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Community Corner

Horses 101: To Breed or not To Breed

Breeding your equine is a very personal choice and a costly venture ....

You love your horse and have always wanted to extend her time with you somehow. So you consider breeding her and having her genes live on in that foal. Maybe you have always wanted to have a foal and start from scratch with your very own horse, so you consider breeding a horse you already own. Babies are so cute and small and fun, right? There are as many reasons as there are horses to consider breeding at home, but is it always a good idea? 

Breeding your horse is a very costly prospect and the costs begin to accumulate before you have even chosen a stallion, or mare, if you are the stallion owner. It is wise to have a vet check your horse before you breed to ensure there are no pre- existing conditions or issues that would jeopardize your horse’s health or life. Mares can have a multitude of various “female problems” that are symptom-free until you actually have a vet check for them specifically, just like with people. Once pregnant, other conditions can arise that would put your mare and/or foal at risk and sometimes even with a vet check prior to breeding, you would never know and your mare would never present any symptoms otherwise. 

While this is my humble opinion, I do speak from personal experience. I love Jane — you’ve heard about her in previous Manes and Tales columns. Years ago I chose to breed her. It was a textbook perfect experience. Absolutely nothing went wrong and there were no complications. The vet was thrilled from start to finish with her entire pregnancy from a medical point of view (even though he’d advised me that he didn’t believe in home breeding because "there are many wonderful horses in the world already that need good homes"). The foal was born without incident and was perfectly healthy. I had researched breeding, talked to my vet numerous times and discussed it with other horse owners and friends so I was prepared for the costs involved and had friends with experience in foaling a mare as back-up in case anything went wrong during the delivery. I looked at many stallions and chose the one I thought would best compliment Jane’s genetic blood lines and hopefully breed out the less desirable traits — both physical and mental — that Jane possesses. I bred Jane at the perfect time of year so the foal would be born in the early spring. 

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What I wasn’t prepared for was a carbon copy of Jane. From head to tail, ear to hoof, the filly I’d hoped for was anything but. She hit the ground on a beautiful March night at 9:30. The sky was clear and bright and she was so cute. All legs and helpless, she laid in my lap and I couldn’t help but fall for her. Unfortunately, as she grew, her attitude and stubborn nature grew with her. Also, her conformation was exactly that of her dam (mother) and so was her color. A bay filly with legs too skinny and slightly twisted cannon bones — great. She was sweet as could be and had a beautiful head just like Jane but with all the good came all the bad. There was nothing of the stallion, her father, in her whatsoever.

I finally sold the filly when she was about 18 months old, and I was happy for her to go. She wasn’t horrible, but I already had a Jane – the original — and the carbon copy just wasn’t for me, I’d wished for something better. I’d tried to be selective in choosing the right stallion and I did my homework. Of course I had wished for that wonderful side of Jane to live on and for the wonderful side of the stallion to also appear in the foal. I wanted to start fresh with a baby and have the most wonderful horse in the world. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it, or only get part of it. That was my lesson, that’s for certain. The filly got a great home and her new owners loved her, so I can share a happy ending at least. 

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Of course there are the happier stories of people that breed their horse and get a great result — nearly, if not exactly, what they wanted. There are also people who breed their equine and have a difficult experience with complications along the way, but all’s well that ends well. Heartbreak can be avoided. There are a myriad of other possibilities out there.

I would estimate the cost of breeding my mare at home, then raising the foal for 18 months, to be about $5500. That doesn't include my time to care for and train her! I don't board my horses. They live at my home. If you have to pay board after the weanling is separated from her mother, add that cost as well.

As for me, from now on I will live by what my vet told me years ago, “There are many great horses already in the world that need good homes.”

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