I gave him 2 ‘calms’  1 hour before his test, and the remaining ‘calm’ 30 minutes before. He behaved beautifully throughout his test, after being incredibly wired and spooky throughout the arena walk before his class.

He came 2nd in the Shearwater 6 year old young dressage horse final at Hartpury, beating a long list of ‘big’ names on lovely horses. He then went on to behave impeccably in the Gala evening where the top 2 from each age group were displayed to the audience. Now he’s working at Medium it’s very important that he relaxes easily.”

Jennifer Johnston

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Horse/s for 2011: Lantinus (Laddie) 17hh Danish Warmblood

Best 2010 Results: Advanced Medium Winter National Champion (r) Advanced Medium Restricted Regional champion (r)

2012 Goals: Prix St Georges Freestyle championship and the Intermediare 1 freestyle championship and the winters, International small tour, hopefully abroad, and do an intermediare 2 towards the end of the year. Then on up to Grand Prix over the winter!

Top Tips: Never underestimate the importance of mental preparation, and believe in your self, you have to believe before you can achieve! Know your test so well that you know exactly what you will be doing every step of the way! Feed each horse as an individual, they all need something different!     

Personal highpoint: Being given the opportunity to train and learn from Carl Hester, he’s amazing!

Memorable Horses: My little 14’3 Arab mare Orchid, I got to the trailblazers Dressage finals on her when I was 13. I mainly did endurance with her and we where very successful, winning 2 regional and a national title all in the same year. It was from doing Dressage on her that I realized I wanted to become a Dressage rider. So when people say Arabs cant do Dressage…Don’t listen! I still ride her now, although I am I little long on her at 6’4’’!!

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Blue Chip went to talk to Tullis Matson, the founder and managing director of Stallion AI Services, to find out abit more about the company and the services they offer.

Stallion AI Services are a DEFRA approved semen collection centre who have been carrying out artificial insemination for nearly 22 years.They freeze and export semen for the worldwide market.

In a year around 100 stallions will visit the centre for fertility investigations. Stallions visit for a variety of reasons, everything from fertility investigations to fresh chilled distribution. There are many reasons for the freezing down of stallion sperm for instance a stallion being castrated and wanting to carry on the breeding schedule.

At Stallion AI Services they freeze semen from the 10 rarest breeds in the country, 10 stallions from each breed including the Eriskay ponies – where there are only a few different blood lines left. This is a way to try and preserve their rare genetic blood lines for the future. Frozen semen has enormous opportunity for all stallions; insurance for death, disease or injury.

Collection from a stallion can vary enormously. In the summer it depends on demand of the mare owner. The beauty of AI is that stallions don’t need to be overworked. Collection every other day is normal for the fresh and chilled side. For frozen collections occur around 4 times a week but this can depend on what the stallions needs are. Some are best 3 times a week and others are better suited to 4. In the winter months collections will be carried out for 7-10 stallions a day and in the summer they can do up to 20 collections.

Stallion AI Services use Blue Chip Dynamic and have been using it and recommending it to their stallion owners for 7 years. They find it really helps with the semen quality as the essential Omega oils help with the sperm membrane integrity which in turn helps with mobility, fertility and helps with conception rates.

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Blue Chip visited Stallion AI (artificial insemination) Services to watch the process of taking a semen collection, and the steps which follow; freezing and storing the semen.

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Step 1: Preparing the artificial vagina (AV)

Stallion AI Services use a Missouri AV, a doubled layered latex liner which is filled to a temperature of 45-50°c for point of collection. Once the AV has been filled with water the AV is assembled. First it is covered with a leather case, a semen collection bottle is then prepared to harvest the semen. A filter is inserted into the bottle to ensure there is no smegma or gel getting in contact with the semen. A bottle warmer is then put onto the bottle to protect the semen from temperature shock and UV rays.

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Step 2: Preparing the stallion

The knees of the stallion are bandaged to help protect them while they’re on the dummy mare.

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Step 3: Preparing the AV for collection

At the stage the AV has already been filled. Lubrication is applied and the pressure and temperature of the AV are tested.

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Step 4: Preparing for collection

The stallions penis is washed with copious amounts of warm water to get rid of any debris or smegma before the collection process.

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Step 5: Taking the collection

The horse mounts the dummy mare, whilst inserting his penis into the AV. After a few thrusts the semen has been deposited.

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Step 6: Analysing the semen

First the semen is analysed in it’s raw state. The motility of the semen is then looked at by putting a 10 micro litre droplet on the slide of the microscope, this is a quick analysis that checks the semen is okay. A concentration reading will then be carried out of the semen to make to see what concentration the stallion has given using a nuclear cell counter machine. This is one of the most accurate ways of testing the concentration of the sperm cells.

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Step 7: Preparing the semen for freezing

Semen doesn’t live very long in it’s raw state to it has to have centrifuge medium added to it, at a one to one concentration. Once mixed the liquid is then poured into the centrifuge tubes and the semen is then spun at 1000gs for 20 minutes, on a liquid cushion. The cushion is added to the centrifuge, enabling 95% of the sperm cells to be harvested. Typically the slower the semen is spun the less can be harvested. The tubes are then placed in the centrifuge machine.

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Step 8: Chilling the semen in preparation for freezing

The semen is chilled for 30 mins before the freezing machine is switched on. The straws are then inserted into the freezing machine. The straws are then removed from the machine and then plunged into liquid nitrogen at -196 °c.

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Step 9: Storing the frozen semen

After freezing the semen has to be stored in nitrogen containers. Stallion AI have two store rooms, one for UK and the other export. Each container holds around 250,000 straws, where they remain until requested by the mare owner.

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Rosemary Bennett

The CTG Winter League took place on the 4th December 2011.

Here are the results of the competition:

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Blue Chip Open Section

1st Zara Lawler on Sensible Samantha
2nd Julie Curling on Lexus
3rd Leigh Nixon on Galaxy
4th Julie Allsop or Thomas
5th Hilary Moses on Ferdi
6th Ellie Gowers on Mr Tom

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Blue Chip Pairs Section

1st – Julie Allsop on Thomas and Leigh Nixon on Galaxy
2nd – Julie Curling on Lexus and Hilary Moses on Ferdi
3rd – Isobel Savoury on Blue and Gillian Hasberry on Kilmiston Night Hawk
4th – Zara Lawler on Leah and Janes Keeley on Sensible Samantha
5th – Isobel Savoury on Blue and Gillian Hasberry on Tierra Ajg
6th – Bev Stevens on Hooray 4 Henry and Steph Davis on Just Jilly

Blue Chip Newcomers Section

1st – Susan Norbury on Princess Lilian
2nd – Rosemary Bennett on Bally
3rd – Jake Roberts on Tessie Bear
4th – Jo Marsden on Teasle
5th – Rose Carter on Barney
6th – Kim McIntyre on Kyle

 

The next competition is being held at Onley Grounds Equestrian Complex, nearr Rugby, on the 18th February. Entries are coming in steadily and it is one of our best venues.

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Jake Roberts

Ellie Gowers

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Blue Chip Owner/Director Clare Blaskey and Glen were featured in The Sheffield Telegraph yesterday (January 26th 2012) for their fantastic achievement of Reserve Champion at Olympia.

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Read the article in full below:

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When he’s not competing he goes by the name of Glen but come showtime it’s all change to ‘I’m Blue Chip Too.’

We’re talking a 17-year-old champion veteran show horse who really enjoyed the bright lights of London after being name Reserve Champion in the ridden section of The Veteran Horse Society and Dodson & Horrell Championships at Olympia.

Out of 1,800 entrants only 11 in hand and 15 ridden horses qualified for a place at the championships. He did, of course, did have a little help(!) from his devoted Sheffield owner/rider Clare Blaskey.

“I’m Blue Chip Too was so excited when he entered the huge floodlit arena ,” said Clare, “I could feel his heart thumping but he soon settled and behaved impeccably to get exactly the same mark as the champion. We were thrilled when he got reserve champion.”

Clare and ‘Glen’ are now in training for the dressage arena finals have qualified in the Novice to Music Freestyle.

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