Breeding question

[Steph G]

How common is it for mares to have a short heat cycle or not catch on the first try? My mare is at the breeders and she accepted the stallion one day. After that she wouldn't accept. She was being teased everyday before hand until she acted ready. I've never had a horse that only accepted one time and not again, but my experience is very limited and only with big horses.

She's had two babies in the past, one in april 06 and one in September 04. No past trouble foaling either. Last time I had her bred she was supposedly easy and was bred every day for seven days. she caught on the first try then too. Before that I don't know because I bought her in foal.

So, should I be worried or is this fairly common in breeding?

 

[lyn_j]

IDeal cycles are 3-5 days. Excessively long as I had with Indy twice this year proved not to be successful. I bred her 10 days till she wouldnt stand last summer. Nothing. We bred her again in may for 11 days, nothing. This month she was only in 4 days. Cheryl thinks this one will work. When a mare has an excessively long cycle the egg isnt maturing enough to realease ad there is then an extended corpus luteum. Will let you know in a couple of weeks if we got a baby cooking or not.

It only takes one breeding. Carbon is proof of that!

Lyn

 

[AppyHollow]

I had a mare like that in 2005. She would only let the stallion touch her the one day, tho she was in heat for a few days before. She had a gorgeous bay appy colt in April 2006. :aktion033:

 

[Steph G]

So, when you mentioned Carbon, did you mean that she only accepted one time?

I've always had fluzies(sp) I guess, because I've never had one to only accept one time and then be totally put off by the stallion after that.

 

[lyn_j]

She would have accepted I think but the stallion Breeze was young and he only hit the target once. Even with help he lost it before he hit the mark.... if you know what I mean.

Lyn

 

[Joanne]

In my experience the long 10 day cycles are not fertile. The very short ones at the height of summer are some of the best cycles.

Pasture breeding is always the most successful as the mare just might not know this new stallion and he has no time to court her. He just has time to "hit the target" and leave. It is stressful for both if they are new to each other.

A sonogram would have shown if she was ready, but as we all know, it only takes one time to get pregnant.

:

It is hard when you are not there and they are on another farm.

 

[Minimor]

I think the shortest time I've had a mare be in heat is 3 days. There were a couple years where I considered 5 days to be normal for certain mares, but one of those mares was in for a full two weeks this year. We bred her on days 3, 5, 9 and 11 and she apparently caught--she didn't come back on her 1st cycle after breeding, and in another week we'll know if she is going to come back on her 2nd one. The other mare that was always in for 5 days each time other years was in for 12 days this time. We bred her every 2nd day from day 2 on, and she is due to be checked back this weekend. I'll be very surprised if she comes back in.

We do have a couple other mares that routinely have long (10 to 14 days) cycles and have never found their long heat cycles to make them infertile. We usually start breeding them 3 or 4 days into their cycle & cover them every 2 or 3 days--and have had only 1 mare that needed to be bred a second time around. All the others have caught on their first cycle.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I have mares who do not show heat at all- I just have to guess and the stallion has to be REALLY canny!!

I have mares that cycles 5-6 days, mares that cycles 10-12 days and last year I had one mare cycle for 30 days straight.

All these heats were fertile, and resulted in a foal.

Whatever is right for the mare.

If you know your mare, it is only when the cycles are not normal for that mare- for example a normally three days mare suddenly has a fifteen day cycle- that these extended or short cycles are not fertile- there is no right or wrong here, only what is normal for each mare- just like the gestation time.

 

[Steph G]

Well that raises more questions I guess:

What would cause a mare to have a change in cycles?

could it be the change in environment?

Is it normal for a fertile mare to have infertile cycles?

 

[rabbitsfizz]

No it isn't.

It is 9 times out of 10 the stallion at fault, not the mare.

BUT there are also loads of reasons a mare might "miss"

Has she just had a foal??

Has she bred before??

Lots of other things can affect the mare.

 

[Gena]

We had a mare that would be bred only once in the spring/early summer and settled every time. Most of our mares though cycled longer and were bred for several days.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

In my experience for what it is worth I havent found the length of a cycle to determine how fertile the mare is.

I have one mare who like rabbits show no signs she ONE time showed to a stallion and that is one time in 7 years -he covered her that day and she had her one and only foal- has not shown a cycle since.

I have another mare who is normally a 15-18 day mare having gone as long as 21 days (ARGH) and she has settled no problem it must be heriditary cause her 2 yr old daughter is the same way with her avg being about 16 days.