so where do all the aging broodmares go.....

[omare]

I think I will end up with a retirement home in the end instead of a very small breeding farm at the rate I am going-too many aging four legged creatures and not enough stalls. I am hesitant to buy any new mares because now all I tend to see them as is a lifetime commitment!

(Of course adding to the problem --it takes so long to figure out whether a mare has produced sporthorses-she is late teens by that time!)

Anyone esle feel the pain of aging broodmares?

[pintopiaffe]

:yes: :sadsmile:

My best girl is 21 this year. She owes me NOTHING! She has produced amazing foals. I am wishing for one last keeper filly...

I am hesitant to buy any new mares because now all I tend to see them as is a lifetime commitment!

EXACTLY! I am agonizing over whether to get a particular (free!) mare at the moment, because I could have Dann another 10 or 15 years, and of course I want to do right by her! Her costs will go UP as she ages... and she deserves the best.

I love, love, adore, love the old, experienced broodies. There is nothing so achingly lovely as a grand old girl, heavy in foal, knowing her job... fussy and prissy and oh-so-practical in the end. I guess I'm a sucker for them.

[Sassenach]

:yes: :sadsmile:

My best girl is 21 this year. She owes me NOTHING! She has produced amazing foals. I am wishing for one last keeper filly...



EXACTLY! I am agonizing over whether to get a particular (free!) mare at the moment, because I could have Dann another 10 or 15 years, and of course I want to do right by her! Her costs will go UP as she ages... and she deserves the best.

I love, love, adore, love the old, experienced broodies. There is nothing so achingly lovely as a grand old girl, heavy in foal, knowing her job... fussy and prissy and oh-so-practical in the end. I guess I'm a sucker for them.

Ditto!

My best girl is the same age as me and we've had her since I was little. She owes us nothing and I'm just thrilled we have a daughter to retain by her who is just fantastic in every aspect.

It will be a sad sad day when that old gal is gone :sadsmile:

Nothing makes me smile more than see her put an uppity young mare in her place and then five minutes later stand like a rock for 4 little girls with brushes in their hands.

[Hillside H Ranch]

I have them!
No seriously, between my husband and I we have a herd of elderly girls. 2 of his QH mares are 28 and 21 respectively (both have been retired for some years). I have a 22 year old mare that is pregnant right now. My other broodmare is 17. And, although not mares, we both have our old, retired geldings at 26 and 17 years (and the one I ride is 19). Sounds like a retirement home!

[TKR]

We have old animals out the kazoo -- my foundation broodmare, who produced 10 viable foals, all wonderful is celebrating her 30th this year. She is worth her weight in gold, gets fed 3 x day and pampered as much as possible. She produced a colt who was the love of my life, although he was lost in surgery at 7 years old. I have another who is almost a clone, that is my special boy and also her last foal, who is a broodmare of 10 years old. Another old retiree is 29, great type, pedigree, approved with a high score by the AHA, but never produced a foal for me -- lots of problems. She is out with my senior stallion of 28 years and they are also fed 3 x day and enjoy their life together. I also have a very viable broodmare who is 15 and will always stay with me and maybe have another foal someday when I'm not so burned out. She covers all the bases in type, pedigree, temperment, ability and a high score from her ATA inspection. I have two others that are very nice, but would love to move them. One could have a competition career, the other had a pasture injury but is approved GOV/MMB and a producer, leased out and maybe they will keep her. I would never just "cull" a mare to a bad circumstance knowingly, which is probably why I am overcrowded and burned out. Also have a 19 year old stallion who is a permanent resident, a 20 year old OTTB that I board and others from 1 to teenage as well as some aging small animals. I can't consider them "just livestock", so they just hang out here and we all age together.
PennyG

[VirginiaBred]

We keep ours also. NO WAY would I let anyone else have them.......

[europa]

I own me some lawn ornaments too!!

All kidding aside my broodie is 18 and her sis is 19 and I wouldn't take all the gold in some of the rapper's grillz!!!!

My main girl has graced me with 3 gorgeous babies and is currently in foal to Escudo II and I am really excited with the prospect of something potentially other then a redhead on my farm!! I have two lovely fillies coming up from her that will hopefully produce as well as she does.

I hope to get this baby and maybe one more from her if she will do me the honor.

[springer]

I can't bear the thought of giving away my 21 yr old girl, who is such a wonderful and sweet mama, and such a witch with us people! But there's something endearing about her somehow. Thought about giving her away but just couldn't stand the thought of not knowing what her future would hold. I'll love her and pamper her til the end (even if she DOES hate me) :)

[sunridge1]

Living out the rest of their sweet old lives in my pasture.

Mary

[Fairview Horse Center]

This is why I had to rethink keeping the next generation of fillies. At 50 years old, the committment would be for possibly 30+ years. Can I do that? Probably not, so the fillies I wanted to keep are sadly for sale. It is upsetting to think I can't continue on with my mare lines, but without family that would want to continue on, I have to think WAY down the road. I may pick up a few older girls that the lifetime committment will be shorter on, so I can keep breeding until I am ready to stop, but they won't be MY lines.

[Sugarbrook]

Sugarbrook seems to be the place for the elderly mares!! Two of them are 33 now, and my great youngster is 21 and has had 10 foals with no problem. I even have a pure bred welsh small that I hesitate to breed again because of some medical problems, but I wont let anyone else take her. I could not imagine farming out any of my mares who are not producing for me. No way.

[Sacha]

My oldest girls are 'only' 17 and 18 and plenty of life in them, but they have homes for life. Both fabulous personalities, but I am aiming to breed a keeper filly from the 18 year old so I always have a bit of her (I do have two of her granddaughters)

[omare]

Thanks for the replies....I was feeling like such an unbusiness-like dolt of a horse breeder...For some reason when I started this I did not realize how soon they would get old (duh) and that it would be impossible to be business-like with those aging girls I have such a long history with.... ;0}

[Blue Yonder]

I have always held to the idea that my mamas have done their best for me while they can, and deserve a happy life lived out in the pasture after they are no longer "useful."

And indeed, mine are turned out together in their herd, fed twice daily, wormed, trimmed, the works, after they can no longer carry a foal. (I might not work the knots out of their tails as often, but that's about the only difference.)

It makes me sad and mad and really offended that some people use broodmares year after year until they finally "age out," then discard them. I guess it's not really that different than with any other horse, but it strikes a personal nerve with me.

[Lesley Feakins]

We have a geriatric wing to our farm also...our oldest mare is 23 and she is foaling this spring. We have several in the late teens and we said a sad goodbye to our foundation mare at the end of 2007 who was 20 and had not been able to carry a foal for the past five years.

I wouldn't dream of passing them on ... they have earned their retirement here with me...but time flies and age comes up on them quicker than you realise sometimes.

[Peg]

This thread has made me think more about the future of my mares. I , too wanted to be able to breed generations of my girls. But sadly, age and physical conditions have made me think about the futures of the young ones. I will keep the ones that I have and my children have promised to care for them if something should happen to me, because my mares could outlive me! I have had fun with this, but my horses are special to me and we are bonded in a unimaginable way. I think you all have that as well. This post has shaken me to my roots and may consider that I should stop breeding soon. Peg

[classicsporthorses]

Ours stay with us NO questions asked! With that being said, I planned the mares I got to basically age out as we start to wind down our breeding program. I have 6 broodies (3 TB's 3 WB's), one of which I free lease who will return to her owner when she is done-she is 15 now.

My youngest one is about age 6, the oldest is 18 and the other three are in their early teens. My daughter will go off to college in 5 years so we have it "timed" that we will reduce our program, heck my older stallion will be 20! and I'll only have my youngers stallion (who is 5 1/2 now).

I get offers monthly from folks trying to give me really, really nice mares but I sit on my hands and graciously decline the offer. 6 mares is enough.

[ApolloGirl]

I know most of you have kept your horses but if you find your self with a broodmare that is trained and easily haddled and want to still make sure that they are cared for forever, try a half lease or full lease to a 4 H girl. One of the girls I used to teach had on of the nicest mares who had been to Quarter Horse Congress, placed High and then bred for the next 15 years. They bought her after her last foal at 22 and this mare taught the girl Western, English, Halter, Trail courses and much more. She lives the good life, with a 12 year old and mom who show about 4 times a year and take lessons once a week. NEVER a wrong step with this mare. I wish I had a horse like that when I started riding.

[cicily]

It's wonderful how many of you have retired your old broodmares to your farm...:yes:

[Blonde Filly]

I can't ever seem to part with my mares once they have had a few foals for me. I know a lot of people will just buy them to only flip them onto the next home even before they have a single foal for them...they are just purchased to make a profit on...I just can't seem to do that...I'm a bleeding heart. Now business wise, I guess it is not smart to keep the old gals, but I just can't send them down the road after having foals for me. I'm glad to see I'm not the only sap on here!!!! :winkgrin:

When I purchase a mare or take one in that is a gift to me, I make sure they will fit into my program, or I will decline them. I won't buy a mare for a great price then breed her to my stallion and flip her for a profit...it just seems wrong to me. I have had a few free mares offered to me over the years that I could have bred to my stallion and flipped for a nice profit, but just couldn't do it. I even told the people offering me the mares, that I could not take them, due to the fact that they would not fit into my breeding program and I did not want to breed them and send them down the road. All have been very grateful for my honesty of why I would not take them...knowing many would have grabbed them up to resale them once they were infoal.

I did sell one mare that was infoal that I planned on keeping a while back, when a client of mine just had to have her..so I did sell her, but I knew it was a forever home and a great home too! If the mare were to be sold, then I would be able to get her back..that is the only way I could do it...:yes:

I also sold a mare many, many years ago back to the original breeder...now that is a story! I saw this gorgeous TB mare while I was on vacation in PA..I went to the New Holland sale to see what it was all about the day I was planning on leaving to go back home to VA. When I stopped by and saw the awful place were so many horses are sold for slaughter and then walked down the road to the meat plant, I about died. While there, I saw this gorgeous bay mare tied up with her head hanging and thought to myself.."what in the world is this nice mare doing here!" I called the JC and gave them the lip tatoo number and they told me who she was...I was even more shocked at her breeding and her being there. So, I talked my husband into staying another night, so we could bid on her the next day. It was on a Sunday and my atm would only give me so much money..so we were worried we would not be able to get her..she only went for 400.00 bucks so she was MINE!! I then arranged for shipping for 50.00 to my place in VA. I got the mare that fall and bred her in the early spring then next year. Once she was infoal, I did some research one day and called the breeder and told her I had the mare and where I bought her from...the owner was in tears and asked if she could come and see her. I said yes and the woman was there in less than an hour..she live in MD. She came and saw the mare she has bred and raced. She had ended up with a trainer on a claimer and then the mare disappeared. She was a bit upset, saying the guy knew she would buy her back in a NY minute..so why he chose to take her to New Holland is still a mystery, unless it was just sour grapes for some reason. The woman clearly loved this mare and had a fabulous farm in MD so I told her she could have her after her first foal was born and she could bred her back on her 30 day...which she did. The mare again had a forever home and a very greatful owner/breeder. The gracious lady, was very well off and insisted I take money for her. So that one was a happy ending too!!!

[Fairview Horse Center]

I know most of you have kept your horses but if you find your self with a broodmare that is trained and easily haddled and want to still make sure that they are cared for forever, try a half lease or full lease to a 4 H girl. One of the girls I used to teach had on of the nicest mares who had been to Quarter Horse Congress, placed High and then bred for the next 15 years. They bought her after her last foal at 22 and this mare taught the girl Western, English, Halter, Trail courses and much more. She lives the good life, with a 12 year old and mom who show about 4 times a year and take lessons once a week. NEVER a wrong step with this mare. I wish I had a horse like that when I started riding.

This is a good option, but for me, it is not only that I make sure my girls have a home, but I believe they deserve to stay together. They are family, and have raised each others babies, been there for each other thru the many pregnancies, vanned to shows together, called to each other at Devon when one was in the ring with their foal showing, etc. They ARE family, and I just couldn't imagine splitting them up.

[Ladybug Hill]

Well, I really only have one aging broodmare. She is 21 this year. I actually owned her dam so I have had this mare for her entire life. She has given me some nice foals. I am considering trying one more time this year to breed her (but to a pony). She seems relatively vigorous for her age. Even if she can't produce this last pony foal for me, she has a very very important job here. She teaches all the other horses how to act. She never runs around like an idiot, always finds the new location of the water supply, etc. Everyone always looks to her for direction.

I really never figure out why some folks put all the youngsters out together with no "adult". I really prefer the foals that have grown up with Grandma teaching them the ropes. She is just a wise old soul. I honestly think her yearling daughter will take her place in this role as she matures--same type of temperament.

[akrogirl]

I also have a 21 year old brood mare. The difference in my case is that I did not own her during her productive years. However, she is the dam of my wonderful 4 year old, and when I found out that she was going to be sent to auction (and not by the breeder of my mare, I might add, who I'm sure thought the mare had a lifelong home with these people who have more than enough space and money, and who told me she would have taken her back herself if she had known), I had to take her in. Thanks to this mare, I have the sweetest, most wonderful horse imaginable and that alone is enough to justify her retirement with me.

[Ashemont]

Ours live out their lives in luxury. They've earned it! While we've basically gotten out of the breeding business (our last two foals will be born this year) we couldn't just dump the old gals who gave us so much. The younger ones were/will be sold but those dear old mare who gave us so many wonderful foals will spend the rest of their lives with us :)

[columbus]

I wasn't able to start my menopausal adventure of breeding Irish Draughts until I was in my late 40s so the aspect to being to old to keep horses until their end was something I was aware of from the begining. All Merrypath mares will be well and thoroughly broke and get a wide variety of experience as very likely they will need to be rehomed. To make their futures secure is my primary goal. A well broke horse is a value. An Irish Draught is a breed that doesn't require advanced riders but can be enjoyed by advanced riders and that makes the places they can go larger. They adapt well to new pastures and barns as well as they handle show grounds and new riders. They are big tough sound horses. All of this was part of the planning process for the menopausal adventure. I too hate to see broodmares have difficulty finding homes because they were never broke or they havent been kept broke. Now the hard part is finding the time to breed them when they are so fun to ride.

Pat Orgas
Merrypath Irish Draughts

[europa]

Darlyn you know I would take your girls off your hands!

[camohn]

They park here til the end. I have 3 old mares left that are 17, 17 and 22. The 22 YO is in foal/will be her last/will be retired. One 17 YO is open/will breed her this year and one is in foal. I have the in-foal 17 YO for sale as an attempt to cut back on what will soon be a pasture full of retired old horses...I figure if there is any hope of selling one old lady it would be the in foal one...but I am not overly optimisitc there are too many folks shopping for an 17 YO BM. Still....giving it a shot! If she does not sell she too will eventually be retired here. One filly I bought when we first moved here had an older dam and the farm she came from didn't want to keep her....told me they would sell me the filly I wanted if I took her dam with her. That mare did manage to have one more foal for me before she had to be retired.

[europa]

What are her bloodlines? Who is the foal by? Details please!

[Tasker]

We have retired several mares over the years. Most of them were riding horses before they took the mommy track with long FEI careers, so they are turned out with the yearlings and two year olds to babysit (keep the youngster in line). It has worked very well as they know the pastures from their youth and enjoy having a big square bale delivered every few days! :)

Last winter we made the choice to put down the two 1979's... :( It was a tough decision but they were losing condition and showing signs of going down without being able to get up on their own. Perhaps we were a week or two too soon but it is better to do something too soon, rather than too late.

We did sell a mare to a fellow breeder a few years ago and she had 3 foals for her. As an '85 model, it was sad to hear a few weeks ago that she too is deteriorating, but we know her owner will make the right decision when it is time.

We currently have a 1980, '87 & '88 with only the '88 being in foal. The 1980 was a GP horse for 13 years and retired sound, so she has earned her retirement. The 87 is a lesson horse...they will be kept until the end.

[Blonde Filly]

I really never figure out why some folks put all the youngsters out together with no "adult". I really prefer the foals that have grown up with Grandma teaching them the ropes. She is just a wise old soul. I honestly think her yearling daughter will take her place in this role as she matures--same type of temperament.

Mine all have "Uncle Blue" to show them the way. He has been doing babies for me for years now!!! I mean years and years..he is going to be 33 on Feb 17th, 2008 and I've had him since he was 4 years old..now that is a long time. I use to put the babies out alone and they got into all kinds of trouble..over fences threw fences, cut up, injuried you name it. I now have him in the field with all the babies. We put the new foals and dams out with him, so at weaning time, I just pull the mare out and the foals don't seem to even notice and they have Uncle Blue to watch over them. They will start running like maniacs and run by Blue who only looks up and says "there is no danger, I'm not running with you younins" and down his head goes to continue grazing...the foals see this and stop imagining there is really a big monster in the field! :lol::lol::lol:

[mp]

o where do all the aging broodmares go.....

Mostly in her stall. She doesn't like to pee where it will splash on her legs. :lol:

She's a 1981 model. She had five great babies for us and 10 for someone else before we bought her at age 17.

Right now she's up in the barn/paddock until we get a good thaw. I don't know if she can negotiate getting across a frozen creek to where the rest of the herd usually hangs out. Her left stifle is shot and if she goes down where it's slick, we'd have a helluva time getting her back up. She takes a lot of babying, but she's a grand old lady. And I'm so grateful to her every time I ride one of her kids.

[Sonesta]

All my old broodies stay right here with me -- still getting totally full care as if they were still in the show ring. They have earned it.

And with only a small place (max 30 horses), I've had to cut back on breeding due to lack of room with all these old girls just hanging out! But that's okay. I'm getting old, too, and we old girls have to stick together.

[sid]

Ditto everyone else here. Only two of my original four gals that I've owned since they were 6 years olds now remain -- now age 24. Being able to give them what they deserve is so fulfilling for me at my age too, and doing so made me also choose to wind down my breeding program several years ago.

[johnnysauntie]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/articleindex/article.asp?id=43155

(edited from the full article)

Let me tell you about our Thoroughbred. Feisty, by Acaroid, out of Some One Finer, by Lord Rebeau. It would be generous to call her pedigree “modest.” She was foaled in Florida in January 1991. She stands 16.2 and is a hard-keeper. Her official description is “dkb/br,” but she’s as black as a Thoroughbred gets.

While Feisty never raced, she produced two foals, by respectable sires, who did. Feisty Vick, a gelding by Vicksburg, and Feisty Connie, a filly by Connecticut. Vick literally ran his heart out, first as a claimer at Philadelphia Park, and then he was sent over the hedges.

At 9 he burst an aneurism steeplechasing in Virginia and died on the course. Connie was off the board four times at Prairie Meadows, and then disappeared, her fate unknown. Who knows? Maybe someone will read her name here and contact us. We have a stall waiting for her.

For that, you see, is what this little story is about. Not about Feisty herself, a dkb/br barren mare whose name will never again appear in The Blood-Horse, nor about her commonplace offspring. It’s about us, and the others like us, who take the old runners and their dams into retirement. We’re not a formal retirement facility. We’re not a 501(c)(3). We don’t frequent the auctions to buy and place the low-end horses. All those folks do good work, but we’re smaller.

There are lots of us out there, but we need lots more. Have a look at the tan pages of this magazine, not at the fancy yearling and 2-year-old sales, but at the regional mixed sales. You can buy a pregnant mare these days for a few hundred dollars. And now that the slaughterhouses are closed, these broodmares need homes. If there’s anything worse for a horse than standing in a feed lot next to a slaughterhouse (and we think there is not), then it’s being neglected in a dry lot.

Maybe you should think about buying one of these gals. Don’t worry about her pedigree or conformation. It’s the ordinary mares that need homes, if you’ve got the time and the room.

[columbus]

At what point do your mares accept being just retired. My Irish Draughts start banging on the gate after a month of being pasture pals. After that playing with the youngsters is no longer enough and they start the BIG STARE. This is for the horse mind readers...they say..."I'M BORED!...I DON'T WANT NO STINKING HAY!(the hay is very very nice) FIND ME A RIDER! DON'T TELL ME YOU HAVE NO TIME!!!" If I hade 6 retired mares doing the stare down I would go bonkers. PatO

[Wayside]

It makes me sad and mad and really offended that some people use broodmares year after year until they finally "age out," then discard them. I guess it's not really that different than with any other horse, but it strikes a personal nerve with me.

I know what you mean. Last year my mother was looking for a quiet older horse with a lot of trail miles she could mosey around on. I struck up a conversation with a woman at a show who turned out to have a 20 year old mare for sale. She had owned the mare's mother, and bred this mare herself. When I asked why she was selling, she told me she wanted to unload it before it was completely worthless so she could get some cash and not have to support it after it stopped producing :no: We passed, since the horse hadn't been ridden in years, but man I felt bad for that mare. Twenty years, numerous foals, and then they kick her out of the barn.

So it lightens my heart to hear that so many of you save a place for your aging mares.

[sid]

johnny -- you'd be happy to know that my original 4 broodmares were OTTB with fine, fine pedigrees as well as conformation, two of whom were going to "fall through the cracks" from the TB racing/breeding game when I snatched them up. They made lovely babies (crosses).

In addition, the owner of an OTTB mare who could not get her in foal to Argosy sent her down to us from futher North the following year. After cleaning her up (reproductively she was a mess) she caught on the first breeding, but her biospy indicated only a 50 percent chance of carrying to term because of massive uterine scarring. They chose to leave her here through foaling. It was the foaling from hell that she, nor her colt, should have survived (he was presented completely ventral)...but they did, and quite miraculously neither of them were worse for wear after that horrific dystocia.

When the owner couldn't pay her bill, she was going to put the mare down (not rideable due to blown hocks from the track). She was only 10. She was going to send the colt to a QH farm to grow up even though she knew he would not be fed like wb babies need to be fed, because she couldn't afford regular boarding. I bought the colt. I couldn't bear the thought of this lovely colt being crippled by nutritionally induced OCD.

So... I forgave her debt, paid the vet bills and turned the mare to pasture with my older, retired broodies. She went from the skinny, neurotic, weaver that arrived here to a happy, plump totally laid back girl at pasture in the "sisterhood", as I often call it. She is not a mare that I would have chosen to breed myself, yet her baby placed 2nd at the Warrenton Horse show his baby year. He's now 5 and a very fancy show hunter prospect by all accounts of others who have seen and ridden him.

Sadly, I lost her just last Saturday when I found she had died during the night in her run in shed with a fractured skull...with her 24 year old broodie buddy faithfully by her side. I'm still not quite over the shock. She had been developing what we believe to be occasional seizures where she would fall for no reason and was being treated for Lyme's. We suspect she fell during the night and hit the run in shed post with full body weight and bled out from brain injury from the fracture.

Despite my horror, we know it was a fast death (she would have gone into coma almost immediately) and I'm proud that she had a wonderful last 6 years living in a stress free and loving environment that she otherwise would not have had. The fact that she produced such a fine son is only a feather in her cap, but was not, to me, the sole reason for her worth in this world.

So...there are more of us out there than most people know. And though we are deemed professional breeders, many of us not ashamed or do not consider ourselves unbusinesslike for giving these wonderful gals the retirement they deserve and detest the idea of them as "throwaways" when their purpose to man economically is over. We just don't talk about it much. We love the physical sacrifices these girls made as much as those horses that thrive in sport competition do. The bond we kindle with them over the years is often undescribable and most often has nothing to due with valuing them only based on "what they put on the ground".

Glad to see from this thread, others feel an ethical obligation to these gals as well.

[VirginiaBred]

Sadly, I lost her just last Saturday when I found she had died during the night in her run in shed with a fractured skull...with her 24 year old broodie buddy faithfully by her side. I'm still not quite over the shock. She had been developing what we believe to be occasional seizures where she would fall for no reason and was being treated for Lyme's. We suspect she fell during the night and hit the run in shed post with full body weight and bled out from brain injury from the fracture.



:(:(:( {hugs to you Susan]}

[sid]

Thanks, VB. The good news is...Bo is doing quite well now. We're thrilled. It seems to me in my experience over these many years with my beloved horses that with every heartbreak, another horse rallies, perhaps to mend one's heart from the loss of another.

[Blonde Filly]

Sid, I'm so sorry to hear about your old gal passing on this past Saturday! RIP ol' gal!!!! :sadsmile:

[Fairview Horse Center]

Susan, thanks for giving your mare such a great home for the last few years of her life. These girls give us so much, their trust, and their hearts.

[mbj]

I am heartened by all of you who keep the grand old ladies into their dotage or find them wonderful forever homes. I also would be fine with breeders who put down the old gals. What saddens me is selling them on to someone who wants to get the last few foals the mare probably shouldn't have , and she ends up dying during foaling. Or sending them to an auction. I understand not everyone can keep them all. I just wish they would put them down in dignity at home rather than selling them down the road.

[johnnysauntie]

I thought sharing that BloodHorse column was timely. The article is right - you flip through the regional auction pages, and there are scads of old gals that sell for next to nothing, if they sell at all. I'm involved in OTTB rescue/rehabbing/retraining - and we focus on taking horses off the track - but the article rightly pointed out that lots of broodies need a place too.

It is heartening, as MBJ mentioned, to hear accounts of loyal and responsible owners. :yes: (and MBJ, I agree with you on ensuring a humane end rather than selling them off.)

[Jsalem]

I have a lovely 30 something former lesson horse that I bought at the local "Hwy 20" auction about 18 years ago. We called her Snowball's Chance. She taught lessons, did hippotherapy and gave me a beautiful pony foal. She's been retired from everything for about 5 years and lives at my "home" farm where I keep the very old and the very young. She's stalled and pampered and loved.

I bought a gorgeous weanling filly from COTHer, Windswept, last year. The foal came to live with me when she was weaned at 4 months. Chance performed one more task for me, serving as "nanny mare" to the baby. She was really proud of herself!

Not sure if she has many more summers in her, but until that time comes, she's a grand old gal and we love her.

[imajicadutch]

My broodmares, many of whom were born here, have a home for life.
My old mare, Rowillie, dam of Olivier (Fizzy) died in my arms a few years ago at the age of 29.
Her daughter, Galatea, who had a nice a career with me as a dressage horse, had colic surgery this fall, a month after foaling another gorgeous colt. She can no longer be bred and is 20 this year.

She has a nice time hanging out with her sister (aged 22) who is in foal for 2008, but will be retired from breeding after this year.

The 22 year old Morgan pony who gave us a Hierarch filly with movement to die for and who still jumps anything one puts in front of her, she, also, has a home forever.

You are all correct in saying that they owe us nothing We owe them a life without suffering, a green field, a kind word, great care and many cookies and a burial plot overlooking the mountains (or, wherever you are).

[not again]

Blesses are the broodmares. Our girls are treasured long after retirement and have a home with us for ever.

[imajacres]

Golden Moon, the old Gepard-Adlerorden mare I acquired two years ago ( 23 this year) is here until it is time to meet her maker. She has given an awesome filly by Bratt, as well as two frozen embryos, so she owes me NADA.
She can hang with my 23 yr old Tb gelding, the "foal uncle".

In fact, come to think of it, any horse that is older, or not rideable, ends up being buried here.

Hope someone is as kind to me :-)

[sporthorsefilly]

Me too! And I must say I am glad that I am not alone!

Not only are mine with me "till death do us part," but I even keep two older mares for a very good friend from NY. One is 22, she is B.Da'czzle's "granny," the other is 19 and was the dam of my Vanessa.

Many years ago (1964), I sold my first horse, to a lovely Virginia lady for fox hunting. The mare was 10 years old. Less than a year later, I heard that the mare had been euthanized due to "heaves," I knew this wasn't true, years before she had one episode, where she bled after heavy exercise, during a very hot summer, it had never reoccurred. I was heart broken, the mare was the BEST child's horse ever. I had shown her, raced her (Once in a quarter mile race), she was an honest 3'6" horse, and originally, broke western. She did it all, was totally bomb proof, and I felt her life was ended for a slight nose bleed. It broke my heart both then and now. I have never resold one of my horses.

IF I ever do sell one, it will be with a very strong contract to buy the horse back. The farm will be left to the youngest horse, with a trusted guardian to care for them. But then I plan to make 100.

Fairview give yourself a few extra years, you have more than 30 to go :)

[NancyM]

I know most of you have kept your horses but if you find your self with a broodmare that is trained and easily haddled and want to still make sure that they are cared for forever, try a half lease or full lease to a 4 H girl. One of the girls I used to teach had on of the nicest mares who had been to Quarter Horse Congress, placed High and then bred for the next 15 years. They bought her after her last foal at 22 and this mare taught the girl Western, English, Halter, Trail courses and much more. She lives the good life, with a 12 year old and mom who show about 4 times a year and take lessons once a week. NEVER a wrong step with this mare. I wish I had a horse like that when I started riding.


I haven't read all the posts, but really agree with this one. Some retired broodmares make great riding horses all over again for recreational riders or young or green riders. They have the life experience that such riders and owners need, and sometimes the training too, a bit rusty perhaps, but to waste such a mare keeping her as a pet and eating up your resources when she would be so highly appreciated by someone else for her strengths seems almost greedy to me. If an old broodmare isn't capable of this, then it isn't an option for her, but if she is some mares are just so suitable for this after her career as a broodmare is over.

[Iron Horse Farm]

I would like to tell this story without giving actual names or giving too much away.....

I contacted a woman in a southern state a few months ago about a young horse for a client. In the conversation, it came up that I breed. Turns out that the seller had purchased a well known horse farm at it's closing and wanted out of the horses. My client bought his and the seller gave me a great (ie nearly free) deal on an old broodie with bloodlines to die for. Her papers showed that she was an Elite mare that had been imported 8 years ago.

I was a bit shocked when they showed up. The mare was at least 200# underweight with parasites and a raging case of mastitis. She had a low grade fever and was uninterested in food. Her feet were nearly 5 inches long in front. We immediately began antibiotics and warm mashes. But here is the interesting part.............my weanling filly from Germany arrived about the same time. She was not overly interested in me or my food either and in a lightbulb moment, I turned them out together. Within hours, the old lady began perking up, protecting the weanling as if it was her own foal, trotting with head up. 8 weeks later, she is filling out beautifully, her mastitis and uterine infections cleared, feet trimmed, wearing her pretty new Weatherbeeta! I now turn her out with the other broodies, but "her" weanling never leaves her side.

I did track down her previous owner, who cried when I described her condition. She offered to take her back, but honestly I am quite smitten with her. We will try to breed her this spring as she obviously loves being a mother and her bloodlines are well worth saving. Sooooo an old broodie, thrown away, but found and safe!

[Mia412]

When we stopped breeding, our 2 mares were 20 & 22. They would have stayed with us forever, but . . .

The TB mare had been "taken over" by an adult border at our barn long before we stopped breeding her. She loved that mare unconditionally and spoiled her rotten. When the woman got her own farm, she begged to take the mare home. We know it's a lifetime home, and she's nearby. There'a a written agreement that if the woman ever can't keep her she comes back to us.

The pony mare now resides with a neighbor, used as a therapy pony for a disabled granddaughter. When they lost the granddaughter's shetland pony (at the age of 37) they "borrowed" our pony for a few weeks until a replacement could be found. Girl fell in love with pony, pony loves girl, and none of us had the heart to break the two up! She has a forever home there.

[Sassenach]

I would like to tell this story without giving actual names or giving too much away.....

I contacted a woman in a southern state a few months ago about a young horse for a client. In the conversation, it came up that I breed. Turns out that the seller had purchased a well known horse farm at it's closing and wanted out of the horses. My client bought his and the seller gave me a great (ie nearly free) deal on an old broodie with bloodlines to die for. Her papers showed that she was an Elite mare that had been imported 8 years ago.

I was a bit shocked when they showed up. The mare was at least 200# underweight with parasites and a raging case of mastitis. She had a low grade fever and was uninterested in food. Her feet were nearly 5 inches long in front. We immediately began antibiotics and warm mashes. But here is the interesting part.............my weanling filly from Germany arrived about the same time. She was not overly interested in me or my food either and in a lightbulb moment, I turned them out together. Within hours, the old lady began perking up, protecting the weanling as if it was her own foal, trotting with head up. 8 weeks later, she is filling out beautifully, her mastitis and uterine infections cleared, feet trimmed, wearing her pretty new Weatherbeeta! I now turn her out with the other broodies, but "her" weanling never leaves her side.

I did track down her previous owner, who cried when I described her condition. She offered to take her back, but honestly I am quite smitten with her. We will try to breed her this spring as she obviously loves being a mother and her bloodlines are well worth saving. Sooooo an old broodie, thrown away, but found and safe!

The mare sounds like an older version of our friend's filly :)

We lost one of our mares this year and were trying to do everything for the orphan filly. A goat didn't work - it was drinking her milk replacer, tried a nurse mare but she rejected the foal :no: finally our friend got the idea of putting her out with his two year old filly who has the best personality of any pony I've ever met.

Lass took to the orphan instantly :) She was *her* baby (Lass is a 2yr) Little Lady's condition improved and she was bouncy and happy and getting horse social skills to boot. Lass would fuss over her as if she was her own dam, and for the first day or so Little Lady attempted to nurse (Lass with no milk was looking at her with a 'huh' what are you doing back there? expression).

We took Lass to a show and she was definitely less sparky than usual. Bringing her back to the farm she hollered the entire way to the paddock and then proceeded to fuss over 'her' baby and not let her move more than 10 feet away.

When it was 'weaning time' (friend's farm was finished and he moved his mares off) Lass took it harder than Little Lady.

Lass is going to be bred this year and I can't wait :) she is such a 'momma' mare.

[Holly'er Than Thou]

I lost my sweetest old girl at 31 in the spring of '06. Got her when she was four. I have her last daughter and another mare, both from 1995, and my sweet 'nanny' mare who's now 27. They all have a lifetime home with me. I haven't sold a horse since my first pony back in the 70's. They've all been so good to me & I'm just returning the favor.

[BeastieSlave]

johnnysauntie thanks for posting the link to that article. It brought tears to my eyes. I have one of those mares. Zardene is not an especially 'special' mare on paper. She was passed around after her brief racing career and she put 7 foals on the ground for the various folks who bred her. I'm her nineth owner and she turns 17 this year.

She's not sound for riding, so when she started having trouble carrying a foal to term, Z was packed off and eventually sent through an auction where she sold for a couple hundred dollars. With the help and encouragement of some COTH'ers, I went and picked her up and nursed her back to health. I hoped that she would carry one final foal for me, but that was not to be.

It doesn't matter because she's a fixture at the farm now and I can't tell you how she has enriched my life.

[Centuree]

I think that is so great that some people are giving their broodies the retirement they deserve! I don't have any broodies, but do the same with my old show horses. I find it so disheartening when the old broodmares are just thrown out when they can no longer carry a foal.

[gldprimr]

I know that my old gelding is not aa aged brood mare, but I wouldn't dream of letting him go to anyone or anywhere else. I promised him that if he'd pack me around (we were both green) that I'd take care of him.

Sad that if the world we live in, no one thinks retirement for good service is warranted, but if we did not love them, what are we doing with them? Might as well ride a motorcycle.....

[Fairview Horse Center]

I know that my old gelding is not aa aged brood mare, but I wouldn't dream of letting him go to anyone or anywhere else.

My old Appy/QH gelding I purchased as a yearling. I rode him when he was younger, but in his early twenties, he gave a few lessons to kids, and my husband, and retired at about the age of 25. He lived out his life in my favorite stall, the closest one to my house, when my fancy warmbloods were delegated to lesser accommodations :winkgrin:. I lost him 2 years ago at 31 years pf age. Now that stall belongs to my oldest broodmare.