show some spunk
 

Interesting article, especially towards the end.

http://www.american.com/archive/2008.../triple-threat

So my question is this: is there some validity to the proposal to end the ban on artificial insemination? I admittedly don't know a lot about why this ban exists. I know they artificially inseminate standardbreds.

Is it to protect the breeding industry? If so, doesn't seem like a good reason -- would definately be a new paradigm, but the breeding industry would still exist.

Is it to assure control over and absolute certainty about the bloodline? If so, also doesn't seem like a good reason -- there's plenty of ways to put security measures in place, and then there's always genetic testing.

If sperm could be harvested, wouldn't that allow the star horse to continue racing, develop a following, and generate some long-term enthusiasm about the sport with a new fan base?

What if the gelding starts to lose a la funny Cide? Then what is the sperm worth? A whole lot less? What happens when one of these horses breaks down? Doesnt that just give the crazies another argument to use against us?

I'm not necessarily adopting the author's entire scheme. Might be no need to geld, just collect the payload as an insurance policy.

But you're right about there being little upside, economically speaking, to continue racing when the value is at it's peak.

As far as the risk of something happening to a horse that continues racing..well, life is risk. It may happen, but most times it probably won't and the benefits of having a reliable star, as opposed to a shooting comet, may be worth the risk. Anyway, since when are you afraid about what a bunch of crazies think? The DeeTee partners aren't crazy enough for you?

If someone makes tons of money off selling the semen of a horse and then continues to run him and he were to break down the connections would be villified forever.

Live cover is insane and half the problem why horses are retired so soon. A ****** old world way of doing things.

Why horses breakdown in the paddock grazing

I just don't agree that this would happen. If the whole breeding industry shifted to artificial insemination, I don't believe that most people would consider it bad form, just because he's become a sperm donor, to continue to race a horse that has a fan base.

Sure, I understand what PETA-type people might say. That the "greedy" owners not only got rich from the harvested sperm, they wanted even more money so they kept racing the horse until it broke down.

Some arguments against that are 1) if the owners were only concerned about getting rich, they wouldn't continue to race the horse in order avoid the possibility of the sperm being devalued if the horse then lost races (the point you made above), 2) the money made from breeding is so much greater, it makes most, if not all, race purses inconsequential in the grand economic scheme of things (Storm Cat earned $570,610 on the track, but he was pulling down, what, $35 million a year at stud?), and 3) if the owners got plenty of air time and showed that they were continuing to race the horse for the fans and love of the sport, I think people would see that their intentions were pure.

You've got to fight demagoguery with logic and common sense (and good PR). If you make decisions based upon what you fear the crazies might say, then you've already lost the fight against them.

How would you ensure the integrity of the breed? How would they know 1000% that the sperm that was being used was indeed the real deal. I would imagine that you would open up a whole new can of worms.

As I wrote above, protocols could be adopted to ensure that sperm samples are from the source they're claimed to be from. This might require an independent agency to administer it, but I don't see it as being too onerous. Chain of custody procedures, for example, are old hat for police agencies and laboratories. Then there's always genetic testing, which has become increasingly cheaper, either of the sample or the issue (and I know that it's already been done in situations when a mare is unexpectedly found to be pregnant). I would think this would ensure the integrity of the blood line even more effectively than the current methods.

It's really rather simple, I've been breeding with A.I. for years, each registration application has to include mane hair to verify the DNA on file with the respective registries.

yeah but nobody is watching...

It is naive to think that A.I. doesn't happen with stallions. -If I want a stormcat baby from my mare, and I know the right people, she will get every chance.

As far as geldings, dead horses and other jurrasic park scenarios = no. Maybe a case could be made, but there are a lot more important issues for sport like taking advantage of mass media.

Sperm futures.
A whole new market.
I can see it up on the big board
along with cottonseed oil.

For what reason if I may be so bold to ask?

I think the only way this would work is if they couldnt sell the sperm until the horse retires or dies whichever comes first.

Which just means they would still retire early.

i recall seeing horse semen collected. what a virile stallion he was! he was even ejaculating as the tech reached his gloved hand into the anus to massage the prostrate and generate an erection. rookie tech. nonetheless that stallion had much desire for the collection platform.

The poor tech walks around and all the
stallions get excited. Strip tease I guess.
And then you dont get your turn...