Horse BreedingBreeding with your mare can be a simple endeavor or a technical one; it depends on your individual role. A horse breeder has countless duties and I will only condense a few in order to help explain the covering process to you.
As an owner of a mare your responsibilities and duties do not have to be very involved and complicated. Stud farms are built and developed specifically for breeding purposes. Once you have chosen a stallion you arrange with the stud farm what the specifics are.
You can either stable your mare at the farm where the stallion resides; you can transport your mare to the stallion on the day of cover and take her home the same day; or if artificial insemination is your choice your mare can stay where she is and the semen is shipped to you.
Live cover is when the stallion mounts the mare and covers the mare. The staff will prepare the mare by washing her vulva (private parts), bandage her tail and possibly give her a tranquilizer. Once she is ready to be covered they may hobble her, a restraint used to prevent the stallion from being kicked.
The stallion is lead by a skilled handler to the mare and covering takes place. The mare will be returned to a field or stable after covering, some studs may inject her with a hormone that will have her ovulate soon after covering. The stallion will cover the mare once.
If the mare is staying at the stud she will be teased in the following days to observe that she is in dioestrus - no longer in season. Depending on the studs routine and way of doing things, the mare may be covered by the stallion again during her season.
A veterinarian will palpate and scan the mare in about 15 days from her covering. If the mare is not staying at the stud farm it is important that you schedule this appointment with your veterinarian to see whether she took and is in foal. If she is not in foal she will need to be covered again in her next cycle.
With artificial insemination the stallion will mount a mare or a phantom mare and ejaculate into a tube. The semen is then stored at the correct temperature and can be inserted into the mare at the most optimal time of her reproductive cycle. The mare can stay at the stud or never set foot on the stud and come into contact with a stallion.
When you select to have a foal via artificial insemination it is very important to ask the breeder some questions as to the fertility of the stallion's semen. Some sperm just simply do not travel well, you do not want to pay for the semen and receive a shipment that has no live sperm to inseminate.
Once your mare is in foal, there is still a long road ahead; she carries the foal for 12 months. She will have veterinarian exams to check that the foal is growing up until 90 days; thereafter it is a waiting game.
Get information on buying, owning and caring for your horse, learn about breeding with your mare. Learn about Horse riding safety.
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