Management during Breeding

BREEDING GUIDELINES

1	Sex ratio	1 : 30-40
2	Age at puberty	12-15 months
3	Optimum age and weight at first mating	Male : 3-4 years Female : 2 ½ - 3 years Weight 300-350 kg
4	Productive life period	14-16 years of age or 10 foals
5	Length of estrus cycle	21-23 days
6	Duration of estrus	4-6 days
7	Diestrus	17-19 days
8	Ovulation	3-4th day of cycle
9	Optimum time for breeding	2-3 days after appearance of heat
10	Estrus per mare per year	1.71
11	Services per mare yearly	2.75
12	Foaling heat	9-11 days
13	Gestation period	335-345 days
14	Weaning	4-6 months

SELECTION OF STALLION

• A breeding soundness evaluation should be completed on stallion before they are bought or before the breeding season starts.
• Thee stallion’s past breeding records should be examined to determine his ability to impregnate mares.(These records should indicate the number of mares bred, number that conceived, average number of breeding per cycle, average number of estrous cycles mares were bred per conception, and average number of breeding per conception).
• Fertile stallions breed each mare 1.5 to 2 times per estrous cycle, and they are bred 1 to 2 estrous cycle per conception. The conception percentage for a properly managed and fertile stallion should be greater than 90 per cent.
• The stallion should be in excellent physical health, as shown by a physical examination and by his personal appearance. Injury to hind leg or back may impair or prevent the stallion from mounting mares.
• Overweight stallions tend to lose libido during the later part of the breeding season. The stallion should be checked for history of colic.
• Stallion should be free from cryptorchids, inguinal hernias.
• The temperament of the stallion is important. He should be easy to handle during teasing and breeding procedures and he should not have any stable vices.
• The stallion’s libido should be evaluated by determining his reaction time. Normal reaction times (from the time of seeing a mare until and attempted mount) should be about 1 to 5 minutes during breeding season. During winter it may be long as 15 minutes.
• The average number of mounts per ejaculate should be about 1.5. The time of copulation normally lasts from about 30 second to 2 or 3 minutes. The stallion usually makes 5 to 10 intravaginal thrusts period to ejaculation, and each thrust last about 11 seconds. The ejaculatory reflex lasts about 15 seconds. About 5 to 12 (8 to 10 is average) ejaculation pulses can be felt side of the base of the penis. Ejaculation can usually determined by “tail flagging” – the stallion raises and lowers his tail several times.
• Olfaction is one of the fundamental stimuli of reproductive responses of the stallion. When the stallion smells the external genitallia of the mare or smells voided urine, he displays the olfactory or “flehmen reflexes” in which he extend his neck upward and curls his lip. During the reflex, he inhales and exhales air in the upper respiratory passages.

TRAINING YOUNG STALLION

• Training the young, shy stallion takes patience and time.
• Training is usually started by teasing a mare or mares for a few minutes. As soon as the stallion loses interest, or after 5 or 10 minutes teasing should be stopped.
• As soon as stallion teases a mare vigorously, he should be allowed to mount a gentle mare that is in heat.
• He should be guided into the proper position prior to mounting. A stallion frequently mounts on the mare’s side or shoulder until he learns proper position.
• When the stallion mounts correctly from behind, direct his penis into the vagina. The handler must be careful because the stallion frequently falls backward or off the side the first few times he ejaculates.
• After having bred two to six times, the stallion usually understands the process. Then training him to mount the mare by approaching her at the hip.
• The stallion must be trained to accept washing procedures before breeding. For the first few times, stand the stallion next to a wall after he drops his penis while being teased. He is washed in this position so that his movement can be controlled

SELECTION OF BROOD MARE

• The brood mares must be wide and roomy, well ribbed up, broad and muscular over the loins and quarters in or order to provide enough room for the foal to develop.
• Horse breeding mares should have good conformation.
• Mule breeding mares are generally heavy draught type and coarsely bred, should have a big bone and big round belly and hips.
• The brood mares must be genitally sound and free from hereditary defects and should preferably have dropped foal.

BREEDING OF STALLION

• The stallions are usually put to Stud work at the age of four years, after they have retired from turf.
• However, animals which prematurely break down at 3 years are retired to the Stud and such stallions have to be initiated into service. These young stallions will be let down which means that his body conformation changes, the hard and tight abdominal muscles relax and normal belly coulour is developed.
• The well developed hard muscles of galloping and propulsion become softer and more elastic. As such, the time taken for the process of letting a horse down is not less than 3 months.
• Many stallions are awkward in their first attempt at service and all possible help, guidance and encouragement must be provided at this time.
• For its first 'service, the stallion should be kept well under control and a mare in proper heat should be selected for service. Maiden mares and mares for DHAMAN (Foal heat) covering should not be put to such stallions.
• Some stallions have bad breeding habits and such habits usually de­velop during their first use in the Stud.

·         Some are slow in mounting and often have to mount several times before actual ejaculation. The others bite badly during service.

·         Normally 30-40 mares are allotted to a stallion and the stallion has to cover 2 to 2 ½ times per mare in order to get them in foal. The total covering quota of the stallion should be fixed and number of mares allotted according to the age of the `stallion.

• The new stallions in their first year of service in the Stud should not cover more than 15 mares and their covering quota should not exceed the whole year.
• The second year, the number of mares as well as covering quota should be gradually increased which should be limited to 50 coverings during the whole year.
• It is during the 3^rd year of the Stud service that a stallion is. fully utilized and the covering quota should not increase 80-100 in a year. Similarly, when the stallion gets older than 15 years, the `covering quota' should be accordingly reduced.
• Normally one covering should be allowed in 48 hours as replacement of semen takes place in this period.
• During busy covering season, there is no harm in using a stallion daily but this should not be continued for a long time as excessive use has adverse effect on concentration of the semen and motility of the sperms. If daily covering has to be given for few days, it should be ensured that 48 hours rest is given after 2-3 days. Total covering in a month for a stallion should not exceed 20.

SIGNS OF HEAT

• During diestrus, the mare shows complete resentment of the stallion. She will kick, bite and chase him.
• One or two days before estrus, she becomes more passive to the stallion. She may or may not object to his presence.
• During estrus, mare is receptive to the stallion.
• She flexes her pelvic(immage), raises her tail.
• Frequently urinates, spreads her hind legs apart, contracts and relaxes the lips of the vulva with winking of the clitoris, and allows the stallion to bite and chew on her neck and flanks.

BREEDING SEASON IN MARES

• The mares are polyoestrous and heat varies according to the climate and the season.
• The breeding season is mainly confined twice a year. The spring breeding season commences from Feb till the end of June and Autumn breeding season is confined to Sep-Oct and Nov.
• The breeding in spring season is considered to be best time because the heat in the brood mare is regular and invariably accompanied by functional ovulation, the stallions are most prolific and conception rate of the coverings is high.
• The maxi­mum coverings should be aimed during this period as the foals are born after service in this season, at a time of the year when plenty of good fodder is available and the climate is favourable for their quick growth.
• Nearly 70-80 percent of the mares should be covered in this season. Autumn breeding season may be used for breeding of problem mares after their treatment.

TRYING OF MARE AND DETECTION OF HEAT

• Trying or teasing of mare is introduction of mare to teasing stallion during the breeding season. The main advantage of this preliminary trying is firstly to overcome the natural nervousness of the mares in the presence of teasers and secondly to get a clue as to the likely date of mare will be in season from February onwards.
• One should start trying all maiden and empty mares from 1 sty Feb. The main advantage of this preliminary trying is firstly to over-come the natural nervousness of the mares in the presence of teasers and secondly to get a clue as to the likely date the mare will be in season from 15 Feb onwards. It is done by allowing the mare and stallion to have a contact which is separated by a wooden (trying bar/teasing bar) bar or wall.
• It is better to miss covering of the mare in the first heat of the breeding season as percentage of ovulation is much less.
• In the presence of the teaser the brood mares in season exhibit the heat by raising the tail, by standing quietly, by  i.e. twitching of the clitoris, by squirting urine frequently, bending her hind quarters followed by contraction and relaxation of vulval lips and passing of vaginal discharge, which subsequently becomes thick, scanty and hangs out like a thin string.
• The vulva gets swollen and becomes slack. These external signs of heat are the indication of what is happening inside the genital tract of the mare.
• The mucous membrane of normal vagina is of pink colour, free from inflammation or offensive discharge and os uterus is seen projecting out in the vaginal passage, erect and rigid, like a piece of cartilage.
• In normal condition during dioestrus and pregnancy, the os is tightly closed. In heat, there is dilation and relaxation of vulva and the os and moistening of vagina to facilitate the passage of sperms.
• Taking an average period of heat as seven days, during first two days, there is no change in the condition of the os, next three days there is full dilatation followed by last two days rigidly increasing contraction.
• To detect rigid or relaxed os, it requires long practical experience. A tight hard rose bud represents rigid os, the full bloom rose just past its prime, is the relaxed os.
• When examined by speculum, the cervix in mares not in heat is seen protruding into the vagina standing erect above the lower spoon of the speculum.
• A mare may be covered for 4 days in succession during heat, yet the conception is the fruit of one day of these services. The other three are drain on the stallion’s vitality. Every service should be aimed at conception and mare should be covered when she is unmistakably willing to accept the mounting of the stallion.

PREPARATION OF MARE FOR COVERING

• The mare being found in a complacent mood and the generative organs in ideal condition. At this stage, the follicle should ripe, reaching about 3-4 cm in diameter. Occasionally two follicles may be present in one ovary.
• The service of the mare must be as close to the nature as possible. Service hobbles may be used as a protection of the stallion against the injuries from the kicks.
• Use of twitch is not recommended unless mare is maiden or nervous at the time of covering. If twitch is necessary it should be used temporarily. After the stallion has mounted, the twitch can be quit safely and should be immediately released.
• The mare should be prepared for covering by tying a bandage at the root of the tail to prevent loose hair being forced into vulva and causing subsequent laceration of the stallion’s penis during service.

COVERING A MARE

• The stallion is led out of the stable by two attendants and is kept well under control. Stallion should be walked round at a safe distance from the mare so that she may see him and get time to settle down herself.
• Later the stallion is made to stand 1 to 1.5 m away from the mare, not in direct line behind her, but to the left side of her so that mare and stallion form two sides of a square.
• The mare then can see all stallion’s movement and under­stand his intention. The stallion will begin by curling up his lips and smell the air. He will accordingly get ready for his work, sometime at once and sometime not quite so quickly. However, he must not be led up to the mare until he is quite ready and the penis is fully drawn and erect.
• The mare’s head is held little high when she will not be able to kick quite so easily or so hard.
• The stallion is then led up to the left side of the mare to within a distance of a meter or so, when he will be left to jump her without any further interference and trouble.
• Further movement of the mare should be prevented by the attendants in front of the mare, one holding her head and the other pressing his shoulder against shoulder of the mare.

CARE AND MANAGEMENT DURING COVERING

• While mounting, the attendants holding the stallion should assist. The attendant on the right side pulls the mare’s tail towards him with his left hand and places his right hand on the mare’s hips, to keep her steady. The attendant on the left side places his left hand on mare’s hip and guides the stallion’s penis with his right hand into the vagina. Some stallions resent the holding of the penis by hand, the idea is only to help in penetration and the hand should be kept close to the penis to prevent it going to the side or entering into the rectum.
• Mares that have foal at foot, their foals must be separated from them temporarily when they have come to be tried and covered. It is further better that the mare should not hear the cries of her foal, which generally upsets her and distracts her attention from the stallion.
• It will be ensured that the stallion has ejaculated which is indicated by flagging of the tail, contraction of the anus and rhythmic pulsation in the urethra.
• Some stallions go through these false motions even without ejaculation, therefore the proper method of testing the discharge of the semen, is by placing a finger very tightly on the under side of horse’s penis towards the close of the service.
• If the horse is ejaculating, the impulse throb will plainly be felt and all doubt be set at rest. The stallion normally ejaculates close to the cervix or directly into the os. The stallions which bite badly should be muzzled during service.
• Normally one service should be enough but if the stallion is having slack time and the judgment for selection for covering has not been correct, second service may be given. At the fag end of the breeding season, in case of mares having been continuously breaking, a third service may be given in the hope of winding up the season satisfacto­rily.

DHAMAN (FOAL HEAT) COVERING

• Foal heat or post parturient oestrus is a unique phenomenon in mares. The foal heat is invariably complete with follicle ovulating.
• This is possible as the ovaries of the mare in the later stage of pregnancy do not contain functional corpus luteum so that new follicles begin to develop, as soon as level of the estrogens and progesterone, by the placenta, drops low enough as to exert inhibiting effect on the pituitary ovarian activity and new fol­licles start developing before parturition.
• Furthermore, post parturient uterus of the mare is capable of involution in a short time, because of primitive loose non deciduate type of placenta of the mares, which permits separation of foetal placenta without major damage to the uterine endometrium.
• If the restoration of the uterine epithelium after parturition is not complete, it may result in abortion. Foal heat is of about the same duration as cyclic oestrual periods.

TIME OF FOAL HEAT COVERING

• Majority of foaling mares are ready for the stallions on the 9th day after foaling and in calculating 9^th day, the day of foaling and day of covering are also counted.
• Normally it is arrived at by adding 8 to the date of foaling. Best general practice with foaling mares is to try every day from 7th day after foaling till satisfactory result is obtained up to 15^th day.
• If the mare has not shown heat after foaling and is not covered during 1st or 2nd post parturient heat, the dioestrus is unduly prolonged in heavy milkers, till after the foals are weaned.
• Presumably this is due to the pitu­itary principally putting out lactogenic hormones at the expense of gonadotrophins. The char­acteristics of individual mare have to be studied and recorded. The dates are very useful guides to probabilities and should not be rigidly followed.

UNFAVOURABLE CONDITIONS FOR FOAL HEAT COVERING

The result of Dhaman (Foal heat) covering has been found very satis­factory and certain precautions are necessary before enforcing this into an organized Stud. However, Dhaman (Foal heat) covering should be avoided when the following conditions are encountered:­

• When there is a difficulty in foaling and foal is taken out manually even if it is alive.
• When the foal is born dead or dies within 7 days after foaling.
• When placenta is retained for more than 3 hours in the uterus.
• When placenta weighs more than 6.5 kg.
• When the placenta is thick, oedematous and having ulcers on its surface.
• When foal is born as weakling.
• When the mare is continuing vaginal discharge more than 4 days after foaling.
• When the mare has sustained injury to the genital tract during foaling.
• When the uterus has not involuted to its normal size as detected by rectal examination.
• If the mare is weak in condition.