Re: maiden mares?

[Farafix@aol.com]

Susan,

Speaking from my vast experience of breeding my one mare ( a maiden at the
time), I had a very favorable experience.  "Baby" is now a 15.1 h stallion (2"
bigger than maiden mare, and probably a littler bigger than sire).  Kadance+/
was 5 at the time I bred her, so was full grown herself.  She's "big bodied",
so had plenty of room for foal, altho she did look like an oversized water
balloon when she laid down in the stall the last month of so.  She went almost
12 months before foaling!!  Popped him out while I snoozed, baby was dry &
standing & nursing when I checked.  Kadance had free access to large pasture
while in foal, I provided plenty of good quality hay & fed her a fair amount
of Pennfield mare & foal feed ( 4-5 coffee cans at the end, which for her is a
lot).  Hard to judge weight on a pregnant mare, I kept an eye on her loin area
to judge.  She looked great after having the foal, not too fat (which she
tends to be!) or too thin.  I also tried to keep her in shape & rode 15 -20
miles per week up until the last month.  3 months after foaling, she was back
in competition;  now has 2700 miles & going strong.  Weaned the baby at 4
months on pasture --- the old gelding founders if allowed too much pasture,
can be 20% protein in my area; my vet read my the riot act about feeding too
much protein (creates problem with knees).  Had baby on same Pennfield mare &
foal the first 2 winters (higher protein level).  He doesn't lack for size ---
8 inch fore cannon, 9" behind.  Tempo's done very well for me so far out on
the trails; I got all I wanted & then some!
I probably had a tremendous amount of beginner's luck, but I did shop around a
long time for a stallion (in his 20's, used AI, transported semen --- lots of
amusing stories with that process!), and I had a nice solid mare with an
excellent tail female line.  

Good luck!

Nancy Muller in mild Md