Miracle of Selena, the foal who saved our Clydesdales
EXCLUSIVE: Horse born in world-f irst embryo transfer paves the way to preserving breed threatened by extinction
SHE may not realise it as she trots happily around her paddock, but this lively young foal carries on her shoulders the fate of Scotland’s most distinctive breed of horse. Only five months old and already half the size of her mother, Selena is the result of a pioneering technique offering fresh hope for the nation’s iconic Clydesdales. She is the first Clydesdale in Scotland born through embryo transfer – a process which aims to help save the breed from extinction.
Not only are her owners ‘delighted’ with her progress, but conservationists are optimistic that the same technique could soon mean more foals are born as early as next year.
In the days before the widespread introduction of engines, there were more than 2.6 million heavy horses across the world, with 140,000 Clydesdales working on Scottish farms. But by the 1970s the native breed was almost extinct.
Clydesdales often have difficulty carrying foals and even the best quality pedigree horses may not produce more than a few.
Embryo transfer helps extend the reproductive life of the best quality horses, thereby safeguarding the future of the breed.
A fertilised embryo is taken from a prize mare which may have difficulty carrying a foal to full term. The embryo is then implanted into a younger mare, which will carry it for 11 months until birth. Selena’s genetic parents are a prize stallion called Collessie Challenger and a Royal Highland Show winner called Collessie Jennifer, who has had trouble carrying foals.
Her birth mother is a young surrogate mare called Collessie Selena.
The foal’s formal name is Collessie Selena Anne – in honour of vet Selena Anne Ayling, from Premier AI Services near St Andrews, Fife, who completed the embryo transfer.
Ms Ayling said: ‘Embryo transfer is mainly used in sport horses – show jumpers or eventers, that sort of thing. It was started to allow the top athletic horses to continue competing but still breed before they’re really old, when it is difficult and you can’t get the genetics out.
‘It is not something you do in routine practice, I learnt when I was working on studs over in Australia.
‘It is pretty much unheard of in heavy horses and is not something that anyone can do.’
The process costs £3,000 on average but it can be more than double that for some elite sports horses.
The success rate for embryo transfer is usually about 70 per cent, although it is lower in heavy horses due to breeding difficulties. Ms
Ayling said: ‘The reason we ended up using it in this particular Clydesdale was because she is genetically very valuable, very sentimentally valuable, and had a bad history with foaling and losing a foal, so we were pretty lucky that it worked.
‘Clydesdale breeders are very traditional and there is definitely a place for keeping a lot of the tradition. But in order for the breed to go forward there are certain newer techniques that can help continue the genetic pool.’
Clydesdales, on average, stand 1.65m (5ft 4in) tall to the withers – the ridge between the shoulders and tallest point of the body – and weigh 800kg (126 stone) – with the biggest of the breed towering above 6ft 5in and weighing more than a ton.
Selena’s owner, Ronnie Black, a farmer and award-winning Clydesdale breeder, said: ‘She is doing really well – progressing naturally and normally, like any other foal.’
He expects her to grow well above average height because both of her parents are more than 5ft 7in tall.
Mr Black has high hopes for his special horse and she is already in training for her first agricultural show next year.
He said: ‘We are certainly hoping she’ll be a future show winner. She’s out of her depth at the minute because the older horses are much more forward than her, but she’s there for the long haul rather than the short game. We’re hoping by the autumn show season next year she’ll be able to go.’
Timing is key with embryo transfer and the donor and surrogate mares need to have their reproductive cycles synchronised perfectly.
Once the donor mare has conceived, the embryo is allowed to grow for a week and then flushed out using a saline solution.
The embryo is then cleaned and inspected under a microscope before being transferred into the surrogate, who will carry the foal for 11 months. The Clydesdale is a native breed to Scotland but fears have been raised that they are in danger of dying out.
At the lowest point there were fewer than 800 breeding females and 80 stallions, but the number of pedigree foals born in the UK each year is now growing steadily.
In 2018, 196 Clydesdales were born, rising to 220 last year and 211 this year – with more still to come.
Ian Roy, secretary for the Clydesdale Horse Society, said: ‘They are not out of the woods but are definitely not dying out, so we’re pretty optimistic. There are still issues around conception and situations where foals die in the womb but there are different angles of research going on to find out why.
‘We’re very pro anything scientific which will help to make breeding easier and the society fully supports the work Ronnie is doing.’
Prince Charles is the patron of the Clydesdale Horse Society, following in the footsteps of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Charles wrote of his pride in the Clydesdale horse in 2018, saying: ‘The history of the Clydesdale is very much part of our island’s story, their lives being so intimately interwoven with the lives of those farming families who worked with them over the generations.
‘It is both heartening and exciting to see our native Clydesdale not only being rediscovered as a working horse in times of heightened environmental awareness, but finding a new future in other disciplines, including as a riding horse.’
‘We are certainly hoping she will be a future show winner’