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If everything goes right there is no guarantee the foal will be right for you. It might be amazing, talented etc, it that doesn’t mean it will be the horse you always dreamt of. You will always love it, but doesn’t mean you will like it. Ive bred some really nice horses, and for one reason or other, no fault of the horse, I just don’t feel any special connection with them. Yet il go look through a paddock of Ottb and there are ones there that I absolutely love and il take home for free. That I love riding every single day are competitive and I get just as much satisfaction out of producing as the ones I’ve bred.

Breeding is expensive and a gamble, I have found its cheaper in the long run to just buy a nice youngster than breed one, you have to take in to account all cost of the mare as wells the offspring,it adds up really fast.

Now no matter how much care you take every so often bad things occur. It’s easy to say “oh shit” call the vet, and write up a expensive cheque afterwords..but what if like me your in an area where in an emergency it’s going to be hours before the vet gets there. Cn you cope? I’ve had to deal with breach births and all sorts of problems. I once had to deliver a foal in the night by my self, it took four hours to get the foal out. And the vest still hadnt arrived. I’m tiny do you know how hard it is to try and pull a foal out of 16.2hh mare who having contractions? Sometimes you have to make the call to have babies euthanized because ther born with problems, it suxs, and it’s heartbreaking. Don’t breed unless you can handle things going wrong

Also foals need discipline, not punishment, or over the top affection, it is your oh so cute baby, and are you going to be strict enought to teach it not to nip, run you over and kick, when all you really want to do is play with it and have special ‘Walt Disney moments”

I totally understand people wanting to breed and have a cute foal and watch it grow, but what about buying and rescuing one? Breeders will have ones that have not turned out as planned that they almost will give away, ones that are to small, not colored, overstocked etc or adopt mustang weanlings after musters, auctions, breeders that ae going bust etc etc. so may options and sometimes you can pick them up incredibly young and very cute looking, and you will be able to choose one that you just adore and have A special bond with…these are just my thoughts anyway

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Ready to take on a “Wild Thang”!??

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But they all came from the same cross and the foals are full siblings to the one STAR so they must be worth $$$$ too, right? I soooo loathe that about the horse industry.

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Foals require good fencing, debris free feilds or paddocks (the junky tractor or other old discarded farm equipment is a great place for a foal to kill him/herself royaly.) They require plenty of room to roam and run and play, the mare requires plenty of room to get adequate amount of exercise esp after foaling. (no, the 1/3 acre back yard filled with lawn ornaments or furniture is NOT adequate nor safe place for your mare let alone the foal) Are you prepared to set up special confiment areas and other such areas if the foal suffers from joint problems or angular deformities that need special care to remedy (so it can grow up more correctly ). Are you prepared to shell out the cash flow if the poor thing is severely affected by angualr deformities or joint problems for like casts, or braces, theraputic shoes or even surgery??? Ready to euthanize if the foal is beyond hope if born with angular deformities that cant be fixed.? THough this may not be a huge problem the possibilies are still there. I see it at the farm often where I work. (lots of crooked mares being bred that beget crooked foals)
What if the mare dies during birth? Ready to rent a nurse mare, or how about hand feeding via milk replacer. Milk replacer is expensive and the amount of time needed to feed is a very demanding schedule. Not to mention the special feeds you are going to have to buy for suplimentation.
Just basic mare and foal care and feeding for normal groups increase and thus increase your financial outflow. The mare requires more food (good quality feeds/hays) and the foal once weaned will require a feed that hibits optimal growth/developement and etc. Twice the farrier expense, deworming program (VERY important in a foal and young horse esp against ascarids.)

I can go on and on. I see tragic things happen even when the best is afforded to the mare and foal, sometimes shit happens regardless but we want to lessen the risk of it happening as much as we possibly can. Remember that the older the mare is the more chances of things going wrong increases. I saved the life of one mare that is in her early 20s with 2 hemotomas, one was leaking (in her uterus, spilling out every where) and the other was in her broad ligament. Rebreeding such mares after they recover this is high risk because they are more than likely to do the same thing again but with more incidence of compleat ruptures and bleed outs. THis mare had to have her foal put on a nurse mare, had to have surgery to repair some of the damage and is doing better in that regard but has lost a ton of weight. I do not know what the owners plan to do with her at this point, if they are smart they will leave her open for the next foaling season.

So much can happen so much expense can realy kill your savings acount. If your lucky and have an uneventful birth, the mare is great and the foal is perfect and everything goes well with its formative rearing your one lucky bugger.

I hope what I have added in my list of the things that can go wrong has made some ppl think even harder about deciding to have a foal or not. Breeding the mare is the least of your problems (with problems in itself).

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