Entry into horse breeding

Warendorf (fn-press). Spring is the time of foal births. When you see the young foals galloping happily across the pasture, you often get interested in having offspring from your own mare yourself one day. Here you will find answers to the question of what conditions are necessary, how to choose a stallion and how to recognize the “right” time. Warendorf (fn-press) publishes the following guidelines:   What do you have to consider when thinking about breeding a foal out of your mare? Before you start breeding, you should be clear about your personal breeding goal. Do I want to keep the horse or sell it as a foal? This question is crucial for the choice of the stallion. It is also important to know what husbandry conditions are available to you and what your financial budget is. Breeding a foal from your mare and watching it grow up is a fascinating experience, but it costs time and money, know-how, patience and luck. You should be aware of this and therefore plan the adventure of horse breeding calmly. What kind of keeping conditions are necessary? If you want to breed, you need a suitable stable. A riding school with boarding facilities and a correspondingly large number of people and horses is usually less suitable, due to the unrest that prevails there and not least because of the risk of infection for mare and foal. In addition, mare and foal need sufficient pasture possibilities and a large, bright and airy box. Foaling stalls are usually much larger than normal riding horse stalls, because they are supposed to provide enough space for mare and foal. A mare that is moving to a larger stall or even to another barn to foal should move at least six weeks before her expected due date. This is the only way the mare can adapt to the new environment and germ flora and build appropriate antibodies. Large pastures are necessary to provide the foal with sufficient exercise from the beginning. In addition, no foal should be raised alone. Ideally, there are several mares and foals in a breeding farm. There are usually also people with experience in horse breeding there. What should I look for in a mare? The mares are the be-all and end-all in breeding. It is scientifically proven that the breeding influence of the mare on the foal is greater than that of the stallion, one speaks of 55 to 70 percent. When selecting a mare, one should therefore first and foremost make sure that she is healthy and fit and, above all, that she has no health problems that could possibly be passed on. Furthermore, one should pay attention to a correct conformation and a good character. Especially the conformation is very important, because the foal will learn a lot from the behavior of the mother in the first months of life. Depending on the personal breeding goal, one should also pay attention to whether and which sporting successes the mare herself and her closer “relatives” have achieved. This gives hope that the relevant strengths will also be passed on to the offspring. Of course, there is no guarantee for this. The mare’s weak points should also be kept in mind in order to select the stallion accordingly. If you are at the beginning of your breeding career, you should definitely seek advice from experienced breeders and the breeding associations. How do I find the right stallion? When selecting a stallion, one thing is most important: He must match the mare, should enhance her strengths and compensate for any weaknesses. However, it is a mistake to try to compensate one extreme with another. For example, one should not mate a toe standing mare with a toe standing stallion, but rather select one with a very correct foundation. Breeding progress cannot be achieved overnight and it is not for nothing that an old principle is: breeding means thinking in generations. Increasingly, some breeding associations are producing “linear descriptions” of stallions and mares, from which one can see how the breeding experts view the individual body characteristics and movement traits of the respective horse. In some cases, special heredity profiles and mating programs are also offered. The internet platform fn-erfolgsdaten.de offers further possibilities to get neutral information about stallions. Here you can find, among other things, the results of stallion performance tests, the breeding values of a stallion as well as his offspring performance in sport and in breeding. After all, it is not only important whether a stallion is a good riding horse, he should above all prove to be a good “sire”. To see whether a stallion passes on his strengths to his offspring, it is worthwhile to take a look at the world of breeding values or to visit events with offspring. What bureaucracy needs to be taken into account? Horse breeding today mostly takes place in the form of artificial insemination. It not only offers advantages in terms of hygiene and safety, but also allows a breeder to use a stallion placed further away. In order to order semen from a stallion, a mare owner needs a mating certificate. If the mare is already registered with a breeding association, the mating certificate can be ordered there, otherwise the stallion stations also have blank mating certificates in stock. As soon as a mare is in foal, the mating certificate is sent to the desired breeding association and a foaling certificate is issued. The breeding association has a kind of “registry office” function. It registers not only the mating, but later also the foal and issues the necessary breeding papers for it. At the latest, the breeder must become a member of the breeding association and also register the mare in the stud book. A list of all breeding associations can be found here When is the right time for insemination? In order for a mare to become pregnant, an experienced veterinarian should be available to manage the entire fertility management. First of all, the veterinarian will perform a gynecological examination of the mare to make sure that nothing stands in the way of insemination and pregnancy from a purely health standpoint. After that, it is important to watch out when the mare is in heat. External signs of this are frequent mucus and urination, which is also known as “flashing”. On average, the heat lasts from three to nine days, and towards the end, the follicle rupture occurs. If the mare begins to visibly bristle, the veterinarian should be called and the mare’s ovaries should be examined by ultrasound. Some mares do not show any external signs of rosacea – in this case, call the veterinarian at the beginning of the breeding season and have the ovaries and uterus examined by ultrasound as well. From the ultrasound images, the veterinarian can determine the approximate time to inseminate and will offer one or two more follicle check appointments to document further progress. When a follicle on the ovary proves to be large enough, it is time for insemination by the veterinarian or inseminator. Semen from the selected stallion must then be available at this time. From about the 16th day after insemination, the vet and ultrasound examination will again be able to tell whether things have worked out or whether another heat will have to wait and a new attempt will have to be made. This pregnancy examination is also important in so far as possible to avoid a twin birth. Twin pregnancy is extremely rare in horses, but even rarer results in two healthy foals in the end and is therefore undesirable for breeders.   The decision for horse breeding and foaling has been made, the mare is in foal. Now it is time to wait until almost a year later, when a hopefully healthy and lively foal sees the light of day. Here you will find answers to the question of how you can tell that the foal is ready, how a normal birth takes place and what you should pay attention to in the first few hours of a foal’s life.   It’s starting? How does the birth proceed? It takes about eleven months, or 336 days as a rule of thumb, for a foal to be born, but some mares take longer. The mare’s udder swells and small drops of resin form on the teats, indicating that the foal is about to be born. One or two days before birth, the muscles and ligaments in the pelvic area slacken. Today, there are various birth notification systems (harness, halter, chip) that report via smartphone when something is happening in the barn towards birth. Many mares prefer the quiet hours of the night to give birth to their foal undisturbed. After the water breaks and a gush of amniotic fluid is released, contractions begin and the mare lies down. If all goes well, a shimmering bluish bubble, the egg skin, is next visible in the pubic area, followed by the two front legs and the nostrils. Once the foal’s head and shoulders are visible, the rest is usually a breeze. However, it is very important that the egg skin actually ruptures at birth so that the foal can breathe. Mucus in the nostrils can be expelled by grasping the nose with the fingers. The actual birth often takes only 20 minutes, but if there is a noticeable delay, quick professional help is needed. As a breeder, you should therefore always be alert and prepared and have the telephone number of the veterinarian ready.   The birth is only complete when the afterbirth (placenta) is also completely gone. Two things are important here. Under no circumstances should you try to actively pull the placenta out of the mare, and if necessary you should tie it up – for example with a straw band – to prevent the mare from stepping on it. In addition, it is important to make sure that the afterbirth is completely removed. If even a small residue remains in the mare, this can lead to serious health complications, such as obstetric laminitis. Postpartum behavior is when the afterbirth has not come off within one hour of birth. If the afterbirth has still not come off by two hours after birth, it is imperative to call the veterinarian. In general, it is advisable to call the veterinarian the next day to ensure professional aftercare of the mare and foal. What happens in the first hours of the foal’s life? Immediately after birth, the foal is still connected to its mother via the umbilical cord. However, this breaks at a “predetermined breaking point” as soon as the mare stands up. The umbilical stump in the foal should be disinfected afterwards. Under no circumstances should the umbilical cord be cut, as there is a high risk of bleeding. The first hours of a foal’s life are crucial in many ways. A healthy foal first lies down in a prone position, then will stand up and make its way to the udder. The first milk it takes in, called colostrum or beestings, is extremely important to the foal’s immune system. Experienced breeders therefore always have a clean bottle with teat and a suitable clean container for milking off in the birth box, so that in an emergency they can milk off the mare’s colostrum and give it to the foal via the bottle. If the newborn baby horse has made it this far, most breeders will breathe a sigh of relief at first. Nevertheless, one should remain attentive for the first 24 hours, because especially during this time a lot can still happen. For the foal, it will once again be strenuous, because before it can digest properly, it must get rid of the so-called intestinal pitch. Colts usually have a harder time with this. If there are problems, the breeder can help a little with an enema/enema. Once this is over and the foal is drinking, sleeping and making its first attempts at walking, the breeder can finally take some time for himself again. Small tip: As an aid to checking whether everything is in order with the newborn foal, the “Giessener Vorsorgeschema” developed at the University of Giessen can be used. What is the best way for the foal to grow up? Light, air and plenty of exercise are essential in the first weeks of a horse’s life. Even if some little ones are still a bit wobbly and crooked on their feet at the beginning, you shouldn’t worry right away. As a rule, they will stretch and straighten out in the first few days. A little bit of education is necessary from the beginning, if you don’t want to have a full-grown tomboy later on. If you get your foal used to a halter and to being led next to the mare and to picking up hooves early and playfully, it will be much easier to handle later on. It goes without saying that all this should be done in a calm atmosphere. It is helpful if the mothers are already trusting and friendly.   By the way: The birth of the foal must be reported to the breeding association within the period specified by the breeding association – usually 28 days. This can also be done online with most associations. However, the foal report still remains with the breeder and is not required until the foal is registered. What is the financial side of horse breeding? Breeding is a hobby for most people and costs money. You should always be aware of this before making a decision. Whether later something of it comes back, possibly by a profitable sale of the foal, there is no guarantee. Whoever raises a foal must reckon with the fact that he will have to raise it to a rideable age and then provide for its basic training. There is a market for foals and a market for riding horses, and in between it is often difficult to find a buyer or to achieve a price that covers costs. The main costs are for keeping and feeding the mare, plus the costs for the veterinarian and the insemination management including the stud fee for the stallion. All of this can vary greatly according to the available options. Certainly, the breeding of a Shetland pony foal in a rugged environment is cheaper than that of a German riding horse. Here, the costs can quickly add up to over 5,000 euros by the time the foal is born, especially if the mare cannot be kept in her own stable under her own management. https://www.pferd-aktuell.de/news/aktuelle-meldungen/zucht/einstieg-in-die-pferdezucht–teil-ii https://www.pferd-aktuell.de/news/aktuelle-meldungen/zucht/einstieg-in-die-pferdezucht–teil-i