Re: More on SAD

[Lynette Helgeson <helgeson@lansford.ndak.net>]

What you need is the right bloodlines. I had two mares who ran with the
stallion from April until Sept. I seperated the stallion and put him in
his winter run. He gets out a couple of times that following winter, I
did not worry because the mare were bred, Ya right! Did they have spring
babies like they were bred to have? No way, they had one on January 7
and the other on Febuary 11. The first one was in -20 below f., the
other one was born when it was -10 below. Both foals did just fine. Born
with full winter coats. The one was only two weeks old when it got down
to -40 below. Was the warmest horse in the barn, since he had warm
momma's milk to drink when ever he wanted.

 I guess the mother to my mares was the same way. Could try all summer
to get her bred but she would be more likely to get bred on the shortest
days of the year. Here in ND in January it starts to get light at about
7:30am and is dark by 5:00pm. Figure that one out. 

Lynette

MBlanchrd@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Hi again, ridecamp,
> 
> Another of my two cents worth..I firmly believe that animals "shut down", as
> someone said in an earlier ridecamp, for the winter. Anyone who tries to get
> mares to cycle as early in the year as possible in order to get her to get her
> bred in January or February can tell you it's a battle. For all the standing
> under lights until 10 pm, hormones will still tell. A mare who absolutely
> refuses to hold to a January breeding will catch in May just like that. You
> can't fool Mother Nature!
> In my humble opinion, I think it's crazy to try for January foals. The only
> reason we do this is the racing industry's insistence on saying a foal's
> official birthday is January 1. Paperwork is made so much easier, but the
> horses suffer for it in the long run.
> 
> Michelle