Breeding Tips
Presented by Stella Manberg Wise, Great Blazes Farm Paso Finos
A FOAL!!!Having and raising a foal can be an overall delightful and exciting experience. However, it can also be fraught with extra dilemmas, frustration, expense and disappointment. There are always certain aspects that escape human control, but to plan and prepare from the start can minimize future problems before they begin.
DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVE
First, define your objective for breeding. Are you breeding for a future sale or breeding for yourself? If you are breeding for the purpose of selling the foal, you should familiarize yourself with the demands of your local market. Characteristics that are not important to you may be important to the local market. For example, in Texas, paint horses are “hot” and buyers pay a premium for color. A fino horse is in demand more in the eastern and southern regions of the country than in the midwest. If your “product” doesn’t meet the demands of your market, there may be difficulty in selling the foal. However, don’t “chase” the current vogue or you can get caught when the trends change. Good horses are almost always in demand so consider carefully before breeding for what’s currently demanding top dollar. Secondly, know your competition and pricing ranges. Can you effectively compete?
If you’re breeding for yourself, what type of foal would you like to produce? Define your “perfect” foal clearly. Since your mare contributes to the new baby as much as the stallion does, be realistic about how much you can “improve.” If your mare just isn’t right to produce the foal you want, a broodmare lease may be a good alternative to buying another mare.
EVALUATE YOUR MARE
Is she a proven breeding mare, and if so, when was her last foal? The more years that lapse, the more likely she may not “take” on the first try. How old is your mare? Maiden mares may not take the first time, even if young. Older mares, particularly over 7 or 8 years old are more likely to need more than just one cover, if they’ve never been bred before. If her last foal with with a previous owner, check with them, or the stallion reports filed with the association as to the number of covers previously required. Next, evaluate your mare’s conformation, temperament and gait in terms of your defined goals. What is she likely to contribute? It is very important to be objective and not ignore or minimize weaknesses. Recognizing what it is that needs to be improved is the first step in obtaining a foal that is “better” than your mare. In order to stay focused and objective, write down the positive and negative (or less positive) attributes in two columns - those attributes you’d like to retain and those areas that you’d like a prospective stallion to improve. Keep this list handy when you evaluate prospective stallions!
PREPARE FOR BREEDING
Your mare should be in good health and up to date with all vaccinations and be on a regular deworming schedule. Generally, being slightly overweight (without being fat) is better than a thin or underweight mare. Evaluate your mare’s body condition. The most common causes of poor conception rates include poor body condition, uterine infection, uterine scarring, poor vulvar conformation, not replacing a caslicks, twinning or cycling irregularities.
THE MARE’S CYCLE
You mare is a seasonal breeder. Regularity is affected by the length of daylights hours, nutrition and temperature as well as by other climatic and environmental factors. During the later autumn and winter months the mare shows very little or no ovulation behavior.
Normally, the heat is a twenty one day cycle. The mare’s heat lasts for five or six days, then for the following fifteen days there is no obvious sign of oestrus; a twenty-one-day cycle. In the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours of oestrus, ovulation takes place. The fifteen-day period, where there is no oestrus, is known as dioestrus.
Spring heralds the increase in daylight hours and in nutrition which cause the hypothalamus to release a hormone stimulating the pituitary gland in the brain, to produce and release two hormones. These are follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) which causes follicle development in the ovaries. As the follicle develops, the mare exhibits signs of oestrus. The luteinising hormone (LH) causes rupture of the mature follicle and release of the egg, with the mare going off heat. If the egg is not fertilized, the mare will remain off heat or in a state of dioestrus for approximately fifteen days. The most important external stimulus to ovarian activity and ovulation is the length of daylight hours.
Oestrus is best determined by the stallion or “teaser.” A vet can help in confirming oestrus and in assessing the particular stage and time of ovulation. Visual examination during heat reveals a change in the color of the vaginal mucous membrane, relaxation of cervix and labia, increased mucoid secreatation from the vagina and oedema of the mucous membrane. These changes become more marked at the time of ovulation.
REPRODUCTIVE SOUNDNESS
You may want to have your vet perform a breeding soundness examination (B.S.E.). This is especially important on mares that have not been bred previously or mares that do not conceive within one heat cycle or an older mare that has not previously been bred. The exam may consist of several or all of the following:
- Rectal Palpation
- Uterine culture
- Ultrasound
- Uterine biopsy.
Some stallion owners may require this because a uterine infection is a fairly common cause of inability to conceive. In almost all cases, the stallion is NOT the cause of a mare’s uterine infection. One sign that your mare may have a uterine infection is that she will “short cycle.” This means she will come into heat more often than every 21 days. Simple events such as rigorous running or bucking may allow fecal material to get into the vagina. At the very least, you should have your vet check her internal anatomical confirmation and get a culture. A mare with an infection, which is not always externally perceptible, will likely not cary a foal to term and likely not “catch” in the first place.
Many breeding contracts will require a negative culture anyway so it’s best to go ahead and get it done. If the mare is in her mid teens or older, or has had past breeding problems, or a previous traumatic foaling, then it is also advisable to do a uterine biopsy. It’s penny wise and pound foolish to simply proceed on what could be an expensive and complicated adventure without taking care of the preparations first.
CHOOSING A STALLION
Many mare owners choose a stallion for their mare based on performance, pedigree conformation and in some cases, on an intuitive liking for the stallion.
However, you shouldn’t be concerned too much about how the stallion did in the show ring. You should be more concerned with his ability to produce normal live foals and his progeny’s performance in whatever activity they undertake.
Talk to the stallion owners you are considering. A reputable breeder can be a real asset to you if you are new to breeding. They will provide you with useful help and information about the process, and answer any questions you may have.
An experienced, reputable stallion owner will insure that the stallion has received adequate nutrition, exercise, training, etc. Most will have already determined adequate fertility. However, in a least one disease, contagious equine metritis (CEM) the stallion will produce sperm, not exhibit any symptoms but by being a CARRIER, actually causes infertility in the mare. The bacteria live in the folds and crevices of the penis and prepuce. They can be spread from stallion to stallion if the handler touches the penis of a an infected stallion then touches the penis of another stallion with contaminated hands, of if the equipment used to wash the infected stallion’s penis after service is used again to wash another stallion’s penis. CEM can even be spread from the infected stallion to the mare at the time of service or by the handling. That’s just one reason why a reputable breeder uses disposable gloves and disinfects the stallion and all equipment.
Finally, ask to see a copy of the breeding contract and read it thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to ask for explanations for things you don’t understand. If there is something not covered in the contract you feel is necessary, ask that an addendum is added.
Ask for a copy of the horse’s registration papers, not just to see a more extended pedigree, but also to verify ownership. If the horse is being leased, or lease/purchased, you can check with the association to insure than an official lese is on file. This will be necessary later in order to register your foal.
ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION VS. LIVE COVER BREEDING
There are many advantages to artificial insemination. If transporting your mare is too difficult or your stallion of choice is simply too far for practicality, artificial insemination may be your solution. It is not necessarily any less expensive than natural cover. Only certain mares, usually proven and in their prime are good candidates for long distance AI unless you can find a vet that will work with you through the entire process. A major advantage to AI is that any injuries that might occur to either the stallion or the mare during mating is avoided. In addition, it virtually eliminates the spread of various highly contagious diseases.
However a number of complex procedures must be taken for artificial breeding to be completed successfully. These include collection, evaluation and preparation of semen, evaluation of the mare’s heat cycle and recognition of ovulation, assessment of the mare’s health and suitability and the insemination of the mare. A vet experienced with AI and breeding is essential to make artificial breeding successful. After the condition of the mare, the choice of vet is the most important and controlling factor in timing, as well as performing the breeding properly.
CONFIRMING PREGNANCY
You want to know as soon as possible if your mare is pregnant. If not, she can be examined to see if there is any problem and then can be mated again at the next appropriate time.
The quickest and easiest method to confirm pregnancy is by ultrasound. An ultrasound of the uterus can be performed as early as days 14 to 17 to determine pregnancy but its accuracy is variable, sometimes only 65% accurate.
At thirty days after the mare has been served, a rectal exam can be performed which is about 90 percent accurate. At forty-two days or more the rectal exam should be 100 per cent accurate.
Blood tests can be used but they are useful only between the fortieth and hundred and tenth days of pregnancy!
Another blood test can be carried out at the twentieth day of pregnancy to evaluate progesterone levels. Mares with low levels of progesterone can be accurately evaluated as not being pregnant; mares with high levels are very likely to be pregnant.
The urine test is useful only from one hundred and twenty to three hundred days after conception so it is not widely used.
If a normal healthy mare with regular cycles is served by a healthy, fertile stallion, then on the average, she has a 70 per cent chance of becoming pregnant. The gestation period for horses can range from 330 days to 365 days with the average length being 342 days. Generally, mares do to foal early in the new year (January or February) tend to carry longer than those due later. Management of the pregnant mare is important but the subject of another series!