Hi everybody, I have posted a few times on the breeding section here as I am hoping to breed my mare this spring for a foal to keep. I have worked at a breeding farm, but have never bred my own and set up appointments or anything like that- so essentially I am a complete newbie to this! I figured I would come to the experts here and hopefully have all my questions answered in detail.
First off, for a presumed maiden mare (approx. 14 years old, very good condition/healthy although a bit overweight with unknown breeding history), would you try frozen or cooled? I am trying to be smart about my money here to keep expenses down by trying what is typically most successful first.
Second, I have a wonderful vet who is very close by that I think I would use if I needed assistance during the actual foaling since she is less than 5 minutes away should a problem arise, but I would like to have a reputable great repo. vet to do the inseminating and first pregnancy checks to maximize my chances of getting my mare in foal. I am located in central MD- can anyone give me suggestions on a great repo. vet that will be able to travel to my farm?
Next, I can typically tell when my mare is in heat because she’s a bit more moody and if I bring my older non-studdy gelding up to sniff her head over the stall door, she squeals at him. But I definitely have never tracked her heat cycles and don’t know a whole lot about it. My other mare “winks” but I never really see mine doing so. How would I track her heat cycles and when would I call the stallion owner to ask for the cooled semen (if I go that route) to be shipped out for the next day? How could I ensure my vet would be available to inseminate within the 24 hours while my mare is still in heat and the semen is still good? If it is frozen, is it shipped to the vet? Isn’t there some kind of shot I can give my mare to induce her into a heat cycle?
Is there anything I can do to “prep” my mare for insemination? We had an older maiden mare at the breeding farm whose owner had her on some mare supplement that was supposed to put them in optimal health for breeding, but the mare never did take to the stallion (with live cover). Stallion was older as well, so maybe semen quality wasn’t great. Would that supplement be helpful for my mare?
Are there ways to tell if a stallion has great semen quality that will help my mare get pregnant? Are older stallions less likely to get my mare preg?
Also, what is the largest you would breed a 14.1 hand mare to if you’re assuming she is a maiden mare? She may have had foals before, but I’m erring on the side of caution here. Is 16hh too large?
With a 14yo mare that has an unknown breeding history - you need a breeding soundness exam performed with a biopsy. Do this before you even think about buying a stallion season.
That’s your first step. For all you know the mare had a uterine infection at some point that scarred her uterus to the point of not being able to carry a foal full term. Adn that can only be determined via biopsy.
[QUOTE=Crown Royal;5960650]
]
First off, for a presumed maiden mare (approx. 14 years old, very good condition/healthy although a bit overweight with unknown breeding history), would you try frozen or cooled? I am trying to be smart about my money here to keep expenses down by trying what is typically most successful first. [/QUOTE]
This depends on the mare. You will know more to this question after she has had a culture and biopsy. If her uterus appears to be perfect, you could try frozen. If her uterus appears to be not quite so perfect, I would go with fresh chilled.
Mares have an uncanny way of knowing just how much is in your bank account and are quite willing to drain it and then some. If you are budgeting for a $1500 stud fee and think your vet-breeding budget is about $1500, plan to double your vet-breeding budget, just because Murphy’s law so dictates. If you don’t use your vet-breeding budget up, then bonus, you have some saved towards the foaling budget. A lot can go wrong with foaling and it’s usually mighty expensive to deal with.
Cannot help you with vet name, but I would suggest sending the mare TO the vet’s clinic. This requires multiple ultrasound scans and correct timing. It’s too difficult for the vet to get everything perfect if he/she has to travel to your farm. Mare could split her heats, or delay ovulating, any number of things could happen. Best to send the mare to the vet.
As answered above - send the mare to the vet’s place so he can monitor things using the ultrasound. Most often, the vets will manipulate the cycle to have a more accurate prediction of ovulation. An experienced repro vet knows when to call the stallion owner to coordinate timing of shipping fresh chilled semen to get here in time for ovulation. Unless you have a lot of first-hand experience with hormone manipulation, let the vet do all the injections and charting.
Frozen offers you some flexibility. You can have it ordered, shipped and waiting in storage for the perfect timing. Vet would need to be very experienced using frozen semen since the timing has to be on the ball for frozen.
Good quality, balanced feed and keeping them at optimum healthy weight. You could put her on a vitamin/mineral supplement, but more balanced extruded complete feeds are nutritionally balanced and quite satisfactory.
Only way to tell is to have your vet check out the semen under the microscope. Some older stallions have fantastic semen motility and fertility.
That all being said, an older stallion would be the stallion of choice for your maiden mare simply because an older stallion has proven many times over what he contributes to the foal picture. Your maiden mare is an unknown in that department.
[QUOTE=Crown Royal;5960650]]Also, what is the largest you would breed a 14.1 hand mare to if you’re assuming she is a maiden mare? She may have had foals before, but I’m erring on the side of caution here. Is 16hh too large?
Sorry for all the questions![/QUOTE]
Generally speaking, most mares will only carry them as big as the space allows, and then the foal unfolds once it’s been on the ground over a week to 2 or 3 and then grows as big and tall as according to its own genetic code markers direct; however, that all being said, I have personally experienced an exception to that rule with grave consequences out of a 15.3 mare bred to a 16.3 stallion and the foal was much too large for the mare and she had a lot of problems which we were able to solve, but had she sneaked the delivery on us, neither foal or mare would have survived.As well, I had a big 17 hand maiden mare bred to a 17 hand refining stallion, but the mare ordered the at-birth size and the foal was enormous. She needed a LOT of help. This is the only real worry I have with maidens - you just don’t know what they influence on the at-birth picture. Most mares foal appropriate sized foals, but you won’t know that until you see what pops out after 2 or 3 rounds of birthing and even with that while she may follow a general routine and picture, each birth can be varied to each other. Breeding can be rewarding, heartbreaking, pleasing, scary, and otherwise adrenaline-rush intense and yet most of us here are hooked, line and sinker, on the whole ordeal.
I would say that 16 hands would be okay and definitely at the upper limits of size IF he was a fairly refined stallion himself and tended to throw refined - the most important information to know would be his known AT-BIRTH SIZE of foals. Long-legged and slightly refined is fine, but big shouldered at-birth brutes would be hard for your mare and could be a cause for concern, re: dystocia. If the stallion you fall in love with is a hefty boy, and tends to throw hefty foals, I would be very inclined to pass on him until you know what your own mare throws. She influences foal size too.
I also firmly recommend the Equine Repro site, which will give you a great deal of information.
As to size for a 14.1 possibly maiden mare, I would personally not breed to a stallion more than 16 hands (preferably a little under, which will be difficult if you are thinking warmblood) and also select for quite a lot of refinement, depending on the mare’s build.
My personal recommendation would be to use cooled/shipped semen, put the mare on P & E protocol and take the mare to the vet clinic one or two days before the “breeding date” for insemination. This timed breeding system will eliminate some of the multiple ultrasounds and allow better timing of the breeding so you can avoid holidays/weekends and issues involved there.
