Prevents, treats and rehabilitates neurological and orthopaedic conditions in animals
07/04/2025
*** THE MANY REASONS NOT TO BREED FROM YOUR MARE ***
It’s that time of year again, when lots of people are considering putting their mare in foal, so sharing this again….
The idea of breeding a foal from your own mare is a lovely idea, but can have less than ideal outcomes. Instead of writing an article on breeding, I thought it was more sensible to write a piece on what to consider before breeding from your mare, and why it is often completely the wrong idea. The following is aimed at the one or two horse owner, and not at big breeding operations, obviously.
1. Do NOT breed from your mare because she is useless/dangerous/you don’t know what else to do with her. A dangerous or nasty mare, is very likely to produce a dangerous or nasty foal. Do NOT be tempted to breed from your mare just because the only other options you have left are giving her away (irresponsible;sorry) or putting her to sleep. Breeding from a mare in the hope it will mellow her, is not a reason to breed.
2. Do NOT breed from your mare because her conformation was so awful that she had to retire from a ridden career at the age of six. Unfortunate accidents and injuries not due to poor conformation, can obviously be forgiven.
3. Do NOT breed from your mare unless you are prepared to accept that nothing is guaranteed; your foal may pop out as a mix of the worst bits of both sire and dam, and you can’t return it!
4. Do NOT breed from your mare if you struggle to afford vet bills and feed etc for your current horses. You will need plenty of money available if you intend to breed a foal. Your stud fee is the tiniest portion of what it costs to get a healthy foal on the ground, unless you get very lucky. You may need to send your mare away to foal down; your mare may need veterinary help to foal; your mare may need a caesarian; your foal may need a plasma transfusion; your mare may retain her placenta. You get the idea.
5. Do NOT breed in the hope to make lots of money. Or any money.
6. Do NOT breed from your mare unless you are experienced in handling youngstock, or are prepared to seek help from an expert when needed. A badly handled foal will likely turn into a tricky yearling, and so on.
7. Do NOT breed from your mare because she is old. The risks of complications in older mares, is high.
8. Do NOT breed from your mare unless you have suitable facilities for a mare and foal. By this, I mean safe fencing, and ideally, other mares and foals. It’s not ideal to have just one foal in the field; this means the foal has no play mates, and makes weaning difficult.
9. Do NOT breed from your mare unless you are realistic about complications. You may lose your mare, your foal, or both. It happens.
10. Do NOT breed from your mare thinking the country needs more horses. Just look at the amount of horses at rescue centres/RSPCA/WHW/Blue Cross, to see that the country has more than enough horses and ponies.
11. Do NOT breed from your mare unless you have the time to check your horses at least twice a day, or the funds to pay someone to. In fact, don’t even have a horse if you can’t do that.
12. Do NOT breed from your mare and plan to foal down at home, unless you have the time and energy to stay up and check all night close to foaling.
Sorry for the slightly negative post, but there are many, many points to consider.
We have too many unwanted and neglected horses and ponies in the U.K.
If you do still want to breed from your mare after this post, then you have thought through all of the major points. I will end by reiterating again that you must never underestimate the funds you need to get a foal on the ground, and to weaning, let alone to the point of a ridden career.
Photo of my little Alfred when he was a teeny baby!
