horse breeding

Horse breeding  has fascinated and given pleasure to people for thousands of years. From the careful selection of broodmares and stallions, to the joy at the birth of a new foal horse. It is the reason we have so many distinctive breeds, fitted for a whole spectrum of purposes.

As well as employing careful selective procedures horse breeding increasingly incorporates modern genetic and reproductive technologies, including genetic testing and artificial insemination. The Horse Breeding Site is a gateway to various articles on various aspects of horse breeding, where visitors can share their experiences, discuss ideas and learn from other horse breeders.

For anyone interested in horse genetics visit the Horse Genetics web site. You’re also welcome to leave questions on the horse genetics blog here (please remember I am busy, though I strive to get there as soon as I can!). There is also a new diploma in horse genetics. It is the first and only one in the world, taught by an experienced geneticist (25 years of research and teaching to doctorate level). It is especially suitable for anyone interested in horse breeding.

On this site there is much information about horse breeding, fromdeciding to breed your mare to issues and genetics and advance reproductive technologies, there’s something for everyone interested in horse breeding. There are also various blog spots, for discussing horse breeding, telling the world about your horses and learning from one another. Horse breeders are welcome to add posts, photos and videos on the blogs, to tell others about their stallions at stud, youngsters or broodstock for sale and upcoming foals. It’s also where you can discuss your goals and problems, or share your success story with other horse breeders. There are also blogs for horse breeding videos and to discuss your favourite horse breeding games.

More About Horse Breeding

Horse breeding has involved human-directed selection for thousands of years, and has given rise to many unique breeds all around the World. Many amateur horse breeders breed their favourite family mare to a local stallion. Professional horse breeders use careful selective breeding, and sometimes modern technology such as artificial insemination, to produce superior horses of their favourite breed, or for a very particular purpose.

Fit to survive: natures choice

Wild and feral mares are mated by the stallions with the strength and experience to have obtained a herd. The horses that bear foals – both the mares and the stallions – are the ones that have survived the vagaries of the environment, such as extremes of climate, food shortages, predators and sickness. The looks, behaviour and colours of mates are irrelevant. Likewise the suitability for competitive events: the only competition is for vital resources. Nature can be a harsh selector.

Domesticated horses are, hopefully, supplied with all the essentials of life. They don’t need to compete for food, and we help protect them from extreme conditions. There’s always water. There are usually stables and coats when it is cold, shade when it’s hot. We groom them and protect them from parasites. We vaccinate them against disease. Natural selection is tempered by our intervention. No longer is it necessary for the horse to avoid from predators to survive, when our fences and stables protect them. Generally horses aren’t kept malnourished, risking death every winter. Horses that become sick or wounded are referred to the vet, not abandoned to fend for them themselves.

 Fit for a purpose: the horse breeders choice

 That isn’t to suggest that domestic horses aren’t subject to selection, and yet the selection pressures tend to be those exerted by the horse breeders: it is artificial rather than natural selection. Mates are chosen carefully, in an effort to optimise the quality of the foals they produce, in whatever way the breeders decide to define quality. Those qualities are not necessarily relevant to survival in the wild, but fit the horse for a purpose, whether that is in the show-ring, on the racecourse or as the family trail horse.

Horse breeders select for horses with characters deemed desirable for a breed, type, competitive discipline or particular job. If they realise it this or not, they are producing horses of particular gene combinations for those desirable phenotypes. The phenotype is that which results from the genes a horse has, and their interaction with the environment. We typically think of it as the characters we can observe, perceive or measure, including “looks”, conformation, temperament, colour and pattern, athletic and other abilities. It also includes things such as disease and parasite resistance, heart and lung function, and various other characters which we may never actually know much about in any particular horse.

The origins of the domestic horse and horse breeding

The time and place where horses were first domesticated is unclear. Palaeolithic cave art from around 30,000 BC shows wild horses, which were hunted for meat. Recent evidence, announced in 2009, indicates that horses were used by the Botai culture in northern Kazakhstan, as long ago as 5,500 years ago. Additional evidence suggests that the Khvalynsk herding societies in the steppes west of the Ural Mountains might have possessed domesticated horses in 4800 BC. There were domesticated horses in the Eurasian Steppes at about 4000 BC. Chariot burials dated around 2000 BC show that horses were being used for transport by that time. Perhaps as early as 3500-3000 BC, and undoubtedly throughout the period 2500-2000 BC, domesticated horses were in extensive use throughout Eurasia, for transportation, agriculture and warfare.

 Although some ancient wild horses resembled Przewalski horses in appearance domestic horses are of the species Equus caballus. According to phenotypic evidence from fossils there may have been four basic wild types prior to domestication. It isn’t certain whether these were distinct species, sub-species or types. Some North European horses were probably similar to Shetland ponies: small, hardy, heavy-set animals with dense heavy coats to protect them from the cold and damp. In Europe’s forests and swamplands there was the “Warmblood” (“Forest” or Diluvial Horse), which is thought to have evolved into Equus germanicus, and contributed to the development of the warmblood horses and heavy horse breeds such as the Ardennais.

Tarpan type horses were sturdy dun-coloured animals, the size of a large pony, adapted to the dry climates of northern Asia. They were the ancestors of the Tarpan and possibly the Przewalski’s Horse, as well as the domesticated Mongolian horse. The Tarpan itself became extinct in the late 19th century. From the hot, dry climates of western Asia came the slim, refined swift and agile “Oriental horses”. They are thought to have given rise to the Caspian, Arabian and Akhal-Teke breeds.

Many horses died out by the end of the last Ice Age, and it has been suggested that domestication might have helped save them from extinction. In the Americas there are no indigenous wild horses, only feral ones which have more recently escaped from domestic herds, and then bred in the wild.

Humans have probably been unconsciously selecting their horses from almost the time of domestication, although the original purpose of domestication may have been for meat production, and then for milking. They will have chosen horses that were easier to handle and tame. Initially there may have been a tendency to keep nore mares, rather than stallions, since they are generally easier to handle. We know the nomads of the Mongolian steppes have bred horses for several thousand years, while Akhal-Teke horses have been bred in West-Central Asia since ancient times. The Bedouin of the Middle East were already keeping written pedigrees of Arabian Horses by A.D. 1330.

Horse breeding shaped todays horse breeds

Horse breeders have selected horses for trainability, temperament, appearance, conformation and performance abilities since ancient times. In this way horse breeding has led to the development of different breeds, and also families or bloodlines within breeds. At one time it used to commonly be believed that only the stallion determined the quality of a foal: the sperm was thought to contain a perfectly formed but tiny horse, which only needed to be incubated and grown within the mare for a foal to develop (in fact the same was thought to be true for people and other animals too). In the 1700s, people like James Burnett noted the importance of selecting appropriate breeding stock, including the importance of the dam. Some people today think that the stallion is more important than the mare in determining what a foal will be like, but this is not the case since the sire and dam each contribute half of the genes a foal has. However the dam also passes on her mitochondria, which have genes of their own,especially those for energy metabolism, which are important for performance. She also brings the foal up, so that her nature – quiet or flighty – will also influence the nature of the foal.

By Medieval times much larger horses were being bred to carry amoured knights into war. At the same time light riding horses were being bred in northern Africa and the Middle East. Muslim warriors had fast, agile horses suitable raiding and battles where maneuverability was the order of the day. When Muslim warriors and European knights met in battle, the heavy knights and their horses were regularly outmaneuvered. The Europeans stole Arabian and Barb horses and bred their own horses to them, producing a nimbler war horse.

The great war horses of Europe were the ancestors of the heavy horse breeds, such as the Shire Horse and the Suffolk Punch, that were used on farms until relatively recently, in my grandfathers time. Even my dad remembers their use on the farm, as a child, while my mum remembers an aunt and uncle delivering milk with a horse and cart! Today draft horses are used on a few small farms, but are seen mainly for pulling and plowing competitions, and in working museums.

During the Renaissance, horses were bred for “haute ecole”, incorporating the athletic abilities and obedience required of war horses, but more genteel for the elite of the time. Breeds such as the Lipizzan were bred from Spanish horses, for this purpose. Such horses were alos popular with cavalry officers at the time when gunpowder was developed and“shoot and run” was the best tacticfor staying alive.

Fine carriage horses were developed in Europe from the seventeeth century onwards using warmblood horses, which were later developed as sports horses from the 1900s, and are noware more often seen competing in the show jumping and dressage arenas. Show jumpers have been bred for power and speed over big fences. The horses typically have a good galloping stride, powerful hindquarters and agility.

In the UK riding horses were also developed from Galloways: sure footed sturdy large ponies which became extinct as a breed in the nineteenth century, but whose genes still exist in todays Fell ponies and other British horses. Then around the times of Charles II and Oliver Cromwell, the gentry started importing Oriental horses into Britain, for the breeding of race horses, often by crossing Galloway mares with Oriental stallions. Although Cromwell banned horse racing Charles II reinstated it when he retook the British throne in 1660. The Thoroughbred was developed 40 years later with three foundation stallions being influential: The Byerly Turk, the Godolphin Arab and the Darley Arabian.

Recent genetic research has shown that least 95% of todays Thoroughbred Horses can be traced to the Darley Arabian. The Thoroughbred continues to dominate the horseracing world, but has also been used to improve many other breeds of horse, including the American Quarter Horse. The Thoroughbred breeding hub in Lexington, Kentucky was developed in the late 1700s. This place in the US is now said to have the highest density of horses of anywhere in the World, it is also now one home of horse genetics research.

We have seen that horses are not native to America. The Conquistadors took Spanish horses, including the palomino, a favourite of the Queen Isabella who forbade her own people to breed them (pale palomino is often still called an Isabella). Some of these early horses became feral Mustangs, some of which were re-domesticated by Indians, including the famous spotted Appaloosas. Later European settlers took and imported horses from the UK and other parts of the World, including Arabians and Thoroughbreds. The predecessor of the American Quarter Horse was developed in the 18th century, primarily for quarter racing (over ¼ mile). The breed was also required for herding cattle and other ranch work, and typically has “cow sense” and a docile temperament. This general-purpose working ranch horse, has nowadays been developed into different bloodlines which specialize in different Western events, such as team roping, cutting and reining, as well as racing.

Things to think about before breeding your mare

• Horse breeding requires an invesment oft considerable time and money. Would be horse breeders should consider the following factors:
• Is the mare in good physical health and fertile? She will have to endure pregnancy, birth and foal care to weaning. Is she old enough?
• Does the mare have valuable qualities to pass on? Has she already had foals, and if so what are they like? What is her conformation and behaviour like? What, for example, is her pedigree like, and her achievements to date?
• Can you manage the mare while she’s pregnant, and then the both of them when she has the foal?
• For what purpose will the foal be used? Will there be a market for him or her if you decide not sell the foal on later? Often the low end of the market is saturated with horses, and it may be difficult to profit from breeding animals unless they are of superior quality. Foals bred without a potential market sometimes wind up being sold for meat.
  Will you train the foal yourself or sell it at weaning?

 

The costs of horse breeding for a mare owner include the stud fee, the costs of proper nutrition, management and veterinary care and the care of both mare and foal up to the time of weaning. Expenses can be much higher if specialized reproductive technologies,such as artificial insemination, are used or if health complications occur. The costs involved with caring for and training of a foal increase its value, with a sale price going up accordingly. If the foal wins competitions, that will also enhance its value.

Think about your motives for breeding from your mare. Can you realistically expect to produce a foal that will go on to have a useful life? And, if it matters to you, will you really make a profit?

Choosing breeding stock

The stallion will need to be chosen to complement the mare, and should especially be good in any qualities in which the mare is lacking. He should preferably have proven himself in the discipline or activity the mare owner envisages for the foal. Pure bred horses are often worth more than cross-breds, but this does depend on the discipline. For some horses, including sports horses, the temperament, atheletic ability and/or conformation may be more inportant than the breed.

It used to commonly be believed that only the sire influenced the quality of a foal: the sperm was thought to contain a perfectly formed but tiny horse, which only needed to be incubated and grown within the mare for a foal to develop ( the same was thought to be true for people and other animals too). Some people today still think that the stallion is more important than the mare in determining what a foal will be like, but this is not the case since the sire and dam each contribute half of the genes a foal has. However the dam also passes on her mitochondria, which have genes of their own,especially those for energy metabolism, which are important for performance. She also brings the foal up, so that her nature – quiet or flighty – will also influence the nature of the foal. Often a horse may attain a similar status to that of its dam since it learns its social skills from her. Thus the foals of dominant mares may themselves become dominant too.

Horses from particular bloodlines are often associated with success in a particular discipline, and may also be known to cross well with horses of other particular lines. The line a horse is in can often indicate its possible strengths and weaknesses, even if it hasn’t been competed. It is also wise to check if the bloodline is associated with any particular inherited disorders. If this turns out to be the case it may be possible to get tests done to determine if the stallion carries genes for the disorder.

Conformation, size, temperament and athletic ability are all heritable to some degree. Although it’s not possible to precisely determine how your foal will turn out, some careful decisions about the quality of the broodstock, both sire and dam, will help you to avoid disappointment, or becoming stuck with a foal that no-one really wants.

Horse breeding: covering the mare

The mare may be covered directly by the stallion, either “in hand” or naturally, or by aritificial insemination. Fourteen to 16 days after breeding or artificial insemination the mare should be checked by ultrasound to check if she is pregnant (or has “took”). A second check is typically carried out at 28 days. If the mare isn’t pregnant, she may be bred once again during her next cycle.

It is considered harmless to breed a mare to a bigger stallion. As is the situation with human babies, foals are limited in their development to the size of the mare’s uterus, but will most likely grow to their genetic potential after birth, as long as they are provided with appropriate nourishment. Breeding draft horse stallions to small mares has been performed with no rise in delivery difficulties.

Live cover

The mare will usually be brought to the stallion and boarded at the stud. She might be turned out to pasture with the stallion for several days to breed the natural way (‘pasture bred’). Otherwise they might possibly be introduced to each other in a managed situation, when the mare is covered “in hand”. In that case the handlers will be able to separate the horses if one tries to kick or bite the other.

The mare will probably be “teased” several times with some other stallion prior to breeding, generally with the stallion being presented to the mare over a barrier. Her reaction to the teaser is used to determine her readiness for mating. A mare on heat will in general tolerate a teaser (although this is not always the situation). She could present herself to him, holding her tail over to one side. An alternative to using a teaser would be to get a vet to determine if the mare is ready to breed, either by ultrasound or palpating to see if ovulation has occurred. When the mare is ready she and the stallion will be cleaned. The mare and stallion will be managed by one or more handlers when the mare is presented to the stallion, so they are able to be separated if there is trouble.

Artificial Insemination (AI)

Artificial inseminated is where mares are artificially impregnated using fresh, cooled or frozen semen, by a vet or equine reproduction specialist. There is some variation in the acceptance of AI and other reproductive technologies. The Jockey Club, which oversees the Thoroughbred industry, for example, requires all registered foals to be bred through live cover. The standardbred industry permits artificial insemination, provided that the stallion’s semen was collected while he was still alive, and is used no later than the calendar year of his death or castration.

Stallions are usually taught to mount a dummy mare with an artificial vagina (AV) for semen collection. Semen may be chilled or frozen for shipping to mares, or used to breed mares onsite. The semen directly delivered into a mares uterus using a syringe.

Artificial insemination (AI) has a very similar conception rate to live cover. Although it can be very expensive it does have several advantages over live cover:

• Since the mare and stallion don’t come in contact with one another, there is less chance of breeding accidents, such as the mare kicking the stallion.
• AI allows international horse breeding, since semen can be shipped to mares in other parts of the World, thus bringing together the genes of horses that are unable to meet.
• The mare does not have to travel to the stallion, so the process is less stressful on her.
• Mares with foals do not have to travel, neither their foals.
• Many mares may be bred from one stallion without tiring the stallion, who might then be able to compete. A stallions single ejaculate can be split between several mares.
• AI reduces the chance of spreading sexually transmitted diseases between mares and stallions.
• AI allows mares or stallions with some health issues to continue to breed. You should always check with a vet prior to breeding though, if your mare or stallion has any health problems. Horses with inherited disorders should not be used for breeding.
• Frozen semen might be stored and used even after the stallion’s death, allowing his line to continue. Some stallions semen does not retain fertility when frozen though, so this can’t be guaranteed. Also some breed registries do not permit the registration of foals resulting from the use of frozen semen after the stallion’s death.
• If the stallion’s semen does freeze then he may be bred even if he becomes gelded.