Wednesday, July 29, 2009

How old is too old to breed?


Answers:
This depends a lot on the individual mare- her general health, her reproductive health, and what breed she is. I once knew an Arabian mare who had 19 foals in her lifetime- and the last one was foaled when she was 26 !! I have also known other mares who had foals up into their early 30's. Mares can have foals into their 20's and 30's, as long as they are cared for properly and can get enough to eat. I would check with your vet if you have an older mare that you want to breed- sometimes, older mares have trouble conceiving and holding on to pregnancies. But keep in mind that there are lots of older competition mares who retire in their teens and then go on to have successful careers as broodmares- one of the most famous examples of this that I can think of is the great eventing mare Bally Cor, who didn't have her first foal until she was almost 20. She later went on to have at least 6 foals, all of which survived. These foals have now had foals of their own in some cases-one of the horses that is currently in the stables of eventers David and Karen O'Connor is a granddaughter of Bally Cor, and she, like her grandmother, has had a long and successful career. So there really is no set age for retirement for broodmares- it's up to the individual mare and her owners.
It depends, some can go later than others, you can have a breeding soundness exam done to check if the particular mare can still breed or not.
Really there is no set age as to how old is to old to breed. My horses mom was 23 i do believe and she was still having baby's. She died after she had her last one but of natural causes. I think the age just depends on the person(s) wanting to breed them
It really depends on a the horse.
A brood mare will be bred until she is about 22 years old.
Alot of horses can be bred at 22, but all of the older horses i have known didn't even go into heat after they turned 22.
I had a 22 year old Arab who the vet said it would be ok to breed her, it just may have taken a few good years off her life. Yet Arabians age much slower.
I wouldn't advise breeding a 22 and up QH, but i would say you could breed a 22 year old Arab, Morgan, or TB. They seem to just handle age better.
But i would say personally, the cut off is 22
Some brood mares would happily keep having babies until they were 30 if they could, but I'd say that after 20 or so you shouldn't breed them. Around that time they start to feel the effects of their age. Their teeth start to wear down more, which makes proper nutrition difficult in some horses, and if you can't keep weight on them they wouldn't be able to support a baby either. Also in their 20s horses can get arthritis or joint pain. A lot of extra baby weight can make that pain worse as well.
I would say, at the age of 13 or 14 if they dont do anything. If they are a sport horse or you ride them I would say the oldest is about 12. It is hard on them to have a foal at an old age because their bones are getting worn out and they shouldnt have to carry a baby around.
i will not breed a mare after the age of 15, i will not breed a stud after the age of 16.. but that is me. some times i will break the rule. but only in a few cases.
I wouldn't want to breed any horse over the age of 20. by then, their body's will start to slow down and break down. they will need all the nutrition they can get for themselves to keep themselves healthy. I don't really care about stud breeding, as long as they seem up to it why not? but for a mare i wouldn't make her go over 20. when a horse is 20 years old, for us it is like over 60 almost. some mares in good health might be okay to go to 25, but i have a vet check them over first. many heavy breeds are okay to breed past 20 (shires, clydesdales) and sometimes shetland ponies are ok to breed to. and like everyone else says so far, arabians. really the ideal time to breed a mare is between the age of 7-8 and 15-16
Def get a BSE (breeding soundness exam) and have a vet tell you what is best for your mare. I know a mare that is 29 and had her last baby 3 years ago. She is still cycling and drives the geldings crazy! No more breeding for her as she has some joing problems, but if that were not the case they might still be breeding her.
My mule who died this January was 45 and was also still cycling. Of course she was not ever bred, but we used her at the university as a teaser and mount for some pony studs.
In My opinion it is never tooo old to quit breeding the mares.. When they wont come in foal anymore is when it is time to retire. I volunteer at a barn and I witnessed a birth from a 25 year old and she gave better birth than the younger mare. basically the more seasoned they are the more they deal with the birth on their own... it is always amazing when the 25 year handled the baby when the younger mare had nothing to do with the baby at first... The opinion is totally up to you though.
there is alot of krazy answers here my mom manages a breeding ranch so here i go... horses are in there prime of breeding when there from the ages of 5 to 13 but if the mare is checked out by a vet and healthy then u can breed up to the age of 25. if the mare was tooken care of in her breeding in her younger ages then she should b fine.. like only breed every other year or given the right supplements. there is a mare that is still producing champion horses that is 23 she is greatly tooken care of and has healthy babies every year.. i hope that helps
It overall depends on the fitness of the mare, and what mental condition she is in. Some mares who are already being stand-offish, you don't want to breed.
The normal age limit is around 25. Most broodmares don't breed until they get to the age of 21, 20, etc. But as i said before it depends mostly on your mare.
it depends if the mare has been bred before. you wouldnt want to run the risk breeding a 20 year old maiden mare. but a 20 year old that has had several babies is just fine.
Deffinently in the 20...we once had some people breed their horse to our stallion when it was 19 when it turned 20 durring pregnancy. the horse died while it was having the baby. So I wouldnt breed pass then.
It depends. There are some horses in their 20's who would be perfectly fit to give birth, and some horses in their teens would not be. It really just depends on the horse. It's best to have a vet check done to make sure the mare is healthy and fit to breed. That way, you can hopefully eliminate or prevent a lot of problem that might occur during pregnancy, and hopefully won't end up with an aborted foal.
Somewhere around 23 y/o give or take a couple of years, a mare quits producing eggs. When your horse cannot get pregnant any more, I would say this is too old to breed.

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