Everyone loves a foal, but there's a growing number of poor-quality horses, unwanted horses, and mature untrained horses appearing every year. Most of those unfortunate equines were produced by someone who failed to consider the long-term consequences of the decision to breed. We're appealing to you to seriously think through the process of raising a foal before you even look at looking through a stallion roster.
Before you make the same mistake, honestly answer the following four questions:
1) Do you have the right mare?
2) Do you have appropriate facilities for a foal?
3) Do you have enough money?
4) Do you have enough time and experience?
Show Me The Money
The Virginia Horse Industry Board determined in 2004 it costs $2,969 to maintain one horse for a year in the state of Virginia. You can easily double that for a mare and foal, and then add breeding expenses and the stud fee on top.
Susanne Hassler, director of breeding at Hilltop Farm (warmbloods) in Colora, Md., estimated in 1994 that it costs $6,000 to raise a foal from breeding to weaning, not including stud fees. To get from breeding to the competition ring, figure about $18,000 and that's only if you're able to do the training yourself on your own farm.
May Emerson, who breeds Thoroughbreds for eventing at Tamarack Hill Farm in Vermont and North Carolina, calculated the cost of raising a foal until the end of the yearling year at $4,800. She states this includes the minimum of reproductive expenses, but not the stallion fee, and assumes there will be no illness, injury or complications anywhere along the way. Gelding a colt would be an additional expense.
QUESTION 1:
QUALITY IS ESSENTIAL
The right mare is the key to your success. Assuming you've got a well-defined goal, such as producing an upper-level dressage horse or a futurity reining prospect or a backyard pleasure horse, you need to objectively evaluate your mare. Will a foal out of this mare have a reasonable chance of meeting your goals? Regardless of your discipline, all potential broodmares need faultless dispositions and proven trainability.
Yes, the sire does contribute 50% of the genetic material, but the foal spends the first six months in the presence of his mother, mimicking her behavior. If your mare is sullen, wary of people, or just plain aggressive, you're going to get a foal who displays all of those tendencies early, in spite of your best attempts to befriend it.
While we know no mare has perfect conformation, some faults cannot be ignored. Obvious ones, like parrot mouth, poor feet, crooked legs, weak backs, sickle hocks, and so on should immediately exclude the mare as a breeding candidate (see sidebar, Heritability Of Traits).Unsoundness may or may not eliminate the mare. It depends upon why she's unsound. Did she break down after years of hard racing, injure herself accidentally or did she bow a tendon at age three after a month of under-saddle training?
When no other factor except evolution was involved, the soundest and most fertile horses survived and passed on their genes. But veterinarians can now manipulate hormones and practically the entire reproductive process; mares that would have been hopelessly barren a few decades ago are carrying foals to term, or donating eggs to surrogates. Ask yourself if you are comfortable passing along a breeding unsoundness. Do "Regumate mares" (mares requiring progesterone supplementation to maintain their pregnancy) produce "Regumate daughters"?
If you have any doubts about your mare's quality, talk with a breeder with a reputation for producing successful horses in your chosen field. Then apply the acid test: If this mare was owned by someone else and you knew nothing about her, would you buy her as a broodmare prospect?
