To Breed, or Not to Breed: Part 1

Have you ever been interested in the idea of breeding your horse? If you're like me and you like to dream, then you've probably been all over Craigslist and different breeding websites finding just the right stallion; you might even have the name picked out and are imagining competing on a foal that doesn't even exist!

However: circumstances change. You can't guarentee that you will own this foal forever, no matter how much you love him. Let's go extreme and just ask the question, what happens if you die? Or he comes up so lame he can never be ridden again? Or hay prices sky-rocket and you can't afford him anymore? Your horse will probably be sold, hopefully you will make even a little money from the sale. But in order to be given money to take the horse off your hands, someone needs to want your horse.What makes a horse wantable?

Lots of people breed their mares for sentimental reasons. Some just want a baby with "color", whatever that means. Some think that as long as the horse is trained really really well, it doesn't matter what kind of horse they produce. Some breed for the experience, some want to raise a baby, some want to have a project that they can start as a blank slate. A horse with lots of general training is worth more than a horse with none, and a horse with very specific training is worth even more than a horse with general training. 

You may or may have not noticed, but I have an equine genetics blog. I am really tuned into the color genetics aspect of breeding. I'm just going to say it: I live in Idaho. Colored horses are a really big deal around here. In fact, so much so that there are just as many paints as there are plain chestnuts. Right now, people are practically giving away their grade paint horses. They wanted a horse with color and they got it. Now they don't want it, and it turns out that their "colored" horse wasn't as unique as they thought.

There are all kinds of reasons some horses are more desirable than others. But the one factor that never changes or goes out of style is that horses with papers are worth twice as much money as a horse without. Why? 

A horse with papers can be shown or competed; showing in itself can actually make money and is a huge hobby and sport. Anyone who shows is willing to pay more money for a horse that they can show on than a horse who can't be shown on. Also: a horse with papers, no matter if they can be ridden or not, can produce more horses with papers. If your papered mare comes up lame and physically can't do more than sit in a pasture, she can still have worth as a breeding mare. If the same thing happens to your grade mare, you might not be able to find a home for her. I was hoping to avoid it, but the unavoidable topic to bring up is horse slaughter. Not that you would intentionally send a horse to slaughter, but there are people who pick up unwanted horses for a free and sell them for a profit to be killed for canine (or even human) consumption.

There are a lot of people who think that if you don't breed horses professionally, you shouldn't be breeding at all because your horse has a chance of ending up at the slaughterhouse, or you're being selfish by not saving a horse from the slaughterhouse and breeding yourself. I don't agree with this mentality; if you have very good reasons for breeding, specifically with the mindset of making sure your horse is valuable to someone else, then they hopefully will not end up at the slaughterhouse. 

I also don't think it is selfish to not rescue, rehabilitate, or buy a slaughterhouse horse. Yes, I know there are many horses who are perfectly good who are ending up being slaughtered, however you do have to consider that there might be a very good reason they weren't wanted. What if you go in with the intention of saving a horse and want a life-long partner, but you realize a week after bringing him home that he isn't mentally stable, or has a genetic disease like HYPP that can't be cured? You may have just made a huge mistake and may need to put him down. A huge heartache, waste of time and money.

Here is a good checklist for your mare; these are not definite deciding factors, but is the best guideline for first time breeders particularly to have all 8 as a yes.

1. Is she in good health?
2. Has she foaled before?
3. Is she registered?
4. If so, are you even interested in producing another foal with the same registry?
5. Has she had a 5-panel genetic test done?
6. Does she have good conformation?
7. Has your mare been shown? Successfully, unsuccessfully, or not at all?
8. Lastly, are you willing to produce a horse than you know someone else will want?

In the next part, I'm going to talk a little more about some other factors in determining whether your mare is actually suitable for breeding; this was more of a do you actually have good, substantial reasons for breeding.

All the pictures in this post are free stock photos found on pixabay.com or publicdomainpictures.net.