broodmare loan - what if the mare does not take

[Biscuit]

Hi there,

I am considering a broodmare loan for my filly and since I have not loaned out a broodmare previously I have some questions:

If a mare is on broodmare loan for one season and she does not take, what is the norm for a standard broodmare contract: would the loaner keep her and feed her over winter anyway or would the owner be expected to take her back?

Also, do loans normally start at the beginning of the breeding season or for example a few months before, to give the mare some time to settle in?

Thanks!

 

[scotsmare]

Having loaned broodmares before, the way it has worked is that if the mare doesn't take and I elected not to keep her then she went back (this happened twice

) just make sure that any stud fees you pay (if NFFR) is transferrable to a different mare - many are not.

I would say that most folks are looking for a broodmare loan around Feb / March so that they can get swabs / check they're cycling correctly before going to stud.

 

[brightmount]

I can only speak for the yard I'm on, where it's all very relaxed, and covering is done naturally in the field. At our yard, if a mare doesn't take first time, she would run with the stallion again the following summer. After that if she didn't take she would most likely be sent home.

Settling in time is ideal. The mares go in together for several weeks before the stallion is introduced. However we did have one latecomer who just went straight out, but the other mares had been covered by then so the stallion wasn't interested in them any more.

I don't think our yard is typical these days, as there seems to be a lot of AI elsewhere (which carries a lot of expense) so things could be totally different at other places.

 

[the watcher]

Don't know about the original question- just wanted to say that AI is not necessarily very expensive - my mare was covered fresh AI last year and there was hardly any difference in price when she went to stud where the stallion was standing. My personal view was that this was the best way to ensure conception (it was very late in the season)

 

[Maesfen]

When I loaned Bea, she arrived here early December as that suited both of us and enabled her to settle in before going to stud. It also helped me get to know her and her body ways too.
All keep costs (including transport up here from Sussex), vaccinations and insurance too, were mine while she was with me. If after trying enough times, she still wasn't in foal, because AM was pregnant and the loan was only for the one season, she was to have stayed here but at livery for AM until she could have her back, whenever that might have been, we didn't stipulate a time by when she had to go back at all. If the loan had been indefinite, then AM wouldn't have been responsible for any costs at all while she was with me but because it was just for the one year and if she hadn't held, she obviously wouldn't have done the job I wanted her for, then she would have been a paying guest as I would have been helping AM out, not the other way around. Hope that makes sense.

Perhaps we were just two decent people, I don't know but it seemed the fairest way to do things for both of us. Luckily, we didn't need that contingency plan!

 

[Foxfolly]

We are considering finding 1 or 2 broodmares for next season and hoping to loan them. I would intend to write into the contract that if for any reason the mare didn't hold she would go back to the owner .. IF we didn't want to keep her to try again the following year.

My view would be if she was nice enough and there was a genuine reason for her not to hold then we might well still want to keep her. BUT if she just didn't hold we would be spending a lot of money on a horse that wasn't doing the job we were keeping it for!!

 

[GinaGem]

Our agreement was to try several times. As it was Gem got pregnant straight away so no worries there. If she hadn't of taken the first year she probably would have stayed to try again the following year.

She went in February but ideally the lady who loaned her would of had her in the January I think.