{"topic_id":"exotic_breeding_horse","category":"exotic-breeding","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_breeding_horse\ncategory: exotic-breeding\ntitle: \"Horse breeding considerations — suitability, heritable-condition screening of the stallion, mare/foal care costs, UK overpopulation (UK DEFRA code)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"DEFRA — Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017); Open Government Licence v3.0; verbatim quotation per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §2.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-24\ntokens_estimated: 284\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 5\n  passed: 5\n  date: 2026-08-24\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-breeding/exotic_breeding_horse/01_exotic_breeding_horse.md\nsource_document: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs\"\n  title: \"Horse breeding considerations — suitability, heritable-condition screening of the stallion, mare/foal care costs, UK overpopulation (UK DEFRA code)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-24\"\n  ref: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\n  doc_type: \"official PDF\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: cc_by\ncopyright_note: \"© Crown copyright 2017. This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3); verbatim reproduction permitted with attribution. Attribution: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017).\"\nauthority_tier: T1\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T1:uk-gov\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-24\n---\n\n# Horse breeding considerations — suitability, heritable-condition screening of the stallion, mare/foal care costs, UK overpopulation (UK DEFRA code)\n\nSource: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), “Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids” (December 2017), gov.uk. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0 — verbatim quotation permitted with attribution; C1 substring-verified against `pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt`.\n\nThis topic covers breeding decisions under the UK welfare code: whether the horse is a suitable candidate, whether the stallion is free from heritable conditions, the special requirements of mares during pregnancy and foaling, and the UK's horse overpopulation problem.\n\n## Claims\n\n- `If you decide to breed from your horse, there are a number of considerations to be taken into account. You should always consider whether your horse is a suitable candidate for breeding, whether the stallion you intend to use has been inspected and is free from heritable conditions and whether you could buy or rehome a youngster rather than breeding a foal.`\n- `In addition, mares have special requirements during pregnancy, foaling and the post-foaling period and you should make sure you are aware of these before breeding from your mare. The care of a young foal can be expensive and requires a large investment of time, and there is no guarantee that the foal will mature into the animal that you want.`\n- `At the time of publication of this code, overpopulation of horses is a problem in the UK, and the foal’s individual future should be realistically taken into account.`\n- `These may include uncastrated males (colts, stallions) and “rigs” (a stallion with undescended testicles or a horse which has been incompletely castrated).`\n- `Stallions and colts can live with mixed herds but this may lead to unwanted breeding and is not recommended.`\n","sources":["exotic-breeding — Horse breeding considerations — suitability, heritable-condition screening of the stallion, mare/foal care costs, UK overpopulation (UK DEFRA code) (retrieved 2026-08-24)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-breeding","title":"Horse breeding considerations — suitability, heritable-condition screening of the stallion, mare/foal care costs, UK overpopulation (UK DEFRA code)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids","retrieved":"2026-08-24","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt"},"source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","source_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T1","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"cc_by","display_grade":"A"},"tokens_estimated":284,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}