Facts About Horse Breeding
The breeding of horses is a practice that began thousands of years ago. Horse breeders attempt to produce horses with traits and characteristics that they find favorable. Horse breeding is big business. If you are interested in breeding horses, it is important that you understand not only the process but the legal aspects as well.
- Horse breeding dates back thousands of years, with the earliest documented cases of horse breeding dating to 1300. A.D. The earliest known horse breeders were a group from the Middle East known as the Bedouin.
- Breeding a mare (female horse) is also known as covering. Covering a mare can be done either naturally, with the two animals engaging with each other (known as live cover) or through artificial insemination (AI).
- Some of the costs associating with breeding a horse are stud fees, exams, vet bills, boarding, transportation fees, feed and equipment in the case of an AI cover.
- Stud fees can range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to as little as a hundred dollars. Race horses demand the highest stud fee.
- The natural breeding season for horses begins in March and ends in October. However, breeders use techniques like artificial light to manipulate a horses mating cycle.
- It takes a horse 11 months to give birth after being bred. It may take several attempts before a mare is successfully covered. Artificial insemination allows a horse to foal several times a year and for this reason it is a very popular method of covering.
- Horse breeding involves many legal issues that you should fully understand before attempting to breed and sell horses.