first off your going to comment, be rude, and or not be helpful in any way, don't.
To the questions, i just bought my first registered horse, and first female horse, (both are the same horse, duh). Well, I was thinking of breeding her, later, she is 3yrs old, june22, 2007, almost 4.
1.how old should she be the first time she is bred?
i have only had geldings btw
2.how do i know when she in season?
she isn't broke, i am in the process of breaking and training her, but she does lead, for the most part, she dosen't like to leave her buddies, which i am working on with her, she is fine with a blanket and saddle being put on her and walking/trotting with it, haven't put much weight on her yet, but i'm moving to that step in the next week i hope.
3. Should i wait till she is well broke and trained, or does it matter since its a natural process?
4.is there anything else i should know about mares?
5. Where is the best place to find nice APHA studs (preformance and halter winners?) In texas?
I'm not really going to answer your questions because others pretty much covered them. But I am going to comment on you talking about it being a "natural process".
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
Sure you can turn a mare and a stallion out together and get a foal that way, but your mare WILL sustain some sort of injury (even a small one from it), the stallion will also DEFINITELY sustain an injury from it (a mare's tail lacerates a stallion's penis like a knife through butter). The mare could kick the stallion and break a knee, if the stallion is a biter he could bite her withers and do some serious damage ... It goes on and on.
So let's say you do decide to breed her and go the less natural route. Whether you do live cover in a controlled setting or artificial insemination (AI is the safest method for both humans and horses because you take out the hormone factor), 15 days after breeding the mare needs her first ultrasound to check for an embryo. And to make sure there aren't twins. If there are twins, the vet will pinch one off so that she'll only have one. If you don't do an ultrasound and your mare is pregnant with twins, you have a 95% chance that both twins will die and be aborted in about the 7th month. Not to mention the serious risks to the mare. Then you have a ton of other ultrasounds to make sure that the placenta looks normal. If it gets too thick you'll have problems.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com So now lets say you've done all the ultrasounding and everything and it's near the end of the pregnancy and your mare is bagging up. Once her milk turns a certain color and her udder is really full, it's time to start all night foal watch shifts. You can test her milk to give you an idea when she's going to foal, and it's cheap and easy, but most people just don't do it. But whatever. You also need to bring her into a nice big clean foaling stall . A clean foaling stall is the absolute best place for a mare to have her foal. When she is close to foaling, you need to watch her at night. Most mares foal out no problemo, but then there are a number of them that do have problems. She could have red bag, the foal could have a leg hung up on her pelvis, etc. Those could kill both mare and foal and are an easy fix if you are right there and know what to do.
Then let's say the mare delivers a foal with no problems. You have to make sure the foal passes meconium (first manure) and the mare passes the ENTIRE placenta within 3 hours. The foal should stand by about an hour, and star nursing by about two. Once the mare passes the placenta you have to get your hands dirty and spread it out and examine it to make sure none was retained or you are looking at a serious infection to your mare which could be life threatening. You also need a vet to run bloodwork on the foal when it's 12 hours old to determine if he's getting enough antibodies from moms milk. If he's not you'll have to either tube feed him or give him an $ 85 supplement. If that doesn't work or you don 't get his blood tested and he didn't get enough antibodies, you'll have to do a plasma transfusion which can easily cost $ 2000-3000. Foals can only absorb antibodies the first 24 hours of life so it is CRUCIAL to make sure they are getting them in that time frame or you'll have very expensive vet bills and/or a dead foal.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com There are about 20,000 other things that you need to know before you do this. People's biggest mistake is thinking this is easy, but it is most definitely not. If you care at all about your horses you will do all of this to make sure both mare and foal are healthy and it is EXPENSIVE. By pasture breeding or just letting nature take it's course, you are saying "Mare, I really don't care about you. I just want a baby from you and if it doesn't work out I'll get another from somewhere else and if you die Oh well. "
She should probably be about 4 years old though it depends on her physical and mental maturity.
You'll know when she's in season, or in heat, because you will see discharge coming from her ... other end. She may also be more moody. You can give a horse hormones to hold off going in heat until the right time and hormones to make a horse go in heat at the right time as well.
