Breeding Miniatures..

I have heard when you breed a miniature you have to be extra careful when it come to breeding her (a mare in general). I know for starters, you have to watch the size of the stud you are looking at, and make sure its around her size, so the foal isnt too large for her to birth. But I heard there are a lot of complications in the actual birth of a foal. What should someone look out for to prevent a dead mom and foal. And what are some complications.

Thanks,
Anny

I don't have miniatures, but I have heard that red bag is more common in miniatures.

Foaling out minis is VERY risky, yes much more so than full size. They can have all the problems a full size horse can, but it happens more often. Red bags, dystocias... scary stuff. You MUST BE THERE, no ifs ands or buts, you MUST BE THERE no matter what! And you darn well better know what to do in each situation, there usually isn't time for your vet to get there so you better be correcting whatever problem arises while you wait for the vet to arrive!

Wow, so for first-timers you should have a vet there (not necessarily but for the greater good.)?

It would be pretty much impossible to have the vet there. You won't really know when it's going to happen, and once it starts it's FAST and the vet likely won't have time to get there. So YOU NEED to know what to do and YOU NEED to be there. It's exciting but VERY scary! And there are so many heartbreaks involved :(

Its not so much the heights you have to worry about its more bone structure. Generally you want to breed the finest boned stallion you can find to your mares. Never breed a heavy boned stallion to a fine boned mare.

Some of the problems are as said above. A big one is many miniatures can't break the bag so they suffocate if no on is there to break it open for them. This is why if at all possible you have to be there for the birth.

The other problem is if a foal is not aligned correctly you don't have near as much room to get your arm in there and fix it. But it can be done.

Over the years we have only had 1 that we could not correct ourselves and it was a stillborn. Those are difficult because the foal is dead before labor starts so it does not move into the birth canal

Oh wow. I think its irresponsible to have any animal YOU had bred to birth it alone.

BTW I love your stallion, weefoal :) he's so pretty

Thank you so much! I wish you could meet him as he's such a sweetheart!

We have a live foaling cam where people can watch our mares foal. Our next mare will be on cam in a few days. She's due July 6th. I love having the live cam as it helps to have as many eyes watching as you can.

Just wanted to clarify that I posted about our live cam as you can learn a lot about foaling out miniatures and ponies by watching these live cams :)

Kay

Oh ok thanks :)