just being abit thick

[Emma_X]

Well i would love to put my 12yr old sec D mare in foal, but considering havent done anything like this before could someone got through the process and costs for me please?

Thanks in adavnce x

[vjc]

Hiya, I will try although a lot depends on how fertile your mare is and what vet and what stallion you use!

Firstly you will have to pay a stud fee which can range from £100 to as high as £1000, the approx for welsh d is around £300 i would guess. Next you have to consider the cost of the keep charges while your mare is at stud this can differ hugely depending on whether it is solely grass keep or part stabled.
You will also need to involve your vet/ or the studs vet if your mare is a maiden to check her out, ie: is she okay internally and also to see if she is cycling normally. This is the real grey area! if all is well it should not cost more than £200/£300 that also includes the pregnancy scan. All in all i would say you should be prepared for costs that could range from £500 to £1000 and even then there are no guarantees as pregnancies can fail. Sorry to be blunt but you did ask! If you really want to breed and understand the costs and risks then go for it, nothing can be more rewarding than seeing your beloved mare produce an offspring lastly Good Luck

[drenrowstud]

first if the mare has never bred before its worth having a prebreeding exame with your vet , then she will need a cem swab if all is ok them you choose your stallion , you must take into consideration her faults when choosing a potential mate and also worth considering possible market for the foal if you dont wish to keep it when its born or incase of a change of circumtances. its worth considering what you want to do with the foal later in life and be really critical when looking at your mare as she is 50%of the dna .its also worth considering your facilities having mares in foal on a livery yard is not a wonderful idea , other people will interfear , yard owners will get fed up of late night foal watch when it gets close to foaling . turnout may be a problem and other liveries will interfear big time with your baby when its born even if asked not too .

if you still want to go ahead then look at stallion adverts and ask around once you have a short list , try and find people with stock by the stallion and check there are no unwanted traits like windsucking , sweetitch etc
check up on keep facilities and vets packages etc ask for a copy of terms make sure you know where you stand and what its going to cost


and the most sobering thought is that putting your mare in foal can cause her serious injury or death if things go wrong and you need to go into it with your eyes open and vets bills can soon add up if there are complications and most insurance companies charge double the excess before they pay for foaling problems and if the foal is ill it wont be coverd for vets fees on the mares policy unless you pay a fortune for special cover .

but there is nothing like seeing your own homebred foal be born and grow up its very rewarding

[sarahp]

I do take issue with the heading for your thread - I think asking about a process of which you have no knowledge or experience is entirely sensible and the intelligent thing to do!

[holiday]

There are so many fantastic stallions out there to choose from it is like being in a sweetie shop!!!!

I would also suggest you have your mare checked first before you go ahead with paying a stud fee as if she happened to be an unviable (highly unlikely but possible) breeding prospect it would be a waste of time continuing. For natural covering she would need to be tested for CEM.

As she would be classed as an older mare from a breeding point of view this can (not always) bring a new set of problems if she is maiden. The cervix can tighten and not realise fluid therefore without help it would be difficult to conceive, plus other things.

Next question is do you want to AI or natural, I personally like the AI as it is cleaner, safer and under vets supervision so if any above problems happen it can be sorted with flushing out the uterus with a saline flush and just generally helping the conception. Natural covering does have its risks for both the mare and the stallion for injuries that you should be aware of. AI does also give an even bigger range of stallions as you can ship semen in from Europe and all over the Country.

Make sure you use highly recommended stud vets as they are experienced with scanning etc rather than local vets- (that is in no means knocking local vets but they dont see as many mares through for scanning etc) - who are less experienced. It is well worth it in the end and will in real terms probably cost less!!

Be highly critical of your mare, choose a stallion that compliments her, if she is slightly weak in the neck choose a stallion with a really good front, etc. She will usually stamp her foal quite strongly.

I would also highly recommend for a inexperienced breeder to have your mare foal under professional eyes, as much as we all want to see our foal born, complications can arise very quickly and time is of the essence in foaling and it can be the difference between life and death of both mare and foal. It is well worth sending her to a stud for foaling, this really should be about 4 weeks before birth so the mare can pick up immunities against any different bacteria in that particular yard. I should stress things can go wrong even in a professional stud yard but the signs will be seen so much quicker than probably you personally would see.

It is fantastic to have you own foal born and wow what an experience to go through!!!!! Good luck with her!!!!!

[Emma_X]

Thankyou everyone, Sarahp i do have experience with foaling just not as great as people who have done it for a long time, i was just looking for a few pointers on how the mare has to be tested ect, so i think that statement was abit harsh. But thankyou everyone else x

[sarahp]

Oh well, that's what comes of trying to say something nice.

[holiday]

I think you have read SarahPs message the same way as I did when I first took a glance, she was actually if you read it again, praising you for looking for advice and taking the "heading" as the issue and saying she thought you werent thick!!!!!

I re read it and realised what she meant before I posted my message!!!

[sarahp]

Thank you holiday.

[holiday]

LOL no problems, I got what you meant!!! - Not at first though!!!!

[Emma_X]

I do apologise but that is the way it first came across x

[holiday]

I didnt put what I consider my costs are to be sorry, I estimate, for each mare a cycle will cost around £200 to £250 depending on the mare (some of ours are cheaper but some more difficult), you can talk to your vets and see if they do a "package" which will give you a set price for a cycle or whatever terms they have. This can work out to be cheaper.

You then have to look at livery costs, usually around £7 to £15 per day, although some studs do grass livery cheaper, but do not just go cheaper without assessing where your mare will be kept, ie on her own, stabled, separate turn out, mixed turn out etc!!!!!

Plus then you look at the stud fees which vary hugely in price, from 100's to 1000's depending on the type of stallion you want.
Asses what the stallion has done, has he been graded, and make sure he is licensed or you wont have paperwork.

It will also depend on whether she takes first time to how much your livery bill will be id she ends up taking a couple of cycles then that can mount up quite quickly.

Hope that helps a little bit more!!!

[merlyn26]

im glad some people have pointed out the risks and not just the costs and good side - when breeding and foaling goes well its wonderful -but i have also experienced the other side - losing a foal, and also having to hold someone elses foal to be pts when it broke its leg at 1 week old so whatever you decide just make sure you mentally prepare yourself for the worst (which isnt even losing a foal - its losing the mare) its easy to say you are aware and think you can cope with it - but in reality for some of us it is actually very distressing. i dont want to put a downer on the thread as hopefully if you do breed it will all go smoothly and be fabulous but i do think most people gloss over the bad stuff - plenty of horrid things to read in veterinary books about how foals are removed if they die in utero, or are incorrectly presented at foaling :-(

[shadylady]

Jan 15, 2010 18:03:23 GMT Emma_X said:

Thankyou everyone, Sarahp i do have experience with foaling just not as great as people who have done it for a long time, i was just looking for a few pointers on how the mare has to be tested ect, so i think that statement was abit harsh. But thankyou everyone else x

I certainly do not think sarahp meant this is a derogatory way, it was more of a compliment that you had the courage to ask and not just go ahead and do it without knowing what costs etc occur as it isn't cheap and at least you'll be prepared.

Good luck its an exciting time x