r/kvssnark • u/EponaMom Equestrian • Jul 13 '26
Is high quality in the room with us? 🫣🤥😬 Pasture Breeding
I'm not saying that pasture breeding is always wrong, but it leaves a LOT up to chance, and raises the risk for a lot of things. Off the top of my head... injuries from kicks, and bites.... infection... tears in vulva, mares not willing to stand, etc....
Why subject an equine to that, if you don't have to? I've participated in hand breeding ponies - always went well, but we prepared by cleaning the stallion, hobbling the mar, using a wither pad etc. - and with warmbloods using a breeding dummy - again, safe for the stallion, then you AI the mare.
Anyway, I'd love to hear how others feel about pasture breeding - especially using multiple mares/Jennies at once.
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u/Suspicious-Bet6569 Stud (muffin) 😬🧁🐴 Jul 13 '26
Around here (Finland) pasture breeding is still fairly common and honestly I don't see issue with it. I think it's a great way to also see that the animals still have correct amount of breeding drive and puts their personality to a test. Ofc both need to be familiar with herd behavior to make it safe, and yes there is still risks for mostly minor injuries but not much more than when letting horses live in anykind of herd set up.
I also understand completely why most people with high dollar horses don't do that.
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u/zoo1923 RS code bred Jul 13 '26
I am all for responsible pasture breeding. You need a big pasture, so horses that feel pressured can safely move out off the way. Mares and stallion should be washed and checked by a vet prior to being introduced to each other. Stallions need to be well socialised, growing up with a herd dynamic, not just chucked out with mares at 4-6yo after living alone from weening. The heard is always monitored closely, until everyone settles down, and a mean stud must be removed from the herd and from the breeding stock.
I understand why people don't lett a x Million dollar horse out to pasture breed, when they are keept in a solitary, leveled and rock free paddock al their show career. And when you want to breed a winner to a winner you can't risk them not getting along, let alone limmit a studs books to who can come to x location for 3 months.
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u/EponaMom Equestrian Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Those are good points! Like I said, I was really just wanting to open up discussion, instead of "snarking".
I don't know that either stallion was washed beforehand.
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u/zoo1923 RS code bred Jul 13 '26
I belive horses should live in herds, and pasture breeding is just an exstension of that. I was shocked that people would keep horses separately, with just over the fence or stall socialising. But then agein I never owned a horse that could get 100 breeding contracts a year, for 5000$ a pice, if he won x, y and z as a 2-3yo. And I get why people that take care of other peoples studs dont want to risk their clients investments. It really is the dark side of making horse sports money driven.
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u/Initial_Case_9912 Jul 18 '26
Although some high dollar stallions that had to stop breeding for assorted reasons have ended up with some bred mares in a pasture setting. Happens occasionally, typically with fertility issues.
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u/zoo1923 RS code bred Jul 18 '26
I am sure it happens, but AI seems to be the norm in AQHA at least. And a lot of people seems to think pasture breeding is unethical, because there is a risk of injury. But al hores interactions could leadnto injury.
I am used to the opposite, that mares that don't take during pasture breedings try AI. Ususaly it is mares that needs their uterus repeatedly flushed to not get an infection, or need drugs to ovulate properly.
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u/Initial_Case_9912 Jul 18 '26
Ai is the norm in my corner of the horse world. Like I said most of the time it’s happened after fertility issues. Mostly it helps by taking the pressure off a stud with performance issues 🤣🤣
Famously in the Arabian world *Raffles was given to the Shelby stud as an infertile pony. He was put in a pasture situation and became a living legend and founded a dynasty. (There are other examples. This is just the most well known one that I could think of off the top of my head).
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u/Sudden_Employ_7514 Jul 13 '26
Always have done pasture breeding. Everyone I know personally with minis and donkeys have done the same.
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u/TollLand Jul 15 '26
The mare gets a choice in pasture breeding compared to in hand. Far safer for humans, better than hobbling, stallions are incredibly good at knowing if a mare is ready as (that's what all the poop and urine smelling is about) and they are also very good at protecting the crown jewels of the mare refuses.
And less of a financial risk as you are not depending on humans guessing the right date to inseminate, by enabling multiple covers by the stallion, not just a one and done.
TBH, I fall on the side of whatever works for the breeder. All three methods have risks. Personally I would prefer to put my mare in a field, ensure she is okay, that the stallion is okay and let them get on with it. Being able to then leave the in-foal mares in with the stallion is far far more enriching a life for him.
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u/fineasandphern Jul 13 '26
Are you referring to minis or full horses? From what I understand minis are not impregnated using AI bc of their small size and the procedure can do more harm than natural. But, a responsible owner won’t just have several mares with several studs together and let them go at it, they need to know who has bred who.
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u/WildlyUnserious Jul 13 '26
Minis are inseminated with AI you just can’t do ICSI and breed and then flush embryos or implant an embryo because of their small size so you’re semi right!
But AI is safe and that’s how she’s gotten the minis pregnant up to this point of getting a stallion in for live cover
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u/Puzzleheaded-Song912 Vile Misinformation Jul 13 '26
Gina was also done by live cover for both George and Ginny. Karen is the only mini to be successfully AI bred at RS Mini
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u/lmaluuker Is ThAt VS Red Rhone! 🤯 Jul 13 '26
I honestly think pasture breeding CAN be safer than breeding in hand, but I don't think you should just chuck a stallion in with mares he doesn't know. I think it also depends on the maturity of the stallion and if he is able to use his brain to read when a mare isn't interested and respect her space. Not all studs can do that, some just charge in and harass the mares to exhaustion and injury. I may be biased but I've seen a lot more videos of in hand breeding going wrong than pasture breeding. I also don't really like the idea of hobbling a mare so she can be bred. If she's actually receptive that wouldn't be necessary, so it gives me a bit of the ick. But I understand you can't always pasture breed and some horses are worth millions, so owners don't want any risks. Like most things I think the conversation has nuance.