This message is from: "Curtis" <cepi...@yahoo.com>
Hi, In regards to breeding older mares. The first year that Sue Giargiari used a mare and foal at Equitana, the mare was Saskia and the foal was Felicity's Tobyn. Saskia was imported from Holland and was 25 when she had Tobyn. Saskia had 4 foals born in the US, and the foal prior to Tobyn was born 4 years earlier. Sue used Stella the second year of Fjords at Equitana. Another older mare and foal story is Braggen and OH Wynn. Julia Will owned Braggen and bred her to her stallion Flotren. Braggen was 20 when she had Wynn, and she had 8 foals before him. All of Braggen's foals were pretty close together. An artery ruptured in her uterine during Wynn's foaling and she died. (Julia found a mare at Cornell that had lost her foal that same morning, so Wynn was nursed by a Quarter Horse, which means that he probably does a real good sliding stop. LOL) Another older mare story is happier. FG Lakita is now 24 and working on her 13th foal (not all of them have been registered yet.) There are two scenarios that several vets have told me that you should avoid when breeding older mares. Some of this maybe more based on breeding traditions than research. 1) Do not breed a mare older than 20 that has not had a foal before. The mare's body may be too old to carry the foal to full term. 2) The uterine wall is weaken every time a foal is carried. So, older mares that have had a lot of foals are more prone to die during foaling. There are successful exceptions to both these scenarios. Patty Jo is correct, normally the mare's first foal is smaller than the rest. There are occasional exceptions to that rule also. In my opinion and experience, breeding a mare over 20 is OK if the mare has had foals every three or four years in her teens. Take care! Curt Pierce Mathias, WV http://www.deepcreekfarm.com/ Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
