Breeding season is winding down – and we have pregnant mares!

Breeding horses is an expensive and stressful endeavor. Breeding Friesians (all artificial insemination, of course) is a true labor of love and dedication to the breed. After all, Friesians have not been culled based on fertility – we are lucky just to get one here. If a cow is not very fertile, it becomes hamburger. But if a Friesian (male or female) is not particularly fertile, it is a secondary consideration. At Tanbark Acres we are very lucky to have good broodmares and even with that, it feels like a miracle when we have a pregnancy.

Last year was a very tough breeding year on the east coast and of the three mares, only one ended up pregnant. Who knows why – the weather perhaps (this year the south – Texas, for example – is suffering from a lack of pregnancies). For all practical purposes, breeding season is May – July, and it is almost the end of July now. For us, this year has been a nail biter too, but with only 3 weeks left in the season we now have two confirmed pregnancies. Thank. the. Lord. We try with Cori (she is a new mom and has not had a regular cycle yet after having her baby) next week. Who knows, if we are outrageously lucky we may get 3 of 3 pregnant.

So, though we never “count our Frisians before they are hatched”, at the moment things look good. The next few months are critical to see if the mares hang onto their pregnancies. It is mostly luck.

For now, we’re happy and relieved to say that:

Hiltje (Lute 304 x Lammert) is in foal to Wander 352. The foal will be a full sibling to Cori (our 1st premie ster broodmare) and 2003 foal Jantsje. I need to write up the breeding strategy on that but suffice it to say that this is a nice cross that produces tall, pretty, sweet and happy all-round Friesian horses that are truly beloved by their owners

Dahlia, ster (Thomas 327 x Tsjerk 328) is in foal to Feike 395. We are pretty excited with this cross. If you just look at Dahlia and Feike’s damlines for the past four generations (that’s 8 mares to consider), five of the 8 mares made model and 6 of them made preferent. All were ster, of course. And Feike’s daddy is one of only two living preferent stallions in the world. So, if nothing else, this foal will have just about the best papers in America. Breeding strategy for this cross here.

We’ll try breeding Cori back to Heinse next week. Wish us luck!