ASKHQ: GELDING YOUR YEARLING

Q: My yearling is being gelded, but this is my first youngster, and I’m unsure of the castration process and the aftercare required. What can I expect? A: An ‘entire’ male horse’s behaviour is driven largely by testosterone, and this hormone causes ‘entire’ male horses to display herding instincts, sexual interest, and aggression. While typical in…

BylizzieJanuary 13, 20220Comments

Ask HQ Horse Breed Horse Channel Horse Health

ASKHQ: STALLION FERTILITY

Q: When is a stallion most fertile? A: Fertility in stallions is highest from six years of age until they are somewhere between 12-15 years of age. After this fertility tapers off through their late teens and drops again more dramatically once they are over 20. It should be noted, however, that this does vary greatly among…

BylizzieApril 3, 20210Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel

ASKHQ: WHAT AFFECTS SEMEN QUALITY IN BREEDING STALLIONS?

Q: What are the factors that can affect semen quality in breeding stallions? A: There are a whole host of factors which affect semen production in stallions. Two of these are fixed factors, which breeders are forced to 'cope' with and some are modifiable factors, which breeders can adapt for to improve semen quality and thus…

BylizzieMarch 20, 20210Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel Horse Health

ASKHQ: BENEFITS OF FROZEN SEMEN

Q: What are the benefits of using frozen semen? A: There are many benefits of using frozen semen when breeding a mare. Cryopreservation (freezing) allows long term sperm storage, which allows the breeder to buy and store semen from a stallion and save it until they have the ‘right’ mare to put it to. The ability…

BylizzieFebruary 12, 20210Comments

Ask HQ Breeding

ASKHQ: WHAT IS ICSI?

Q: What is ICSI? A: ICSI stands for 'intracytoplasmic sperm injection' and the procedure is now being performed more commonly in horses. The ICSI procedure involves the injection of a single sperm cell into the cytoplasm of a mature oocyte (egg), thus performing fertilisation. The fertilised oocyte is then returned to an incubator and allowed to develop…

BylizzieOctober 15, 20200Comments

Horse Channel Horse Health

CEM – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

CEM stands for contagious equine metritis, which is essentially inflammation of the uterus of a mare, which in this case is caused by a sexually transmitted infection. CEM, despite the name, does also occur in geldings and stallions, but it is the mare who suffers the negative impact of the disease. What is CEM? The bacteria…

BylizzieAugust 8, 20200Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel Horse Health

MOVING YARDS

Problem: I need to move livery yards, but don’t really know what I’m looking for. Solution: There are several things to consider when choosing a livery yard that suits you and your horse. Below are a few of the major considerations that you need to bear in mind. Money matters Budgeting should always be your first step…

BylizzieMay 18, 20200Comments

Ask HQ Breeding Horse Channel Horse Health

GELDING YOUR COLT

If you are the owner of a colt, you have undoubtedly been asked if and when you are going to geld your youngster. In fact, you may have even found yourself wishing you'd had a filly, just to avoid having to make this tricky call. As with most horse-related issues, there are lots of opinions…

BylizzieJanuary 25, 20200Comments

Ask HQ Breeding Horse Breed Horse Channel Know How

ASKHQ: BREEDING TIPS FROM CALLAHO

Q: What are Callaho's top breeding tips? A: The broodmare is the beginning and the end of any successful mating. A good dam mated to a mediocre stallion will give you a good horse. A top stallion is mostly useless on a mediocre mare. Any attempt at creating a good dam-line from scratch is not impossible…

BylizzieJanuary 16, 20200Comments

Ask HQ Breeding Horse Breed Horse Channel Know How

ASKHQ: BREEDING

Q: When deciding on a mating, what do you take into consideration? A: My first consideration is simple - do I honestly believe the match has a high probability of producing an exceptional athlete? If not, I don't go any further. Secondarily, I want to get the size right, which means we'd like to end up with…

BylizzieJanuary 15, 20200Comments

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