Lesson 1: Getting Started
Preparing The Mare for Breeding
Finally you are going to breed your mare. She is due to cycle and you are ready to take her to the stud farm. Or are you? What do you need and what should you expect?
It is the responsibility of the mare owner to present a horse in good health and accompanied by the required health certificates at the stud farm. She needs to have a current coggins, a health certificate from your vet, and up-to-date certification of her vaccinations. Different stud farms also require other documentations; it is best to ask, in plenty of time, what will be required, when making arrangements to bring your mare. Vaccinations can vary somewhat according to the area of the country where you reside, but several musts are flu, rhino, and tetanus. Check with both your own veterinarian and the stud farm where your mare will be staying.
Be prepared to give all pertinent information on your mare, such as her feeding schedule and ration and any stable vices. Keep a record of her heat cycles so the personnel at the stud farm have a basic time frame. A mare generally goes into heat about every 21 days and remains in season for approximately seven. Some mares are difficult to tell, passing through a silent heat. If you have no male horses on your farm, your mare may not show the obvious signs of squealing, arching her tail and ‘winking’ her vagina. If this is the case, your veterinarian can check rectally for a developing follicle and be able to give you a ballpark time she would be coming into her season. In any case, these mares often will cycle out of turn when in the presence of the stallion.
The stud farm personnel will tease your mare, either with a teaser stallion, strong gelding, or the standing stallion. When she shows signs of being receptive, then they will present her to the stallion for covering. Choose a farm where they hand breed. This means someone is managing the mare and someone is managing the stallion. There is less chance your mare will be injured. Some farms use hobbles on the mare to prevent her from kicking, or a leather covering on her neck to prevent the stallion from inflecting bites. These are only necessary depending on the stallion and the mare.
Most mares are bred by live cover. This means the stallion actually mounts the mare, inserts his penis and ejaculates into her. Most stallion farms using live cover will breed a mare every other day until she goes out of season. A mare ovulates within twenty-four hours after she goes out of season. Semen is viable for forty-eight to seventy two hours, so even if she is not covered the last day of her season, the semen is still able to impregnate the egg. Once she is out of season she will not be receptive to the stallion and he will lose interest in her.
