From: Angela
I have a wonderful 20 year grade horse mare that, to my knowledge, has never been bred. I have owned her since she was about 6 years old. A few months ago, a 2 year old stallion that was being kept on our property broke out of his pen and possibly got to my mare. I didn't witness them breed, but before it happened my mare would act like she was in heat any time we went around other horses. Since then, she has not acted that way. My question is, could she be bred? If so, I know there are risk for an older maiden mare having a foal. What should I do to prepare her for the arrival of the foal?
Thank you,
Angela
As usual when a question like this comes up, I'm going to remind you that I'm not a vet, and that all I can do to help you is offer my own thoughts on the subject together with some suggestions regarding the issues you'll want to discuss with your own equine vet, and/or with an equine reproductive specialist. Your vet will be able to give you a referral after he's performed a thorough examination of your mare.
Begin by having your vet come out and check your mare (he'll use palpation and ultrasound) to determine whether she IS in foal. If she IS, you'll have a lot to think about.
Elderly maiden mares in general do tend to be subfertile, but that's speaking statistically. ;-) Statistics help us analyze trends and establish probabilities, but you are dealing with an individual case. You obviously love your mare and don't want to lose her or even to put her at risk, and a pregnancy would be a very big risk indeed, whether it lasted for several months, many months, or even (much less likely) went full term.
There are a number of challenges facing any breeder with an elderly maiden mare. Everything will be more difficult for this mare: becoming pregnant, carrying a foal to term, producing a healthy foal, surviving the foaling process. Some old mares begin producing foals when they are five or six and continue to produce a foal every year or every other year until they are well into their 20s, but you're right, there IS quite a risk involved when a geriatric maiden mare is put in foal for the first time. This is one of the reasons breeders avoid such situations. I suppose it's possible to imagine circumstances under which one might deliberately breed a 20-year-old maiden mare - if her genes or the stallion's were extremely important or rare, for example - but in such a case, the vets involved would probably use embryo transplant technology so that the old mare wouldn't be at risk. The cost involved puts such technology out of the reach of most horse-owners.
So by all means have your mare examined, at least by your own vet and possibly by an equine reproductive specialist as well. I agree that pregnancy should be suspected when a mare that may have been bred suddenly seems to stop cycling - especially since most mares cycle throughout their lives - but there can be other causes, and it won't hurt to find out.
If it's early enough in the pregnancy, it may be possible for the vet to terminate it. There's a slight risk involved, but it's much better to lose an unwanted foal than to risk losing your favourite mare just to put one more unwanted foal on the ground. Difficult and/or prolonged foaling has so much potential for damage, and a risk that you might be willing to take for a planned foal might be an unacceptable risk in this case. Much will depend, though, on how far along she is - if there IS a pregnancy and it's gone for 80 days or more, terminating might be too risky. You'll need to work closely with your veterinarian here, and, if possible, with an equine reproductive specialist. If your vet happens to BE an equine reproductive specialist, good for you! You may not need any additional opinions.
In any case, begin by finding out whether or not your mare is in foal! No matter what happens, you'll need to be prepared for various different eventualities, and if she is in foal, your mare will need to be fed and vaccinated appropriately - and helped to become as fit as possible. Meanwhile, you'll have plenty to do to prepare for a foal. Fences, paddocks, foaling stall.... everything has to be made foal-safe, and that's a LOT of work.
If your mare does manage to carry the foal to term, you should be prepared for a worst-case scenario. This isn't just because of her age and maiden status, by the way - it's a good precaution for anyone with a mare in foal! The time to think "What could go wrong, and what would I need to do or have if it DID go wrong?" is right now, long before the mare foals. In addition to your usual foaling kit, be sure to have frozen colostrum at your farm, along with a container of mare's milk replacer (there are various brands, ask your vet or the equine reproductive specialist to recommend one), some bottles, and nipples designed for lambs (don't buy the large ones meant for calves).
My fingers are crossed for your mare NOT being in foal, but if she is, and she's more than 80 days along, I wish you the best of luck for an uneventful pregnancy and a healthy mare and foal at the end of it. Please let me know what happens.
Jessica
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