chains, leg straps, and bite shields. Hat-field recommended using long-handled twitches, as maiden mares have been known to rear, and you don’t want to have to let go of

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Marion Gross said Gainesway Farm doesn’t

use Thoroughbreds as teasers

because “they aren’t tough enough”

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a twitch because it can become a weapon as the mare swings it around. You can also step away to avoid a situation and still re-tain control.

The bite shield is placed across the neck and withers of the mare, as some stal-lions prefer to “hold on” to the mare dur-ing breeding. Some stallions are bred with a muzzle, as they like to bite not only the mares, but the handlers as well.

Breeding hobbles are common in some breeding areas, but are used by only a few farms in the Lexington area. The ma-jor complaints about hobbles are 1) some mares won’t tolerate them and 2) the stal-lion might become entangled in them. Both scenarios have injury potential.

Three Chimneys’ team uses helmets and chest protectors for all of the people in the shed as an added safety measure.

The breeding stallion is brought in and washed at a wash rack at Gainesway. They just rinse with water, not wanting to nega-tively affect the normal bacterial population on the penis. At Three Chimneys, the breed-ing crew opts for a water bucket and sponge. Then the stallion is led to the mare.

Once the real breeding has begun, anoth-er important tool is the breeding roll that was mentioned earlier. This is a tapered, cone-shaped, padded roll covered with a re-movable plastic sleeve during breeding. The rolls come in varying sizes.

Once the cover is complete, a dismount semen sample is taken in a cup and sent to the lab area. It is placed on a slide and put

in a slide warmer to warm it back to body temperature. A small part of the sample is then examined under a microscope with a heated stage to judge the quantity motility of sperm. If the veterinarian or manager deems it is needed, the remaining sample is added to semen extender, filtered, and placed in the mare to increase the odds for a successful breeding.

At Gainesway, the samples are document-ed with digital pictures and video clips. This provides further documentation of the breeding and can be used for studies aiming to improve pregnancy rates and to examine the potential challenges of some breeding stallions (large books, low fertility, etc.).

Finally, lots of records and detailed notes are great tools for the shed. The videos are used as a teaching tool, and the notes tak-en on each cover provide a history to help the crew the next time a particular mare returns for breeding. Hatfield and Little both have notes on things such as how the mare teased, the stallion’s behavior in the shed, the mare’s behavior in the shed, how long the stallion took to get ready to breed, whether the mare was sutured, how many jumps it took to accomplish breeding, how many pulses the stallion had during ejacu-lation, what the dismount sample looked like, who did each job, and any other ob-servations that might help improve their chances of getting a mare pregnant. All of these things build a library of information to make the breeding process better, faster, safer, and more successful.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

Faced with the challenges of live cover criteria set out by The Jockey Club, Thor-oughbred breeding farms use a combina-tion of time-tested tools, innovations and technology, and lots of human know-how to get the next generation of racehorses. Gainesway and Three Chimneys are two ex-amples of the best the industry has to offer. It must not be overlooked that teams of vet-erinarians and the farm crew are key parts of the process before and after the horses reach the breeding shed. b

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The farm’s crew is a key part of the breeding process