ABSTRACT
Introduction One of the most important components of any embryo transfer program is the recipient mare. The number of recipients needed for an embryo transfer program is dependent upon the number of donors in the program. If only a single embryo donor is involved a total of two or three recipients should be sufficient to ensure that one recipient mare is synchronized with the donor. Larger embryo transfer facilities will require a greater number of recipient mares, but a lower ratio of recipients to donors.
Acquisition of Recipients Ideally, recipient mares should be identified and acquired in the fall or early winter prior to the onset of the next breeding season. It would be best to acquire all recipient mares needed for the next season at the same time. This will allow mares to acclimate to their new environment, provide a quarantine period to identify mares with medical issues and prevent exposure of the recipient herd to infectious disease from new mares added to the herd in mid-season.
