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Member
Posts: 24
| I have a 14 yr old qh mare. She is currently legged up and waiting for the snow to melt so we can start hauling again! She's an awesome little mare, in amazing shape, has never had an off day (you know, all that great stuff we like to say about our horses...) But I have a filly coming up through her futurity year, and am figuring this will be Tulsa's last year running. I was hoping to turn her out and let her do her thing, and I would really really like a baby out of her. Now some dink was talking at me at work the other day (you know one of those guys who thinks he knows everything...) and started to lecture me on how Tulsa is too old to be carrying babies and since she has never had one, she won't catch and even if she does, I'll probably lose her/baby/both when she delivers. He stood there for literally 40 mins telling me all these horror stories of the mares he has cut in half and lost and babies he's pulled out blah blah blah. He ticked me off to say the least... I'm not an idiot. And I'm not that back yard barrel racer who doesn't know what it means to be running real good horses. But now my imagination is running wild...
LONG STORY SHORT, what are your thoughts? Am I too late? I always went with mares because geldings are just pasture ornaments when they're done. By the time Tulsa delivers, I'll be ready to bring another one up, and hoping my filly will be (close to) finished by then. The timing is perfect. Am I asking for trouble? |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
 
| She would probably be just fine. Many mares have been older than that and have successfully carried and delivered healthy foals. |
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 Living on the edge of common sense
Posts: 24138
 
Location: Carpenter, WY | I'd just smile and tell him he's full of BS as I walked away 
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 Heeler Hoarder
Posts: 2067
| You are always taking a risk breeding a mare no matter the age. Fourteen isn't old at all. If you want to breed her go for it, just know their is a chance something could go wrong but whos to say a freak accident wouldn't take her away from you anyways. Its all in how you look at things. Get a breeding exam and her cultured and I don't see any reason why she would be hard to get in foal. Good luck in whatever you decide :) |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| Honestly, I'd say she's about perfect in age myself. I think she's old enough to have proven herself and young enough to still keep up with a baby. It's all a risk, but I don't think her age is affecting her chance at all. Good luck! |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | Were his eyes brown?
I bred my mare for the first time in 2011 when she was 13. She'd been having soundness issues and it was so hard to keep her running even though she still had the fire in her gut and wanted to be hauled. I decided to quit while she was still fairly healthy. I had her AI'd and she took on the first try and gave me a beautiful bratty filly. I tried breeding her again in 2012 but she didn't take. I don't think it was anything to do with her age. We had a really weird spring and I knew a lot of people that had trouble with open mares along with tons of ranchers that had trouble getting their cattle to settle. I tried again in 2013 and she took again the first try. She's now as big as a house, getting really crabby and waiting for April. I have no desire to have a ton of babies out of her so I'm not planning on breeding her back this spring. I think I'll give her a year off and then breed to her my friends stud. |
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 Peat and Repeat
Posts: 2773
Location: IN MY OWN LITTLE WORLD AT LEAST THEY KNOW ME HERE |  What teehaha said 
But IMO make it worth her while n ur money n spend the money on a really NICE stud to put that nice mare n front of
Edited by Yakima 2014-02-06 4:24 PM
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Member
Posts: 24
| Thanks a bunch guys! You're echoing exactly what my thoughts were originally... She's got the proven record, she's still fit, I've got the money for a real nice stud... Obviously the vet is going to make the final judgement, so at the end of this season we'll take her over and start baby planning! I also don't want a million babies out of her, one to carry the line would be nice. After that, she gets to go be a horse!
He just really made me doubt my ideas. I've seen people race and breed into their 20's. I feel its entirely dependent on the individual. I'll be sure to avoid him and all his "wisdom!" |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | I bred my good mare at 12, and plan on legging her back up after she foals this year. she will be 13. I hope to run her a few more years after that before I breed her.
we have another mare who is 19, has had one foal, and we want to breed her next year. she's the only one I'm holding my breath about, just because she will be 20 when she is bred and 21 when she foals. |
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 Damn Yankee
Posts: 12390
Location: Somewhere between raising hell and Amazing Grace | Breeding at 2 years old, 7 years old, 14, or 20 is ALWAYS a risk!
Just do your homework, you can have her vetted prior to breeding though even that won't garuantee anything. But if she is healthy then she's no more at risk then any other mare.
I had to retire my mare at 12/13 years old and will be breeding her in a few months. This will be her second foal. |
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