how old does a horse have to be to breed it?

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Sekaya123

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my friend has a horse who she will be gelding next year when her turns 2 and my horse will be 3. she wants to make a baby with them next year but is it ok to breed a 3 year old and a 2 year old like is that healthy for them? will it hurt them some how? i dont feel right about it but she really wants a baby out of them.
 
If you are not happy, then do not let her persuade you to breed them. Your horse is the one that risks her life if there are complications, not hers, so you have more to risk if it goes wrong. I would not be agreeing to what your friend has proposed if she was my mare, even if she was 5 and not 3.

If you ever decide to breed your mare, you need to be honest with yourself. Is she worth breeding from (good bloodlines, successful performance horse, good temperament, good conformation?) and what sort of stallion would complement her if she is good enough? Breeding because you have an empty womb available and something with balls around is generally not wise at all.
 
Faracat said:
If you are not happy, then do not let her persuade you to breed them. Your horse is the one that risks her life if there are complications, not hers, so you have more to risk if it goes wrong. I would not be agreeing to what your friend has proposed if she was my mare, even if she was 5 and not 3.

If you ever decide to breed your mare, you need to be honest with yourself. Is she worth breeding from (good bloodlines, successful performance horse, good temperament, good conformation?) and what sort of stallion would complement her if she is good enough? Breeding because you have an empty womb available and something with balls around is generally not wise at all.
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Well put!

It is the breeder's responsibility to breed the best stock he/she can. You really cannot evaluate parents that are so young as they are not mature and haven't done anything. The only reason I can think of for doing so is that both parents are from very valuable and rare lines. But even then, as Faracat has said, you take risks with the mare and if the stallion is such a paragon of virtue, why is he going to be gelded? Are there not enough foals out there already?
 
At 3 your mare won't be done growing so it could affect her growth and development to be carrying a foal, not what you'd want for a riding/performance horse.
 
OP, you seriously need to get move this horse to somewhere where you can get some experienced help.

I've read your previous posts, so let me summarise.

You are 12 years old. You have a 2 year old filly of about 13hh whose breeding is completely unknown. You assume her mother must be a "purebred" because she came from a "breeding place". You have no idea what breed and have suggested that your pony is anything from an Arab to a Thoroughbred to a Quarter Horse.

This tells me that you don't know much about horses because you are unable to differentiate between very obviously different common horse breeds. It also tells me that you place naive faith in horse breeders, many of which will breed any old thing, regardless of quality.

Until recently, you have been riding this two year old for up to two hours a day. You also believed someone when they told you that a foal is fully grown at this age. This tells me that you know very little about the growth and development of young horses.

So what you are asking is; should a child who knows nothing about horse breeds, nothing about breeding, nothing about equine development and growth and who doesn't have enough knowledge not to potentially hurt her horse by riding it for hours while it's still a baby, be thinking about breeding from an unproven two year old with unknown breeding?

No.

OP, I do more research into buying a new brand of dishwashing liquid than you've done on how to care for a living, breathing, feeling, potentially 30 year long commitment. Take some advice and get educated: read some books and get a decent, professional trainer.

I know you keep saying you are not a troll but I really hope you are, because if not, I would be seriously concerned about the welfare of your horse.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
OP, you seriously need to get move this horse to somewhere where you can get some experienced help.

I've read your previous posts, so let me summarise.

You are 12 years old. You have a 2 year old filly of about 13hh whose breeding is completely unknown. You assume her mother must be a "purebred" because she came from a "breeding place". You have no idea what breed and have suggested that your pony is anything from an Arab to a Thoroughbred to a Quarter Horse.

This tells me that you don't know much about horses because you are unable to differentiate between very obviously different common horse breeds. It also tells me that you place naive faith in horse breeders, many of which will breed any old thing, regardless of quality.

Until recently, you have been riding this two year old for up to two hours a day. You also believed someone when they told you that a foal is fully grown at this age. This tells me that you know very little about the growth and development of young horses.

So what you are asking is; should a child who knows nothing about horse breeds, nothing about breeding, nothing about equine development and growth and who doesn't have enough knowledge not to potentially hurt her horse by riding it for hours while it's still a baby, be thinking about breeding from an unproven two year old with unknown breeding?

No.

OP, I do more research into buying a new brand of dishwashing liquid than you've done on how to care for a living, breathing, feeling, potentially 30 year long commitment. Take some advice and get educated: read some books and get a decent, professional trainer.

I know you keep saying you are not a troll but I really hope you are, because if not, I would be seriously concerned about the welfare of your horse.
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Ouch!

The OP has guessed what advice she would get on here and is looking for confirmation and reassurance. I hope the above does not discourage her from continuing to challenge what her friends are saying by asking questions. Not everyone has 'experienced help' so readily available and HHO maybe the next best thing. The other way is to experiment and make mistakes.

Thomas Hardy did say that "Experience is proportional to intensity, not duration". We all need to learn and the usual way is by asking questions. If I was the OP and only 12 years old, I am not sure I'd bother coming back here after that response. How would that benefit the horse?
 
You're probably right. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lost my temper.

I've been horse hunting this week and the sheer number of unwanted, under bred, skinny, broken horses has been utterly depressing. I enquired about one today and was told to come and have a look but it is much thinner than the photo supplied, it has a large abscess but she's not reducing the price because it's also in foal so I'd get two for the price of one.

Sorry if I put you off OP. Please do ask, but please, please don't breed.
 
Well OP, I agree with the others about not breeding your young mare. It sounds simple, but there are lots and lots of things to go wrong, including damage or worse to your mare.

Why don't you buy some books on horse care and bringing up a young horse, there are plenty out there.
 
We also need to note that the OP is in America, where I've heard that even ordinary horses cost a lot more than they do here in the UK. Breeding might be a far more sensible option over there than here, and many people would consider a three year old mature enough to be put in foal.

Sekaya, that is no reason whatever for your friend to breed a foal from your mare if you don't want one. In this country, the person who wants the foal would be expected to pay for the keep of the mare for eighteen months until the foal is weaned and to pay any medical bills resulting from the foaling, which could be enormous if something goes wrong. If you tell your friend you require these costs to be covered, plus replacement of the mare if she dies, I think you'll find she changes her mind.

A friend of mine allowed her mare to run with a yearling colt. He got her pregnant, she produced a decent enough chestnut filly who crib bit from birth just like her mother. The mare failed to cleanse the afterbirth and got laminitis. The vet bill was so huge that the mare had to be sold to pay a small part of the bill and the filly had to be given away for nothing.

That 'free foal' was very expensive!
 
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ycbm said:
We also need to note that the OP is in America, where I've heard that even ordinary horses cost a lot more than they do here in the UK. Breeding might be a far more sensible option over there than here, and many people would consider a three year old mature enough to be put in foal.
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Absolutely not, there is a big over breeding crisis in the US and you can get good stock for peanuts. Some horses fetch high prices but only very specific type of horses (like European warmbloods or pure bred friesians), but you can pick a good quarter horse, arab, etc for little money.
 
Palindrome said:
Absolutely not, there is a big over breeding crisis in the US and you can get good stock for peanuts. Some horses fetch high prices but only very specific type of horses (like European warmbloods or pure bred friesians), but you can pick a good quarter horse, arab, etc for little money.
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That changes things then. It'll cost more to breed and grow on this prospective horse than to buy one, just like on the UK.

It's a bad move Sekaya.
 
Don't do it, does your friend have experience with looking after foals? I don't think she understands the commitment to looking after the foal, horses can have trouble during birth but it doesn't often. What if you horse has twins? yes it is unlikely but it is possible, would you or your friend be able to look after 2 foals? Depending on how you breed them, be it in a paddock by them self or in hand, if you don't covering boots, your friend's horse could get kicked by your mare. A horse's gestation period is 11 to 12 months, your friend may not even be intrested in the foal at that time. Think carefully
 
OP, i think your friend is doing the typical "its just one foal" type thinking. They want their animal to sire something so they are not forever "useless" and i understand what she means, everyone wants a little baby to play with, but any animal worth gelding is not worth breeding. And from how you describe it, she is wanting a free little foal to play with not a well bred healthy animal to carry on her animals lineage.

Neither of you seem to know enough to breed so i will have to say stand firm and say no. Do not let her pressure you. You will regret it and your mare will not appreciate it much either.
 
The risk to your friends stallion is minimal, the risk to your mare is much higher. How prepared are you to pay for vets bills or to lose your mare. If you ended up with a foal who would own it, pay for it etc.
All in all a really bad idea. Be the adult and tell your friend to jog on.
 
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