1. Our little filly Sophie is growing up, and I jumped her over her very first cavaletti! Milestone for the
2. My sister had her little girl on Friday, and I am so happy to welcome a healthy and beautiful little niece!
All these babies on my mind leads me to, what else?!
Legal implications of breeding agreements and foal exchanges!
Percheron Filly; Source
Have you ever used a breeding contract or been involved with a breeding arrangement, or think you might in the future? We've bred 3 fillies successfully, but one mare (the one with the best pedigree, of course) just would not take despite multiple efforts.
Fortunately we had an agreement in place regarding breeding fees, so we avoided any miscommunication. We left our mare at a facility where she would be inseminated, so we had to consider a boarding agreement, vet agreement, and live foal agreements.
Some things to consider for breeding contracts:
1. If a live foal is guaranteed, then how is "live foal" defined? Must it stand and nurse? Must it survive the first 24 or 48 hours?
2. If the mare does not take, would a repeat breeding be gratis? If so, how many times, over how long a period? Or would a refund be offered in lieu of further attempts?
3. What insurance would be required? If someone is breeding to your mare, would you require major medical/ mortality insurance? What about the stallion's insurance (especially if live cover)? Or insurance for the foal? And consider insurance for your farm or ranch if horses are being brought to your facility for breeding or care.
(I had to exercise great restraint in not posting more foal photos!)
I know that breeding has come under increased scrutiny and criticism lately because there has been a growing awareness of the "unwanted horse" situation: slaughterhouses in the U.S. are closed, discretionary income to purchase horses is minimal, and horse owners are losing their jobs and farms and cannot feed their horses.
However, breeding horses is necessary for the growth of various breeds and disciplines- and in my opinion- breeding is not the sole variable to blame for unwanted horses, and can be done responsibly.
So while I do not encourage casual, irresponsible "backyard breeding," I do encourage anticipating potential areas of conflict when choosing to breed your mare, offer brood-mare services (we used one for our orphan filly), or offer stallion services, and to come to an agreement in writing between the parties.
Foals are special: make sure every aspect of its conception, delivery, and lifetime is considered before taking that step, including contracts, insurance, and finally- a safe and happy home!
4 comments:
Very interesting post! I've never bred a horse like that before so I'm not sure if I would ever think about those! But I do think that breeding contracts are a great idea.
I have a question though, it does relate to foals but not to a breeding contract. If somebody knowingly put their stallion in with somebody else's mares, let the stallion breed them, and then removed him before the mare's owner was aware what had happened, would the stallion's owner have any legal ownership to the foals? The owner of the mares wouldn't have had any idea that his horses were pregnant.
hm, what an interesting question. Horses are property, and not like children, so I wouldn't think an automatic "paternity right" would arise. Frankly, I think the mare owner would have a cause of action (could sue) the stallion owner for trespass to land, trespass to chattel, and other damages to her horses. Public policy does not want people to profit from their crimes, in general (though criminals do profit from their book sales sometimes!), so I would think that if the stallion owner had acted illegally, public policy at the very least would discourage his or her ability to profit from the illegal act and should not be able to take the foals.
Thanks for reading, and for the question! (And I hope it isn't a real-life scenario... sounds awful!)
I think if anyone uses your facilities for any purpose at all, you have to demand proof of insurance. I allowed a friend to put her horses on my land when she had nowhere else to go, and although I asked her to have her horses insured, I never asked for proof. When her horse kicked mine, it turned out she had no insurance. My mare needed multiple x-rays and trips to the vet and was out of action for 4 months, and although it now looks like she should recover enough to be ridden again, I won't know for sure until she gets succesfully through her rehabilitation. It was not a nice situation and for me an expensive lesson never to take things for granted!
twohorses: friends and horses are often unfortunately a poor mix when the relationship goes beyond meeting for coffee to just talk about your horses! I'm so sorry to hear your horse was injured by another horse. Even if your friend had insured her horse, it may not have been the time of coverage that would extend to any harm the horse caused; frequently horses are just insured for their death or major injury cost. I would suggest that you 1. request proof of insurance and 2. insure your own horses in the event of injury or loss. Best wishes for your mare's speedy recovery!
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