Are We Going To Have A Baby?

[subsectionx]

My mini mare has been in season for the last 3 days and taking the stallion. today she isn't... does that mean that she is pregant? he has had several home runs :p I dont really know if she would stay in season tell she gets pregant or if they go in and out of season.. the stallion has been kept in the field with her, but if she is pregant I need to put him back in his field so my gelding can come back to the main pin... I've had to keep him seperate from them due to the stallion charging him because of her in season... my gelding is going crazy being by himself at the other side of the yard..
so any ideas???:):)

[chev]

No, it doesn't neccessarily mean she's pregnant, just that she's going out of season. If she comes back into season in three weeks then she's not - if she doesn't, there's a good chance she is. The only way to tell for sure is to get her tested - scanning is the best way, since it'll also pick up on a twin pregnancy (if she was carrying twins, one would need to be 'pinched', to reduce the risk of complications (which can include losing one or both foals and even the mare).

I'm a bit concerned though that you're deliberately breeding when you don't seem to have much basic knowledge of mares' seasons and covering even? Breeding ponies is pretty high risk even for those who know what they're doing - for a novice it's a tad irresponsible just to put mare and stallion together and let nature do it's thing. Are mare and stallion registered? Is the stallion licenced? Why do you want to breed? I think your best bet would be to find out as much as you can about mares, pregnancy, foaling and foals as you can, to give your mare the best chance of a healthy pregnancy.

[shandy84]

Just to follow Chev

I think you also need to think further into the future too, what will you do with the foal when it's weaned, can you offer enough experience and knowledge to give them a good start in life etc, just because they are small doesn't mean it will be easy also you risk losing your mare through pregnancy as it can be hard on mares etc

As Chev says you ned to be more responsible about this and leanr how it works before you try it otherwise you could make a dire mistake

[subsectionx]

I had my mini mare checked by a vet and he said that she is fine to breed. she shouldnt have any problems. I had my stallion looked at too and he was just fine. I bought a mini mare a year ago and had planned on breeding her, the stallion I have looked for months,, I know that a pregancy is risky with a horse or human as with any animal or mammal. I have learned alot about the pregancy and foaling and after words.. but I havent found anything that tells me more about ways to see that your mare is pregant other than tests..I know that they start to show aroung 8-9 months along.. but I was looking for a home way to see if she is.. I know that you guys are for the REGISTERED bet. but Im into that, just because my minis dont have papers doesnt mean that they arent just as nice or pretty or worth something even more than a registered one.. they are pretty, healthy and loved animals that are a part of my family...
Thanks for the responces... :)

[shandy84]

No I'm not bothered by the fact they may be unregistered what I'm worried about is that your knowledge seems to be lacking and this is very risky as your vet cannot be there 24/7

If you do not know the way a mare has seasons that shows you don't know enough, will you keep the foal then and also how much experience do you have with horses as I have two youngsters and teaching them manners (a must however big/small) is not easy, I would think again wait until next year perhaps and learn some more look into EVERY part of the mare's anatomy so that you will be best able to look after her wellbeing, learn more about teaching youngstocck and the best ways to bring them round, then when you have learnt all this you will have a nice youngster come out the other side if you don't I am concerned we will have posts up here saying howyou have a "problem horse" I had one of those (not from my own doing) and it was very hard to overcome, there is no harm in admitting you need to know a bit more and postponing

[chev]

Glad you got them both checked out. No, there is no 'home' way to find out. I thought from your other posts that the stallion was rescued. Sorry if I got this wrong.

Registration... yep, I'm into registration for breeding purposes. Lots of reasons, and snobbery doesn't come into it.

1 - if you have two ponies of unknown breeding, how can you ever know if they're related or not? Would be tragic to breed two ponies closely related and end up with a deformned foal just because you didn't know their breeding.

2 - It's much much easier to sell on registrered stock - and however much we like to think we'll keep foals, if you're keeping a stallion and a mare, keeping all foals might not be an option. You might have to sell for other reasons. I believe in making sure anything I breed ahs the best chance of finding a good home.

3 - Unregistered stock is not elligible for a lot of the shows and competitions. Makes sense to give any foal you breed the best chance of a good career, in whatever sphere.

4 - How can you ever know what stock your ponies have come from if they're not registered? Breeding isn't just about sticking any 'nice' stallion on any 'sweet' mare. Some ponies pass on fairly nasty problems to their offspring - if ponies are not registered, you'll never know what lines they have that might cause future problems.

If you spent so long looking for the right stallion, why did you buy one without papers? Papers tell you what lines a pony has. That tells you what kind of foals he'll throw. You honestly shouldn't breed without some knowlegde of what results you might get.

Too many people say 'just because s/he's got no papers doesn't mean s/he's not a nice/pretty/good looking pony, and breed. And too many unregistered ponies, bred for those reasons and supposedly destined to live at the breeders' home for the rest of their lives (thirty odd years) end up in the markets going for meat, or being 'rescued' and then bred from.... and so the beat goes on....

This is not to say all unregistered ponies are dross. They're not. There are some fantastic unregistered ponies around. But I would always advise against breeding from them, unless they have a faultless competition record. Just being nice ponies is not enough.

I'll probably annoy a number of people saying that - but I stand by it. For all the lovely paperless ponies out there there's at least another papered one that's just as good. If you want to breed, buy the papered one. It's the only way to ensure that we stick to good breeding practices and stop producing meat market fodder for nothing.