# What's the oldest age you would breed a mare at?



## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

I was given Snickers for my 10th birthday before she was ever born and I have been with her ever since! She is almost 10 now. I would love to breed her so that I can have a part of her when she's gone (years from now of course). I'm in the middle of college right now and I would never breed her if I was in a postition where I couldn't take care of her or the foal, but I'm hoping once I'm out of college and settled down I will have the chance!

What is the oldest age you would breed a mare at?


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## drop_your_reins (Nov 4, 2007)

Well it gets more complicated with age if she has never foaled before, but its basically luck of the draw... Some mares get difficult to breed at 18+, I've seen mares carry foals at age 26, though! Then some mares are difficult to breed from the start. Generally, broodmares who carry easily year after year will most likely have an easier time getting pregnant and carrying later in life- but eventually there will be too much scar tissue on the ovaries for an embryo to stick. 

It really depends! If she is 10 now, I would say you have a good 10 year window, before it gets risky!

ETA- obviously, the sooner the better! You want to keep her in good shape too before you breed her! What type of mare do you have?


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## Roperchick (Feb 1, 2010)

depends on the mare pretty much. my mare josie had 3 before the age of 10 and shes still in decent shape at 17 for me to breed her again.
sugar had a colt at 22 so it really depends on the mare, the condition of the mare etc.
but i agree you have a big window for it.


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## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

Ok, great! I guess I will just have to make a judgement call when the time comes. I just wanted to make sure, generally, that 15-16 is still an option!


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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

When you are seriously looking into breeding, have an equine repro vet do a thorough check of her reproductive systems. Checking for any problems that could effect her getting pregnant or staying in foal, as well as looking at other potential problems you may face 

The baby I am most excited for this April/May is out of an 18 year old maiden mare. It will be her first and most likely last foal (would only entertain breeding again if she has a colt)
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## New_image (Oct 27, 2007)

My first horse had previously had six foals. I bought her when she was ten years old and at 19 we bred her for that same reason. She had no trouble what so ever. I personally wouldn't _want_ to be the one to breed a maiden mare much over 15-16 years old. We were more comfortable as my mare had produced six foals in the past.That said another mare here had her first baby at sixteen with no trouble at all. 

Just something to think about when you make your decision... 
In my case I was bound and determined to keep whatever foal came out of my lovely mare. If it was purple and three legged it was staying. I just wanted to breed her once to have something that could be raised by her (and me) to remind me of her. Her foal is now five years old and he was never taken away from her or technically weaned. He has had as much time to learn from her as I could possibly offer. He takes great care of his momma as she ages (25 this year). While there are certainly some ways that he is like her, I see more of his sire in his build and temperament. So make sure that you adore the stallion you breed your mare to because there is no guarantee that you'll get a carbon copy of your mare by any means! As said in my case I was keeping whatever she produced. But I have had several friends want to breed a mare for this reason and the foals have been sold. One has popped on and off from craigslist for sale four times now and the filly is only two years old. So be sure breeding is the right choice. Your mares build and the stallion come into play. If you are going to sell the pending foal on a whim because its the wrong color or you weren't prepared to handle the up bringing of a baby, perhaps buying a weanling or younger horse that has similar breeding to your mare is best. 

In my case, it turned out to be a great decision and I adore that little piece of my mare.


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## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

That's a good idea, I will definitely do that!

I would love for Snickers to have a filly so that someday I can breed her too and just have a line of Snickers' my whole life! lol Sounds like your foal is due pretty soon! How exciting!


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## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

New_image said:


> My first horse had previously had six foals. I bought her when she was ten years old and at 19 we bred her for that same reason. She had no trouble what so ever. I personally wouldn't _want_ to be the one to breed a maiden mare much over 15-16 years old. We were more comfortable as my mare had produced six foals in the past.That said another mare here had her first baby at sixteen with no trouble at all.
> 
> Just something to think about when you make your decision...
> In my case I was bound and determined to keep whatever foal came out of my lovely mare. If it was purple and three legged it was staying. I just wanted to breed her once to have something that could be raised by her (and me) to remind me of her. Her foal is now five years old and he was never taken away from her or technically weaned. He has had as much time to learn from her as I could possibly offer. He takes great care of his momma as she ages (25 this year). While there are certainly some ways that he is like her, I see more of his sire in his build and temperament. So make sure that you adore the stallion you breed your mare to because there is no guarantee that you'll get a carbon copy of your mare by any means! As said in my case I was keeping whatever she produced. But I have had several friends want to breed a mare for this reason and the foals have been sold. One has popped on and off from craigslist for sale four times now and the filly is only two years old. So be sure breeding is the right choice. Your mares build and the stallion come into play. If you are going to sell the pending foal on a whim because its the wrong color or you weren't prepared to handle the up bringing of a baby, perhaps buying a weanling or younger horse that has similar breeding to your mare is best.
> ...


 
I want to breed her as soon as practically possible for that reason. I know I don't want to now while I'm in college but who knows where I will be when I get out! If it happens it happens, but in the long run my mare's health is more important to me than any of her progeny.

I am also conflicted because my mare is not registered. Her dam was and how Doc OLena in her lines, but her sire was not registered so she couldn't be either :-/ My intention would be to keep whatever she throws, but it would be harder to sell one without registration, god forbid I ever had to.

Snickers has pretty good conformation. She is very well balanced. The flaws that stand out to me is she is cow-hocked and slighting sickle hocked. Sounds like a bad combination but we have never had any issues. I realize I will have to find a stallion that at the very least has perfect back legs if I hope for her flaws to not transfer to the foal.

I still have a lot of research to do!


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## Ladybug2001 (Mar 15, 2011)

I don't have a lot of experience. Though I bred my mare at 14 years old and she didn't take. Second try at 16 she didn't take, though we caught it in time for a second try and she did, foaled all on her own with no issues except the foal was a little early. Other then that I had no problems. I have a 14 year old broodmare expecting now. So.. id give the mare 10 years tops like someone already said, before as well I would get an equine repo check by your vet just incase.
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## lilkitty90 (Nov 11, 2009)

well i think my Colts mom is an exception. she is in her mid 30's, and sparta is going to be 2 years old in about 3 months. she that puts her around 32-35 when she gave birth to him. i don't and haven't owned her. and he brought her down quickly. her owners dont properly care for her unfortuantly and she has ever really gained any weight back. so i wouldn't breed at her age unless she is a seasoned mare. and you are properly able to feed her and keep her at a healthy weight.


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

I have seen broodmares foal into there early 20's with no problems.Thing is with those mares they were not maiden but foaled several times before.Well cared for Career broodmares don't usually have much trouble conceiving.Older Maiden mares don't seem to have as easy a time. I probably would want to breed mare before they are are about 12-15 yrs leaving it much later they may be more problematic trying to get in foal.


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## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

Thanks for the input everyone! If the time comes and goes, I won't mind. I wouldn't want Snickers to be put in any danger from it. We will just see how it plays out!


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

aggiegirl14 said:


> Thanks for the input everyone! If the time comes and goes, I won't mind. I wouldn't want Snickers to be put in any danger from it. We will just see how it plays out!


The oldest I know of personally were 28. Both were career broodies though and were in excellent shape, and were arabians (they tend to have a bit more longevity, especially fertility wise than many breeds).


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

aggiegirl14 said:


> I want to breed her as soon as practically possible for that reason. I know I don't want to now while I'm in college but who knows where I will be when I get out! If it happens it happens, but in the long run my mare's health is more important to me than any of her progeny.
> 
> I am also conflicted because my mare is not registered. Her dam was and how Doc OLena in her lines, but her sire was not registered so she couldn't be either :-/ My intention would be to keep whatever she throws, but it would be harder to sell one without registration, god forbid I ever had to.
> 
> ...


If you look at Arabians, you can breed anything to an arabian, and register it with the Half-Arabian registry, and HA do sell fairly decently usually, if they are a good horse. I'd be very careful picking a stallion. Another option, would be a homozygous Paint. that would give you foal registerable as a Pinto. Much more preferable than putting a grade horse into the world, though neither is ideal ofcourse. 

Good luck on your decision with Snickers (and Baby Ruth? lol)


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## aggiegirl14 (Dec 22, 2011)

Tapperjockey said:


> If you look at Arabians, you can breed anything to an arabian, and register it with the Half-Arabian registry, and HA do sell fairly decently usually, if they are a good horse. I'd be very careful picking a stallion. Another option, would be a homozygous Paint. that would give you foal registerable as a Pinto. Much more preferable than putting a grade horse into the world, though neither is ideal ofcourse.
> 
> Good luck on your decision with Snickers (and Baby Ruth? lol)


Those are good ideas. It would be nice to be able to register it, but since I will keep it registry doesn't necisarrily matter to me. There are plenty of great grade horses out there. I've toyed with the idea of breeding for a while and babe Ruth was always a name I thought of. Or Payday


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## Tapperjockey (Jan 2, 2012)

aggiegirl14 said:


> Those are good ideas. It would be nice to be able to register it, but since I will keep it registry doesn't necisarrily matter to me. There are plenty of great grade horses out there. I've toyed with the idea of breeding for a while and babe Ruth was always a name I thought of. Or Payday


Even if you plan to keep it, life happens. You could become injured or crippled or die. It's much better for horses if they have registration papers and good training.


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

I don't have any advice but I was reading through because we have thought about breeding our mare Sheba. She'll be 13 this year. 

Funny thing is her name used to be Snickers when we got her. People didn't like her and thought she was a ****y mare. We thought the name didn't fit her so we changed it. After we changed it, they forgot she was the same horse because she was so laid back, calm and lovey.
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## SunnyDraco (Dec 8, 2011)

aggiegirl14 said:


> Those are good ideas. It would be nice to be able to register it, but since I will keep it registry doesn't necisarrily matter to me. There are plenty of great grade horses out there. I've toyed with the idea of breeding for a while and babe Ruth was always a name I thought of. Or Payday


There are many reasons for registering a foal, future selling is only one reason. Proof of ownership, breed show (half arabs and I think there are pinto shows), and a reliable source to remember how old your horse is in the years to come. No need to look at teeth, dig through a pile of photos hoping for one with a year. Once I looked at a horse for sale that they said was 15, looked at the registration and it was really 17. A bit old to try to breed the following spring as a maiden mare, and also proved that she was a liver chestnut from two lines of chestnuts (not a bleached black like they had also claimed she was).

Not sure what it costs to register with the pinto registry, but it only cost my mom $35 to register her half arab filly this past fall.
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