Breeding Horses
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Breeding a foal from your own mare is often a tempting notion to many horse owners. However before even thinking about breeding from your mare, you need to think carefully about whether your mare (as much as you love her), is really suitable for breeding purposes.
If your mare has some excellent qualities for example she is steady, bomb proof and attractive to look at then the possibilities of producing a useful foal are very real.
There is a lot more to breeding a horse than putting a mare to a stallion! For a start you should make an extensive search on the history of the stallion to ensure there are no bad traits he may pass to your foal.
You should always take expert advice before deciding on the stallion you wish to mate with your mare.
It’s also important that you are aware of all the problems and expenses (as well as the delights) of breeding a foal. Do you know how a foal is born, do you have experience in raising foals, and would you know what to do if the foal was to suddenly develop an illness.
Did you know there is a natural breeding season for mares; this is when spring arrives and continues into the summer months. The reason mares come into season in the spring and summer rather than the winter is because the increased hours of daylight kindle the sensors in the mare’s brain.
Mares become mature sexually around the age of 18 months and can usually foal when she is two years old. However she is still growing up until the age of five, and pregnancy can often hinder this growth if allowed to become pregnant too early. If you want to breed from a mare, wait until she is at least four years old.
These sensors trigger the mare’s reproductive hormones thus ensuring she comes into season on a regular cycle during the spring and summer months. She stops coming into season when the cold weather arrives until it becomes warmer again.
On some studs (horse breeding farms), artificial light is used to stimulate the hormone production. This means a mare can be become pregnant much more often and thus deliver what could be very valuable foals on a regular basis.
A mare is pregnant for eleven months of the year, in thoroughbred stud farms they try hard to get a mare pregnant so the foal is born to as close as January 1st as possible. This is because January 1st is the official birthday of all thoroughbred racehorses.
Between May and July is considered the best time for a foal to be born. There is plenty of grass available for the mare to graze and this helps her milk production. Therefore it is a good idea to have your mare impregnated between the months of June – August so the foal is born within the ideal time.
If you are a novice at breeding horses, think carefully before allowing your mare to become pregnant. Raising a foal is hard work and there are a lot of extras needed such as stabling and vet fees etc.
There is also the expense of using a stallion to “cover” your mare (make her pregnant). If you wish for a high quality foal, you will need a high quality stallion to sire it. This can be very expensive.
The upside of breeding foals is that once learned the skills attached to caring for both a foal and it’s mother make it easier if you want to repeat the experience at a future date.
Breeding your horse can be a very rewarding experience, but if you are not careful it can also be both expensive and unsatisfying.
Previous Articles By This Author
- Buying Your First Horse
- Equipment for Horses
- Basics of Horse Care
- Grooming your Horse
- The History of Horses
