August 2020: Brood Mares!
It’s August. And it’s hot. Too hot here at the Ranch in east-central Texas! Prit’ near 100 every day in August so far. And the humidity! Just go on and rain already! Love all this sunshine, though, so we’re not complaining too hard.
I know the last thing you’re thinking about in August is Brood Mares. Long Yearling Colts, maybe, looking for that special one or two to start later this winter. 3 year olds, maybe, getting ready for big money earnings at the next Futurity! But brood mares? All your brood mares are currently out in the pasture, happily grazing and carrying their puppy-sized foals in their slightly expanding bellies.
For those of you who have brood mares that are currently open, or perhaps you are looking to start your own brood mare operation (with just 1 or many more in the pasture), now IS the time to be thinking about how to prepare your mare for her next breeding cycle. On occasion it makes sense to keep your brood mare open and let her just rest and recover for a cycle, nursing her current foal and building back strength, muscle and sanity. A few things to think about right now, though, might include: do you have a stud contract in place for 2021? Do you have a stall with lights to keep your mare in through the winter to keep her body ready for breeding in early 2021? Are you going to stagger your foal output or do you want them all born as close together as possible?
We currently have 3 brood mares available for purchase. We started a brood mare operation and have 3 gorgeous new foals for 2020, but due to myriad issues we had to make the very difficult choice to slow down that phase of our horse business and divest of several of our mares. 2 of our brood mares are open right now: we chose to keep them open so they could rest and recuperate and be ready for YOUR breeding pleasure in 2021. Our third mare is in foal to Don’t Stopp Believin with a foaling date in May 2021. These are beautiful, mature horses that produce absolutely beautiful, athletic babies! See our current crop of foals on our Available Horses page to see just how gorgeous they are! Even better, visit us in person at the Ranch in Kosse to see these mares up close and watch their foals move like the champions they were bred to be!
