How young is too young...

[Solo1]

For a mare to have a foal?

Opinions please

 

[Miss L Toe]

It is quite feasible for a filly produce a foal in her early years, but obviously she should be healthy and be well fed.

 

[Solo1]

So putting in foal at 5 to foal at 6 is acceptable?

Two different stream of thoughts at the yard, no because technically not finished growing at 5/6, and yes it's fine as should have finished growing by the time mare comes to foal.

Thank you!

 

[DGeventing]

The stud I work with won't breed at 5 because the mare won't have done anything to prove her worth as a dam.

 

[eventrider23]

In foal at 5 to foal at 6 is fine - a lot of studs put in foal at 3 and so then afterwards the mare will go on to prove herself whilst foal is growing up.

 

[seabsicuit2]

Actually some of of the top studs put in foal at 2 to foal at 3 . espec on the continent they do this . In Europe , quite often the very best mares are not competed but are used as brood mares

 

[micramadam]

Didn't there used to be an old school of thought that you would break a filly at 3 then put her in foal as you couldn't do much with her till she matured?

 

[Solo1]

Thanks all for your replies

We have a stunning homebred mare who's been broken and swept the board dressage wise at 4, she's now having time off before having an easy winter jumping low level to go out and do some small ODE's in the spring/summer, to be put in foal next year.

The plan was to have a foal from her but this wasn't planned until later. However I'm off to uni and so it seems the ideal time for her to be off work as there's no jockey around. Plus at some point she needs a proper holiday from work as it would be so easy to push her too hard as she's so mature - I'd rather re-break her as a 6 year old and know I can crack on.

However one friend was horrified and said she wouldn't consider putting a mare in foal until they were at least 7 due to development etc.

 

[JanetGeorge]

It mkes a LOT of sense to put a good filly in foal as a 3 year old, and then back her after foal weaned. And not JUST because it delays backing. Let's say you back a filly at 3-4 - and she goes onto a ridden career and then - at, say 11-12 - she suffers an injury. She is - by this age - an OLD maiden mare and will be likely to retain fluid, and PERHAPS be a bit more likely to have foaling difficulties if she has a big biffer of a foal!

A mare who has foaled at 4 should be easier to get in foal later in life - and be less likely to have problems!