From those that have bred and raised their own foal, what were the typical costs from inception to weaning? This is assuming that everything went swimmingly.
I sat down today and had a serious look at everything in regards to potentially breeding my mare, and want to get a good grasp of the costs beyond getting her in foal.
Would you be keeping the mare and foal at home or at someone else’s facility?
I think that’s where is can really get expensive.
The “swimmingly” part is always the hard part- rarely do things ever go exactly as planned, from missed FedEx shipments to foaling issues to sick babies and everything in between it’s good to have a broad understanding of everything that can (and often will) go wrong. Foals from inception to weaning (with your own place) can run as little as $6,500 and as much as $15,000 and often you have very little control over which end you fall closer too. There was a great thread this year that broke down costs (very detailed) which is extremely accurate and helpful 
and make sure you have access to a great repro vet - it can make all the difference in the world.
There was a great thread this year that broke down costs
Do you remember how it was titled? I’d love to take a look at it!
She would continue to be boarded at her current facility as the BO has a lot of experience with breeding and raising foals as well as the facilities to safely do so.
If you don’t have a facility - make sure to add on board for 18 months (getting pregnant, carrying, and nursing) plus I would assume a foal
Watch fee as well as extra board for foal by side. Also look at what it will cost board wise to raise and then break/train a young horse - many weanlings do not sell as weaners! I will look for that thread - it was very realistic.
Stud fee and vet/insemination fees are the biggest costs of the breeding pending no health issues with mare/foal. If you pay board on your mare/foal this adds a lot more making it very costly unless you can board pretty cheap. Board is just “money out the window” on a foal. If you’re breeding for yourself, it doesn’t matter but if you’re looking to sell without a $$ loss, I wouldn’t recommend breeding and boarding your mare/foal.
There is a thread somewhere where I broke my costs for L down. It was rather mind blowing. Fresh semen, but three tries.
The actual semen cost was one of the smaller ones, so buy the best semen for your particular mare and dont fret the cost of that, because in the end it is a fraction of what you will spend on getting a foal from conception to riding age. 
of course the costs are also regional but here’s the figures from the kitchen table:
around: $10,640 based on the following figures:
stud fee: 1500-2500
fed ex/collection vet/frozen shipping container: 300-600
mare board $300 x 18: 5400
insemination: 400
foaling: 600
well baby checks: 80 x 3
hoof care/vaccines/worming: 400
Regumate: 500
even if you keep your mare at home your own home, she eats $120 or thereabouts per month.
some places charge the same of mare as mare with foal, some charge more. It’s cheaper in europe, even with VAT.
some vet clinics charge more for AI with frozen and some charge a flat fee per mare cycle instead of a la carte charges for palpaltions, exams.
oh, I forgot dental…
The foal would be boarded for “free” until weaning. She is boarded right now so boarding her during pregnancy/foaling would be no “additional” cost. I am already paying that and will likely continue to pay board for her for the rest of her life, as well as the foal. My SO is not horsey at all so it would be a cold day in heck where I would ever be able to have a horse at home. The foal would be a keeper as long as possible (since I know things happen), so I am not at all looking to make money on this one.
And just for fun, here is my mare:
She has had 6 foals previously, two of them WS qualified. Here are those two:
And here are the two stallions I am considering:
Following similar ideas to Mareslave - here in Alberta I’m roughly at:
To get pregnant:
Using fresh semen and getting pregnant on 1st cycle:
around: $4382 (round it up to $5000 for any unnoted extras I forgot) based on the following figures:
stud fee: 1500-2500
Collection fee: $300-450
Fed Ex shipping: 300-600 depending on distance
mare board at vet’s facility $21/day x about 5-7 days $147; more if she has a foal at side already.
insemination: 500
Oxytocin x 2 days, $5 (if I do myself)
Ultrasound preg and twin check: $65
Secondary preg check for preg status and double-check against twinning: $65
Travel (diesel costs) to said U/S checks: $25
Add more to this cost if she takes a 2nd or 3rd or even 4th cycle to conceive and maintain a pregnancy past 30 days.
Foaling out - If mare goes to vet to foal out (recommended in your case since she’s not at your home for 24/7 watch):
Vet fee, including newborn check: $800
IgG draw: $45
Subsequent well-baby checks: 80 x 3 = $240
Travel to vet for baby checks: $25 x 3 = $75
hoof care: 40 x 6 trims (at 4 weeks apart) $240; more if baby needs trims more frequently for correction.
Vaccines/worming: About another $200-300.
TOTAL: $1700 (round on up to $2000) TO WEANING.
So a basic foal to 6 months of age without any difficulties from either mare, delivery, or growth results in a cost of $7000 per foal.
Does not include Foal Growth Kibble in that cost.
Board is extra - much extra and will exponentially increase your costs.
Frozen Semen - Change the stud fee to a per dose fee to between $500 - 1500 depending; increase the insemination to $600-800 because it requires more monitoring.
This is assuming (not likely) that everything happens just tickity boo; otherwise, anticipate to double, perhaps even triple your costs.
And factor in a possible 50% loss (losing either the mare or foal) to a 100% loss (losing both mare and foal) if things go wrong shortly before, during or shortly after delivery. Which can and does happen.
In the grand scheme of things, mares collectively around the world are slipping their pregnancies all the time, so that’s your major loss right there.
Frankly, if you have to board, you are better off buying a weanie from a breeder because your boarding costs put your foal value at around $10-15,000 whatever your board is for 18 months. That foal had better be smashingly spectacular to justify this.
While you are stating you “already pay board” for the mare already, the board is a very real expense and is part of your foal production cost. You are paying that boarding facility to properly feed and house your mare so your mare can grow your baby. Therefore, it IS a cost towards your foal.
[QUOTE=rodawn;6700947]
Frankly, if you have to board, you are better off buying a weanie from a breeder [/QUOTE]
Oh I am for sure considering this as well. As much as I would love to have a Skye-baby, I would be pretty devastated if I lost her too, which I am well aware can happen. There is just not a lot available in my breed of choice in the discipline I would be aiming the foal towards in my area in horses of any age.
This is something I try to explain to people frequently. We only have top bloodline mares with great conformation, movement, sound minds and dispositions. I only breed to top bloodline stallions with the same attributes, chosen carefully to complement each individual mare.
My horses all receive top care from my highly specialized staff (all but 1 of my experienced staff have 4-year Equine Science degrees, with focus on breeding/reproduction) who along with me, work with our young horses from the day they are born to produce highly socialized, well behaved weanlings/young horses. We do not ever cut corners at all.
All of this costs money, but the extra effort pays off in the long run, since our horses are well known for their excellent breeding, health, great dispositions and manageability. Why do many people still think it is unreasonable to price a top bred weanling foal at $15K when we already have close to that amount invested in it? Breeding is a business. We cannot afford to continue to breed if we lose money on every foal we produce by pricing them at far less than what we have invested in them.
The initial price you pay for your young horse is, in most cases, actually small potatoes compared to what you will pay in ongoing expenses for board, training, vet bills, farrier, showing etc. It costs exactly the same for these expenses regardless of the breeding or overall quality of the horse.
The difference comes in the horse’s potential. If all you want is a horse to pleasure ride or occasionally take to a local schooling show, it is not so important, but if you are serious about competing, it just makes sense to get the best quality foal/young horse you can afford. That horse will likely have the most natural in born “tools in the toolbox” to become the best horse for allowing you to achieve your goals in the future. No amount of money/time spent on training can ever give your horse natural talent, great movement, conformation, a sound mind or a super disposition if he/she is not born with it.
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