I had used a breeding centre several times with success before but this year the mare I wanted to put to Denali had a young foal at foot and I didn't really want to send them away. I arranged for Kevin Rooney from Te Aroha Veterinary Services to come and scan Natasha (we have a simple but effective crush) to make sure she had a clean healthy uterus (she had a retained placenta this year) and to check where she was in her cycle. She was 27 days post foaling so I thought she would be about to have her second cycle.
The scan showed all was OK inside and she would ovulate within 24 hours.
I phoned Amy who told me she was taking Denali for collection the following morning for another mare, so that worked in perfectly.
Kevin picked up the semen in the morning, inseminated Natasha and gave her an injection of Chorulon. Twenty days later she was scanned in foal!
For me, it couldn't have been any easier and I was really pleased to be able to keep the foal at home.

Julia Nash
January 2009

Dear Amy
Thistledown's blood test has come back positive so isn't that fantastic? Really brilliant to have two positives from one AI each. I find it all quite nerve-wracking getting the timing right etc,. but when it all comes together it is worth it ...

Buckton Pony Stud
December 11, 2008

AI and me

by Diane Trillo
December 8, 2008

After tendering for the service to Hillken's Denali I must admit I wondered if I had done myself any favours! My motives were good, fundraising for the Premier Show, but after that, did I really need this??

The whole AI thing loomed ahead of me, and, what with working fulltime, having my pony mare on her own around at mum and dads place, and my professional exams being two weeks away, I really did wonder if I had bitten off too much.

I (like everyone else no doubt!) had heard all the horror stories about AI and the process. Huge costs. Little chance of success.

I did some investigating, and Cindy Rowe kindly sent me the info she had got from Matamata Vets and Equibreed - she had also tendered for an AI stallion in the Hack & Pony Council tender. Nothing too scary there, so I thought in all my wisdom to contact my vet and see what his procedure was and what he would suggest.

This proved enormously entertaining. After a short lesson on the birds and the bees, he asked quite graphically what was wrong with horses having sex? When I had stopped laughing I beat a hasty retreat, thanking him for his time and advice of course! I kind of see his point, and the part about not wanting to line the vet's pockets is definitely true for me.

So we were back to square one pretty much. I rang Amy de Langen and explained my problems with exams, a solitary pony, and all the rest of it. That was a good move. Suddenly all the difficult parts were overcome. Lily the pony went to Amy's place, got scanned, served (do you call it that?) and was home again within a week. Easy, painless, and best of all not too expensive!

I would like to thank Amy for solving all my insurmountable problems in such an easy way. Certainly now the process has been demystified for me, and I know it is no doubt much simpler for Amy and safer for her horse. To anyone else thinking of giving AI a try, I say go for it, it can be done!

Lily was scanned in foal at 21 days (should have been 16, but you know how it is), and is due now for her 42 day scan. Fingers crossed!

The vet said our foal is black with white socks ...