How old is too old????

[mindymoo]

I have a maiden mare. I would love to take a foal from her to keep, this baby would be for me and would stay with us forever. She is 10 just now and I would like it to be in the next 5,6 years. My question is how old is too old? I had my old mare for 26 years and always regretted not doing it with her.

[brindlerainbow]

My TB mare had her first foal at 15 with no problems and had her second at 19 again with no probs

[mindymoo]

Cheers Brindle rainbow. My mum has a Maisie just like your Maisie and we have Jimmy her brother but he is white.....must get some photos of them posted. We are all boxer daft in our family ;D

[Guestless]

Most equine vets will advise first foal by early teens, but it does vary from practice practice (and mare to mare!) May be worth getting a breeding check done so the vet can advise if your mare is cycling normally and that may help guide your decision. You could perhaps repeat this in a couple of years to see if her cycles are slowing down.

[holiday]

Our old competition mare was put in foal for the first time at 18, she was difficult to get in foal but has since had two healthy foals and is now in foal with her third, she will take a year out this time and see how she does next year, she looks fab and has had no problems bar actually "getting" in foal, however she is better with fresh semen and we have not been able to get her in foal with chilled and is flushed afterwards and treated with antibiotics to help her, this seems to have worked well.

[vjc]

Firstly i would say get her checked out to make sure she is okay to breed from ( no cysts or infections) if she is cycling regularly then i see no reason why she should not catch. Your vet may choose to treat her after covering because of her age. good luck!

[jop]

I HAVE A CHESNUT MARE WELTON SECRET MELODY who i bought because i felt sorry for her the person who owned her wasnt treating her right trying to get her in foal un kindly shall we say hed owned her for 4 yrs unsuccessfully not breeding from her . as she was freezemarked i found out her age to be 26 so thought she must be infertile [ive had her three yrs ] on buying her she was turned out with rest of our herd at home . this herd including 2yr old shire colt. i bought her into work sj xc which she is absolutely fantastic at .but but on owning her for 13 mths went to get her ready to go to show 1 morning noticed shed bagged up [had been h.t wk before got placed 5th intermediate] so didnt take her out called vet in on monday and he said shed be due to foal within a mth and sure enough 5wks to the day of the hunter trial she produced a fantastic chesnut filly 4 white socks blaze absolutely perfect and as a yearling standing at 15.2 not bad when you think mums only 15.3 and i let her run with my coloured stallion last yr and she has produced most beautiful coloured filly this yr no probs