Considering breeding a 7 yr old maiden mare but having never done so before, I'm curious what kind of expense you plan on (I use "plan" very loosely as I know things happen) or budget for when breeding your mares?  Am also curious on veterinary care that goes into the process - how often do you take them to the vet during the pregnancy and what for exactly?

I'll be honest, it isn't cheap. After 23 years of breeding barrel prospects, this is my last year. Here's a break down. Stallion fee, they aren't cheap for good stallions which is a must. Then their is the shipped semen charge, which is $300 or more. And if your mare doesn't take the first try, repeat that fee untill mare is safe in foal. Then there is the vet. Lets see, you have ultrasound charges, these may be more than once as your first ultrasound your mare might not be ready to breed. Ultrasound untill she is, might take a few times. Board at vets while he or she is getting your mare bred, fee's for vet to inseminate your mare, check your mare for ovulation, etc. That can run depending on the vet, $300 or more. Then you pray your mare took. Go back to vet in 14 days to get ultrasound & pray your mare is bred. If not, repeat vet process :(  If she gets bred the first time, you dance for joy. I usually had my mares checked 2 more times after she was in foal to make sure we have heartbeat & all is looking good. Then their is feeding the mare . The more baby grows, the more feed you feed. That price depends on what your paying in your area for hay & grain. After baby is born, then you pour more feed to mom & you start feeding foal . Then if you don't sell foal by the time he or she is 2, you will have the cost of sending horse to a trainer or if your a trainer, you will save on that charge. I myself am not a trainer, so mine went off to get started. It's a expensive process. Is it worth it, to me it was. I am so proud of all the ones I bred & sold who went on to win for their owners & most of all, the happiness I was able to give my buyers. I will miss the baby's & will cherish the last 3 that will be born this year, but it's time for me to say goodby. It has been a wonderful ride. Whatever decision you make, having a foal is the best. But look seriously at expenses. It's not cheap & with all thats going on in the world now, I am glad I am walking away. Hope I helped. 

It depends on how you're going to breed.  Live cover, on farm A-I, cooled fresh shipped semen, frozen semen, ICSI, least cost to most. The more you get away from the "normal" way that animals reproduce, the more it's going to cost.  

Least cost is live cover with a local stallion. 

Thank you for posting this, I've had some of the same questions. 

I wasn't going to rebreed my mare this year, but it's looking like I won't be getting to many races this year so I think I'll spend the money to breed. 

I've never shipped semen, I've always lived covered, or last year I took my mare to the clinic where the stud was and they collected and AI'd there. 

To be honest I paid the bill and didn't pay attention to the itemized charges. 

I understand there are chute fees & shipping charges, if your mare doesn't catch the 1st time do you pay for chute & shipping fees each time you try and breed?

Does the semen get shipped directly to the vet, or will I have to go to the airport and take it to the vet? 

See answers above. 

Breed Fee: $0-9,500

Shipping: $300

Vet AI: $500

Mare care for 1.5 years: $2,250

Total cost for foal assuming a $2,000 breed fee: $5,000+.  Value of the foal $3,500.  Just buy one instead.  

One mare I AI'd to last year

Stud fee $1500

Fees to AI $550

But had another mare tear after foaling so another $1500 

 Costs could really vary

I bred two mare at Weatherford Equine last year. Vet fees for one were about $300; for the other were $900.  A lot just depends on how your mare cooperates.  That included collection fees for the stallions (both stood there). 

If you can go to the farm where the stallion stands, that will save money (as a rule).

I bred my mare last year. It's my first and only breeding just because I'm not the kind who can sell horses and if I kept breeding I'd have way too many!  Anyways it's been quite the experience. My mare did awesome and took the first time. My vet and vet clinic are amazing and offer breeding packages which made it so easy for me! Since mare took the first try I thought I was on east street. Then at about 270 days she had a little bit of discharge. We did blood work and some extensive ultrasounds and found a slight infection. That was the end of January. She's been on antibiotic twice a day and regumate daily. My vet has also been doing bloodwork every other week. So I've had $1000+/month vet bills the last two months. I am less than a week from taking her to the clinic to foal out and now my nerves are really getting to me. I'm super nervous for my mare and just hoping it goes okay and she has an easy delivery.   Hoping it all works out okay and if I get a healthy foal and a healthy mare I will say it was all worth it.

I had our mare bred last year, took 2 tries then our mare lost her foal at 7 months :((

Breeder offered to put us on the list again this year but I don't think we will do it. It was a lot of effort to get her bred and we were so excited but if we do it again for what it costs I could buy a nice prospect. Hope it works for you babies are a lot of work but a rewarding process.

my soul....

So quick run down:

Where I work, this is what we charge, and a basic what to expect:

first visit- cycle check  palp/US ($28) determine if in heat or not. If maiden, may skip culture ($60ish), if not a maiden, culture, +/- biopsy ($100ish) if mare has a hx of subfertility

if shes out of heat, you can short cycle with either lutalyse or estrumate ($20-30ish)

Then it'll probably take at least 3-4 ultrasounds to follow her cycle and breed ($28 ea)

Then when you order semen the mare gets a shot of deslorelin (heavy edema, 35+mm follicle) which is another idk $20-26

Artificial insemination fee $45

post breeding ultrasounds to check for ovulation and fluid ($28 ea)

If she has any reaction to semen or pooled fluid she will need lavages and/or oxytocin $60ish for all of it

daily board at the clinic for about 5 days $150

Long story short, if your mare does everything right things can be quick fast and cheap. If your mare has problems, reacts to semen, pools fluid, etc.. it can get expensive. It's all up to the mare and what she's going to do. How she's going to cooperate. We tell clients to estimate $300-600 per cycle to get their mare bred.  

I'm currently in the process of breeding a maiden mare. Last mare I bred was 7 years ago, she was a maiden also. Long story short, I've gone to the vet 5 times in 2 weeks to track her cycle. Each visit is running me about $80. That includes ultrasound and sedation (because she isn't a fan of the vets hand up her butt). Her follicles are moving at the speed of molasses but you have to keep checking so you don't miss your window. Finally this morning we had a 38mm follicle so we made the call the ship the semen. I'll go back in the morning once it arrives and they will AI her. To break it down, I'm looking at about $500 in vet fees after tomorrow. I'm just praying it goes smoothly and in 14 days we will have an embryo! 

I just got back from 4th trip to vet this week.  Twice ultrasound to track follicle and twice to AI.   I do have p!enty of time on my hands and I do like my vet a lot, but I really hope not to see him every day next week.