riding a broodmare

Question
We bought a 16 year old broodmare and were surprised by the delivery of a colt 2 weeks ago. How long do we have to wait to ride her?

Answer
Hi Pepper!

Congratulations on your new HORSES!  This will be an adventure for you!  Babies should be weaned at about 6 months old.  By this time the mare will be more helpful in the process of letting go of the baby.  Baby will also be strong, healthy and ready to move on.  If done well, with the needs of the horses in mind, weaning can be calm, quiet and safe.  Abrupt weaning can be tragic for both mare and foal and can become a time of dramatic injury. I have written several times about low stress weaning, so look up those in my past answers and when the time gets closer, lets talk again and we can set things up for success.

About riding your mare...not the best idea for a while.  She will be too worried about her baby to really take care of you.  She is also new to you, so the deep trusting relationship has not yet developed to the point that she knows you have the best in mind for her and her baby.  She will not be able to leave her baby, and should not for a while.  Once baby is eating on his own it will be easier to go for short rides to help the mare get back into shape.  This has to be done with baby coming along and not so much activity that baby could be injured.  Use your common sense here.  Keep your mare and her baby comfortable.  You do not yet have the experience to support this pair and I need for you to be doing lots of reading and learning so that you and your horses will not only be safe, but you will really have the kind of partnership that will be a great joy!  

Pepper, I'm so glad you are reaching out for help.  So many first time horse owners get in over their heads and the horse suffers.  If you will allow me, I'd like to use your question to present some much needed information to everyone that reads these answers...stop breeding horses.  I'm so glad that you own this mare, but to the people that bred her and didn't care enough to follow through with her and her baby, or even let you know she may be bred...SHAME ON YOU.  People need to be aware in a more personal way the impact of over breeding and the inhumane slaughter of horses.  The way horses are treated throughout the kill process should make everyone sick.  To see horses stabbed and paralyzed, left alive only to be dragged away and finally bleed to death in a Mexican kill yard is appalling.  To see horses that one day were treasured and the next day garbage makes my soul ache.  At a kill yard in Arizona last week 5 mares were dumped with their babies, some as young a 2 weeks old.  The mares were hazed onto a semi-truck headed for Mexican kill yards and the babies were left to dehydrate and die in a back pen at the killers.  These horses are still horses.  They don't understand the change in their lives.  The mares were, last year, prized possessions that were valuable enough to breed and this year are thrown away along with their foals.  I firmly believe that people need to be responsible for the pain and suffering they cause.  If you own a horse and cannot provide a suitable, long term home with a good life, DON'T BREED!  You should know from year to year what your financial position is!   If you do breed, and you cannot find a responsible home and a good productive life for the mare and foal, be humane enough to euthanize your horse and not allow it's last days to be ones of such extreme fear and torture.  You owe it to the horse.  Horses are not meat animals.  They are companion animals.  They built this country, they built much of modern civilization.  They carry us, they heal us, they work for  us and are our willing partners and servants.  We OWE them.  It is a pretty simple thing to NOT breed a horse.  We need to be aware of the impact on our society of callus, and indifferent behavior.  Cruelty to animals, especially to those we share our lives with creates an atmosphere of cruelty in which all of us will suffer. I don't know if the people that bred your mare will ever see this, Pepper.  I only hope that people like you that are kind and loving will help pass the message to stop breeding.  I hope that we can dry up the market of unwanted horses so that not one more has to feel the pain and terror of a kill yard.  Race horse breeders, listen up.  You are the offenders and largest contributors to the kill industry.  No one in the U.S. eats horse meat.  If the french and Japanese want to eat horses, let them do it on their own.  We need to treat our horses with the honor they deserve.  We have statues in this country of our great leaders RIDING horses NOT eating them!  In commercials, movies and ads when we want to show power, majesty, glory, strength, and loyalty we show a HORSE not horse meat.  Think about it.

Again Pepper, thank you for the opportunity to educate more people about breeding.  We need to school our horses in such a way that they are too valuable to ever end up as throw-aways.  You will have a wonderful opportunity with your new foal.  I'm going to give you some homework and provide a resource list for you to start learning more about good horsemanship, and  colt starting...here goes:

"Ground Work" DVD by Buck Brannaman
"Ground Work" Book by Buck Brannaman
"True Horsemanship Through Feel"  book By Bill Dorrence
"Back to the Beginning" DVD by Ray Hunt

Watch Buck's DVD first.  It is very clear and show you the basics of ground work and really all of the skills your new horse needs to the the kind of saddle horse you are looking for.  If you can, attend a clinic with Buck, Ray or Ricky.  These fellows travel the country helping people just like you with their horses.  It is world class horsemanship and worth every dime.  

Pepper, I'm sorry if I had to go a little "Debbie Downer" in this answer, it's just that it is such an important issue today.  I appreciate your understanding.  As for your mare and foal, take it slow.  Do your homework and if you need more help or a clarification on terms or concepts, please let me know and I'll help!  Enjoy your journey.  Foals are great and so much fun.  You will have the chance to turn this little guy into something very special!

Smiles, Denise!