It's worth rolling the dice...


Further to my earlier posting, I got into a discussion a few nights back about a foal who with a modicum of investment on the owners part, and less sleep in the wee small hours on my part, would have a good shot of getting through and being a racehorse.  Like so many that come through it was a relatively common neonatal foal problem (there had been a dystocia and the foal was briefly oxygen deprived).  The foal was slowing down a bit and showing signs of hitting the skids for a few days.  The great majority of these do fine, we just have to steer the bus for them for a couple of days.

The client was understandably frustrated, they thought they had something when the foal was born, and they saw it evaporating.  They were looking for help when they came in, but as with all of us, they didn’t want to spend money when they didn’t have to or when it wasn’t going to pan out.  I get that.

We are not going to save every foal, some are just too broken when we get them, and for some bad things happen along the way when we are trying to help them.  Mother Nature is generous, but she makes a habit of only loaning us some foals for a short time.  Sometimes it seems we are on different teams, but we are all on the side of the horse.  We all want to do what’s right, and if we do right by the horse we always do.

We should try to save the ones we can.  I refer often to a study published in the Equine Veterinary Journal in 2009 by Bosh et al.1  This is the best financial analysis of the financial worth of the mare and foal that I have seen that’s readily available.  In this study, the authors modelled the purchase of a brood mare (year 0) and her reproductive performance over a seven year breeding period, after which she was sold in foal.  They use 2005 numbers, but the idea still holds true.

Their conclusion: ‘mares are long-term investments due to the extended period before there is a return on the investment.’1  Furthermore, ‘factors that affect the likelihood of producing a live foal are critical to ensuring a positive financial return.’1

How critical?  When you factor in the cost of the mare, what it costs to keep and breed her and the others investments you could have made with the money, you are close to underwater until you sell her fourth yearling in year 8.

What did you need for that mare to make money?  Six foals in seven years (they gave her a pass during year 4 in their economic model).  That’s reasonable, 6/7 is about 80% which is the number quoted as what the average mare will do.2, 3  You improved your chances of profit by getting her in foal earlier in the season (more valuable yearling, but mares tend to get in foal later over time and as horses they will defeat your best efforts when they can) and keeping her longer than just seven years.

That doesn’t really give any of us too much wiggle room.  So saying we’ll save the stud fee and just breed her back next year may not be the most profitable choice after all.

We treated the foal.  It did OK, and went home happy.  Something to sell next year.

Maybe, you can make money by treating the treatable.

Chance of a runner – priceless.



1.    Bosh KA, Powell D, Neibergs JS et al. Impact of reproductive efficiency over time and mare financial value on economic returns among Thoroughbred mares in central Kentucky. Equine Veterinary Journal 2009;41:889-894.

2.    Bosh KA, Powell D, Shelton B et al. Reproductive performance measures among Thoroughbred mares in central Kentucky, during the 2004 mating season. Equine Veterinary Journal 2009;41:883-888.

3.    Hanlon DW, Stevenson M, Evans MJ et al. Reproductive performance of Thoroughbred mares in the Waikato region of New Zealand: 1. Descriptive analyses. New Zealand Veterinary Journal 2012;60:329-334.


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