Hello, I'm new to this board and to breeding actually... But still, great forum loaded with information! Love it
Alright, now I'm not breeding my new mare this year, but I plan to breed her next year. She is a beautiful 4 year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred. However, I think she is tipped at the back. However, I check her daily and she never gets dirty there... Would it still be a concern for breeding her?
As well, her other only flaw (quite the heartbreaking one actually) but unrelated to breeding is that she is a cribber. I'm not sure if I should be posting this question here so please let me know if it should go elsewhere Has anyone have experience when breeding a cribber? Do the foals have a high tendency to pick it up? It's very heartbreaking as otherwise, she is fantastic, beautiful temperament, good movement, good conformation, willing to please :S
Any comments and suggestions will be appreciated I'm very very eager to learn. I only bred a mare once, got a stunning colt. I had another foal too, but this one was a surprise though... So that's where my breeding experience stops
In the material I have read, cribbing behavior is highly heritable (I think it is above 65%).
Is she crib biting (biting and tearing out wood) or wind sucking (biting and sucking in air)?
Since she is an OTTB have you thought about ulcers? The cribbing behavior (usually windsucking) releases endorphins and helps relieve pain and stress. A lot of TBs with ulcers do it.
My TB mare did a little cribbing, this in conjunction with other behaviors led me to think ulcer. I make sure she gets plenty of opportunity to run and work off steam at speed, and have had her on u-gard 2x. She stopped cribbing, and her foal will nibble on things, but has not cribbed yet, knock on wood.
If her repro conformation is not optimal, the vet may want to do a Caslick procedure. If she's not getting dirty and her cultures come back clean, maybe she won't need anything.
Nah, she's a real cribber. Bites and sucks in air. She stops with her collar on though... But then, she has to nibble on wood ;) But that's not so much of an issue to me. I've just added steel to her stall. She is on 24/7 turnout during the summer, only stays in a few hours to rest and eat her grain. During the winter, she's out all day but in during the night. My stalls are built so horses can actually interact over their stall walls (which are not soo high). She's got no more excuse here as far as boredom is concerned ;)
I thought about it being ulcers... I read something about adding baking soda to their feed. So I tried that for the past two weeks without so much success yet. But I don't know how fast should it work either :S She eats fine, now, at first, she would rather crib then eat. Now, she eats all her feed calmly. Thanks to molasse to stimulate her appetite, now, no more problems with that. But she stills remains a rather hardkeeper considering that she is fed more then my other horses and she "ain't workin'" right now ;)
No, I haven't shopped for a repro vet yet. My regular vet is very familiar with breeding cows but not as much with horses. I'm considering frozen semen, seems like the stallions I like are only offered via frozen semen :S I hope there is a good repro vet in the region. I live nearby Ottawa.
"As well, her other only flaw (quite the heartbreaking one actually) but unrelated to breeding is that she is a cribber. I'm not sure if I should be posting this question here so please let me know if it should go elsewhere Has anyone have experience when breeding a cribber? Do the foals have a high tendency to pick it up? It's very heartbreaking as otherwise, she is fantastic, beautiful temperament, good movement, good conformation, willing to please :S"
Per your question above, yes it does matter and you need to be aware, it is NOT a learned behavior it is a GENETIC bahavior, I have proved it with 2 different familys of horses being produced out of stallions and the mares did not crib produced cribbers. I compare the behavior to a silimlar trait in humans like Alcoholism, passed in genetics, not learned.
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