age?

Well, I guess you're going to have to count me in as one who is cruel. I am a breeder and I DO breed some mares who are 3. Now I do take into account the physical and mental maturity of ANY mare I breed.

Any good breeder knows that a pregnant mare needs more and better nutrition than a nonpregnant horse.

I find it interesting that it is those who are NOT breeders who are the first to throw stones.

Horses in the wild can and do get pregnant as young as 1 year. Just as in humans there have been cases as young as 10 years old having babies. Is it right? IMO no, its not. But it does happen. But that is like comparing apples to oranges.

If you want to wait to breed your mare until its older, more power to you. Just don't condem what you don't know about.

well said TX and thank you for being one person on the same wavelength as myself. I was beginning to wonder... :)

Eh, I agree that its alright to start breeding at 3 depending on the maturity of the horse, you aren't alone.

I don't think it's right. But you have to think the horses aren't even mares yet till there 4 years old, I have a horse who is 3 and she is a filly. They are classified as fillies till they get 4 years of age.

I think Tx is right about it being a different mentality between breeders and non-breeders.

No, actually they are classified a filly until they have their first baby.

No it is a known fact that a female horse is a filly 0-3 then a mare at the age of four. She doesn't stay a filly at like age 6.

Well, there ya go. If you breed her at 3 and she foals at 4 you have a mare. NOT a filly. And guess what. If you breed at 2 (which I don't do) and she foals at 3 you also have a mare.

If you don't breed a filly at all she is considered a maiden mare after age 5.

tx is going to shoot me for this and horse is going to get shocked by this......get ready and i looked this up.......horse you are right...although a FILLY is a young female horse pior to her fourth birthday...ref john j.mettler, jr d.m.v... inview of what tx said if i chose not to breed our 3 year old abby then she can NOT deamed a filly for the rest of her life......sorry tx

No, no, no. That is NOT what I was saying. (or at least what I meant. lol) What I was trying to say is that if you NEVER breed your filly, at the age of 5 (and up until death if never bred) she is considered a MAIDEN MARE. (The age can be different depending on who you ask. The people I associate with always said 5, but I have heard the age 4, and apparently Kansas has read 3. I don't consider any of them wrong. Just different opinions.)

BUT, if you breed you filly AT ANY AGE after she foals she is considered a MARE even if she is 2,3,4 etc.

Soooo, if you breed your filly at age of 3 (which I will do depending on the above qualifications) when she foals, she is a MARE.

BTW it was not me that considers them fillys. I consider them mares. That is why I breed them at that age sometimes.