Surf Coast Equine Reproduction

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Mount Moriac, VIC
Surf Coast Equine Reproduction

Offering a range of equine reproductive services to Geelong, the Surf Coast and surrounds.

30/09/2024

Triplets! But do good things really come in 3s? Or 2s? Or 4 or more? Unfortunately, not if you’re a thoroughbred who must carry your pregnancies to term. We love to see multiples in our embryo transfer mares where we can transfer each one into a different recipient. However, unlike many other species, it is very dangerous and potentially fatal for a mare to carry multiples, so in this case only one can stay. This is why it’s so important to get your vet out to perform an ultrasound 13-16 days post ovulation. This is the optimal time to deal with multiples. After this time it becomes a more invasive and potentially much more costly procedure.

16/09/2024

Successful first scans from our September 1 breedings! Let’s keep it going!

01/09/2024

Happy Father’s Day to this ol’ fella and all the lovely dads out there. Aaaaand happy first day of the thoroughbred breeding season! Let the fun begin!

31/07/2024

Happy Birthday southern hemisphere horses!

Apologies for our prolonged absence from social media. We have been busy this off-season building new infrastructure so we can expand our services. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2024 breeding season and looking forward to catching up with our lovely clients in the upcoming weeks.

23/12/2023

On behalf of Soodi, Nick and our little elves we’d like to wish you a joyful and safe Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you to all our lovely clients for supporting us in our first season in business. See you in 2024! 🎄 🎇

15/12/2023

Electric ponies ⚡️

28/11/2023

Cyst or pregnancy?

On a few occasions we’ve had owners get prematurely excited by what they see on the ultrasound screen (sometimes on the first scan before the mare has even been covered!) “Is she pregnant already??” Nope, sorry. That’s just a uterine cyst.

How can we tell the difference? It can be pretty tricky if we don’t take good records. Most cysts are irregularly shaped and easy to distinguish. The ones that can fool us are the perfect little black circles that will display the same specular reflections (the bright white lines at the top and bottom of the circle) as a typical 12-16 day pregnancy.

One way to tell the difference is to scan the uterus on multiple days and measure growth of the structure. While cysts can grow, it won’t be at the same rate as a healthy pregnancy. They also won’t move around the uterus like a conceptus younger than 17 days. At Surf Coast Equine Reproduction we include a cyst map in all our mare records and document the size, shape and location of every cyst we find. This map can come in very handy in time sensitive situations, especially if twins or triplets may be involved and hiding between a sea of cysts in older mares that have had multiple pregnancies.

This ultrasound image is in fact a healthy 14 day pregnancy. It would help if the screen was kept clean too! 😬

20/11/2023

Accurate 😏

14/11/2023

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Rose, the beautiful 18.2hh Clydesdale for frozen semen breeding. To be honest, we were a tad nervous that she wouldn’t easily fit in the crush. Luckily our custom built Stephen Irwin Equine Products mare and foal crush can handle all shapes and sizes! Got a big mare to breed? We’ve got you covered! (sorry, had to) 15.1hh polo pony included for reference.

National Clydesdale & Heavy Horse Festival

10/11/2023

You might be surprised to learn that faecal egg counts (FECs) are more about herd health than any individual horse. In fact, it is impossible to definitively know your individual horse’s worm burden without surgery! There are tests that might give us clues, but not a concrete diagnosis.

However, if you figure out who the high shedders in your herd are you can target them individually with dewormers to keep the eggs in your paddocks low. This will, in turn, keep your entire herd’s worm burden low and minimise the use of dewormers and drug resistance.

Dr. Martin K. Nielson, the renowned veterinary parasitologist, explains more in this video:

07/11/2023

Happy Melbourne Cup day! Today we’d like you to meet Nick Hastie, the other human behind Surf Coast Equine Reproduction. Nick manages the property, as well as the resident and visiting horses. You can usually find him on the prettier side of the horse.

Nick learned to ride as a youngster growing up in the US. There he first competed in dressage and show jumping, before switching to his true passion, polo. He became a professional polo player for the next 2 decades, playing internationally in Europe, North America, the Middle East and at home in Australia. Interesting fact: Nick also met his wife and business partner, Soodi, 16 years ago on the polo field.

These days polo has become more of a hobby, as he focuses on his young family and horse breeding business. Nick has extensive knowledge training young horses and in all facets of equestrian management. He also has experience working in equine reproduction laboratories during his polo career.

Nick and Soodi are thrilled to finally be open for business. They welcome the horse community to enquire about how they can help with your equine breeding program.

05/11/2023

It’s probably time we introduced the humans of Surf Coast Equine Reproduction. We’ll start at the back end (literally), which is where you will usually find our resident vet, Dr. Soodi Hastie.

Soodi has lived and breathed horses her entire life, growing up in a family of dedicated polo players. She learned to ride and play polo at a young age. Soodi graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2014 with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and has worked exclusively in equine practice ever since. In 2019 she completed an internship in equine reproduction in Virginia, USA. Soodi has since dedicated her career to the field of equine reproduction, having worked in North America, the Middle East and here in Australia. To Soodi, nothing quite beats the thrill of finding that little black circle or the tiny beating heart of a little foal on the ultrasound.

Soodi is married to her best friend and business partner, Nick. Together, they have 2 beautiful little boys.

She is excited to offer her equine reproductive services to the Surf Coast and surrounds.

30/10/2023

Here at Surf Coast Equine Reproduction we are passionate about all things equine reproduction! (Well duh doy, son). However, the general health of your horses is paramount in order to have a successful breeding program. That’s why we also offer a few key wellness services in order to keep our patients and the general horse community in tip top shape.

The first of these is faecal egg counts (FECs) and faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRTs). We have invested in this wonderfully accurate and time saving Parasight System faecal egg counter developed by the renowned veterinary parasitologist Martin K Neilson DVM, PhD and his team in Kentucky. We love this machine so much it has become an integral part of our parasite control program here for our resident horses.

Gone are the days we vets used to recommend deworming every 2 months and continuously rotating dewormers. In order to prevent drug resistance and to preserve the integrity of our limited available dewormers (and hopefully save you $$ on your deworming program in the long run), we are offering a great deal for the month of November. For every FEC we run, we will run an FECRT for free! Spring is a great time to check which of your horses actually need deworming and if that dewormer is doing its job.

If you’d like to send us a sample please contact us for all the details.

11/10/2023

The resident mares of Surf Coast Equine Reproduction enjoying the sun on this beautiful spring day☀️

06/10/2023

Questions about what is involved in breeding your mare? Get in touch and we’d be happy to discuss your options.

0484 356 749

surfcoastequinerepro[at]gmail[dot]com

30/09/2023

Meet the REAL bosses of Surf Coast Equine Repro back in their HAYday

Address

Mount Moriac, VIC

Telephone

+61484356749

Website

http://www.surfcoastequinerepro.com.au/

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Videos

Triplets!

Following from our previous post: did you struggle to see the heartbeat? This might make it easier. We are fortunate to have been able to invest in colour doppler ultrasonography. This helps us assess the viability of an embryo or foetus. We can also use it to visualise blood flow around ovarian structures and the placenta. #equinerepro #equinereproduction #SurfCoastEquineReproduction