are 2 year old colts ready to breed?

[RobinRTrueJoy]

I bought a beautiful2 year old colt this spring as I sold my stallion. His testicles are decended but seem small.( sorry for the graphic speak). He is certainly interested in breeding though.

I know its June, but I feel that people aren't interested in a mare that isn't bred. So I am thinking about breeding him to 2-3 mares and hoping that it takes.

I have never bred one that is so young. What do you think about using him? Have you used 2 year old colt? Was the breeding successful and did the mares get pregnant?

Thanks!

Robin

 

[ThreeCFarm]

Some two year olds (I'm guessing most, anyway!) can get mares in foal. Heck, some yearlings can, that is why most people don't keep yearlings in with the mares, LOL. Anyway, I have used a two year old once and he did get his mare in foal on the first breeding.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

He CAN, but shouldn't. His behavior will be much better long term if he waits another year until his three year old season, and then just give him a few. Four year old and older he can handle almost anything you can throw at him. At five he'll be sexually mature.

 

[Charlotte]

We've found most 2 year olds can breed just fine. Not a heavy book of mares, but a few spaced out. Just be sure the horse is well trained in his ground manners and that his training continues so that he remembers that breeding isn't the only thing he's going to be doing for the rest of his life.

Charlotte

 

[targetsmom]

I asked on the forum last year (sorry, I searched and can't find the post!) about breeding a two year old stallion and lots of people posted their experiences. Based on those (mostly positive) responses, we decided to breed our 2 year old stallion to one mare (our only choice really). She lost the foal at 9 months, but I doubt it had anything to do with him. We were also showing him, and he actually did better after we used him for breeding! Now, of course, this was just our experience, but we did base it on what other forum members had said. Maybe some of those folks will add their own experiences here.

 

[Leeana]

I have a two year old stallion and he will be breeding one mare this year, now, he is also not being shown and he is very mentally and physically mature luckly. I feel he can handle a mare or two with ease, so i think it just depends on your stallion. If you have a yearling that is still a "kid at heart", that might be different.

.

 

[Matt73]

Yep. Teddy bred two mares last June and now has a little filly on the ground. He turns three in four days. He is well-mannered and happy. Royal is two and just bred his first mare. No change in behaviour whatsoever. Breeding a couple of mares with a two year old colt, and handled by experienced handlers is not going to turn a him into a maniac. JMHO.

 

[stormy]

Just be aware when selling some buyers hesitate to purchase a mare bred to a stallion who does not have permanent papers yet. I know I have been burned more than once because foals can not be registered until the sire is brought permanent for AMHR and for AMHA if the parents are not both permanent when you apply for permanent papers on your horse at 5 yrs of age, your horse will be refused and suddenly your temporary papers are worth nothing, your horse becomes grade.

 

[Marty]

are 2 year old colts ready to breed?

 


I'm counting on it

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

It is not a smart thing to do. You are far better not rushing things and giving them a little more time to mature. Its amazing how EVERYONE's colts are so well behaved... going to shows and seeing them and watching them handled seems to say otherwise.

 

[Magic]

I've used several different two year old stallions for breeding, just a very limited number, say two or three, maximum, but they've done fine, settled mares, and went on to be very nice stallions in the years to follow.

I do have a comment on the selling mares bred though; I agree with Stormy about the papers, and I also have declined to buy bred mares in the past that I really would have wanted, when they were bred too late in the year for me and I just did NOT want to be watching a mare to foal when foaling season should have been over here. It interferes with show season and so much else. If I like a mare I'd usually much rather buy her open and breed her to a stallion of my own choosing, to foal during a time of year that works best for me. Just another perspective for you.

 

[bevann]

We have had virgin 2 year old stallions we used for limited breedings.We made certain his first encounter was with a very gentle mare who was very receptive to being bred and would not hurt the young guy and give him a bad experience. We hand bred the mare and made certain he acted like a gentleman.His first experience should be pleasant so he will want to do this again. If you are a small farm he should be able to handle several mares if the breedings are spaced out.Have you had a semen(sperm) analysis done to see if he is fertile now?This is a good idea since you may waste your breeding season if he is not yet fertile.

 

[Songcatcher]

Just be aware when selling some buyers hesitate to purchase a mare bred to a stallion who does not have permanent papers yet. I know I have been burned more than once because foals can not be registered until the sire is brought permanent for AMHR and for AMHA if the parents are not both permanent when you apply for permanent papers on your horse at 5 yrs of age, your horse will be refused and suddenly your temporary papers are worth nothing, your horse becomes grade.

True for AMHR, but not exactly correct for AMHA. In AMHA, if either parent is 5 or older and not yet permanent, the foal cannot get papers, BUT, if the foal has temporary papers before the parents turn 5, it will not be refused permanent papers because the parents were not brought permanent.

 

[Jill]

I've bred mares to two year old stallions before, and it's not negatively effected the stallion (one of whom is now a pleasure gelding of mine). Last year, as a 2yo, DunIT was able to get three mares in foal

 

[stormy]

Songcatcher

In my experiance that is incorrect, I was refused permanent papers on a stud already temp registered and DNA'd because his sire was not made permanent. Unless the policy has changed if the parents are not permanent the offspring will not be granted permanent papers. I gelded one very fine stallion because of this and could only register the offspring of his I had AMHR. I will no longer purchase in foal mares bred to a stallion that does not have permanent papers and DNA.

(Especially if I know the owner is selling out!)

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have never, not once, known breeding a two year old, done correctly of course, to damage the animal mentally or physically.

I have always treated my two year olds as breeding animals, and shall continue to do so.

This, of course, is not just Minis, but also with the Welsh and Arabs, when I had them.

Teaching a two year old colt to mind his manners is a good thing, after all, and I have never had a two year old that was not "up to the job" as it were

I will quite happily, over a summer, put a colt on four or five mares, that way I will have a good cross section of foals to tell his worth by, the next year.

On this I will judge whether or not he stays entire, as, no matter how good the horse is, if he cannot throw it he is pointless.

So I would go ahead and use him, there is no reason why he should not be ready, and no reason why he should not be fertile.

 

[barnbum]

I'm counting on it

Marty--what exactly do you mean by that statement? Hmmm????

I also used my stallion for breeding when he was 2. I only have two mares I breed every other year. I prefer the mares teach him what he needs to know about all that. They know what they're doing.

 

[Becky]

This is off topic, but in regards to Stormy's answer to Songcatcher:

SongcatcherIn my experiance that is incorrect, I was refused permanent papers on a stud already temp registered and DNA'd because his sire was not made permanent. Unless the policy has changed if the parents are not permanent the offspring will not be granted permanent papers. I gelded one very fine stallion because of this and could only register the offspring of his I had AMHR. I will no longer purchase in foal mares bred to a stallion that does not have permanent papers and DNA.

It is NOT necessary for the parents of an AMHA registered horse to be brought to permanent status before it's offspring can go permanent. However, to register a new foal with temporarily registered parents, then yes both parents would need to go permanent, if they are 5 years old before the foal can be issued registration papers. The registration status of previously registered horses would have no bearing on the registration status of already registered foals unless there would be some kind of parentage question.

Back on topic, I would certainly use a 2 yr old stallion for breeding if he were ready, willing and able!

 

[Songcatcher]

Songcatcher

In my experiance that is incorrect, I was refused permanent papers on a stud already temp registered and DNA'd because his sire was not made permanent. Unless the policy has changed if the parents are not permanent the offspring will not be granted permanent papers. I gelded one very fine stallion because of this and could only register the offspring of his I had AMHR. I will no longer purchase in foal mares bred to a stallion that does not have permanent papers and DNA.

(Especially if I know the owner is selling out!)

Are you sure you are not confusing A with R? Although I have not actually read it in the rules, I know I have been told that if you get a foal registered with A before its parents temporary papers expire, that they will be able to keep their papers as long as they do not go over. In a few minutes on the Studbook, I was able to find several permanent registered horses who had one parent whose papers had been revoked.

 

[Suzie]

We have a 2YO stallion that we plan on breeding for out one and only foal for 2009. We planned on skipping a year but we hope to use this junior stallion as our main breeding stallion in 2009 and don't want to wait until then to see what he can do.

But I do have one question also. He is AMHA/AMHR. He will be 3 YO (and I plan on bringing him perm in AMHR) 04/29/09. We will be introducing him to our 4 YO mare later this month for breeding. I know the AMHR stallion has to be 3 and perm before registering a foal. Question is will they consider him 3 YO on 4/29 or 1/1/09? I figure any foal will be born after his actual 3rd BD but just curious.

All our stallions in the past have been AMHR permanent before we bred them.