langside
Well-Known Member
Just wondering as we're currently having problems with our mare and someone suggested that we should put her in foal but we thought she would be too old
Dumb question alert - Oldest age you would put a mare in foal?
- Thread starter langside
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TheresaW
Well-Known Member
I put mare in foal this year at 16. She is sound and healthy, but this was the year or I wouldn't have done it as felt 16 was old enough.
volatis
Well-Known Member
If the mare is healthy and conceives there is not really an upper age limit. The dam of one of my broodmares had foals well into her twenties, and she foaled almost every year. I have a mare who will be 18 next year that we plan to cover again in the Spring. Older maiden mares are/can be harder to get in foal but full time broodmares can keep producing into their 20s- in the Trakehner breed (knonw for its longevity) and arabs, mares in their 20s is fairly common
koeffee
Well-Known Member
my oldest mare is 16yrs, and in foal again, she has had two years off from each foal up untill now. she is healthy and happy and takes all things easy. i have another mare who is 16yrs and never foaled, just waiting to scan her, the other two are 12yrs and 15yrs ,the 12yro took me a long time to get in foal, i gave up last year but took on her second covering, the 15yro took on one walk in cover!!
Nailed
Well-Known Member
if the mare is maiden then 14yrs 2 months old is the limit really.. to give birth at 15
Lou x
Lou x
zizz
Well-Known Member
my mare is 18 this year, although you wouldn't know it to look at her. She has had three foals befor the age of ten and took first time with chilled semen. I would happily breed from her agin next year so long as she shows no sign of struggling due to the pregnancy.
S_N
Well-Known Member
It depends entirely on the individual! If a maiden mare then the thing to consider are her age, her general fitness, her reproductive conformation and her temperament - the latter 2 are always important, however if a mare has been cosseted all her life, she may not take well to being a broodmare and if her repro conf is compromised in any way, she may have difficulty conceiving and/or carrying to term. Ask an experienced Equine REPRO vet.
jayjayhorse
New User
My mare is 15 this year and we're hoping to have another few foals from her, she has bred 3 so far. Her dam is 25 this year and just had a foal with no problems, the owner said she's now retired.
I agree with what people are saying though, you need to consider the health of your horse. Mine is fat and well.
Jayjay
I agree with what people are saying though, you need to consider the health of your horse. Mine is fat and well.
Jayjay
Jojo24
Member
We bred from two maiden mares both aged nineteen. From the mares point of view both conceived, carried and gave birth to the foals with no problems. In fact they both found it very easy. We were advised to use fresh semen rather than chilled semen because they were older mares.
However in terms of the foals I would think carefully before doing it. It is a very long and expensive process and there are no guarantees.
The foal born to one of the mares was very down on his heels. This has now come right and it looks like he will mature properly. However the foal born to the other mare is not alright. He was very small at birth but otherwise seemed alright. He developed normally until he was ten months old when he went very lame in canter. To cut a long story short the bones in his lower hock joints haven't formed properly. There is a 50:50 chance as to whether this will come right. By this time the mare was already in foal again. This foal too came out very small and we had her x-rayed at birth. She too was very underdeveloped. At five weeks she now has the bones of a new born foal. We just have to wait and see whether she will be alright.
In both cases the mares placenta was very light suggesting she couldn't carry a bigger foal. Although we don't know for sure we can't help thinking her age has something to do with it. Just as there are more risks to a baby born to an older mother I think this is the case with horses as well - or at least maiden mares. The mares half sister (who is six years younger) produced a normal, healthy foal.
So even though both mares have produced foals easily I think possibly the quality of the foals they produced is lower than if we had bred from them say five or six years ago.
Good luck if you do go ahead. It is certainly an experience.
However in terms of the foals I would think carefully before doing it. It is a very long and expensive process and there are no guarantees.
The foal born to one of the mares was very down on his heels. This has now come right and it looks like he will mature properly. However the foal born to the other mare is not alright. He was very small at birth but otherwise seemed alright. He developed normally until he was ten months old when he went very lame in canter. To cut a long story short the bones in his lower hock joints haven't formed properly. There is a 50:50 chance as to whether this will come right. By this time the mare was already in foal again. This foal too came out very small and we had her x-rayed at birth. She too was very underdeveloped. At five weeks she now has the bones of a new born foal. We just have to wait and see whether she will be alright.
In both cases the mares placenta was very light suggesting she couldn't carry a bigger foal. Although we don't know for sure we can't help thinking her age has something to do with it. Just as there are more risks to a baby born to an older mother I think this is the case with horses as well - or at least maiden mares. The mares half sister (who is six years younger) produced a normal, healthy foal.
So even though both mares have produced foals easily I think possibly the quality of the foals they produced is lower than if we had bred from them say five or six years ago.
Good luck if you do go ahead. It is certainly an experience.
Toast
Well-Known Member
Our mare is 18, has had 3 previous foals and is in foal for next year. Hopefully we will have one more out of her before we retire her
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JanetGeorge
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
In both cases the mares placenta was very light suggesting she couldn't carry a bigger foal. Although we don't know for sure we can't help thinking her age has something to do with it. Just as there are more risks to a baby born to an older mother I think this is the case with horses as well - or at least maiden mares. The mares half sister (who is six years younger) produced a normal, healthy foal.
So even though both mares have produced foals easily I think possibly the quality of the foals they produced is lower than if we had bred from them say five or six years ago.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's probably more to do with the size of her uterus than her age. I have an old mare here who always has HUGE foals - at 323 days or less (this year was at 318 days and only just came out!) I have a 12 year old daughter of hers who had her first foal last year - it was tiny - very delicate and light of bone - looked more like a show pony foal than pure-bred ID. I put this down to her being an older maiden - but this year - despite again being in very good condition - she produced a MUCH smaller foal than the 'normal' ID range. I should add that both grew like weeds once born!
There is absolutely no reason an older mare should have a poorer quality foal UNLESS her health is compromised by her general health - or by an age related defect. I have a mare who isn't OLD (15) and have had five foals from her - this year's is definitely the best (all by same stallion.)
And another mare - who is 18 - I've had 6 foals from by the same stallion - the first (a filly) is PROBABLY the best of the first 4 - but the last two look like they'll be as good as the first. The three 'best' foals were all fillies. None of the colts are anywhere near as nice. It's more to do with how the genes 'mix and match' than the age of the mare, I think.
In both cases the mares placenta was very light suggesting she couldn't carry a bigger foal. Although we don't know for sure we can't help thinking her age has something to do with it. Just as there are more risks to a baby born to an older mother I think this is the case with horses as well - or at least maiden mares. The mares half sister (who is six years younger) produced a normal, healthy foal.
So even though both mares have produced foals easily I think possibly the quality of the foals they produced is lower than if we had bred from them say five or six years ago.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's probably more to do with the size of her uterus than her age. I have an old mare here who always has HUGE foals - at 323 days or less (this year was at 318 days and only just came out!) I have a 12 year old daughter of hers who had her first foal last year - it was tiny - very delicate and light of bone - looked more like a show pony foal than pure-bred ID. I put this down to her being an older maiden - but this year - despite again being in very good condition - she produced a MUCH smaller foal than the 'normal' ID range. I should add that both grew like weeds once born!
There is absolutely no reason an older mare should have a poorer quality foal UNLESS her health is compromised by her general health - or by an age related defect. I have a mare who isn't OLD (15) and have had five foals from her - this year's is definitely the best (all by same stallion.)
And another mare - who is 18 - I've had 6 foals from by the same stallion - the first (a filly) is PROBABLY the best of the first 4 - but the last two look like they'll be as good as the first. The three 'best' foals were all fillies. None of the colts are anywhere near as nice. It's more to do with how the genes 'mix and match' than the age of the mare, I think.