A quick overview for a mare owner considering breeding

[Laurierace]

[QUOTE=Cruisesmom;8232035]
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She is a great mare. She has been bred twice, a qh colt, and a Dutch Warmblood filly that is huge. I think the best thing to do is place her in a great home with the expectation of a trail horse/broodmare situation. I will find that sporty draft cross out there some day.

I love the idea of breeding her and the whole process that is involved, but quite frankly it scares the snot out of me if for some reason this potential foal is not what I wanted or is 15 hands of draft head and feet, or a dummy foal, or god knows what else can happen. I am ultimately responsible for bringing that life into the world.
Thank you everyone for the great suggestions, advice and knowledge.[/QUOTE]

Good decision OP. Thank you for wisely listening to the voice of reason. Believe me, I know how hard that is when you have visions of foals dancing in your head.

[butiwantedapony]

My mate is currently preggo - it’s my first experience breeding. So far I have about $1800 into it, but most of the prenatal care is done at this point with Ezception to vaccinations. So, barring anything going sideways, it will cost about $2k for me to get this foal on the ground. Stud fee was VERY reasonable at $650, the rest is the expense of sending her to Cornell to be bred. She was there less than a week and caught first cycle.

I too am in we stern NY and draft X’s here are ridiculously expensive. I would encourage you to breed your mare if you REaLLY like her and are breeding for something for yourself. There are PLENTY of people breeding drafts to TBs successfully - breeding is never an exact science. A Sport bred QH is going to be basically a TB anyways.

It’s an experience, not just a means to an end, to breed your own. For me, it is MUCH cheaper to breed than to buy something of comparable quality. But I really want the experience of raising my own foal, so I likely would have gone this route either way.

I will so add that I don’t board and I have TONs of grass turnout, so the cost of raising the foal is minimal, again, barring any unforeseen issues.

[Blume_Farm]

Breeding can be fun, frustrating and devastating! And you never know which road you will walk until it happens. I breed maybe one foal every other year or so. I have had some years where everything goes smoothly, and those are wonderful. But I have also had years where everything went wrong, and those are devastating. Things I have had to deal with and the costs:

uterine infection/ inflammation during breeding cycles: $1,000
just did fresh breeding that did not take first cycle: $550
umbilical abscess surgery: $3,000
mare colic surgery 24 hours post foaling: $15,000
mare death 24 hours post foaling: $900 at farm emergency call + $3,500 nurse mare rental+$1,000 donation to nurse mare foal rescue organization
angular limb deformity post trauma and medical management: $1,500 (and deformity didn’t resolve to normal)

I agree with some others that you can find an already nice draft cross in existence. After having had to learn about the whole nurse mare horrors and their orphan foals I would look there. Last Chance Corral rescues these foals and some are really cute. My nurse mare is some type of QH cross, super temperament, super sweet, not horribly put together but with a not so pretty head. I bred her to a sport pony as I have committed to taking this foal when it becomes orphaned next year so I am trying to potentially breed something semi-marketable and army friendly. But I worry about a Frankenpony:-( My running joke with everyone is this foal will end up being some sort of A circuit Hunter Pony extraordinaire and sell for more than any other horse I have bred:)

[horsetales]

If you are on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/1421846961399598/

You can also post a wanted ad and list your search area and budget

[Mia412]

[QUOTE=Blume Farm;8233107]
My nurse mare is some type of QH cross, super temperament, super sweet, not horribly put together but with a not so pretty head. I bred her to a sport pony as I have committed to taking this foal when it becomes orphaned next year so I am trying to potentially breed something semi-marketable and army friendly. But I worry about a Frankenpony:-( My running joke with everyone is this foal will end up being some sort of A circuit Hunter Pony extraordinaire and sell for more than any other horse I have bred:)[/QUOTE]

Join the club! We raised a pretty nurse mare “orphan” pony filly, broke her, and sold her as a green but sweet 4 year old. She went on to do the regular mediums, qualified for the Indoors, and placed at Pony Finals.