# Accidental breedings - have you had one?



## Silent one (Aug 22, 2011)

Yes. An accident is how I got my Friesian cross. But it didn't happen at my place, the mare was pregnant when I bought her. She had jumped the fence in with the Friesian stallion, LOL!


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## Chiilaa (Aug 12, 2010)

I think the results are still going to be skewed here to be honest. A lot of people that start their career on the HF have a first post that goes something like "The stallion got out this one time 10 months ago, how close is she?". Many of these people become productive members of our society here. 

Looking at it a different way - I have grown up with horses. Between my mother and myself, we have owned close to 30 horses over my lifetime (28 years for those playing at home) and in that time, most of them have been mares. We have only had one accidental breeding, and that was at a boarding facility.


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## themacpack (Jul 16, 2009)

Accident vs. lack of proper prevention are two totally different things.......


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I'll be the first to admit that one horse I own was a result of an accidental breeding by another of mine. Just before my Percheron got gelded, he managed to crash through the fence and cover the neighbor's paint mare. Thankfully, the neighbors were friends so they weren't upset. They were actually rather excited until the husband passed away just after the foal was born. Since the wife had zero interest in horses, especially the idea of trying to raise/train a foal, she just told me to take him if I wanted him.

I really didn't _want _him, but I did feel _responsible_ for him so now he lives at my house, where he'll at least get quality training until the time comes to find him a new home.


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## srh1 (Jun 3, 2012)

We've never had one, but then we keep our horses on our own property for the most part and there are no stallions for miles...


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

I have owned horses for the better part of 55 years, and bred for over 20 years, and never had an "accidental" breeding. IMO there is no such thing...


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

Back in the day, when I was taking lessons at this little dump-y barn, there was a mare that unexpectedly had a baby. 
I can't remember the exact details but I think it involved the basically wild mare staying in a trailer, within the pasture of a stallion, for few days and somehow getting bred... 
Of course, the owners were super sketch - not to mention, who leaves a horse in a trailer for a few days, especially a mare in a stallion's pasture?? - so I have no doubt that it was the lack of proper prevention that caused that baby.

Luckily for the baby, it was a super flashy palomino appy so I bet it probably eventually got a good home. However, I can't vouch for that since the babeh and the still wild mama were moved out of that barn pretty soon after the baby was born.

That, however, is my only experience with an "accidental" baby.

Well, I guess there was the time at the place I used to board where a 3 year old stallion was let out with Lacey for a few days (without my knowledge, initially) because "he hadn't dropped" and "Lacey's not in heat, but a baby would do her good!" Thankfully, after I made a fuss, the two of them were separated and Lacey didn't become pregnant.
That was just plain stupidity at work.


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## spurstop (Mar 22, 2012)

I have never had an accidental breeding, nor has anyone I personally know had one.

I wonder if proximity to accidental breedings is related to the circles one runs in.


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## kassierae (Jan 1, 2010)

My grandmother has had horses for over 30 years, stallions, mares and readings. All of them have always been kept in high tensile hotwire, or back thirty year ago, barbed wire. I personally can count over thirty horses, quite a few stallions and mares at the same time. Not one accidental pregnancy or breeding. A few planned ones, but not a single one.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

Certainly not. 

And I feel that 90% of "accidental breedings" are due to carelessness. Of course there is the occasional accident but that is far from the majority of "oops" foals.


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## ladytaurean515 (Apr 2, 2012)

Ok, although I think most can be avoided...I do think they happen. I myself had it happen. I dont own a stallion and the neighbor I get along with has 2 but they are housed and kept properly. Other neighbor had a stallion and just let him stay in the pasture with the rest of his horses. Well that stallion must have gotten bored with his mares and jumped in with mine. He had also jumped in with the other neighbors and they kept running him off the property. But, damage was done here AND all but 1 was too late by the time we realized it. The stud(gelding) is now mine because of it. I went to the owner and demanded he pay for all care of my mares and he couldn't so he turned over the stud to me. He has since given 1 of his mares (pregnant) and 1 gelding to other neighbor and I guess hes keeping the rest for now.


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## DraftXDressage (Aug 29, 2011)

spurstop said:


> I have never had an accidental breeding, nor has anyone I personally know had one.
> 
> I wonder if proximity to accidental breedings is related to the circles one runs in.


I suspect you are on to something there. I have, in the past, boarded at barns where stallions were kept, and there were never any accidents the entire time I was there. Stallions were kept in appropriate facilities, and colts were weaned and gelded before it could become an issue.

I know one person who bought an unexpectedly pregnant mare. She was quite new to horses and got taken advantage of by a sketchy barn. No surprise there, and probably not an accident, either.


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## Breella (May 26, 2012)

Does it count as accidental if I bought the mare and no one told me she had been with a stallion?


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

In all my years I've had 1, this past year. I went out to feed and my old mare didn't come up and neither did the boarder's gelding. I went looking and poor old mare had somehow cut her foreleg to the bone, full length, and WIDE. She could barely 3 legged walk. She was also foundered and had severe rotation and dropped coffin bone in the other leg so the outcome was going to be inevitable. Somehow, I don't quite know how or who, in the excitement of getting her to the trailer and buting her up so she could walk onto the trailer, and taking her to the vet for euthanasia, someone left a couple of gates open and my stallion found 'em. 

Tiara was born Feb 16 and is an adorable little 1/2 arab, thankfully I own the mother too so didn't have to explain to anyone what happened and she can live here til she's trained up and ready for a new owner. Or she can just stay, she's a cute & sweet little thing.


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## Trick (Feb 9, 2012)

We recently had a Jack break/jump 3 fences to get in with our Jenny. Honestly we couldn't have done much to prevent that. What every owner _can_ prevent is the 'pregnancy' part of it. 

Coming from a very urban area I would have said a truly 'accidental' breeding would be near impossible. However after living in the backwoods of GA for a while it's a heck of a lot easier to see how mare owners could have difficulties with neighbors with stallions and bad fencing.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Never, and likely won't ever, I own geldings now and when they move on to greener pastures in the clouds, I will own more geldings.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I bought a mare that was pregnant and I didn't realize it. So I accidentally got a two-for-one deal. But I will vote "no" on the survey because it wasn't an accident on the part of the mare's previous owner. They had her and a bunch of other mares in with the stud on purpose. The owner just sort of told me what I wanted to hear (that he didn't think she was pregnant) when I bought her. :shock: So the breeding wasn't an accident, just me ending up with a foal was. :lol:


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## myhorsesonador (Jun 21, 2009)

2 of the barns I kept Sonador at, had studs. Not once did studs get out, or mares get in.


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

I posted recently about leaving my stallion in the roundpen when we were clearing debris from his pasture.
we found him later that afternoon kind of caught on the fence with 70% of his body on the outside of the pen and his hind legs on the inside.
We highly suspect that he mounted a mare over the fence and she walked away.
I was going to breed her to him next year but if he was successful hey, more power to him. Shalom


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Breella said:


> Does it count as accidental if I bought the mare and no one told me she had been with a stallion?


I would say it depends on whether it was an accident on the last owner's part, or an "on-purpose." I was in the same boat as you but it was an "on-purpose" by the last owner (my girl was a part of a broodmare band). So I voted no because it wasn't an accident. More like ignorance on my part, lol!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

dbarabians said:


> I posted recently about leaving my stallion in the roundpen when we were clearing debris from his pasture.
> we found him later that afternoon kind of caught on the fence with 70% of his body on the outside of the pen and his hind legs on the inside.
> We highly suspect that he mounted a mare over the fence and she walked away.
> I was going to breed her to him next year but if he was successful hey, more power to him. Shalom


I know a lady who had not one but two stud colts try to climb the fence panels to get at other horses and get injured. They each got a leg caught up and were hung up in the fence. They are 2 yr old colts and now she doesn't know if they will ever be sound. :-(


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

The round pen panels are 5 1/2 feet tall he is 14.1 HH.
I have kept him in the roundpen several times with out incident.
The mares are very aggressive about backing up to the fence.
His pasture is 3 acres and made of pipe and 6 ft tall.
I will now have a round pen built to hold him that is 6 ft tall and made of the same pipe.
The point is accidents happen. If a stallion can he will attempt to mount a mare. He won't get another chance in that roundpen. Shalom


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## Bobthebuilder (Jan 8, 2012)

Well.. I think this counts as almost.
At one yard we kept the horses at for a while, someone thought it was funny to let out one of the stallions.
Dont think he would've gotten to my mare though, we found her in the morning with her foot stuck in the door- higher than her back. She'd obviously tried to kick him.
We changed stables after that.


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## AnnaHalford (Mar 26, 2012)

I'm with the 'bought four horses for the price of two' camp, ie. pregnant mares without knowing it. I'm fairly sure that the owners didn't know either, since most people prefer mares where I bought them since they can make foals / money out of them. Whether it was 'accidental' or 'lack of prevention' is another matter. Fences are pretty flimsy where the horses are *crosses fingers that there's not another stud who's bred the third mare in-between times*


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## CCBella (Jul 6, 2010)

No accidental breedings for me but my Welsh cob mare (not bred by me) is not pure to section due to her naughty welsh a sire and overly helpful welsh d dam. 11hh over 14.2hh lol she lay down for him


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## DraftXDressage (Aug 29, 2011)

dbarabians said:


> The round pen panels are 5 1/2 feet tall he is 14.1 HH.
> I have kept him in the roundpen several times with out incident.
> The mares are very aggressive about backing up to the fence.
> His pasture is 3 acres and made of pipe and 6 ft tall.
> ...


You had a stallion sharing a fence line with mares (and if I remember correctly from your thread, his pasture shares a fence line with mares, too). I cannot fathom how any breeding through that fence could be considered an accident. Unplanned, perhaps, but certainly not foreseeable. And as a previous poster pointed out, the resulting pregnancy is certainly not accidental, given that you had more than enough notice to terminate but are perfectly happy with the breeding.


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## Misty'sGirl (Oct 22, 2007)

DraftXDressage said:


> And as a previous poster pointed out, the resulting pregnancy is certainly not accidental, given that you had *more than enough notice to terminate *but are perfectly happy with the breeding.


This. It annoys the heck outta me when I see posts along the lines of "oh no, a badly conformed grade stud mated my equally badly conformed grade mare of unknown history and bloodlines. Oh well, I'll keep the foal, I'm sure it'll be perfectly conformed and beautiful and just what the horse world needs!" Some people need a good slap.

NOTE: Not _everyone_, just some. Especially the ones who are given great advice and choose to ignore it, just coz they want a "cute foal".


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## Misty'sGirl (Oct 22, 2007)

Sorry if my post sounded really over the top, its just that local rescues near me are overloaded by unwanted horses desperately needing homes so I hate seeing more being brought into the world. Lots of people aren't willing to commit to 30+ years of caring for their "cute foal" and shelling out hundreds of dollars when it gets ill or can't work/be ridden any longer, so they shouldn't bother at all.


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

I assure you that neither my stallion nor that mare are poorly conformed.
They would not be here if they were. I will get anglo arab foal.
Yes it was an accidental breeding one that may not be unwanted.
Now instead of 5 foals next year I may have 6. No big deal Shalom


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## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

My parents had two when they first had our Walkers (30 years ago), they had Red in with the girls when he was 1-2 yrs old and he bred both of them. They had been told by several people that he was too young to breed. I don't know if that really qualifies as an accident, but it was unintended.


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## GreySorrel (Mar 5, 2012)

I have boarded at several places and as what a few others have said, if the fences are made for keeping a stallion contained, all precautions taken, I have never had an accident with my 3 mares. 

What kills me is the oh no what do I do and people pat the person on the head, crow about how they can't wait to see the resulting foal and make them feel special. Or others who have been so ignorant to put yearlings and stallions out with mares play the oh it can never happen to ME or a yearling stud colt can't possibly breed a mare....want to thump them up side the head!


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## muumi (Oct 17, 2011)

I haven't had any at all, and I've owned horses on and off for 19 years. 
But my special trick is that I've never owned a stallion, so its not due to any excellent horsemanship from my part :wink:

Oh I forget! We once had a 'cryptorchid' stallion for a few days, a 3-year old given to us as a gelding probably 15 years ago or so, but he was sent off to the gelding-party as soon as the vet confirmed it. He was out with two geldings at the time though, so no chance for him anyway.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

Faceman said:


> I have owned horses for the better part of 55 years, and bred for over 20 years, and never had an "accidental" breeding. IMO there is no such thing...


I agree. Our family farm has had at least one stallion (in earlier years up to 4 at one time) on it for the last 50+ years. Never a single "accidental" breeding. With adequate facilities and well trained stallions, accidental breedings shouldn't happen. 

I made a good friend mad over an "accidental" breeding. Neighbors stud went over the fence and covered a few of her mares. I expressed no sympathy because the fence was hardly adequate for horses in general (old, sagging in spots, desperately needed replaced) It wasn't accidental breeding, it was human error. Had the fence been sufficient and a healthy strand or two of hot wire, wouldn't have been an issue. I told her something my grandpa has always said "Good fences makes for good neighbors." Certainly rings true in many of the "accidental" breedings one hears about.


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## Faceman (Nov 29, 2007)

dbarabians said:


> I assure you that neither my stallion nor that mare are poorly conformed.
> They would not be here if they were. I will get anglo arab foal.
> Yes it was an accidental breeding one that may not be unwanted.
> Now instead of 5 foals next year I may have 6. No big deal Shalom


While in your case it is no big deal, which I understand, it was no accident nonetheless. We should be educating and helping less experienced people - not justifying mistakes. If stallions and mares are not intended to be bred and they are kept in adjacent pastures or enclosures, a double fence or solid fence should be used. Breeding through a fence or coral panel is not an accident - it happens all the time, which most of us know. In any case, it is a mistake - "not an accident". I am not condemning "accidents" - I just don't like applying the term "accident" to a mistake or error in judgment. While I fully understand that many people (not referring to you) cannot afford double fencing, or suitable fencing for keeping stallions and mares in proximity, that does not qualify an unplanned breeding due to inadequate facilities as "accidental"...


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

Faceman, i see your point but with a 6 ft steel fence around his pasture I have never had a problem.
He is 14.1HH.
When I got him he was 15 and kept behind a double fence. He has numerous scars from injuries by pawing and kicking the fence in frustration.
Being able to touch noses with the mares has calmed him down and he has gained 200lbs from not pacing his enclosure.
He is a different horse.
I spent tens of thousands of dollars to build his enclosure.
I am not saying this will work for others and definetly not for all stallions.
Especially a young one.
I also make sure he is ridden every day the weather permits to keep him from getting bored.
If my post came across as this is the way to do it. That was not my intention. He will not be placed in THAT round pen again.
The breeding may not be the problem but he could have seriously injured himself.
I can laugh at it now but it wasn't funny then I assure you. Shalom


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## mysticalhorse (Apr 27, 2011)

My colt is the result of an accident. The rescue we got him and his pasture puff dame from took in a gelding. Unfortunalty 2 vets and the previous owners said he was gelded but he was an undropped 2 yr old stallion. He was placed on 80 acres with the rest of the herd. He managed to cover 10 mares before he was caught, 4 mares were able to be aborted, 6 had colts. He was gelded 3 days after they discovered everything. They are now much more cautious when bringing in a gelding! All mares recieved excellent prenatal care and when 2 had mild to sever complications both were rushed to the vet. 
It was an actual accident. They are not breeders. They do not take in stallions. If one is given to them he gets a vet appt for his ride to the ranch then is kept seperate till he can not produce babies.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ButtInTheDirt (Jan 16, 2011)

One of the mares I have the owners didn't want bred. But they couldn't pasture the stallion alone for some reason, and put him in with her. It wasn't a magical dash across the prairie to get together, so they knew she was going to be bred. So not an accidental breeding, just an inconvenient one.


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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

OP 

Here is a little pony who foaled a baby sired by what I am assuming to be a Paint. 

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/grd/3072944593.html 

If that eases your wondering mind of what it would be. I'd still bet it was the colt who bred the mare though


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## Spotted Image (Aug 10, 2011)

I have an accidental breeding once. We had two stallions: one was an undropped yearling while the other was a 4 year old stallion. The stallion was only every with one mare, who we wanted him to breed but he wouldn’t, while the yearling ran with the mares unless they were due to come in heat. We also kept good records of when he was out with the mares just incase. We gelded them in October and the next December we had a foal on the ground. The foal was out of my walker mare (mare of yearling) and our paint stallion. We know for sure because the foal had the same color pattern, attitude and built of the paint, and others were walking horses. Now we believe we know the problem, we was told to keep them away from the mares for an mare, which we did for 3 weeks, because the one mare never had an heat cycle after October in the past couple years and the other mares just came out of heat. Was in an accidental, yes, we could have prevented by leaving the then geldings away from the mares for another week. Our vet told us we should be fine to release them with the mares, since he refused to breed our other mare before. The foal turned out to be really nice.


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## sommsama09 (Oct 28, 2010)

Subbing.


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## ClumsyTea (Nov 18, 2020)

DraftXDressage said:


> There seems to be some disagreement about just how frequently accidental breedings occur. I simply cannot believe that they are as common as the picture some posters are trying to convey.
> 
> So, has any horse you have owned, or any horse on your property (whether owned by you or someone else) accidentally been breed/accidentally bred a mare? And by "accidentally," I specifically mean that no person intended for the stallion to cover the mare.


Almost had an accidental breeding. My tired was wasn't paying attention and put a mare in the same field as a stallion. Didn't realize anything was wrong until i noticed the mare being skitish and then realized my mistake after the stallion started chasing the mare with a hard on. This was my first job and i panicked and chased after the mare and ended up getting kicked. I brushed it off and called for help. Everything was fine later and we continued our jobs. Other than thay i really made no mistakes. I was fired the week anyway for reasons unknown. Needless to say I'm an experienced rider that can groom clean lead and do all that crap. But ill never do feeding or turning out. Ill always mess that up. Will never work at a barn again.


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