Breeding Period in Horse:

Almost all horse owners like the idea of breeding their mares, if they have any.



If the mare is of a good breed, the owners are always eager to produce foals that would inherit the good qualities of their mother. However, it is important to know all about the breeding of horses before you take on this challenge. It is also important to know about the mating seasons, the gestation period, and the caring of a foal before you begin breeding your horses. If this is your first time in breeding your horses, it would be a good idea to get professional help.



However, once you have the experience of caring for a mare and a foal during pregnancy and after delivery, you will feel confident in undertaking subsequent pregnancies. It is important to note that all mares have a typical breeding season. This is a natural cycle and works on the principle of temperature and daylight. During the seasons when the days are longer, the reproductive hormones are triggered in the mare.

During this period, the mare is in heat and is ready to mate with a suitable stallion. The breeding season is typically in the spring time and continues throughout the summer time. However, with the onset of autumn, the mares stop experiencing heat and will only be ready to mate in the next spring time. However, it is possible to induce heat artificially by increasing the amount of light the horse receives.

You should ideally plan to have a foal during spring because that is the time when there is the most amount of grass available for a mare’s grazing. A typical pregnancy in a mare lasts for about 11 months; therefore, you can plan the mating accordingly.
Not every home bred colt makes a good stallion. Fortunately, if you want to breed your mare, you can choose from the many stallions that are available commercially. Colts usually need expert handling for them to be raised into stallions, and not everyone can do that.

Fillies usually sexually mature when they are about eighteen months old. By the time they are two years old, they are ready to breed. Mares can also keep breeding late into their lives. When a mare is pregnant, there are no physical changes for the first eight months of the pregnancy. However, there is significant enlargement of the abdomen in the last three months. The enlargement of the abdominal region is not apparent in mares that have previously given birth till the mare is ready to give birth.