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Touchline • Issue 14 • 11
took to parading hundreds of mares past him in the hope
that one would take his fancy. Occasionally he would deem to
impregnate one, but more often than not he would turn up his
nose at the mares.
In 2003, he covered 7 proffered mares out of 300, and even then,
the breeders could not detect a pattern. He just liked what he
liked.
The following year, they decided to use his pickiness against
him and started using his favoured mares as surrogates. Once
he was nice a revved up, they would switch his chosen mare out
and slip a different mare under him. He managed to sire 34 foals
that year. Obviously he got wise to this, or the logistics got too
hard, because despite a peak, a few years later he was back to
his fussy old ways.
By 2008 things were so bad that they called on the services
of The University of Pennsylvania State School of Veterinary
Medicine. Experts developed a three point plan to get War
Emblem to do his duty. First, he would be housed in a separate
facility away from other stallions. It was believed that the
presence of older, more dominant stallions was affecting his
self-confidence. Second, the ambience of his surroundings would
be altered to make things, well, more sexy. Some tactics used
by other breeders with a similar issue are placing the misfiring
stallion close by mares in heat, or even situating them where
they can see other stallions covering mares. Horse porn, if you
will. Third, he was being give hormone supplements to increase
his flagging libido.
Despite living in a virtual harem, being pumped full of hormones
and possibly given mood lighting in his state-of-the-art barn,
War Emblem has not sired since 2010. When asked what they
are going to do, station owner Teruya Yoshida says, “We will try
again.” You can almost hear the heartbreak.
Why do the Yoshido family persist with such a notorious and
fussy stallion? Two reasons. First, when he does get a foal, War
Emblem’s bloodline equals serious money. Foals from his stock
have fetched over half a million dollars once, with a further
filly going for over 300,000. His methodology may be related to
quality over quantity.
The other reason for the Yoshido family’s bloody-minded
commitment to War Emblem is that this situation somewhat
slips between the cracks of horse insurance law. Back in 2004,
when they saw the writing on the wall, they decided to see where
things stood insurance-wise. They were soon disappointed.While
infertility is cause for an insurance pay out, low libido is not.
War Emblem shows us that there is no such thing as a such
thing, even when the race is over.
It’s very abnormal
to have no sexual
interest in mares,”
said Anne Peters, a
renowned matings
advisor.