 So you think you want to experience the miracle of life? Many times I have heard "Let's get a mare because if we can't ride her, we can breed her." It is irresponsible and wrong for any horse lover and owner to breed just because a horse is female. Breeding brings more unwanted pets into the world. So, I want to inform you about responsible breeding from my own experiences. I have been breeding Thoroughbred and American Warm Blood horses and Champion White German Shepherds for over 12 years. As of yet, it has not produced a significant income. There is a surplus of all types of animals in this world, especially the "Heinz 57s" of the animal kingdom. I highly believe in spaying and neutering to significantly decrease the number of unwanted animals. In my opinion, however, there is nothing wrong with responsibly breeding an animal of quality pedigree. These two opinions combined lead me to suggest the following philosophy: Only breed quality to quality when you have the knowledge of how to do it and the market for the offspring. I have been faulted for breeding and adding more animals to this unkind world. I follow my recommended philosophy and only breed for quality, health, temperament, conformation, and usefulness of the offspring. It is not a moneymaker.
I gave up breeding in the year 2000 because I don't want to
become part of the problem. There are too many nice animals already out there to
choose from. In order to responsibly breed horses, you must first have the experience, the facility, and the land with proper fencing. Then, you must find a quality mare with excellent pedigree for the discipline you are seeking. It can cost thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the correct mare. It
happens but it is very unusual to have a mare with quality breeding go through any rescue, unless there is something wrong with her, and then, of course, you would not want to breed her anyway. Once you own the mare, there are stud fees to consider, which range in the same price realm as buying the mare or even more. Once the two potential parents are acquired, a uterine culture must be done on the mare to make sure she is clean of infectious diseases and a vet must check to insure the mare is healthy enough to carry a full-term pregnancy, which is just shy of one year.
Now, after spending a lot of time, money, and energy, you are finally ready to breed. (Beware: without a qualified stallion handler, this could be dangerous if not fatal to the mare, the stallion, or the humans involved.) If you are lucky enough to catch on the first breeding, all you can do now is wait and watch. You will be feeding this mare a high quality grain and hay for close to one year to help with the fetal development. There are additional vaccines with a strict schedule to follow for the health of the mare and the unborn foal. Remember that the mare should not be ridden during her pregnancy and will not be able to be ridden for close to one and a half years.
You've counted 340 days (if your mare has not surprised you with an early foal) and you continue to wait . . . and wait. Even with a closed circuit TV and some dedicated volunteers, we still
miss seeing the birth many times. In one instance we were faced with a problem,
although this mare had no trouble delivering her foal, this first-time mother had no idea what to do with him once he was standing there trying to nurse from her already sore and swollen teats. She seemed to think that this alien trying to suck on her would bring about the end of the world. She totally refused the foal, kicking, bucking, actually attacking him, and trying to keep him away from her. We put out an emergency plea to local horse experts and handlers and with the vets we controlled the situation with restraints, sedation, and good common horse sense and experience. For more than 48 hours we held the mare (a large 16.2hh, 1300 +/-pound, strong, powerful animal) every two hours so her foal could nurse. Once he would have his fill each time, we separated them so they could not touch, but could still see each other for the important bonding. After 72 hours this mare wanted nothing to do with humans and was not going to allow us to intervene with her baby anymore. This was a great success for mom and baby, but a little dangerous for her handlers.
Now you have a cute, fuzzy "little" baby that is already double your weight and has 5 times your strength. Handling right from the beginning is so important for the youngster and it must be done as much as possible, every day, now and forever. Imprinting or desensitizing at this stage is very critical. It is better than waiting until they are 10 times your weight and strength, and have more of an instinct for flight. But be careful! Many times mom does not want you near her baby, and her instinct of protecting her young will take over any desire to be your friend. Even if you and the mare were bonded and worked well together before, she now has other pressing issues on her mind and her motherly instincts are very strong.
I must mention fencing again. Besides being great escape artists, foals are very curious and seem to get into and out of everything, and can, therefore, get hurt easily. Your fencing and housing must be foal-proofed. If they can, they will get into a multitude of troublesome situations.
The foal will stay with mom for close to 6 months and then it's time to wean. Neither mom nor baby like this very much, so be prepared for several days of hollering and fence pacing. Once your mare and foal have learned to deal with their separation, you can start riding the mare again and put her back to work
slowly. Remember that she has not done any physical work for over a year and you don't want to hurt her, so take it slow. As for the foal, he needs lots of handling, good nutrition, and on the ground lessons should be given every day. You will not be able to ride him until he's about two years old and then it should just be sitting on him and showing him it's okay to be sat on. When you begin that stage, you must be careful. This can be very dangerous and without experience you could be doing more harm than good by instilling bad habits into the young mind of a two-year-old. Actual conditioning and hard work should not be started until they are full-grown, which is usually between four and six years of age. The formative years are exciting and rewarding, but can be equally disappointing without the proper education.
As you can see, responsible horse breeding is tedious and can be very tiring. It takes constant work and attention to details you may not be used to worrying about, not to mention the financial cost. So you had better ask yourself again: Do you really want to breed your mare . . . just because you can?
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