The Best Little Horse House in Hastings, Inc. Horse Rescue and Shelter Nebraska

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It is irresponsible for any horse lover and owner to breed just because you own a mare and foals are "sooo cute!". Irresponsible breeding brings more unwanted pets into the world.

Breeding does not produce a significant income for the average "backyard breeder". Thanks to backyard breeders, the racing industry, and the PMU industry, there is a surplus of horses in this world. Breeding only for quality, health, temperament, conformation, and usefulness of the offspring is a good rule of thumb.

In order to responsibly breed horses, you must first have the experience, the facility, and the proper mare and stud horse available to produce a quality foal.

Often, finding a quality stud horse can be extremely expensive. Generally, if a stud fee is extremely low, his quality is, as well. Once the two potential parents are acquired, a uterine culture must be done on the mare to make sure she is clean of infectious diseases and a vet must check to insure the mare is healthy enough to carry a full-term pregnancy, which is just shy of one year. If this information confused you, and you can't do this much, stop here and reconsider breeding.

Now, after spending a lot of time, money, and energy, you are finally ready to breed. (Beware: without a qualified stallion handler, this could be dangerous if not fatal to the mare, the stallion, or the humans involved.) If you are lucky enough to have a mare that will catch on the first breeding, all you can do now is wait and watch. You will be feeding this mare a high quality grain and hay for close to one year to help with the fetal development, unless of course you are a backyard breeder that has no concern over the health of the mare and foal.

You've counted 340 days (if your mare has not surprised you with an early foal) and you continue to wait . . . and wait. Even with a closed circuit TV and some dedicated volunteers, usually will miss it the birth of the foal). If you are breeding just so your kids can enjoy the experience.... think again!

There are additional vaccines with a strict schedule to follow for the health of the mare and the unborn foal. Remember that the mare should not be ridden during several portions of her pregnancy and will not be able to be ridden for close to a year and a half in most cases. The investment of time and money required to care for this mare properly will be significant. If you cant handle this, DONT BREED!

Now you have a cute, fuzzy "little" baby that is already double your weight and has 5 times your strength. Handling right from the beginning is important for the youngster and it must be done as much as possible, every day, now and forever. Imprinting or desensitizing at this stage is very critical, and must be done as soon as the foal is born. It is better than waiting until they are 10 times your weight and strength, and have more of an instinct for flight to try to show them that ou are not a predator. Be careful because no matter how good your relationship has been with the mare, many times she does not want you near her baby, and her instinct of protecting her young will take over any desire to be your friend.

Once your mare and foal have learned to deal with their separation, you can start riding the mare again and put her back to work slowly. Remember that she has not done any physical work for quite some time and you don't want to hurt her (or hurt yourself, if she is not the type of horse that can take time off "work" and then remember that she is, in fact a trained horse.) So take it slow.

The foal will stay with mom for close to 6 months and then it's time to wean. Neither mom nor baby like this very much, so be prepared for several days of hollering and fence pacing. Do yourself a favor and construct a good fence (or relocate either the mare or the foal for approximately a month at a far distance) to keep the mare and foal from each other when weaning. Taking the mare to a neighbor's house does NOT work. They can hear each other calling to one another from many farms away. One of them WILL find a way to return to the other, with or without your permission.

As for the foal, he needs lots of handling and good nutrition. Ground lessons should be given every day. You will not be able to ride him until he's at the very least two years old to avoid damaging his developing bones. So, if you start training at two years old, it should be light training, sitting on him and showing him how to trust. When you begin that stage, you must be careful. This can be very dangerous and without experience you could be doing more harm than good by instilling bad habits into the young mind of a two-year-old. Actual conditioning and hard work should not be started until they are full-grown, which is usually between three and four years of age. Be prepared to hire a professional trainer if your training skills are not up to par. Be honest with yourself about your abilities. If you have never trained a horse before, do not assume you can train the foal.

You need to think about all the time that the foal is young and you are just doing ground work with the foal. Rarely is this the case with foals because irresponsible breeders dont work with the foals at all, and find that it is very expensive to maintain a foal and meet their basic needs.

At auction, it is very apparent the amount of breeders who didnt want the foal anymore, because a large number of horses that we see at auction are the young ones that nobody wants to spend the money feeding to get them to the point that they can train them.. If you breed an average mare to an average stud, you get an average foal that nobody really wants and you will not make your money back in expenses on the foal. So, if this is the case do yourself, the horses, and the world a favor and DONT BREED!!!!

As you can see, responsible horse breeding is tedious and can be very tiring. It takes constant work and attention to details you may not be used to worrying about, not to mention the financial cost. So you had better ask yourself again: Do you really want to breed your mare . . . just because you can?

(Graphic photos are not included on this page They are not shown on this page because they are not appropriate for all viewers. If you choose to see graphic photos of horse slaughter, you can search the internet for photos, but most of them are extremely graphic.)

Many people think that because the slaughterhouses in the United States are closed, that horses no longer go to slaughter. This is not true. Now, horses are shipped on longer journeys to either Canada or Mexico to be slaughtered, and the United States cannot regulate the industry if it wanted to, because we have no control over what happens in other countries where horse slaughter is concerned.

At the boarders, they are changed into other transport vehicles since double deckers are not allowed to be used for shipping horses over the boarder to slaughter. There is a loophole in the system so that until the horses make it to the boarder, drivers can simply deny the horses are being sent to slaughter and still be allowed to use the double-deckers.

Double decker trailers are still used for shipping, and the conditions have not changed. Horses that are being shipped still have no food or water on the journey, and are crammed into the double decker trailers in order for the driver and the seller to make the biggest profit per load. Horses are often injured on the trip.

Before you write or call your representatives regarding issues about slaughter, please consider looking at all of the facts about horse slaughter and make an informed decision. Then make the calls or write the letters that you feel are appropriate regarding the slaughter industry.

We Prefer to humanely euthanize our own horses.....

If one of our horses needs to be put down, we prefer to humanely euthanize the horse. We do not send horses to auctions or to slaughter. We understand that many people do not feel the same way that we feel. We respect all opinions in hopes that others will respect ours.

As of the date of this page update, all three slaughter plants remaining in the United States are closed. Horses are now shipped to Canada and Mexico for slaughter (see above info "working to raise awareness") and then they are shipped to other countries for human consumption.

People may take their horse to an auction without realizing that there are buyers at the sales that purchase the horses cheaply, and then send them off on long trips crammed into double decker trailers with no food or water, having to duck their heads because they cannot fully stand up in the double decker trailers that are designed for cattle, sheep, and pigs and not for horses.

When the horses reach Canada, they are slaughtered by use of a captive bolt, intended for use on an animal whose head is restrained. The captive bolt is supposed to be delivered by a trained operator, but that does not always happen. Horses are fight or flight animals, so they often flail around in fright, their heads very much unrestrained. It is not uncommon to see a horse hit with the captive bolt repeatedly before the horse is knocked unconscious. The horse is then swept out on the kill floor, strung up by a hind leg, and their throat is slit and it is bled out while unconscious. There have been cases of horses regaining consciousness while being strung up, and being bled out alive.

If the horse is unlucky enough to go to Mexico, they are sent through stock chutes where they are stabbed repeatedly in the spine rendering them paralyzed. Then, they are strung up while they are still conscious but unable to move and they have their throat slit, bled out, and their hides stripped while still alive.

This page of our website is for educational purposes. We understand that to the pro-slaughter population and the buyers at the auctions that purchase horses for slaughter purposes, it is a business and they are in it for the money. Many of them claim to clean up the messes that the backyard breeders, PMU industries, and racing industries leave behind. Over 100,000 horses are shipped to slaughter every year.

If you do not agree with horse slaughter, do not send your horse to an auction without being there to represent your horse personally and make sure they go to a private home. First, try to market your horse on one of the many free equine web sites when you need to sell your horse. Or, contact a local horse welfare advocate for help. Sometimes, getting the last dollar out of your horse is not worth the pain and fear that the horse must endure when their life is about to end.