Breeding Horses Naturally
When we choose to breed horses responsibly, there are many traditional practices that can be questioned.
- Keeping a stallion segregated from all horses can lead to major problems, especially when it comes to serving mares.
- Gelding a colt is often done between 1 and 2 years of age, but is this the best time?
- Handling stallions, serving mares, weaning and gelding can all be done with a more natural approach. Find out how below.
Raising an orphan or rejected foal? Get some help and tips here.
Follow the progress of a foal from birth to yearling here.
Learn more about breeding horses naturally from the posts below.
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Progressive Weaning of Foals
By Cynthia Cooper Weaning a foal in a progressive way more closely imitates nature and is proven to reduce stress and future separation anxiety. I…
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New Ways for Weaning Foals
The time for weaning foals is approaching and thus begins what can be a very stressful event for both the mare her foal. But it…
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Weaning problems in horses
Traditional Weaning practices can result in behavioral and social problems. Hearing of horses with social issues – usually, aggression towards other horses has widened my…
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what is the ideal mating ratio or stallion to mare ratio under natural breeding method? Thanks.
I always look to nature for answers to ideals like this, and from what I see, stallions usually have from 1 to 6 mares and their offspring in their harem.
So I’d use this as a good guide – however, a stallion without competition from other stallions could probably cope with more mares in a domestic situation because he’s not expending energy protecting them.
I hope that helps. Cheers, Cynthia.
Hello, what books do you recommend for preparing for my mares birth? Thank you!
Hi Destenee,
I’ve found the Foaling Primer by Cynthia McFarland to be a good guide. https://g.co/kgs/7Pe4Md
This one also looks to be excellent and has good reviews:https://g.co/kgs/dekzbJ – The Complete Foaling Manual.
I hope that helps. Cheers, Cynthia.