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Breed your horse

by Russ Vento

Let’s say you have a horse that has been good to you, and you don’t want to part with it. The next step is to breed it.

Some of our top amateurs are breeders as well. Let me state right up front that breeding horses is not an easy job. It’s a tough job, and it takes years of experience. Becoming your own breeder and developing your own style of horse takes more than just having the money to buy the best bloodstock and breedings to the most popular stallions. But it’s worth doing, it provides a lot of satisfaction, and done well, there is no greater way to benefit the breed.

A true breeder studies and discerns which bloodlines go well with which, and which individual horses complement each other. They talk to experienced, successful breeders, and look at the babies everywhere. All those things we talk about doing as an amateur or with your trainer—breeders do the same thing. It’s just in a different field. But one thing is clear; there is absolutely no reason that an amateur cannot make great contributions as a breeder.

It has been said that it is easier to get into breeding for halter than for performance. I wouldn’t say it is easier, because good conformation is about correctness, which ultimately is based on how a horse should be able to move and work. But you do learn how successful you are more quickly. You breed five babies, you know in a year how well you have done. For performance horses, it is a long range plan. It is five years before you know what you have bred. But that is all part of a breeding program, and it is the same for amateurs as it is for professionals.

For all of us who breed Arabians, our optimum goal is to produce a horse that can be a contender in both halter and performance. From a business standpoint, it works well to show yearlings in halter to sell them, or wait four or five years to break them to ride and show or sell—whatever suits your program.

Learning which horses match best with which is up to you. But learning the procedures of how it is done is today’s modern age of transported semen and other innovations can make the whole production a lot easier. I thought it might be helpful if I passed along some of the experience I have gained in more than 25 years as a breeding manager.

Before Breeding Season: Questions and Answers

Every veterinarian has his own way of doing things, and every stallion centre has its own procedures. Everything will run much more smoothly if you know what you are working with, so do your research ahead of time. Ask questions. Find out what your veterinarian wants to do: Do they want to do cultures, biopsies, reproductive exams, prior to breeding? If so, all of that should be done at least a month to six weeks prior to your anticipated breeding time. It needs to be done in advance so that your mare is good order; if she has an infection, you have time to clean it up. You also have time to determine your mare’s cycle.

Check with whoever handles the stallion of your choice to see what their schedule is. Do they ship Monday/Wednesday/Friday consistently throughout the year, or do they switch to Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday? What kind of notice do they want from you that your mare is ready and you need semen? Some farms require 24 hours’ notice, while others ask for 48. Also, the requirements can vary for air shipments.

Those All-Important Cycles

Another reason that you need to have at least a month to six weeks’ of preparation time is to learn your mare’s cycle It is extremely helpful if you use that time to tease her and track her cycle. Learn if she has a five-day cycle, an eight-day—whatever. And remember that cycles can depend on the time of year; the more sun, the shorter the cycle. If your mare is under lights, she is going to be reproductively more ready in February than a horse who is not under lights.

If you are planning to use lights to get your mare ready for early breeding, be sure to use them properly. Lighting works great on some horses; it is great for hair coats and great on cycling. Many of the veterinarians believe in it, because it does heat the horses up. But you have to put them under an extreme amount of light—almost stadium lighting, and those lights need to be on from 5:00 in the afternoon until at least 11:00 or 11:30 at night. Many people think you can leave them on three hours a day, but that’s not true. Horses need an additional eight hours of light a day.

If you are handling a stallion—lights work on stallions as well, but don’t forget that stallions who start early typically quit early.

Along the same lines, remember that mares and stallions in Scottsdale are going to cycle a lot faster than those in Minnesota (yes, stallions have breeding cycles). Traditionally, they will be very fertile until the heat of June and July, and then, in the high temperatures of summer, will sort of shut down. If they live in warm climates like, say, Scottsdale or Texas, they will not be as fertile at 120-degree temperatures as they would be if they lived in states where the thermometer was reaching only 80 or 90. They will get back on track in November. Knowing that, take into consideration the location of the horses, and time your mares around the stallion’s cycle.

Stallions: A Numbers Game, But How Do The Numbers Relate?

When you are inquiring about a farm or stallion station’s shipping schedule, it is wise to take into account the stallion’s capabilities. As a few questions, such as, what is the motility of the stallion at 24 hours?

Let me say right now, this is the prime topic that makes people freak—Oh my God, the semen is only at 50 percent motility! I can’t say this often enough: It only takes one.

Fifty percent motility is pretty good; 20 percent is good. But it does make a difference in your semen at 48 hours. What is the motility then, when you are going to inseminate? Again, don’t freak. Here is where knowledge and preparation come in. If the semen motility is 80 percent at 24 hours, which is good, but at 48 hours or 72 hours, it is 30 percent, plan for it. Get it on a plane.

In making sure that the stallion’s semen is useful for your mare, watch the numbers, but the motility percentages aren’t the only ones on your list. It takes a billion sperm cells to get a mare pregnant, but if you know the stallion’s motility is not fabulous, you ship two billion. You account for the numbers of sperm vs. the motility—and remember that it only takes one. Don’t look at the non-motile cells; look at the number of cells in your shipment. By balancing the numbers, you increase the odds that that one little swimmer will get where he is going and your mare will get pregnant. This means that you ask the question, Do you ship at a billion? Do you ship at two billion?

The most important thing in breeding is keeping the lines of communication open—and make sure the lines of communication include your veterinarian or stallion manager, because many owners don’t keep up with this sort of thing.

Another thing to remember is that on large breeding farms of stallions that are shipping on a regular basis, there are ways of not only getting a stallion’s libido up, but getting his sperm counts up. You can tease with the stallions, get them excited, collect them two hours later, and their count and volume go up. Stimulation gives them more volume and more sperm cells. Depending on the number of mares a stallion is shipping, that may not be necessary, but if he has a lot that he needs to send out, then it is helpful.

Just as you will know your mare’s cycle and schedule, a manager will know that information on the stallions he handles. He will know the stallion’s output because he keeps the stallion’s schedule. For instance, I’m a psycho-scheduler. I know that I’m going to breed our stallions at 9:00 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I know they are going to give me semen for six to eight mares. I’m fortunate enough to have large numbers of mares that we breed in-house or ship to, so there are days that I need semen for 10 to 12 mares. Maybe I have to collect a stallion twice, but I know from record-keeping their output and what they are going to do.

Learning this data is not just a result of knowing what a particular stallion did last year. Our stallions are all given reproductive exams in December. At that time, we collect them every day for a week, so we know their output and all the details of how each needs to be handled.

Handling Your Mare

If you tease your horse every day, you’re going to learn her cycle. Many mares don’t show heat, and many show really strong heat. If you know them every day, you will know these mares; you will notice a change and know when they are in heat.

Teasing is the key point to reproduction. I tease every morning. At 7:30, when I walk in the barn, I grab Justafire or one of the other young breeding stallions at the barn and we hit the road. I have one guy who’s been with me for 15 years and he goes with me.

You have to spend some time with your horses; it’s not just a matter of lifting the tail. You have to spend some time in “foreplay.” Many mares will break down, urinate and whatever, but they’re not necessarily in heat. You have to look for the signs of willingness and aggression. Also, many mares will lift their tail and wink, but not break down. If you see your mare on a regular basis, you will know that.

This might be a good place to mention that Saddlebred mares are not Arabian mares; they cycle differently. Saddlebred mares are traditionally low in thyroid. Many of those mares need to be on thyroid to help achieve pregnancy, especially as they get older. There are many things—Isoxuprine is a basel dilator, but it promotes blood flow. There are many studies which say that Isoxoprine, which is used for navicular disease, aids in increasing the blood flow to the uterus, which increases uterine health and helps achieve pregnancies in older mares. Another way to help problem breeders is the supplement Thyro-L, which helps to normalize the levels in older mares, making it easier for them to get pregnant. And still another aid is Performance Plus, a vitamin supplement that I use on all of our show and breeding horses. I mention this just to point out that if your mare isn’t the best breeding candidate, there are measures you can take to increase her chances, just as a stallion manager can work with the stallion to provide more support there too.

What Is Available If You Need It

As in everything, there is risk. You don’t breed a high risk mare to a high risk stallion; that’s just asking for trouble. But if you know your mare and you know your stallion and you’ve asked your questions, you know that. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but you probably need to go to a specialist. Otherwise, don’t get mad at the veterinarian or the stallion owner, because you knew the risk going into it.

We are in a day and age where embryo transfer is readily available, ocyte transfers are readily available, and I understand that there is a new procedure now where a single sperm cell can be extracted from a stallion and implanted into an egg, which is then implanted into a mare to achieve a pregnancy. This will open up a whole world of stallions that were frozen 20 years ago when the process was not as good as it is today. So our technology is going to bring back many of the great stallions that we haven’t been able to use for years.

As with humans who elect to go for in vitro fertilization, be prepared for the expense. Embryo transfer, excluding hauling and board, on average costs around $5,000. When you get into ocyte transfers (which I think are the wave of the future because the success rate is higher) the cost can be anywhere from $6,500 to $8,000. In this process, the egg is extracted from the mare and implanted into the recipient mare, who is then bred by the stallion. You know that you are actually getting the egg.

If you need them, these procedures are available. Our technology is so far superior to what it was years ago that in most cases there is not a reason that you cannot achieve a pregnancy It is recommended, however, that you think about it before you use them. Can you sell the resulting baby for enough money to make it financially feasible? Is your mare so important to you that just making it possible for her to have a foal is worth the cost?

Use common sense

In this multi-tasking society, we can breed, do embryo transfers, and show our horses all at one time. My opinion is that it is better if we don’t. When you are trying to get a horse pregnant, it is best if you just cruise with her. Try not to let a mare’s temperature go up; getting her hot, sweaty and frustrated is not beneficial when you are trying to get her pregnant. So make your plan. Don’t try to breed her and take her to the horse show at the same time, because that is added stress. Take the month off, get her safe in foal, and if you are going to show her, put her on Regumate (protect your investment), and then go back to the ring.

For anyone who would like to email questions, topics, or comments, I can be reached at info@battagliafarms.com. I’d love to hear from you.

Russell Vento Jr. has been involved in the Arabian industry for 25 years, and since 1989 has been a partner in Battaglia Farms. He was honored twice with APAHA Amateur Horseman Awards. To date, he has owned or shown 30 U.S., Canadian and National Show Horse national champions, and he now enjoys watching his daughter Skyler win on many of the horses with whom he was successful. He has been a Large R USAE/AHA judge since 1996.