About this time of the year, breeders are heavily invested in foaling out and rebreeding their mares. It’s usually an exciting time of year, but it is also true that the happy events are often sharply contrasted by the tragic.

This is “breeding,” full of its highs and unfortunately tarnished by its lows. While breeding horses is something that most people approach with great passion and excitement, it’s not for the faint-hearted. So this is a good time of year to remember that you’re not alone and that success eventually comes around if you stay in the game long enough.

Let’s face it, getting a mare pregnant can be a challenge if she’s not a prime breeding candidate. Often breeders choose to breed their former competition mares, who are typically older maidens. Or they’ll choose to use embryo transfer on mares they don’t yet want to give up competing. Older mares and embryo transfer make for challenging starting points, and they can easily lead to complications in readily securing a pregnancy.

Breeders are often split into three groups: the passionate, private breeders who will dabble a bit with breeding when they’re inspired to have a foal from a particular mare; the semi-professional private breeders who don’t strive to make a living off breeding but are heartily invested in producing quality foals year after year; and finally the professional breeders who maintain top-quality breeding stock and focus on providing superior horses to the industry.

No matter which group they’re in, passion runs through the veins of all three of these groups, or they wouldn’t venture to do it!

It’s important for anyone considering starting his own breeding program to recognize that there are indeed risks. Exper-ience has proven that while some mares will foal readily and produce nice, strong, healthy foals, tragedy can certainly strike others.

Dystocia (bad presentation of the foal at delivery) can lead to death of the foal and, at times, even the mare. These are circumstances that we all experience if we stay in the game long enough. They’re the experiences that take a heavy emotional toll on everyone involved. But they’re the events that bring us together as a community, united by experiences through which compassion and heartfelt understanding readily flow.

Once a foal is safely on the ground, the next challenge is raising that youngster in an optimal and healthy manner. Developmental orthopedic disease, colic, injury–you name it, they all can hit your foal.

Breeders must jump through a lot of hoops to successfully raise the foals they produce. It takes education and a fair shake of good luck to get it done properly. That’s why breeders need to educate themselves on pasture management, nutrition for the mare and foal, reproductive management, foaling and post-natal care of the newborn, in addition to the typical diseases of the growing youngster, for which they must be ever on the alert. Breeders can’t do it alone, so a positively invested veterinarian and farrier are also key members of the team.

As the young horses reach the age when they can get out in the sporting world, whether under saddle or on the line, breeders need to be educated as handlers or trainers. If the learning curve is too steep for this, it’s almost always best to turn the reins over to a professional because young horses are so impressionable. Research professional trainers well, given that bad experiences can take a lifetime for a horse to overcome, if they can do it at all.

Success in a sporting arena helps bring recognition to a breeder and their horses. While breed inspection results are important, sporting results make even more impact on a breeder’s reputation and relative accomplishments.

This is where it can really become fun! Once again, the passion that drove a breeder to produce a foal is tangible and obvious. Whether the breeder has sold the horse or has maintained ownership, at the time a young horse begins to compete and begins to produce results, the whole process becomes worth it. Everyone involved can be proud of that horse’s accomplishments, big or small. Like a child whose family has watched him take his first steps, each step forward can be applauded and enjoyed for the gift that it is.

When a rider experiences that big high after winning a competition, how often do they think about contacting the breeder of the horse who gave them such a thrill? It’s an oft-overlooked part of the sporting experience. Take time and look on the backside of your horses’ papers, whether they’re pink, yellow, or white, and identify whose passion and motivation lies behind your horse.

It’s a tough world out there for breeders–you just might make their day by letting them know how much you appreciate what their efforts have provided.