Embryo Transfer should be accepted Into the AQHA rule book. Mares who are doing well in the show ring are more valuable which makes her offspring more valuable. Many times breeders will make a broodmare out of a horse which failed training. This may be a lesser quality mare. Sometimes a mare will become a broodmare if she has injured herself. often times a mare who has been showing her whole life may retire and be unable to produce a foal due to a horses natural reproductive system.

In order to produce top notch offspring in the performance arena we must utilize the mares who are competing. This will allow quality mares to produce yet still remain competitive. This will allow for the mares who are not as talented in the show pen to carry these foals rather then use their inferior genes to produce the next generation of performance horses.

The down side to embryo transfer is the possible development of such genetic inferiority's as HYPP. If we embryo transfer one mare several times the possible development of bad traits may surface. Also some breeders may fudge records on mares who are not carrying the proper foal.

Over all I am in favor of embryo transfer due to the high quality mares which are unable to produce due to show status.

- Maggie Merchant

I am not a breeder at all, just a new reiner, and I support the registering of more than one foal through embryo transplant.

First of all, it is not cloning. Each embryo is a completely unique individual…even if the sire is the same. I agree that if stallions are allowed to inseminate more mares than nature would allow through cooled semen, and now frozen semen, then the mares should have the same opportunities. The way I see it, these mares that are being embryo-ed are the best of the best and it will do nothing but improve the breed to have more of their genetics in the gene pool.

That's a good point about Impressive…I think it's DISGUSTING that AQHA will register halter horses with a known genetic defect and allow them to continue breeding but will not allow these awesome embryo-transplanted performance bred horses to be registered. I also think ET will help those mares that have difficulty in foaling and will allow mares to continue with productive show careers instead of having to be retired as broodmares.

AI and shipped semen were not accepted early on either…This will just take some getting used to.

- Andrea Sutten

We are small breeders with 8 nice mares. We do not have an unlimited budget. The NRHA 2000 Futurity Champion, Von Reminic, is out of our mare, Von Freckles. This mare is now 16 years old and I would like to cross this great mare with a couple different studs (via embryo transfer) and be able to register all her colts with the AQHA.

Though I agree that “multiple copies” may not be good for the industry, I wonder why a stallion can have an unlimited number of registered colts out of different mares, yet the mare can only have one registered colt even if they are bred to different sires.

When a big farm stands a popular stallion, they have the opportunity to cross that horse with a number of bloodlines to determine an effective cross in a matter of 3 or 4 years. However, if you own a broodmare, 8 or 9 years can go by and you are still trying to determine if a Whiz, Mega Jac, Great Pine, or Reminic is the best cross.

Granted, we can still try a number of crosses and DNA register them, but unlike the cutting, the reining horse industry does not support that market. The sire fees are too high to make that a cost effective choice.

Today’s mare owners are racing against “father time”. At risk of sounding like a “women’s libber”, please consider that it’s soon time for the mares to be given the same opportunity to create revenue as the stallion owner. More importantly – that next great cross may never happen.

- Sally Broten

I'm a new reiner and will have my first foal next spring by one of the two mares that I own. I like the idea of the embryo transfer allowing successful show/competition mares to reproduce but I don't think that more than one foal should be allowed per year per mare. I think that already the equine population in general is too large due to the focus of too many on quantity verses quality. Allowing a mare to, in reality, have two or more babies in one year not only increases the population but may also encourage people to not be as selective in their breeding choices and result in a larger number of "average" or "mediocre" foals being born that nobody wants to buy.

I also think that cloning is totally wrong whether you are talking horses, sheep or humans!! I agree with the comments regarding Impressive and further believe that any horse that doesn't test HYPP N/N should not be allowed to reproduce.

If you have ten horses that are exactly the same, then wouldn't it come down to the best rider instead of the best horse? Because while it does take a good rider to get the best from a horse, I have too often seen a horse that didn't give the best performance win simply because of the name of the rider.

- L. Kemmish

I have to agree with the sentiments expressed by PD Ranch. If we begin to clone the great horses; this is going to have a detrimental effect on the economics of the horse industry. The reason I say this is because I feel that by offering multiple "copies" of the same horse, we will not be able to demand the higher price tags currently being enjoyed by those who DO have the great ones to breed/sell. Let's face it if there are 10 "Conquistador Whiz' out there, why would I pay to breed to him? The various breed industries would create a "glut" thereby driving everyone's prices down in order to make a sale! The people ( at least the ones who have filed suit against the AQHA) who are fighting our current ruling of "1 mare, 1 registered baby" are engaged in sports such as cutting and reining which do not discriminate against DNA horses anyway!

In addition, we should not lose sight of the fact that the great halter stallion Impressive had genes which introduced the HYPP problem into the quarter horse world. He was a great horse and many, many people bred to him which caused this normally recessive gene to become a dominate one causing the death of many horses and even more to suffer from life time debilitates. If we continue to clone these great horses, we increase our chances of having another serious genetic disorder raise it's head. At the least, we would propagate undesirable traits ( all horses have them), at the worst, we could wipe out an entire breed.

The whole argument in favor of being able to register more than one foal per year; is being made by a FEW large breeders who are greedy for dollars. The problem is, they aren't looking very far into the future to see that this tactic is going to backfire and cost them money in the long run.

- Pacific Performance Horses

I'm against more than 1 foal from any mare per year. The large breeders already have a stranglehold on the industry because they own the best mares and the best stallions. There should be a certain order to things in life and when you manipulate genetics and artificially create greatness you lose something in the process. The reining industry and the AQHA are in danger of losing their grass roots appeal and instead will become an elitist, monetary driven organization with few fans, much like the USET. Its happening in professional sports because we the fans can no longer identify with the staggering amount of money it takes to compete. Right now even the little guy thinks he can catch lightening in a bottle. I just don't think that its a good idea to create horse cloning farms that turn out identically gened horses of comparable great ability. It takes away from the individuality and tradition of those that went before us. It will cheapen the accomplishments and make the industry itself less noble.

-PD Ranch