Basic Equine Breeding Dos And Don'ts

There are many basic equine breeding dos and don'ts that you should take into account when first starting out. Things to consider before breeding include the cost and the year that you will spend waiting for the foal, possible complications and the health of your mare. You may also want to consider the cost of training the young horse. Keep in mind all the possible complications that may occur before you commit to breeding your mare.

Before commencing with the decision to breed, your horse should undergo a complete and thorough evaluation with your veterinarian to assess whether or not your mare is fit to breed. Skipping this examination would be putting the health of your mare at risk. You should only consider breeding mares that are physically sound. After the initial complete examination, you will want to set up a plan for nutrition, vaccinations, and parasite control during the breeding period.

Spring is the primary breeding season for horses. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, ideal breeding months are May through August. A mare's pregnancy will usually last between 335 to 342 days. If you are breeding for a racing foal, the age of your mare is very important. You will want to breed as early as possible. Keep in mind that mares do not ovulate at this time, so you will have to take extra measures to ensure a successful breeding period.

If you are breeding for a racing foal, you will have to convince your mare that it is spring in December. One approach is to have your mare under supplemental light starting in November. You will want to expose her to 16 hours of light per day. It is important to remain consistent each day. After roughly 60 days of supplemental light, the mare will begin to ovulate and be ready to breed in the spring. Keep using the supplemental light until your mare is pregnant.



Poor management of the horse is the most common reason for inefficient and ineffective breeding. You will need to become familiar with the breeding cycles of the horse, learning as much as you can about their ovulation cycles in order to maximize your chances for birthing a foal. If there is an infection in the reproductive tract, this is a serious issue that can affect the breeding. This type of infection is common and can generally be controlled with antibiotics.

Natural and artificial insemination (AI) are the two main methods for breeding. Natural breeding is the most appropriate, but if you choose to go through with artificial insemination, you have to be very careful because human error can possibly derail an otherwise healthy breeding period.

A very important factor to a sound-breeding program involves teasing the mare to monitor their estrous cycles, especially if you choose not to rely on drugs to synchronize the estrous cycle. You will have to expose your mare to a stallion and observe her behavior. If there is no interaction, you may need to expose your mare to more than one stallion. A ready mare will act calmly around the stallion. If successful breeding occurs a few hours after ovulation, it may not be successful. Make sure you understand the fertility cycle of your mare before getting started.

Once your mare is successfully pregnant, you will need to carefully monitor her throughout until it is time for the foal to be delivered.