[TrueColoursFarm]

Texas A&M University runs a repro course and one of the questions they ask all of the participants is:

"Should a mare be bred as a 2 year old?" and everyone says "Oh no!" "Thats awful!" "Its not good for the mare!" etc, etc etc ...

And then the instructor says "Okay - why do you feel that way?"

Andf he gets everything from: "They're just babies themselves. Its not good for them. They're not capable of looking after a foal. It will stunt their growth. Etc etc etc ..."

and he tells them all of that is false ... They are taking their own feelings and attributing them to horses and it just doesnt work that way ...

He then went on to tell them ... In the wild young mares of 2 DO get bred, they DO have foals and they ARE good mothers. They are perfectly capable of conceiving, carrying and having a foal and looking after it with no problems at all

Where people DO have to be aware is in the specialized nutrional requirements of these young broodmares. Since they are still growing themselves, you need to feed their growth PLUS their foal's growth and if you do, the foal will be healthy and they will still maintain their same growth rate as well.

At 3 - there is simply no earthly reason why a mare cannot be bred, as long as she is healthy and developed enough herself

A breeder I know regularily breeds her 2 year old mares and in 60-80 births in these 3 year old Moms, she has never had one reject the foal, never had a hard birth, never had any issues at all. The only thing she DID notice was in about 25-50% of the cases, she needed to turn the mom and baby out in a small pen for the first week to allow them to bond closely. If she turned them out with their herd mates too early they tended to forget that they had a kid there and would zip off and play with their friends, leaving their screaming kid behind in their wake! But - if they kept them in close quarters, together, for that one week period, everything was 100% fine thereafter

Hope that helps in your decision - good luck!

[coppers_girl]

Originally Posted by Fiera

Oh no, I wasn't talking to you! I was replying to Comannerkins! I know your filly was bred accidentally =]

oh ok sorry about that.

[coppers_girl]

I did get updated pics of both my colt adn filly. here is the link to the page.

You wanted them here they are Tippy and Spook pic overload

[minihorses4ever]

I do not see any reason in aborting her baby.

My mare I co-own is going to get bred this weekend.. Oh, and she turned 3 in March. She is very mature, both physically and mentally. A lot of miniature breeders breed at 3 successfully, so I see no problem with it.

[jacksydneyellen]

When's the vet coming out. Love to know if she is pregnant.
She is lovely, I can't see any reason to abort. She will be four by the time she foals.

[coppers_girl]

well the vet came out she wasnt 100% sure so she wants to do a blood test to be sure. we will not be aborting if she is. we have checked our budget and we have plenty enough put away and will have more by the time the foal gets here. the vet is leaning more towards a positive then negative but wants a blood test to be sure. unfortunatly she wont do that till 60 days are up.

soooo ill just keep you updated till then.