Twemlows Stud Farm, one of the UK’s leading equine reproductive centres, is once again championing the future of British breeding by awarding its Burghley Scholarship.
The prestigious award will be presented to the highest placed British-bred mare finishing inside the top 20 at this year’s Defender Burghley Horse Trials, which takes place this weekend.
The scholarship offers a generous prize of two embryo transfers at Twemlow’s state-of-the-art facilities, worth around £7,500 plus VAT.
It includes 12 weeks free livery for the donor mare, so that the embryo transfers can take place, and there will be no recipient mare hire fees or in-foal fees.
The owner of the winning mare will need to pay 50% of the veterinary costs in connection with the routine insemination and embryo transfer costs, as well as stallion fees and any other non-routine veterinary items.
The total value of the scholarship is about £9,600.
What is embryo transfer?
Embryo transfer is a specialist form of equine surrogacy that allows a donor mare to be inseminated and her embryo placed into a carefully selected recipient mare, who then carries the foal to term.
This advanced technique enables mares to continue competing at the highest level. It also avoids the risks for those unable to carry a foal themselves, while enabling their genetics to be passed on.
Its success rate is up to 75%.
“Embryo transfer has opened the door to breeding from elite mares while they are still in their competitive prime,” explains stud farm manager Edward Matson.
“At Twemlows we have a large herd of recipient mares who we carefully match to the donor mare, and we take care of every stage of the process, from synchronisation and insemination to foaling and foal care.
“Our vets are highly skilled, and we have great success rates with our embryo transfer programme.”
Preserving elite bloodlines
This year marks the 17th consecutive year that Twemlows has provided the Burghley scholarship.
Previous recipients include leading names such as Mary King, Piggy French, and Jonelle Price.
The award has gone to eventing world number one Harry Meade’s mare, Cavalier Crystal, for the past two years.
The mare is competing again this time and lay fifth after dressage on day one.
“We are delighted to be supporting the Defender Burghley Horse Trials once again,” said Edward.
“We are very proud of the role we play in promoting these incredible mares’ bloodlines.
“There are some fantastic mares competing this year and we are excited to see who the Twemlows scholarship will be award to.”
Main image © Shutterstock. Inset © Twemlows Stud
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