A Second Chance for Buttercup

This is a story about “Moxie” and “Buttercup”, two ponies heading in opposite directions were it not for their owner’s generosity and advancements in reproductive technology.

Moxie is a fabulous young show pony in the peak of her career living the life of luxury in a fancy show barn. On the other hand, Buttercup the draft pony, was pregnant and waiting to join the production line at a Canadian PMU facility. Just as Buttercup was scheduled to leave, the PMU facilities were shut down and she had nowhere to go.

Buttercup’s picture surfaced on an equine rescue website as one of many unwanted horses. A generous group of Creekside customers at Moxie’s barn were determined to raise the funds to rescue Buttercup from an uncertain future and bring her to the barn with Moxie. Buttercup was rescued and brought to the barn last year where she had her foal and weaned it, but had no training and no “job”.

The owner of Buttercup and Moxie badly wanted a foal out of Moxie, but did not want to sacrifice a year of show season for her to be bred and produce a foal. Here was the perfect opportunity to find a job for Buttercup as a surrogate mom for Moxie’s baby.

Dr. Colburn was asked if an embryo could be transferred from Moxie to Buttercup. After a positive reproductive assessment of both of the mares, Dr. Colburn’s answer was yes. Both of the mare’s heat cycles were synchronized and cooled semen was shipped in to breed Moxie. The timing appeared to be perfect on the breeding and ovulation of the mares, so an embryo flush and transfer was planned for one week after the ovulation date.

Finally the day arrived and Dr. Colburn flushed a beautiful seven day embryo from Moxie, and quickly implanted it into Buttercup. The entire procedure only took about an hour from start to finish with both mares cooperating well.

Much to the owners joy Buttercup was scanned in foal a week after implanting the embryo and Moxie is back in the show ring. Buttercup will now carry Moxie’s foal for the next 11 months while she continues her light training as a vaulting pony.

Dr. Colburn is thrilled to provide this kind of reproductive technology for smaller operations that are not necessarily “breeding farms”. These services are offered on the owners premises so that valuable horses do not have to be shipped away from their owners care.

For more information on how you can benefit from the good genetics you have in your mare, call or email the staff at Creekside.