Booking & Breeding Etiquette: A Primer

ID Your Mare on a Neckstrap | Horsephotos

Breeding season is in full swing, and before it's over, somewhere around 17,000 mares will have passed through the doors of the breeding sheds in Central Kentucky. This year, the TDN was approached by a Central Kentucky farm with the idea of publishing a matings etiquette primer to help mare owners, stallion farms and their overworked booking staffs navigate the season. We reached out to the booking departments and stallion sheds at six top farms, and have combined their recommendations into a list of the top 25 dos and don'ts to successfully getting your mares bred while still remaining a beloved client.

1. Please do not try to book a mare without a contract.

2. Read and fully understand the terms of your contract, and have the contract and all related paperwork, especially the mare information sheet, on file at the stud farm well before booking.

3. Book your mares in a timely fashion. If you are breeding to a busy stallion, try to get your mares on the book early. Calling the day of or day before you need to be bred generally ends up with the mare not getting in.

4. Be prepared when you call to book. For example, if booking a foaling mare, have her foaling information handy. During busy periods, our phones ring constantly so efficiency is the name of the game. It is a huge help to us and to everyone else trying to book if you are well prepared for the phone call.

5. Come to the shed with the complete, accurate paperwork for that particular farm, and not some other farm you have done business with. Each farm's requirements are different. Incorrect paperwork can result in a mare not being bred. Import mares should come to the shed with all the paperwork: CEM / ENDO / CF / release.

6. Send your mare in a halter–preferably leather–in good condition so that it doesn't break at the shed. Your mare's ID should be on the halter or a neckstrap.

7. If requested by a stallion farm, tease and jump your maiden mares at home. You may not want your teaser kicked, but we do not want our stallion kicked.

8. Palpate your mares daily and provide booking secretaries with daily updates as early in the day as possible.

9. Have an up-to-date culture (within the month), not one that has been copied a thousand times and re-written for different mares.

10. When we say come to the shed at 7:30 a.m., we really mean 7:30, and not 8:45. Just because you think we have plenty of mares on doesn't mean that we haven't scheduled your time for you. If you have a long distance to drive or are running late, please call. Along those lines…

11. Always be early. Most sheds are actually ready 30 minutes before the scheduled breeding time. First in, first served.

12. Foal-heat mares are last in line, so don't be shocked when your foal-heat mare doesn't get bred, especially to busy horses. Over the years, several farms have knowingly given the incorrect foaling date just to get the mares bred when they were foal-heat mares.

13. Do not bathe or use show sheen on your mares. Stallions like the natural smell of a mare.

14. Have your mare's feet trimmed, especially her hind feet and no hind shoes–ever!

15. Drive respectfully at the farm. Slow down, and keep off the grass.

16. Some stallions take longer to do their business than others. There is nothing anyone can do about it; we all just have to be patient. Some sheds offer coffee and tea to those who are waiting.

17. Most stallions breed a maximum of three times a day. We try our best to get everyone booked where they want, but if eight mares show up wanting to be bred the same day, somebody is going to lose out. We are sorry, but nobody can help that. Remember our stallions are horses, not machines, and their welfare and physical and mental health have to be considered at all times also.

18. Booking staff must be mindful of the fact that some people have been up all hours of the night foaling mares. Be respectful and kind; you don't know what the person on the other end of the phone has been going through.

19. Remember the booking secretaries are trying to do the best job possible. Our job is to get all these mares bred. We don't want to miss mares any more than you do. Clients getting mad with us doesn't help. We are doing the best we can. There are generally only one or two booking staff per farm, answering easily 50+ calls per day. Please have patience; they can only speak to one person at a time and do need to eat lunch.

20. Be wary of the busiest times to call and book mares, which is generally from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and that more often than not, booking mares is not that person's only task. If you need something other than a mare booking, it's best to call later in the day.

21. When you put a mare on the books, remember where they are and check in with us promptly. Phone calls to move mares are just as important as calls to confirm. The spot you don't need might be someone else's saving grace.

22. Let us know when your mare checks in foal, and send a vet certificate immediately if your mare is barren.

23. Notify the stud farm immediately if your newborn foal has issues that may be life-threatening.

24. Although not getting a spot can be frustrating, please be assured that we are trying to do our best by you as well as by our stallions. It is also in our interest to breed your mare if at all possible so if you don't get a spot, you are unfortunately trying for a very busy day or have called later than others wanting that day. Please don't threaten to pull your mare (or all your mares) if you can't get in on the first try. We try our best to prioritize mares that have been missed first time around so we will get your mare bred.

25. Finally, let's all be polite and respectful to one another. We all have the same goal: we want to breed your mare and you want her to be bred. Civility costs us nothing.

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