I was told that breeding for fall foals was a new trend in WBs? I can’t think of any advantages other than foals would be weaned before flies and hot weather came around, and obvious disadvantages for foals who will be going to inspections, showing in-hand, or in futurities. Please enlighten me! I would love to foal out in the fall because spring is the busier of our show seasons…
Jennifer
I don’t know about trends, but I like my foals born in May. That way my mares can be blanketed in the worst of the cold, both before birth and after weaning. Also the babies are a good 7 or 8 months old before it gets cold. If cold and blanketing aren’t an issue in your world then I don’t see a problem.
My mare is actually a fall baby only because the breeder couldn’t get the dam bred sooner. It may be more convenient for the people who own the mares but I would hate for my mare to be heavy in foal during the hot summer and for a foal to have to endure the cold of winter at a young age. Also the advantage to both mare and foal to be out on abundant pasture grass goes without saying.
I have a fall baby who was born Sept 29… But he was due early July 
Interesting topic of conversation for me. My friend, an excellent equine Theriogenologist, is highly supportive of breeding for fall foals. A couple of the many points supporting fall foaling – mare is in much cooler weather during the most ‘risky’ first 3 to 4 months, especially no heat and humidity during the time of insemination/hopefully conception that could very negatively effect implantation in the uterus. Second, and then I’ll stop, a foal born in fall is also not subjected to horrid heat and humidity during the delicate first weeks of life. Much easier to keep a foal warm than to try and mitigate heat, humidity and all kind of insects that go with hot weather. Fall sounds excellent to me —
[QUOTE=Moose Tail Farm;7205505]
Interesting topic of conversation for me. My friend, an excellent equine Theriogenologist, is highly supportive of breeding for fall foals. A couple of the many points supporting fall foaling – mare is in much cooler weather during the most ‘risky’ first 3 to 4 months, especially no heat and humidity during the time of insemination/hopefully conception that could very negatively effect implantation in the uterus. Second, and then I’ll stop, a foal born in fall is also not subjected to horrid heat and humidity during the delicate first weeks of life. Much easier to keep a foal warm than to try and mitigate heat, humidity and all kind of insects that go with hot weather. Fall sounds excellent to me —[/QUOTE]
It’s so dependent on where you are. The flies are driving me nuts right now…I can’t wait for a freeze. We can have a hard frost by now (although it is 80 degrees out currently). We don’t usually, but it’s not unheard of, to have a Halloween snowstorm. West river had a HORRIBLE, freak blizzard a week ago…something like 60,000-75,000 cows and I’m not sure how many horses are dead. I don’t think the national media even noticed…
I know those who have had April foals often end up blanketing and using heat. We can get snow in early April, or more likely freezing rain. This spring we flooded. Yuck.
May/June foals are best for me. I think the weather is getting more and more unpredictable and extreme…it worries me.
I would think that could limit stallions as some close their books in June/July. I had problems last year and my vet suggested waiting and going for a fall foal instead. She mentioned a number of breeds do trend that way, but I thought it was walkers or another gaited breed
The latest foal Ive ever had was last year - Aug 25th - and I’d never do it again
I felt so sorry for the mare carrying that far along in the heat of July and August, it was tough keeping the foal cool (my vet said he had several cases of young calves dying in the heat of August last year), I hated weaning in February. I honestly couldnt find much good to say about having a foal drop that late
I had a client ask for semen last week. Still waiting to hear if the mare is actually cycling and is producing a breedable foillicle. The latest Ive ever had to collect and ship semen was mid November and that was for a client in Northern Michigan. Not for me but I guess everyone has their reasons for doing what they do …
[QUOTE=TrueColours;7205848]
The latest foal Ive ever had was last year - Aug 25th - and I’d never do it again
I felt so sorry for the mare carrying that far along in the heat of July and August, it was tough keeping the foal cool (my vet said he had several cases of young calves dying in the heat of August last year), I hated weaning in February. I honestly couldnt find much good to say about having a foal drop that late
I had a client ask for semen last week. Still waiting to hear if the mare is actually cycling and is producing a breedable foillicle. The latest Ive ever had to collect and ship semen was mid November and that was for a client in Northern Michigan. Not for me but I guess everyone has their reasons for doing what they do …[/QUOTE]
This. I’m sure it depends on where you live, but I am in the NE corner of Oklahoma (Kansas/Missouri/Arkansas/Ok) and my vet is very much against fall breeding. She says with our heat and humidity a lot of pregnant mares founder/abort/or heat stroke!! I lost a massively big, almost black, Irish Sport Horse in July a few years ago nursing a 3 month old baby. And she had in shade with fans, plenty of water…all precautions and she heat stroked and could not stand up. We spent three days raising her with a sling…alcohol baths, iced IV’s and could not save her…and she wasn’t even pregnant…just nursing. Mother nature wants spring foals!!!
[QUOTE=crosscreeksh;7205898]
This. I’m sure it depends on where you live, but I am in the NE corner of Oklahoma (Kansas/Missouri/Arkansas/Ok) and my vet is very much against fall breeding. She says with our heat and humidity a lot of pregnant mares founder/abort/or heat stroke!! I lost a massively big, almost black, Irish Sport Horse in July a few years ago nursing a 3 month old baby. And she had in shade with fans, plenty of water…all precautions and she heat stroked and could not stand up. We spent three days raising her with a sling…alcohol baths, iced IV’s and could not save her…and she wasn’t even pregnant…just nursing. Mother nature wants spring foals!!![/QUOTE]
Very sorry for your loss, but this mare foaled in the spring. I’m confused.
FWIW, I have had many fall foals and even one in early December (mare imported from South America in foal) in MN and never had a problem with the cold. I prefer it to the mud in the spring, not to mention the foot of snow we had last May.
The only downside I have seen is the inspection schedule.
It really depends on climate and available shelter.
I personally have had numerous fall foals, for Wisconsin, not a problem, it actually worked out really well. As I am a trainer and go to a lot of shows it was particularly nice as show season was winding down, and I had more time to spend with them. I have not had any problems with inspecting them, they all scored well with assorted registries.
We stand our stallion through mid October, just 2 weeks ago he went to the breeding shed, infact we have done several for other people in September and 2 so far in October.
Nancy
Very interesting thread. I’m not a breeder but I have a horse that was born in September and I always thought that was a bit odd. Now I understand - breeder is heavily into showing nationally, season doesn’t end until September, so makes sense to have fall foals. Thanks, guys!
In my climate, it’s not ideal to have mares foal in the Fall, but with show horses it’s not an unqualified disaster.
The Arabian barn I used to work at had a few late summer/early Fall foals. It’s a bit more time consuming because they went on indoor in the mare/foal stalls, but they were still turned out most days during the winter. The foals were blanketed if they needed it.
Weaning was really no more or less stressful…by the time the late foals were weaned, they were ready to go in with kindly geldings and the other young weanling-almost-yearlings. Of course, my experience with weaning horses seems to be a lot less emotion-wracked than many…at the show barn, it was always a non-event, and when I bred my own mare, same thing. Complete non-event. It was a lot harder on MY feelings than on either the mare or the foal…and I kept my feelings out of it!
It took additional planning/coordination, but was by no means “difficult.”
If you don’t have adequate facilities, it’s something to consider with breeding dates, definitely. But if you DO have indoor facilities and the willingness to do some extra planning…it’s not a big deal.
I should have been more specific when I mentioned inspections as a downside to fall foals. I agree with nsm that young foals can get great scores, however they can’t score a foal if it’s not on the ground yet.
I have had several born after the inspections have taken place. They were registered by mail. A nice option, but not ideal for those who use inspections as a marketing tool. Works fine for me.
All fall
Where I am at now it is almost exclusively late summer/fall foals. It is much easier on the foals to not have the heat and more importantly the flies. This is Minnesota. Springs can be cold and wet with deep mud. Rain in the 40’s and 50’s The flies start mid June and are relentless to mid August. I have done April and September and honestly the foals are better foaled in September. My colt came in mid July and that was terrible. Every month has its disadvantages. My stallion went with 5 mares in September and will be pulled and then put with another small group of weaned mares next week. We still have a couple of mares due to foal. The last heats of the year are plenty strong enough and even in a bad year the mares are regularly cycling at the end of the season where they often are a clown school in the first heats of spring. We do a lot of pasture breeding with very old mares often and we have a high percentage of in foal mares breeding in fall. Last years foals were weaned in spring and that does bring the condition of the mares down more than fall weaning but that was also due to hay shortages the last two years. As far as market there doesn’t seem to be a problem due to the time they were foaled. The market is based on what you produce not when. We do not have foal inspections for our breeds but I would imagine the inspectors are certainly proficient enough to evaluate a wide range of ages. They do fine in the coldest days…often sleeping in the round bale hay. The possibility of cold rain is the big bugger but that happens more frequently in the spring. A fine furry foal does very well. PatO
awaiting a little bundle of joy right now
last Capone I of the year…gave me a good excuse to buy baby clothes…
Ideally I would have like this foal a month earlier. Himself’s a gentleman that can be collected in the show barns (did that for the first filly), but FedEx wasn’t insync with the mare.
fingers crossed for a spritely baby in the AM.: cool:
besides the obviously fun of blankie shopping, I can see the rationale for fall foals (in addition to what’s been stated already): some stallions were not available summer 2012 because of the Olympics and sometimes one can get an end of season or late season discount.
I don’t know that it’s a new trend but another vote for fall foals!
I actually bred for a pony foal several years ago that was born in Sept. It was actually a nice time of year for the filly to be born. Heat wasn’t quite as bad as it is in June/July and the evenings are cooling off, flies weren’t bad that year, etc. Of course it all depends on the way the weather is that particular year…
But I don’t “routinely” plan that. I personally prefer my foals born between March - May, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
That being said, we actually ship on my stallion a lot from May - Aug, historically that seems to be the “busier” time of the year for him. And this year I am shipping frozen semen to S FL in Oct/Nov to a MO… she purposefully wants a Nov or maybe even Dec/Jan foal, but we are talking S FL (Miami area) so the winters are MUCH different than even up here in North FL. Luckily my breed does not require the foals to be inspected so I don’t have to worry about that, and the mare owners that are breeding to Tate aren’t necessarily caring to show on the line (if they can that is great, but they are specifically looking for the future performance horse not an in hand horse) so it all works out so far… 
I don’t think there is any “right” or “wrong” answer either way.
OP, your note about the disadvantages ring true to me as a young horse buyer (not breeder). I don’t want to even look at foals born late in the year. Sets them up to not be synced with the Young Horse classes (Young Jumper, for my horses). I have a late July baby, and I felt that as a 4yo and even into his 5yo he was at a disadvantage to those born in the March-May time frame. My latest youngster was born in May, and my goal moving forward is to find springtime (not summer, let alone fall) babies.
It all evens out as they get older, but a horse would have to be pretty darn nice to make up for the (even minor) disadvantage early in the show career.
With the young horse classes growing in most areas, I’m actually surprised there isn’t more of a movement towards earlier babies.
My experience is mostly with TBs-- just out of curiosity, if you had a foal born in, say, November, and all the inspections were August through October, would you be able to wait and inspect it the following year at 10-11 months? Or would it be a yearling as of January 1 and not get a foal inspection?
