Foaling and breeding season is beginning for horses and a lot of people are very anxiously awaiting their new foals as well as being able to breed. Today's blog is about something that has always royally pissed me off: Breeding 2 year old fillies.
Fillies (young female horses) are not considered mares (adult female horses) until they reach the age of five. This is when their knees, hocks, ankles, and spinal joints are closed/fused and they are completely done growing and maturing. This is when they are considered fully mature in body as well as in mind. This is the optimum age to breed and start serious training at. Yet few breeders want to wait five years while their filly (or colt) is 'out to pasture' growing up. A lot of breeders think there is nothing wrong with breeding a two year old, filly or colt. I commonly hear people saying "Well, lots of breeders do it so it must be okay."
Tell me what the fuck makes it okay or healthy for a two year old filly to be bred? She's just a fucking baby herself!
I don't give a shit what idiot breeders think. I don't want to hear the "Oh she's structurally sound!", "She's good-sized for her age!", "She's a large breed!" and other excuses. They are just that. Excuses. She's still a fucking baby regardless of size or breed. Horses all mature at the same rate, regardless of breed. She's not mature mentally, structurally, or internally, and won't be for another three years. She is still a child by horse standards. Fillies and colts will nurse off of their mothers naturally until they are yearlings. So she's now two and learning to be independent. Just because she is not nursing off of her mother still does not mean it is okay for her to have a foal herself.
Structurally, at two years old, her bones are not sound for breeding. Her knee joints are not yet closed, her bones are not fully hardened, her bone fusions are not complete. Mentally she is still just a baby. All she needs to be learning is the things her mother would have taught her. Where to feed, when to sleep, how to behave, how to be a horse. Internally her pelvis isn't fused and her uterus isn't conditioned fully yet.
Big name horse breeders will often breed their two year old fillies. The first thing that comes to mind for me is 'puppy-mill', or in this case 'foal-mill'. Breeders don't want to wait for their filly to grow up and mature before breeding her. That costs "too much time and money". 'Who cares if she is a baby, if we're not gonna break her at two at least we can get a baby out of her, or two or three, before she is five years old then at least we can make some kind of income off of her.' That is the mentality that fuels the breeding of two year olds. It's not uncommon two see a mare that just turned five years old and already has two or three foals.
If you can't afford to let your baby horse grow up out in the pasture learning to be a horse you have no fucking business being a breeder or horse owner! Breeding a two year old filly is equivalent to a thirteen year old human girl getting pregnant. Parents and society would scream abuse, disgust, and horror over this. But hey, a thirteen year old girl has started her menstrual cycle and thus that means she is capable of getting pregnant and carrying a baby. Does that make it okay for her to get pregnant? Fuck no! It's the exact same thing with two year old fillies. They are just babies. Just because they are capable of getting pregnant and carrying a foal does not mean they should. Two year olds should absolutely not be purposefully bred. Ever.
On top of her not being physically ready to carry a foal think about her background. Has she even done anything at two years old to even merit being bred? There are already tons of fugly foals being produced from worthless conformational train-wrecks. Wait a while, get her some show experience, wait until she is broke to ride or drive at four years of age. Make breeding her worth-while. Foals from sires/dams with no record of doing anything other than breeding are pretty much worthless, especially in this economy.
Thoroughbred breeders often breed their fillies as 'long yearlings', not yet two, because all registered TBs birthdays are considered January 1st. So these are yearlings getting pregnant and having foals at late two. They don't even have time to be babies. They are born damn near right into motherhood. All of which is sick and very unethical.
The fact is this: horses, regardless of breed, take time to mature. Five years to be completely structurally sound for breeding/serious training (I'm not against gently starting/backing a horse at three years old, even though I prefer four years old) (As well I am not against breeding mares at late three, early four if you cannot wait til five). If you cannot wait at the very least three years to breed your filly then you have no right to own her. If you are one of the shitty breeders that just cannot wait and think it's okay to breed your two year old fillies shame on you. Go talk to a thirteen or fourteen year old teenage girl that got pregnant. Maybe it will make your money-hungry selfish ass think twice about breeding your two year old next time.
