From: Larry
We really enjoy and appreciate the advice you have given others. We have a mare in training who, we suppose, is about as awake and sensitive as an animal can get! The trainer thinks we don't like him because we brought her to him. She is a purebred Arabian and we would like to keep her offspring purebred, but the stud would have to be brain dead to come out with a foal who was normal! OK! OK! She may not be THAT bad! But she is feisty. Two tranquilizer shots, a twitch, and three hours to put her first shoes on. She gets worse in heat. Our question is: Would she be a bit more calm after being bred (she's five and no foals)?
What does your vet think about the mare's behaviour? If her problems are common to her particular family/bloodline/conformation, as some behaviour problems can be, then they are unlikely to change regardless of training or pregnancy. If she is having problems with bizarre hormone levels, he can test her and find out what is wrong. If she's simply over-fed and under-exercised, he can help you develop a more sensible feeding and exercise program that incorporates minimum grain and maximum turnout.
If her problems are based on poor training, then you might consider putting her in training with someone very competent and kind who will start her over, slowly, from the ground up. After a few years, if she's settled down and become a pleasant riding horse and a model citizen, and if you absolutely adore her and can't imagine life without her AND would be deleriously happy if she CLONED, then breed her. Otherwise..... don't do it. You should breed a mare -- any mare -- because you want to PRESERVE her traits, not because you are hoping to CHANGE them. Don't ever count on the stallion to "fix" what's wrong with the mare, whether the problem is physical or mental. That's why the old saying is "breed the best to the best and hope for the best", and not "breed whatever you have to something with complementary faults and hope for the best". ;-)
Actually you might want to put your mare in training with someone else anyway, just because it's not possible for a trainer to do a really good job with a horse he dislikes, and that situation isn't a good one for the horse OR the trainer (or the owners).
Not every mare SHOULD be bred -- even very nice mares with lovely bodies and gaits and equally lovely minds. There are a lot of nice horses in the world that someone else has had all the trouble of breeding and raising, and it's much more practical to find one of them, perhaps already trained, if you want another horse.You're much more likely to get the horse you want that way -- and it is much more likely to be affordable. The stud fee is the smallest cost of breeding... by the time you have paid for mare care, for the extra vet calls, for the extra feed and supplements, for the foaling stall or paddock, for baby-proofing your own fences or arranging to keep the foal at someone else's place for the first few years, you've spent some serious money. By the time you add in the equipment, vet and farrier care, and feed for those first few years, you've spent much MORE money. And then there's the training to be considered -- and all of that presupposes that nothing goes wrong, and that you're never faced with, say, colic surgery for your yearling. It's much, much more sensible and economical to take that same money (or half of it) and hand it over to the breeder who has raised a nice horse for three years and is willing to sell it to you. ;-)
All of that CAN be done if you're really determined, and if you're desperate to have a foal from a particular mare, but it's expensive and takes time. If you want to breed your mare just because she IS a mare, you might want to re-think that position: quite apart from the money, you need to have something in mind for the foal, such as a future. If the foal is exactly like her, are you prepared to give it a home for life? If the foal is exactly like her, would you feel comfortable selling it on?
There are a lot of factors that play into a decision to breed or not to breed -- consider them all before you make your move. And good luck!
Jessica
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