Breeding

All Western Australian Thoroughbred breeders, along with all foals and breeding horses, are required to be registered with the Australian Stud Book.

Founded in 1878, the Australian Stud Book’s purpose is to ensure the integrity of Thoroughbred breeding in Australia.

The Australian Stud Book is a founding member of the International Stud Book Committee, comprising of nine world stud book authorities. The purpose of the International Stud Book Committee is to establish standards of Stud Book operation that will ensure the integrity and future development of the Thoroughbred breed and provide the foundation necessary for a healthy international thoroughbred industry.

Any horse born from 2003 onwards can now be identified throughout its entire life from the microchip number or from the set of brands.

The combination of microchipping, freeze branding and DNA testing places the Australian Thoroughbred identification system ahead of any other in the world.

Thoroughbred horses are bred via live cover and no form of artificial insemination (AI) is allowed.

Although they’re all born on different days, Thoroughbreds are assigned their official birthday as the 1st of August.

For more information regarding the Rules of the Australian Stud Book click here.

All Western Australian breeders who wish to use their premises as a ‘Stud’ for the breeding of Standardbreds are required to hold a RWWA Studmaster license. Any persons wishing to operate as an artificial breeding station must apply for an Artificial Breeding Technicians license.

Standardbred horses can be bred either by live cover or artificial insemination (AI) which allows the use of frozen semen from Stallions in different states or even countries. Each mare will have one foal a year, with the occurrence of twins extremely rare.

All Standardbreds celebrate their official birthday on 1st September, even though they can be born on other dates following.

For more information regarding Australian Standardbred breeding, click here.