March 2025 Newsletter

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Down Under: My Breeding Season in Australia

Another month down means another closer to those Cotswold summer BBQ and beer garden days I know we’re all longing for! I trust everyone had a great Cheltenham week. We count ourselves privileged that we get to work with such magnificent creatures each year we hear that Cheltenham

roar on Tuesday.

With our breeding season well and truly underway, I’m going to take us back to August, to when I hopped on a plane south of the hemisphere for a breeding season in Scone, NSW.

There’s no shortage of breeding thoroughbreds in the Hunter Valley. In fact, it’s home to the largest thoroughbred breeding operation in the southern hemisphere.

It wasn’t long before I was shoulder deep in mare scans. A few weeks in marked the stallion parade weekend. This was a great opportunity to meet some of the incredible sires I would be sending mares to throughout the season. I got up close and personal with the likes of I am Invincible, Anamoe, Maurice and many others.

Although it's not pretty, one of the skills I really developed was in conducting thorough post mortem examinations to decipher the cause of abortion, or sudden death of neonatal foals. I hope I don't have to exercise this too much back here, but it really is a priceless skill to have to better protect your farm in the case of a potential infectious outbreak.

Although my time there was short lived, it was crammed with experience, with time left over to explore some of the beautiful country. I ventured north to Fraser Island, a beautiful sand island off the east coast, where I saw Dingoes in the wild, and spotted dolphins and sharks from the water’s edge.

It was an unforgettable experience I would recommend to any vets hoping to further their skills whilst experiencing a new stunning part of the world.

With thanks,

Archie and Team

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