ENGLISH TEXTS
peat the routine— grooming, dressing, bridling, saddling.
2:35 pm The Prix Galorama starts. The group stays tight— it’ s a good race. Marie leads into the home straight with Bayla and holds off a strong challenge from Mylan on Karma. Marley takes third place on his debut with Cartouche.
3:35 pm The final race begins. Some riders miss their start and fall behind— AP and Lola seize the chance and manage to stay ahead of a closing Happy and Marie. 4:00 pm, it’ s time to debrief in the steward’ s room, followed by a snack provided by the Cavaillon racecourse and the awards ceremony.
5:00 pm End of day The ponies have recovered from their efforts, the riders have changed, and it’ s time to load up and head home. Smiles can be seen on everyone’ s faces- young and old alike- already thinking about the next race meeting.
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PEDAGO
� PAGE 110
By Céline Gualde
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION: A VENOMOUS“ SEA SNAKE”?
Transporting mares for natural breeding is becoming increasingly expensive and complicated, especially when traveling to or from the UK, thanks to Brexit. Moreover, stricter animal transport regulations are being prepared within the European Union. Could artificial insemination be the solution to these issues? Many whisper about it, and the topic regularly resurfaces. However, the situation in the world of equestrian sports, where natural covering has almost disappeared, suggests caution.
In equestrian sports, anything goes when it comes to reproduction. A mare can have five or even ten foals per year thanks to cutting-edge techniques like artificial insemination and embryo transfer. A stallion can cover over a thousand mares, and continue doing so decades after death via frozen semen. The implanted embryo market is booming at auctions, while the market for frozen( and sexed) embryos is slowing in certain regions due to insurance issues, with companies now reluctant to cover the risks associated with uterine reimplantation. Global ultraliberalism reigns, and no nation can effectively impose limits, as breeders would simply turn to neighboring countries to register their foals. Each studbook sets its own rules, and the global federation that brings them together( WBFSH)“ has no authority over its members; it is a representative body, not a directive one,” explains Bérengère Lacroix, director of Selle Français. In sport horse breeding, the traditional cycle has flipped: mares no longer become broodmares after their sporting career but often before they even begin competing, via implanted embryos carried by surrogate mares, often retired trotters. This reversed calendar allows breeders to preserve valuable bloodlines early. Thus, a six- or seven-yearold champion mare may already be a mother, or even a grandmother. Techniques also allow very old mares, no longer able to carry a pregnancy, to continue producing offspring. The use of ICSI( Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection, see box) allows contemporary sport mares in professional breeding programs to produce a hundred foals or more over their career— a once unimaginable reality that does not shock renowned Breton breeder Guillaume Ansquer( Haras de Kreisker):“ If a stallion can cover a
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