For those that have bred older maiden mares, what is the oldest you have bred successfully?  Is 22 too old?  She has been retired for a few years now but never had her legs ran off.  The mare in question carries good weight and hes never had any serious soundness issues.  

I am also curious how mares have returned to competition have carrying a foal?  Not just to competition, but the same level of... (I am not looking to return the older maiden mare to competiton, but wondering how breeding my younger, unproven mare might hinder her performance down the road)

Your thoughts/experience? 

This isnt a one or the other type decision, but looking at both individual cases - if that makes sense. 

You can tell alot from a repro evaluation on the older mare.  The odds are certainly against you, but crazier things have happened.  

Sometimes mares come back to competition just fine, and sometimes they dont.  Pregnancy has risks and lots of mares die or are injured during foaling.  

My broodmares are just that. Broodmares. I really don’t think that they ever get back to the level they were runniing.8

On the older mare, unless the mare has a really outstanding pedigree, I would not breed her. Sometime older mares don’t catch on the first time. Heck, any of them may not catch on the first time. Shipping and vet bills can be pricey. Unless you have facilities for handling babies a lot can happen in the first two years and then you have something you can never ride.  One other thing, you have at least 3 years before you can even thinking about riding one and about 6 until they are really performing.

22 YO Maiden mare may go completely fine, may be a huge disaster. Won't know until you try.  May as well try, that way you will know for sure. Just be OK and prepared to spend more money than on a young maiden and it may not be successful. I would definitely be very selective on the stallion you choose and I would pick one that is known for being pretty dang fertile that ships well. 

Having one foal I would expect a mare who is otherwise sound to be able to go back to their previous level of work.  I did that with one of mine, gave her a year off and had a foal. Came back to the same level.  

As far as the young unproven mare... Physically she would probably be fine. But take into account that carrying a foal is going to prolong the time until shes in the arena competing, that may impact the value of her foal if you are going to try and sell it with the dam being unproven.  Once her foals are old enough to compete (5years from conception is the soonest) it may no longer matter if she has no record on herself.. but if her babies don't go out and win pretty soon, you're going to be fighting having an unproven mare with no winning foals- which may make it even harder to sell them. If that makes sense. ON the other hand, if you give her a year, she has a foal, and then she ends up winning in the arena, someone may want to snatch that foal up. 

I've bred mares I was running, gave them time off to be a mom and put them back into competition again.  I don't recall thinking it was a mistake.  So they must have done well. 

I think it's an individual decision on how long to breed them.  As long as they are in good shape with no abnormal physical challenges, I don't see why not breed them.  Many mares end up just not getting back in foal long before they are too old to care for a baby.  There are risks. But there are always risks.  Like I said usually the mare says when she's done.  You say when you're done spending money to get them in foal. Because most older mares need a bit of help with fluid, etc... 

It is very important to find a GOOD repro vet to evaluate your mare. Find one who specializes in reproduction. 

We had a maiden we bred at 20 and caught first time---her first foal was a peanut though, teeny tiny thing. Grew up fine though with no issues. As stated, need to have mare checked to see if she is even cycling. For us, once a mare is put in broodmare band they are never ridden again and have a home for LIFE---PERIOD. Have never sold a broodmare, once they are good to us--we are good to them in return and they all die here.

Yep. I've bred several maiden older mares with no problems.  They usually have a normal size or small foal and thrive from there. 

Whenever you breed mares, eventually you will have an unfortunate thing happen.  It's  why breeding horses is not for the faint of heart.  One 20 year old mare I bred for someone last year on one cycle, had a foal this year but it died before she found it.  Whether it was still born or died because of something that happened after being born is unknown.  It was a very sad thing. 

I am going to risk a late age breeding next year. I finally looked at my mares papers and she is 2 years younger than I thought. So, breeding at 24 for a 25yo birth. But she has consistently had foals every other year (have not gotten her to settle ever with a foal at her side). She's going to a very experienced breeder who is good with the older mares, and she will be live covered which to me is more important than about anything else with her.

My hubb looked at me a little concerned when I talked to him about this breeding. I reminded him that our two orphans have been with a 6yo mare and a 12yo mare. My older broodie birthed very easily this past spring and actually held her weight a little better with this one than the previous two or three. 

For a maiden at 22 I think the breeding evaluation is worth it's weight in gold. It's not going to tell you 100% that you can get a foal, but it will tell you 100% that you won't so you can move on without investing thousands in the rest of the breeding fees. 

I wish I had the nerve to breed Two.  I would never sell, y'all know me.  I'd just like to have her "presence" around for years to come.  But I'm too scared I'd lose her or the baby or both.  I'm a sissy, I know.  (She's 19, had one foal when she was around 6 or 7.)   Really love this black heifer and just can't pull the trigger on doing it. . . . I'm that faint of heart person. . .