And then suddenly she was in heat!!

I remember brushing Flox one evening in mid-July when I caught that familiar smell of a mare in heat. Mare owners know that scent! But I didn’t see any signs of heat, so I didn’t give it much attention. Because when Floxely is truly in heat, you see it, you hear it, and you smell it! But the next day, my stable owner messaged me saying she suspected Flox was in heat. Could it be? Of course, we didn’t take any risks and immediately called the vet to come scan her. If she was in heat, we weren’t going to miss this chance! Luckily, the vet was available quickly and confirmed: Floxely was beautifully in heat. The follicle measured 5.5 cm — still too small, no ovulation expected within 48 hours. But since we had waited so long, we didn’t want to risk missing it.

Ordering semen in a webshop

It’s crazy what you can order online these days, haha! Once Flox was in heat, everything moved fast. The most important thing now: ordering semen from the stud. You basically land in a webshop — you select what you need, enter your info, and pay. Super easy, and the next day the courier delivers the semen to your home.

The sweetest mare in the world!

Floxely had always been well-behaved during scans, so we expected she’d be calm during insemination too — but of course, you never know. But she really was the sweetest mare ever. She calmly let it all happen, stood completely still. The insemination went smoothly! Now we had to wait to see if it took — but we kind of knew we’d need to inseminate again. Two days later, early in the morning, we scanned her again — the follicle was still there and had grown to over 7 cm. But “beautifully soft,” as the vet said — ovulation was coming. So we quickly ordered another dose of semen to inseminate that same day.

And then it's waiting time!

I’ve said it before, but I had no doubt Floxely would get pregnant once she was bred. And still, doubts crept in! But I could feel in Flox that things were right, that she was pregnant. She was immediately more grounded, she stood her ground. Like a rock, like a real mare, and didn’t tolerate any nonsense from other horses. That primal instinct kicked in right away. So when we went to scan for pregnancy, it was confirmed quickly. It was the fastest scan they’d ever done with Flox. Floxely was clearly pregnant!! And that means she’s expecting her foal around June 22nd, 2025!