Greetings, COTHers. I’ve been looking at horses for sale in Texas, and I’m considered pursuing an 11 yo appy mare that has been used as a broodmare in the past. She’s had three foals. I’ve had mares in the past, but I’ve never had a broodmare. Does pregnancy and foaling affect a mare as a riding horse in any way? Are there any special considerations that should be taken/things I should know? This probably sounds like a strange question, but I figure the only bad question is the one unasked. 
A good broodmare should have been at the top of her discipline you hope. In that case she should be broken in and trained and have no conformation faults and should be expensive snd you should be able to bring her back into work.
If from a backyard breeder who has put Dobbins in foal only because she has a womb and could not be ridden as too bad either mentally or not sound because of conformation faults then to me she is really worth nothing and not worth putting work into.
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Hillbilly, is that a Rocky Mtn Gaited horse? Beautiful!
I agree, Hillbilly’s mare is beautiful. She looks very trustworthy. :yes:
The mare I am looking at was a lower level dressage horse before becoming a broodie. She has a good mind, conformation, and nice movement, so I think she is definitely worthwhile for me to consider. I was more wondering if being a broodie would affect her physically, which would impede her performance, but it doesn’t seem that others have run into this.
I would bring her into work slowly mindful that her back might need development and that her abs will be stretched. I would do lots of lateral work at the walk in hand to tighten up the abs.
Honestly I like the personality of mares that have raised foals.
I wouldn’t hesitate to take one on, anymore than any horse that has been out of work for several years. And I think having foals keeps them more tied into human caregivers than the average semi feral pasture pet.
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With a very few exceptions we always kept our broodmares in work while pregnant. Didn’t do 100 milers or jump 84" on them, but they didn’t get to be “welfare mothers”, either. They went back to work 2-3 weeks after delivery, unless there was a reason they should not.
When we bring one back after a pregnancy, or after any sort of layoff, we begin with a period of ground work reviewing and reinforcing the standard stuff you should do with a horse coming back into work after a layoff. It’s mostly reinforcing the discipline of work but it has a physical training value, also. Lots of walking, with and without a saddle. We add the gait (or trot) in small but increasing amounts. After one or two gait/trot sessions we add the canter, first just a couple of rounds but increasing over time. We liberally mix the gaits, and seldom does a session exceed 20 min. For a short layoff the ground work is maybe a couple of weeks. For a longer layoff, maybe four weeks. It depends on the age, conformation, temperament, health level, and starting fitness level of the horse.
Most of what we do is in a round pen. We don’t do a lot of higher level stuff on a longe like you see at the Spanish Riding School. It’s basic stuff for mental as well as physical training.
Once they are fit enough to carry a rider then we start saddle work, again lots of walking with short periods of gait/trot and shorter periods of canter, as the horse can take the gaff. Older horses can take longer physically than younger horses. Younger horses take longer mentally than older horses. If you get one with real behavior issues then the program has to address that and if circumstances demand it we employ outside help.
This isn’t hard but it’s kind of tedious and boring for the human. Do things to keep it interesting for you and the horse. Don’t rush the process. It’s not fair to the horse. But put a demand on the horse to get their oversized butt moving!
G.
