Like most people, Marne Martin-Tucker began her love of horses when she was a little girl. She grew up in a family that bred horses as well as other types of animals. But it wasn’t until she moved to Europe that she began to ride dressage horses more exclusively. She said, “It was fantastic to have such deep mare families in Europe to purchase mares from in order to begin my own breeding program. Lots of nice stallions are always available for frozen or cooled semen breeding but the quality of the mare is the key.”
Marne has worked for many years, producing 1 or 2 foals each year, to create the best dressage horse breeding program that she can. When asked what the goal of her program is, she said, “Horses with super character, top class rideability, competition nerves and the talent for FEI. Ideally, Grand Prix.” In her program she prioritizes the utilization of embryo transfer but will also use broodmares she has ridden and trained. She said, "It’s important to me that mares do training, competitions and performance testing before breeding.”
This is how her mare Royal Coeur (Royal Hit x Riva) came on the scene. In 2017, Marne took Royal Coeur to SBS Veterinary Services (SBS-VS) in Maryland for breeding with frozen semen and embryo transfer in the hope of producing a special foal. An embryo was flushed, then transferred into a recipient mare which is when the waiting began. The following breeding season she took the recipient mare back to SBS-VS where she gave birth to a handsome colt, fondly known as Galaxy Coeur (pictured above and below) . She registered him as an Oldenburg and when he was old enough Marne decided to have his semen frozen by Select Breeders Services in Maryland.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2022 where the NA Stallion Test was hosted at Hilltop Farm, Inc. in Maryland. This testing is supervised by the American Hanoverian Society (AHS), the Hanoverian Verband (HV) and the German Oldenburg Verband (GOV). It is open to 4- to 7-year-old stallions registered with the AHS, GOV and other registries. The test provides an opportunity for owners of North American Stallions to have them earn lifetime breeding approval for their specific registries. In the field of 10 stallions, Galaxy Coeur won with an 8.8. This is the second highest score ever given during the test. Of the win, Marne said, “As a breeder I have achieved the goal of being one with the highest percentage of premium mares and FEI competing offspring among US breeders. Now, I have bred and raised a stallion test winner who is also having great competition results!”
Select Breeders Services and SBS Veterinary Services have come alongside Martin-Tucker in her quest to be a breeder of quality dressage horses. When asked why she chose SBS she said,
“SBS has been a great partner for breeding, embryo transfer, stallion collecting, etc. They provide decades of experience and good value for the money. Also, they create excellent quality frozen semen and my stallion has very high fertility. We believe frozen semen is super convenient to use.”
Whether breeding, flushing embryos, foaling out, storing and/or processing frozen semen, we are thankful to be a part of her team. We wish Marne continued success with her program and we can’t wait to see what the offspring of Galaxy Coeur accomplishes in the future.
Log in to join the conversation.