Breeders/stallion handlers

[Pinto Paso]

I am interested in hearing what others are doing with stallion and mare handling during teasing & breeding

Do you take the stallion to the mare or the mare to the stud for teasing?
Do you restrain the mare or the stallion during teasing?
Do you use one stallion for teasing (or only have one stallion) or do you use the stallion you will be breeding to that mare to tease?

What is your cleaning products of choice for mare and stallion?

How many handlers do you use for breeding?

Do you use breeding stock, a breeding wall or tie the mare in a specific manner all the time?

How many times do you cover a mare per cycle?

Do you do only AI for all breedings? And if yes what brand of dummy?

Feel free to add things that I have missed

Thanks

[Terry Wallace]

Do you take the stallion to the mare or the mare to the stud for teasing? I TAKE MARE TO STUD.
Do you restrain the mare or the stallion during teasing?NO, I HOLD THE MARE AND THE STALLION STAYS BEHIND HIS PADDOCK FENCE.
Do you use one stallion for teasing (or only have one stallion) or do you use the stallion you will be breeding to that mare to tease? I USE SAME STALLION FOR BOTH.

What is your cleaning products of choice for mare and stallion? DAWN DISH SOAP & WATER.

How many handlers do you use for breeding? JUST ME, OR ME AND MY HUSBAND. IF JUST ME, I TIE THE MARE, I HANDLE THE STALLION.

Do you use breeding stock, a breeding wall or tie the mare in a specific manner all the time? I TIE HER TO A CENTER POLE INSIDE THE BARN. I DO NOT BREED OUT IN THE OPEN, TOO SMALL A NEIGHBORHOOD.

How many times do you cover a mare per cycle? USUALLY THREE...UNLESS TRYING SPECIFICALLY FOR A FILLY FOAL...THEN ONLY ONCE, RARELY TWICE.

Do you do only AI for all breedings? And if yes what brand of dummy?NO AI BREEDINGS HERE...ALL LIVE COVER.

[Carol Nelson]

Do you take the stallion to the mare or the mare to the stud for teasing? MARE TO STUD
Do you restrain the mare or the stallion during teasing? MARE ON LEAD LINE, STALLION IN STALL
Do you use one stallion for teasing (or only have one stallion) or do you use the stallion you will be breeding to that mare to tease? SAME STALLION, UNLESS SHIPPING SEMEN...THEN I TEASE WITH MY STALLION

What is your cleaning products of choice for mare and stallion? IVORY LIQUID AND WATER

How many handlers do you use for breeding? TWO - WITH AI, ONE TO HANDLE STALLION, ONE TO COLLECT SEMEN

Do you use breeding stock, a breeding wall or tie the mare in a specific manner all the time? DO AI BREEDING SO MARE IS TIED IN STALL ADJACENT TO DUMMY WHILE STALLION IS TEASED TO MOUNT DUMMY

How many times do you cover a mare per cycle? WITH AI, USUALLY ONLY ONCE UNLESS WE THINK WE MISSED IT...LIVE COVER, THREE TIMES

Do you do only AI for all breedings? YES, EXCEPT FOR MINIS...THEY ARE LIVE COVERED And if yes what brand of dummy? PURCHASED FROM A PLACE CALLED TACK IN THE BOX
http://www.tackinthebox.com/Products/Farm/breeding_categry.htm

[PLEASURE PASOFINO]

I will like to add: Sperm count!!! on stud!!! very important !!

Also, we keep his thingy very clean at all times, but right before mating only clean it very well with water!!!!! no soapy!!!!!

[moonrize]

Okay folks - I don't have any problems with how y'all are handling your breeding programs, but HOW do you ever get any foals using DISH detergent as cleansing agents :?:

Dish detergent is for DISHES folks, not horse genitals. There's all types of commercial cleansers from Excalibur to Nolvasan. These will clean your horses without compromising the vitality/viability of the sperm. And so you spent two more bucks on a bottle of cleanser. I would think your animals and breeding program would be worth it and in the grand scheme of things, it's not going to break you.

Try using some good ol' Dawn tonight on your private parts. Uhm, don't think you'll like the results. Your horse doesn't either.

JMO. If ya think your foals are dishes, go right on ahead....

[JennLM]

Also, we keep his thingy very clean at all times

:lol: "thingy" lolol Sorry but that was cute.

[Terry Wallace]

MOONIE... when you use it very diluted...it works great... I would not use it on the male equipment...I use plain water for that.... I use Dawn on the outside equipment of the mare, and 'round the sheath of the stallion.

If you think thats bad....we NEVER...and I mean never cleaned either stallion or mare in the 1970's and early 80's... and guess what????

We had lots of foals.... mother nature really does "know best".

Its humans that *think* washing everything is neccessary... its really not unless you are AI shipping. Nothing better than plain ole' live cover...we had 21 mares and 1 stallion all on pasture... for pasture breedings. No human knows better than a stallion just which mare is "ready"...! :D

[Carol Nelson]

Of course, it's diluted...in a pail of warm water... :roll:

We clean the mares...rarely do we clean the stallion if he's breeding frequently, maybe first time in the season...he stays clean naturally. This is using the a.v....he doesn't enter a mare.
The mares we always wash down externally. Just the way we were taught.

Ha...it wouldn't let me use the v--word...must be a dirty word. LOL :lol:

[moonrize]

Well Terry you are sooo right about us humans washing every dern thing in sight. But when breeding so many mares to one stallion became popular, the uptake of sexually communicable diseases did too.

Then it was culture the mare, wash the ******l area, and clean the peenis so as not to spread anything. I think we have more of a grip on these things now.

Whew, I'm so glad that you clarified diluting the detergent. I could just imagine holding the peenis in one hand and dumping the Dawn on with the other and a little scrubby brush :oops: All I can see in my mind is all the pictures of the birds covered in oil that they use Dawn detergent on to clean them after oil spills.

When I was a kid, we had the teasing station set up by having a shed row of mares about 10 ft from 6ft tall paddock. All the stallions were turned out in that paddock daily (one at a time) and they self teased the mares and themselves. It worked great.

I have found that restraint systems are equal to the amount of money a horse is worth. I've seen everything from mares and stallions thrown out in a pasture together (and can I have my $200 please?) to syndicated stallions being handled by two handlers with front rubber boots on the stallion (so as not to hurt mare) and mare is twitched and hobbled no matter what (and your VISA card will show this visit with a $25,000 charge).

Mostly the TB breeders go crazy about protecting their horses as every foal is live cover only. No AI. And watching a TB stallion barn during breeding time is absolutely amazing. They have it down to a science. I once watched Apple Valley Farm Ocala (racing TBs) for a couple hours one afternoon - just a couple years ago. They had a mare scheduled to arrive every 20 minutes to be bred (they used the above high dollar described method). In three hours they bred 9 different stallions to nine different mares and in breeding fees alone the head stallion manager told me they made close to a million :shock:

So really, what works for one barn isn't feasible or works for another. You always have to consider your personal safety as well as that of the animals you are breeding.

[Terry Wallace]

Whew, I'm so glad that you clarified diluting the detergent. I could just imagine holding the ***** in one hand and dumping the Dawn on with the other and a little scrubby brush

yep ..heheheh Sally...only you would envision that....ESPECIALLY the
"little scrubby brush"...YIKES! How Rude!

[moonrize]

Oh Lori and PasoMom -
PEENIS is not a bad word. Please fix your spell checker. I had to spell it wrong so we would all know which parts of the horse we are talking about. It's no different than the hoof or ear or croup. In fact, when the spell checker takes out a real word with valid meanings it makes people look stupid - like they're too embarassed to say the correct word or they don't know the correct word.

Reproductive parts are not cussing. Now say PEENIS 10 times and fix it on the spell checker.

Oh, now I see VAGINNA is a bad word too. Say it 20 times and fix it.

If kids are reading this, it will be educational and good for them to know the parts of the horse even EEK the sexual ones. We teach all these things to the 4Hers who start at age 8.

[Candice Burger]

I dunno. I think a stallion is worth allot more if he can manage it all on his own; the mare too.

[Boyd R]

Candice I am with you Porcy too

[Red Ryder]

My stallion has 66 babies only failed in getting a mare PG once and it was with the mare, low thyroid [??] production

I've never cleaned the stallion, nor the mare, nor wrapped a tail. nor twich nor hobble the mare. If she's not ready, Pooh want go near her.

Does that mean I shouldn't, who knows?? I just let nature take over.

I'm not knocking all "Precautions" I just dont use them.

Bad me !!!!!

[Carol Nelson]

Gosh...I even wrap the tail during live cover...who wants that in the way...ouch!

It's not that Rojo doesn't KNOW HOW to breed the other way....I just prefer to breed him via AI now as I don't want him hurt. He was turned in with an old mare at three years old and she taught him well...but I would NEVER do that again....knowing what I know now. And I sure will NEVER do that with Devante.

Even my mini stallion is hand-bred...not just turned in with the mare.

[Rusel]

I clean Dancer twice a year with Triple J Sheath Cleaner.... it contains Tea Tree Oil and is non irritating.... He gets cleaned at the beginning and end of breeding season...

Between mares he gets washed off with warm water.... "Great reason to run hot water to your wash site.." A trick for those stallion that don't want to drop... "wipe the mare's vigina with a warm wet washrag, the hang that washrag onto the noseband of the stallion's halter" He'll get the idea pretty quick... and as long as the water is body temp or warmer he'll stay dropped...

If it's an outside mare I put it in a small pasture by herself and then take Dancer in on a long leadline. Let him talk and if the mare's ready they'll breed.... if she's not I put her in the stall for a while so he can court her over the stall door. Put him up for the night and then try again the next day... Once they've bred and she is not aggressive I turn them out together...

If it's my mare's I walk Dancer into the pasture, pick the mare that's ready and let them breed... If they are all going to be bred I then turn him loose in the pasture... otherwise it's back to his pastue...

With those breeding habits I should get a higher percentage of colts to fillies but in fact have only gotten 3 colts in 12 yrs and 2 of them out of the same mare.... that's 3 of 37.....so I have my prayers to the fertility gods down pretty pat..... we'll see what next year brings with other individuals handling him during breeding season....!!

This is MoonGoddess Mako.... the mare that's given me 2 colts..... she was the reason for my thoughts of mares influence on the sex of foals while driving on my trip...... I'd call her boss mare..!!
http://thumb17.webshots.net/s/thumb4/5/86/9/94558609kwjKcC_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/1094558609037466697kwjKcC)

[motorgypsy]

Stallion has his own breeding paddock area. We take the mare to the electric fence and let them chat a bit. If she gets all moonie eyed etc. we send him to the back of his paddock and he has to stay there until we bring her in, leave and secure the fence. He won't do anything without an invitation. We went through three heat cycles with one mare during which he danced, shared his food, groomed her and courted her but that was all until she gave the word.

Why is he so respectful? He got into the mare's pasture once because he was in love with our mini mare and she reciprocated. Well obviously once he was in the pasture she played hard to get and he chased her until the big mares got tired of it and ganged up on him and let him have it with both barrels and sent him to the other end of the pasture where he stayed looking very sad until we went to get him. He is now the ultimate lover boy. I know a lot of human males who should take lessons from him (mine doesn't need lessons) jejeje!!

We clean with water only.

Yes we believe in culturing but the mares were all maidens and the stallion had been bred only once to a maiden.

We haven't done AI but will. We've hand bred other stallions but not ours.

We've done breeding hobbles with other mares but not ours.

We breed once or twice on the same day.

[Candice Burger]

Interesting Rusel.

I pasture breed too and so far it's 8 girls, one boy.