How can I tell that my mare is ready to breed??

[DONALDROYERIV]

My subject line says it all. I have heard several ways to determine if a mare is ready. Obviously a urine or blood test is the best but I don't have the extra cash for that type of testing. I understand that other non medical ways won't be conclusive.
Currently she is in the pasture with a 6 year old and 3 year old geldings. I was told this will help bring her in season. As it is the middle of April I would really like to breed her soon so missing an opportunity is not an idea I like so any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

 

[GLENMAR]

Take her near a stallion. She will be pretty obvious about it. Mine were.
She will kick out squeal and move away if not ready. If she is ready, she will stand there and talk to him and
usually pee.

 

[Gevshiba]

Some mares are very obvious, lifting the tail, winking, urinating. But if you can't tell, you can have a vet palpate her. If you don't have stocks/chute, you may need to take her to the vet. Palpating will tell you where she is in her cycle and they can estimate when she'll need checked again or bred.

 

[perchie.girl]

Some mares are very obvious, lifting the tail, winking, urinating. But if you can't tell, you can have a vet palpate her. If you don't have stocks/chute, you may need to take her to the vet. Palpating will tell you where she is in her cycle and they can estimate when she'll need checked again or bred.

all those things .... Palpating is the most accurate way. Usually when you take the mare to the breeder they will be able to provide those services for you.

My mare was in love with the stallion and obviously in heat Winking and peeing and leaning toward him.... when we brought her to the breeders. But the breeder required a vet check to confirm her health and to see how close to ovulation she was. They check for infection as well as VD.... Yep horses do get VD. By checking the mare the breeder safeguards their stallion. My mare had ovlulated that day and once the test results came in (over night) they bred her the next day. She took in one cover but they covered her twice over three days.

deb

 

[DONALDROYERIV]

Thanks everyone your comments were very helpful!

 

[CritterZone]

Most reputable breeders require a clean bill of health from a vet before they will cover a mare. You need to know that the mare is ovulating, free of disease and infection, and capable of settling in foal. Otherwise, you risk infecting the stallion and wasting everyone's time, including your own.

 

[Rachel.And.Yue]

Not sure if you still need help with this but since I just joined I thought I would share a helpful site. TheHorse.com

"A mare in heat typically exhibits gait abnormalities, raises her tail, urinates repeatedly, and interacts unpredictably with people and other horses. " from the article 'Mares and Hormones' by Jeffrey Cook, DVM.

That site is very helpful, just search what you are looking for. Also just using google will give you many sites to choose from with helpful info.

Mares will also show signs of heat around geldings, not just stallions. If you watch your mare enough you come to know what her normal behavior with the other horses/people is. Then you can usually tell when she is in heat by noting the changes.

But like it was stated above, there are mares that will not show any signs visible to the human eye without the help of your vet. Some horse owners will risk pasture breeding with mares like this because the stallion should be able to tell when she is in heat. Just be aware of everything that can go wrong with this method.

Hope all is going as planned with your horses and remember to be safe

 

[perchie.girl]

Not sure if you still need help with this but since I just joined I thought I would share a helpful site. TheHorse.com

"A mare in heat typically exhibits gait abnormalities, raises her tail, urinates repeatedly, and interacts unpredictably with people and other horses. " from the article 'Mares and Hormones' by Jeffrey Cook, DVM.

That site is very helpful, just search what you are looking for. Also just using google will give you many sites to choose from with helpful info.

Mares will also show signs of heat around geldings, not just stallions. If you watch your mare enough you come to know what her normal behavior with the other horses/people is. Then you can usually tell when she is in heat by noting the changes.

But like it was stated above, there are mares that will not show any signs visible to the human eye without the help of your vet. Some horse owners will risk pasture breeding with mares like this because the stallion should be able to tell when she is in heat. Just be aware of everything that can go wrong with this method.

Hope all is going as planned with your horses and remember to be safe

My mare is a silent heat one. I have had her now thirteen years and only seen evidence of heat twice. Shes an alpha, one that would smack the stallion up good if she didnt like him. I have seen her knock a hoof sized hole in plywood when she was displeased. her hoof makes two of a light horse.... I am SO a fan of AI for the safety for both horses. I have had horses now 47 years bred one once. Wont do it again.

There are too many horses being dumped at feed lots then shipped to Mexico for slaughter because of lack of responsible breeding and or homes. I wont get on my soap box there.

deb

 

[Rachel.And.Yue]

Not sure if you still need help with this but since I just joined I thought I would share a helpful site. TheHorse.com

"A mare in heat typically exhibits gait abnormalities, raises her tail, urinates repeatedly, and interacts unpredictably with people and other horses. " from the article 'Mares and Hormones' by Jeffrey Cook, DVM.

That site is very helpful, just search what you are looking for. Also just using google will give you many sites to choose from with helpful info.

Mares will also show signs of heat around geldings, not just stallions. If you watch your mare enough you come to know what her normal behavior with the other horses/people is. Then you can usually tell when she is in heat by noting the changes.

But like it was stated above, there are mares that will not show any signs visible to the human eye without the help of your vet. Some horse owners will risk pasture breeding with mares like this because the stallion should be able to tell when she is in heat. Just be aware of everything that can go wrong with this method.

Hope all is going as planned with your horses and remember to be safe

My mare is a silent heat one. I have had her now thirteen years and only seen evidence of heat twice. Shes an alpha, one that would smack the stallion up good if she didnt like him. I have seen her knock a hoof sized hole in plywood when she was displeased. her hoof makes two of a light horse.... I am SO a fan of AI for the safety for both horses. I have had horses now 47 years bred one once. Wont do it again.

There are too many horses being dumped at feed lots then shipped to Mexico for slaughter because of lack of responsible breeding and or homes. I wont get on my soap box there.

deb

When a mare is violent with a stallion like that I would NEVER risk pasture breeding and most likely not even in hand breeding unless she can be prevented from harming the stallion somehow.

AI does work great for horses like that, can be costly but think about it this way: How much would it cost you, emotionally or financially if your stallion (or someone elses) was hurt because of your mare? I wouldn't risk it.

I highly recommend having a vet help you, or an experienced breeder, if you cannot tell when your mare is in heat. And I am sure most people agree with me (and Deb) about not breeding your mare unless you are prepared for everything. I personally would not breed a mare unless I knew that I would be able to take care of the foal properly for it's whole life. That includes the costs of training, feed, etc...Think of having to take care of one more horse but WORSE. That is how it is with foals. They take more time and usually more money in order to mature into a happy, healthy horse.

Just needed to explain that as in my area there are SOOO many "backyard" breeders and too many horses needing homes (mostly foals and untrained adults). The less people breeding just to have a foal, the better.

Did I miss anything important?


Rachel

 

[perchie.girl]

Not sure if you still need help with this but since I just joined I thought I would share a helpful site. TheHorse.com

"A mare in heat typically exhibits gait abnormalities, raises her tail, urinates repeatedly, and interacts unpredictably with people and other horses. " from the article 'Mares and Hormones' by Jeffrey Cook, DVM.

That site is very helpful, just search what you are looking for. Also just using google will give you many sites to choose from with helpful info.

Mares will also show signs of heat around geldings, not just stallions. If you watch your mare enough you come to know what her normal behavior with the other horses/people is. Then you can usually tell when she is in heat by noting the changes.

But like it was stated above, there are mares that will not show any signs visible to the human eye without the help of your vet. Some horse owners will risk pasture breeding with mares like this because the stallion should be able to tell when she is in heat. Just be aware of everything that can go wrong with this method.

Hope all is going as planned with your horses and remember to be safe

My mare is a silent heat one. I have had her now thirteen years and only seen evidence of heat twice. Shes an alpha, one that would smack the stallion up good if she didnt like him. I have seen her knock a hoof sized hole in plywood when she was displeased. her hoof makes two of a light horse.... I am SO a fan of AI for the safety for both horses. I have had horses now 47 years bred one once. Wont do it again.

There are too many horses being dumped at feed lots then shipped to Mexico for slaughter because of lack of responsible breeding and or homes. I wont get on my soap box there.

deb

When a mare is violent with a stallion like that I would NEVER risk pasture breeding and most likely not even in hand breeding unless she can be prevented from harming the stallion somehow.

AI does work great for horses like that, can be costly but think about it this way: How much would it cost you, emotionally or financially if your stallion (or someone elses) was hurt because of your mare? I wouldn't risk it.

I highly recommend having a vet help you, or an experienced breeder, if you cannot tell when your mare is in heat. And I am sure most people agree with me (and Deb) about not breeding your mare unless you are prepared for everything. I personally would not breed a mare unless I knew that I would be able to take care of the foal properly for it's whole life. That includes the costs of training, feed, etc...Think of having to take care of one more horse but WORSE. That is how it is with foals. They take more time and usually more money in order to mature into a happy, healthy horse.

Just needed to explain that as in my area there are SOOO many "backyard" breeders and too many horses needing homes (mostly foals and untrained adults). The less people breeding just to have a foal, the better.

Did I miss anything important?


Rachel

Nailed it....

My mare is a purebred Percheron with papers that go back to Cloentharp which was the ManOWar of Percheron foundation stock. I would not breed her. She doesn't fit the criteria for Conformation excellence and type to justify breeding her... The stallion I would prefer to breed her to if I were to choose to would cost more than 5000 for Pop in a can and AI. Some of those big boys are Stunning. Foals fetch upwards to 10K in the right venue. Much More if you get some show wins in and some training on. Not tempting in the least.

The mare I bred was Standard-bred Kind of lanky Had a nice fast trot but was a ground pounder..... dressage helped with that.... I should NOT have bred her. I bred her to an Arab stallion. The foal was wonderful Not outstanding conformation..... I rode and drove the heck out of him for twelve years I was prepared to keep him forever and I did keep him all his life. That was thirty years ago.

I saw the Arab market get saturated in the seventies and eighties..... Good well bred Desert bred foals sold to meat buyers.... tore my heart out. Then a few months after I bought my Percheron. I found out the market was getting flooded by PMU foals. Bred only because their Percheron moms produced premarin. The urine collected while they made their babies standing in stalls where they were hooked up to tubes to collect. The foal was a byproduct to be disposed of. Some were weaned the day they were loaded on cattle trucks to take them to the feedlot. Thank goodness that market has collapsed in the US.

No... breeding should be done with due diligence careful analysis and a plan for the future of the horse you are going to produce. There are too many good horses out there that need good knowledgeable homes. Like you said Rachel.

deb