By Mike Barnett Editor Fat mares won't breed.
Fat mares have trouble foaling.
That's the dogma much of the horse industry has suffered through for years. And it's simply not true, according to Dr. Don Topliff, professor and head of the Agriculture Division at West Texas State University. One of the myths that has somehow crept into horse reproduction is this idea that mares ought to be thin at the beginning of the breeding season, that you ought to feed them to gain weight. But what I'm here to tell you is that's not what we need to do. I don't know where the myth came from, but I'm here to tell you it's a myth.