Article by Anne Brown for "Horse and Hound" magazine

The advent of frozen semen techniques, and the acceptance by the Arab Horse Society of foals born from artificial insemination (AI), allow a far greater use of overseas stallions. The facilities now exist for breeders to widen the pool of our precious Crabbet genes from fine Australian stallions such as the Sarafire son, Pevensey Safari and endurance champion Magic Prophecy, and from America, the glamorous Crabbet Royalty.

As well as re-introducing long-lost lines from early importations from Crabbet Park, these boys are all bay, a coat colour we haven't seen since my AHS Premium stallion Hachim left for Abu Dhabi and his sire, Achim's Silver Magic, was gelded following an accident.

The Warmblood fraternity have used AI for years, but its use in Arabs is only gaining popularity as the success rate improves and vets develop their skills. Many will only inseminate non-maiden mares under the age of 13 to ensure a greater chance of conception. Certainly, a breeder is best using a young, healthy, proven mare.

The method is not cheap as it involves buying the semen from the stallion owner AND paying the vet to inseminate the straws, plus keep fees at the vets for at least 6 days, probably more. Most specialist practices offer a package rate.

I would not recommend using vets who have no proven experience and success in this field. You could well waste valuable money, straws and time.

The vets with the longest track record include West Kington Stud on the Glos/Wilts border, Jonathan Pycock's practice in Yorkshire, the Willesley Clinic in Gloucestershire and Twemlows Hall in Shropshire.

Dr Micahela Koelling at Twemlows is certainly one of the most effective and respected vets in the field of AI and ET (no, not THAT one - embryo transfer). She was 100% successful with frozen semen I imported in 2006 from the American WAHO winner Remington Steele*++ (57% Crabbet). All three of his mares got in foal, two on the first insemination with just four straws - an almost unheard-of conception rate.

"Well, Rem's semen is of excellent quality, up in the 60% post-thaw motility bracket," reckons Dr Koelling.

All mares safely had colts in spring 2007, including our own AHS Premium mare Jazmyn. Her grey colt is called Remynisce.

The window of opportunity for conception is far smaller with frozen semen than fresh chilled (or live covering), so the vet needs to keep the mare at the surgery to check her state of ovulation every 6 hours by rectal ultra-sound. At the moment of ovulation, when the follicle is around 35mm across, they quickly thaw the straws, ideally each containing 0.5ml of semen which is inseminated through a catheter.

The post-thaw progressive motility of the semen needs to be over 30% - and better over 40% - to be effective, so all those little squiggles are live and swimming in the right direction.

Gadebrook AI Services has a small amount of Remington Steele's frozen semen with specialist storage, Genus, in Northants ready to be sent to any approved AI specialist vet.

Package rates at Twemlows for insemination with frozen semen are from: £220 per cycle, plus £135 once the mare is in foal. If she is not in foal after the third cycle, the clinic will probably do the fourth for free, assuming the stallion owner allows them the straws. This latter point needs stressing as you are dealing with two different sets of people: 1) the stallion owner/seller of the straws; and 2) the inseminating vet. Keep at Twemlows is £7.90 a day at grass or £12 a day stabled, for a mare without foal at foot. All rates will have VAT added at 17.5%.

The West Kington package using nearby Willesley vets is from £315 + VAT which covers all vet costs for AI, with a reduced fee on the second (or third) cycle if the mare doesn't take, plus £70 per cycle to prepare the mare for AI using frozen semen and £35 a week for basic keep at grass.

Some clinics will require mares to be swabbed clear of CEM and be blood tested clear of EVA before arrival.

Jonathan Pycock stresses the importance of communication between the semen provider, mare-owner and inseminating vet. "You need to liaise with each other well before the start of such an enterprise," he advises.

You also need to know that the owner or agent for the semen has all the necessary paperwork in order. The AHS requires a permit each year for every stallion whose semen will be used by AI.

For registration of the foal, the stallion also needs to be registered with WAHO (World Arab Horse Organisation), and his DNA must be on file and the owner's signature recorded with the Arab registry of the stallion's home country.

You also need to know that the semen has been safely transported and stored so that none of its viability has been lost in transit. Semen has such a delicate vulnerability to temperature and light that it must be kept perfect conditions either at a responsible vets or at Genus.

Copyright Anne Brown 2007