Pregnancy and breeding questions

Hey everyone,
I posted about this earlier, and has really made us rethink breeding our mare. We are curious as too what the chances are of losing the mare or the birth in the pregnancy or the birth. And if some one with breeding experience can tell us more about the process, how much money and work will be put into this process, that would be wonderful. So, thank you for your time and if you post, thank you for the consideration.

First off, I don't know that much about breeding, so I'm sure you'll get much more information from some others that will post. However, I do know that the older a mare is (without being bred before) the harder it is for her and there are much more likely to be complications.

As far as the money, if you are going AI you will be spending lots of money, not only on the stud fee but on the AI being done. If there are any problems during the pregnancy you will have to have a vet out. If the mare has problems foaling there could be huge vet bills and they still might not be able to save the mare or foal.

There are several things I would need to know to say what the cost would be. If you are looking at AI then the average cost of shipped semen is about $250/shipment. If you do not know how to AI and know when to order the semen your self then you are looking at using a vet. Figure the cost of the vet coming out every other day and checking the mare. By the end you are looking at anywhere form $500+ I have known people who have spent $2K in just vet expenses and still did not get a foal.

Then figure in your stud fee. This can vary depending on the stud.

On average I find that IF I can find a foal already on the ground that is comparable to one I can produce for $5K or less it is cheaper to buy. That is with me doing all my own AI work which I do. However I can not find a foal for that cost that is why I breed.

Then you need to factor in the fact that you will loose the use of your mare for about 3-5 month depending on the mare. Then you have 2-3 years once the foal hits the ground before you can start working the horse under saddle. So again factor all this into the cost. For about 85% or more of all people who just want to breed their mare they would be much much further ahead to just go buy one already on the ground. You know what you will get and the cost will be much less and you are not loosing the use of your mare and you will not have to wait as long until you can use the horse.

Is that referring to the foal or the breeding mare?

I think she means the foal. You can't start a foal till it is about 2 or 3 years old or you will hurt it.

The foal. I start all my horses at 2yo before that I work with them but for the most part they play in the pasture. Eating sleeping and recycling everything I put in front of them.

SO figure depending on what it cost you to keep a horse times anouther 2-3 years on top of the cost of actually putting the foal on the ground. That is why I said if you can go out and buy a equal quality foal even a long yearling for $5K or less that is the better way to go.

How old is your mare and would this be her first foal? Older maiden mares are much more likely to have complications from breeding and foaling.

She is 12 and has never had a foal before, since her career was in racing.

A friend of mine just lost a mini over the weekend. It was a maiden mare, small, bred to a very small stud. The baby rolled in such a way that it got stuck, the neck fused so that it could only turn it's head one direction. The baby got stuck in the canal (it was breach). They rushed the mare to the equine hospital where they had to cut the babies head off (it had already died) in order to get it out. Once they got it out, mama crashed. They lost both.

I have no idea what the chances are but that happened just this weekend. I have a mare that has had 5 babies and it's got me re-thinking any decisions to breed the girl.

The cost for this (on a mini) was in the thousands.

Then you are going to have to expect complications in getting her bred, keeping her in foal and delivery being a 10+ yr old maiden mare.