1. AI with frozen Semen.
This method is technically demanding, partly since thawing the sperm needs precision and care, but even more so because the sperm does not live long once it is thawed out, and the mare needs to be inseminated within 5 or 6 hours of ovulation. This means that it is really not suitable for the one horse owner to have done at home. My advice would be to send your mare to a stallion station or veterinary hospital, where they are using the technology regularly and have veterinary and support staff on duty at unsocial hours. Mares may need examining as much as three times in each 24 hours to make sure that insemination happens close enough to ovulation to be successful, and at least one of these examinations will certainly be at night. This is not cheap at all, and the cost of a cycle of treatment and insemination will certainly cost as much as several weeks keep at a stud. The conception rates are less good than with chilled semen. Some stallions simply 'do not freeze' and so they are not available by this method. The great advantage of the technology is that the world is your oyster - you can choose a stallion from anywhere around the globe, and since the semen is not perishable whilst frozen, it can be got into place well in advance of being needed.

AI with chilled Semen.
A less demanding process than using frozen semen, since the sperm lives a lot longer. The exact time depends on the stallion, but there is no real need to be closer to ovulation than 24 hours. The veterinary work is still quite substantial, although less than with frozen semen. The mare needs to be scanned probably twice in the heat period to try to get the semen delivered as close to ovulation as possible. She may need treatment to try and regulate her cycle, to prevent her from ovulating at a week end. And she may need further treatment to try to make her ovulate once she has been inseminated. Then she will need scanning 24 hours after insemination to make sure that she HAS ovulated. If she has not, then more semen will be needed, and must be despatched for next day delivery, and there will be more scanning, etc. I would always choose a stallion from a stud within a reasonable distance if I could. This is because mares, being cussed creatures, know unerringly when weekend rates apply - and even more importantly, they seem aware that most couriers do not pick up on Saturdays or Sundays, so you need to avoid Sunday and Monday inseminations if you want to use the nice cheap overnight couriers. If you need to go and collect, or if you need same day delivery, when the courier is dedicated to you and expensive, then obviously it is better to have a stallion within a couple of hours drive if you can. Having said this, plenty of stallions at stud in this country are regularly getting mares in foal in the Middle East and USA using chilled semen. We have found that using chilled semen, the costs are very considerable, and we do not think it is cheaper than sending mares away to stud, although it may be preferable to you. We have had very good rates of pregnancy with chilled semen. A very small number of stallions seem unsuitable for any kind of AI.

Natural service.
One would expect to get the best rates of conception by this method. If you decide to send your mare away to stud, you obviously need to satisfy yourself that she will be looked after well, kept safe, and given every chance to get in foal. You will be relying on the stud management of the establishment to make sure that all these things happen, and you need to be convinced that this is so. Modern stud management means that busy stallions can cover a greater number of mares now than ever before, since coverings when the mare is unlikely to ovulate need not be made. Many mares are now only covered once per heat cycle. Where stallions are less pressured, which is the case for most stallions, I prefer to use a less hi-tech approach, simply because it is much cheaper for mare owners. Here we tease mares every other day, but we keep an eye on them in the paddock and often notice the first day of the heat by their behavior if it is not a teasing day. We cover on the 3rd day, if she is willing, and again on the 5th. On the 7th we would hope that she would no longer be receptive - but if she were, we would get the vet up to scan and see what was going on - and probably to give her hormones to make her ovulate if there was a good follicle, in which case we would cover again. We continue to try mares until they go out of season. We then check them at 12 days after the last service and every other day until 21 days from the first day they were in heat. Our own mares are then tried every three weeks. Visiting mares can be scanned in foal at 16 days after service, and we like to do this - they can then go home. Using this regime we would expect high levels of success.