The horse breeder's profession

You love horses. You may even be thinking of turning professional and working in the equestrian world. There are a number of careers open to you, but you need to work out which one suits you best. In this article, find out what a horse breeder actually does day to day.

The breeder's first aim: breeding

The breeder's job takes many different forms. All breeders, however, share a common goal: to breed from and improve the breed they have chosen. A breeder usually keeps several mares for producing foals, known as broodmares. The breeder may own his own stallion. In that case, three situations can arise. Firstly, the breeder can choose natural covering: the mares are turned out loose with the stallion. The second method, no doubt the most dangerous, is covering in hand: someone leads the stallion in hand to the mare so that he can cover her.

Finally, the breeder may opt for artificial insemination. In that case, if he owns his own stallion, he has to collect the semen using a dummy mare. The stallion covers the dummy and the semen is collected in an artificial vagina. The semen can either be kept fresh or packaged into straws and stored in liquid nitrogen. Alternatively, the breeder may decide not to keep his own stallion. Handling stallions is a tricky business and requires real know-how. In that case, he has two options: take his mare to a stallion owner, or have her artificially inseminated.

The stallion owner is himself a breeder and keeps one or more stallions whose services he sells, or he may keep stallions only. His situation is even riskier than that of a breeder with his own stallion because, unlike the latter, he does not know the temperament and habits of the mares brought to him for covering — whether they kick, for instance. Generally it is the mares that are taken to the stallion, but some stallion owners travel with their sires.

The final days of a mare's pregnancy often call for close monitoring from the breeder. He needs to be well known to his broodmares if he is to approach them safely at foaling time. During the last days of gestation, some mares tend to become nervous. When they foal, their first instinct is to protect their foal at any cost.

The breeder's other daily tasks

Beyond the breeding side of things, the breeder's duties include the daily care of the horses: feeding them, grooming them, turning them out in the field, and so on. He also has to maintain the stables, which means mucking out, bedding down and the like. He must look after the equipment too: oiling leather, mending fences… and from time to time buying new kit. Plenty of breeders, in fact, buy their supplies from La Sellerie Française. Alongside this, breeders often show their mares with foals at foot in conformation and paces classes to promote their stock. That means loading them into a trailer or lorry and presenting them in places that are unfamiliar to a horse, with crowds and noise… The mares are shown in hand, with the breeder running alongside them.

When it comes to managing and selling the foals, there are again several possible situations. The breeder can decide to sell his foals at weaning or later on. In the latter case, he may choose to back them himself. Backing is a delicate stage and falls are not uncommon.