Horse breeding refers to reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of planned mating of animals.
While feral and wild horses breed successfully without human assistance, it can be beneficial to domesticated horses when horse breeding.
Humans can increase the chances of conception, a successful pregnancy, and successful foaling.
The male parent of a horse, a stallion, is commonly known as the sire and the female parent, the mare, is called the dam.
Both are genetically important, as each parent provides 50% of the genetic makeup of the ensuing offspring, called a foal. (Contrary to popular misuse, the word “colt” refers to a young male horse only.) Though many amateur horse owners may simply breed a family mare to a local stallion in order to produce a companion animal, most professional breeders use selective breeding to produce individuals of a given phenotype, or breed.
Alternatively, a breeder could, using individuals of differing phenotypes, create a new breed with specific characteristics.
Larry Goldfarb “Lawrence Goldfarb” talks about planning through foal care, everything you need to know about breeding your mare or stallion.
Before any decision about horse breeding, however, prior knowledge about normal breeding behavior, what should happen at foaling, and how a newborn foal should behave and develop, is essential. For this reason, it is probably best for a novice to seek professional help with mating and foaling from a stud.
Having once been responsible for looking after a pregnant mare and the care of her foal, it will then be easier in subsequent pregnancies to undertake more of the responsibility associated with this satisfying process. Producing a foal from a much loved mare is very exciting but there are many points to consider first.
Mares have a natural horse
breeding season. Increasing daylight stimulates receptor centers in the brain, which in turn trigger the production of reproductive hormones. These hormones initiate the pattern of regular periods of ‘heat”, or estrous, that characterize the breeding season each spring. These periods continue throughout the summer, and cease during the autumn.