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ADVICE TO BREEDERS - YOUR MARE At 14-18 days after insemination your veterinarian is able, with the use of ultrasound scanning equipment to determine if your mare has conceived, has twins, (in which case he can terminate one, as twins are not desirable, not recommended, and are usually disastrous in horses), or needs inseminating again. Carrying out the scan at this time enables us to determine to whether to inseminate the mare again during the immediately following cycle at 21 days onwards if she hasn't conceived, hence not losing valuable time and the next available cycle during the breeding season. If your mare has successfully conceived as tested in foal at 14-18 days, your veterinarian will be most likely unwilling to definitively declare her "in foal" in writing until 42-50 days, as a small proportion of mares can re-absorb or terminate their pregnancy during this time. We advise you send certification of your veterinarian's 14-18 day scan to us to be entitled to repeat doses of semen in time for the next cycle. We advise you send certification of your veterinarian's 42-50 day pregnancy examination to be entitled to a covering certificate to enable your foal to be registered. We recommend you have your mare examined for pregnancy half-way through her pregnancy, say 5-6 months, as we have experienced an occasional phantom pregnancy. We recommend you feed your mare a hard ration of soaked rolled oats, mare/foal pellets and lucerne chaff, together with a mineral/vitamin supplement, twice daily, with unlimited hay and grass from conception, and at 5 months from conception, start to increase the ration by 10% each month till feeding approximately 150% at time of birth. The better you feed your mare, the stronger and healthier your foal will be. David Gregory, Braelea Park Stud |