Read Before You Breed: Stallion Service Contracts for Mare Owners

Deciding to breed your mare is exciting and hopeful. But horse breeding is also an inherently complicated, uncertain, lengthy and expensive process. Mare owners can help prevent stressful misunderstandings and costly mistakes by thoroughly reviewing and understanding stallion breeding contracts (also known as stallion service contracts) before committing to breed their mare.

Breeding Methods

When reviewing a stallion service contract, mare owners will want to pay close attention to the breeding method(s) offered in the contract. In the past, horse breeding was exclusively via live cover, and the mare owner had to transport the mare (often along with the mare’s unweaned foal) to the stallion’s location for breeding. While live cover breeding is still standard practice in the Thoroughbred industry, the rest of the horse industry now typically breeds via artificial insemination to reduce risk of harm to the mare, foal and stallion and greatly increase the number of mares a stallion can breed. Mares can be artificially inseminated with fresh semen on site at the stallion’s location, or semen can be cooled or frozen and then shipped to the mare’s location.

Breeding Fees and Costs

When reviewing a stallion breeding contract, the base fees and costs should be clearly spelled out. Typically, contracts include a stud fee (also called a breeding fee), although some contracts sell frozen or cooled semen by the dose. In addition, most contracts include a booking fee, which may or may not be included in the stud fee. For each shipment of frozen or fresh cooled semen, most contracts require the mare owner to pay a shipment fee, a container deposit (or pay for a disposable container), and the mare owner is responsible for the cost of shipping any reusable container back to the sender via express mail.

Prebreeding Requirements

Many stallion service contracts require the mare to have had a veterinary breeding soundness exam prior to insemination, often with a negative uterine culture, before the mare can be bred. In addition, many contracts require an additional examination and culture if the mare does not become pregnant after a specified number of inseminations (which can be as few as one).

Semen Shipment Timing and Methods

Most stallion managers only collect and ship semen on certain days of the week. The stallion service contract should say what those days are, what notice is required prior to collection and shipment, and how the notice must be given. In addition, contracts typically specify what delivery service(s) will be used to ship the semen. Before entering into a breeding contract, the mare owner should thoroughly investigate whether the shipment days and methods seem likely to result in getting semen to the mare’s location when it will be needed. Not every delivery service will work for every location, and some delivery services will only work for certain locations on certain days of the week. In addition, breeding via fresh cooled semen relies upon the stallion being available and capable of producing enough semen to meet demand. If the stallion manager receives more requests for semen than can be fulfilled at any one time, the stallion service contract should state how the stallion manager will decide who receives semen and who does not. Often, priority is given to the mare owners who make the earliest requests, but not always.

Breeding Season Limitations

In addition to semen collection and shipment dates, many stallion service contracts also specify a certain time period that is the stallion’s breeding season. Once the breeding season is over, the stallion manager usually will not inseminate mares on site or collect and ship semen. The contract should specify whether the mare owner has any rebreeding rights for the following breeding season.

Rebreeding Rights

Mare owners should carefully review stallion service contracts to understand what options, if any, they have for rebreeding their mare if she is still open after insemination. Some breeding contracts are simply semen sale contracts – semen is sold by the dose and there are no rebreeding rights at all unless the mare owner opts to pay for additional doses. Other contracts allow for multiple inseminations and/or semen shipments, but there is typically a charge for each insemination or shipment. Rebreeding rights may be limited to a single breeding season, or may extend to one or more subsequent breeding seasons.

Mare Substitutions and Transferability

Mare owners should also understand what options the stallion service contract offers, if any, to substitute another mare. Any substitution options typically require obtaining the stallion manager’s prior written permission, and substitution options are also usually limited to circumstances in which the mare can’t be bred due to death or infertility. If the mare owner doesn’t have another mare to substitute, the money the mare owner has already paid in breeding and booking fees is typically non-refundable. Similarly, if the mare is inseminated and doesn’t get in foal, and the mare owner subsequently decides to sell the mare, the breeding contract may not allow the mare owner to substitute another mare or transfer any rebreeding rights to the mare’s new owner.

Live Foal Guarantee

Not every stallion service contract includes a live foal guarantee. When they do, the live foal guarantee is always limited in some respects, and critical terms such as what a “live foal” means vary widely. Typically, live foal guarantees require the mare to have had certain vaccines during pregnancy and at least one post-insemination pregnancy check within a certain time period. If the mare aborts or gives birth to a dead foal, the guarantee terms usually require proof from an attending veterinarian within a certain time period after the abortion or stillbirth.

Foal Registration

Many mare owners breed specifically for a foal that will be eligible for registration with a particular registry. Before entering into a stallion breeding contract, mare owners should research what the registration requirements will be for any resulting foal, and make sure the contract obligates the stallion owner to take any necessary actions in a timely manner, such as filing stallion breeding reports.

Incentive Programs and Futurities

Many stallion owners advertise that foals sired by their stallions will be eligible for certain futurities and financial incentive programs. Such eligibility is often dependent upon a stallion owner paying into the incentive program each year, so if the foal’s eligibility is important to the mare owner, they should confirm the stallion owner has met the requirements for the year in which the foal will be born.

Whether the foal’s eligibility for an incentive program futurity has any real financial value depends upon a number of factors. Some financial incentive programs require the foal to be born in a certain state, which may or may not be practical for the mare owner. Futurities are generally competitions with cash prizes where entry is restricted to horses that meet certain criteria. Often, the stallion owner pays an annual fee to make the stallion’s foals from that year eligible to compete. In addition, foal owners usually have to enter their foals in the futurity and pay substantial additional fees. Futurities can be for weanlings, yearlings, 2-year-olds and even 3-year-olds, and substantial payment is often required well before the horse owner has any clear idea of whether the horse will be ready to compete by the time the competition date arrives. And futurity fees are typically non-refundable, so if the horse dies or goes lame before the competition, the horse owner probably won’t get their money back. Because futurity payout terms and conditions vary widely and are typically dependent upon a variety of factors, including the number of horses that ultimately compete, a futurity win may or may not result in a positive return on the entry fee investment. ​

Genetic Testing

Equine genetic testing has become relatively simple and inexpensive. It can be an invaluable tool to help breeders avoid producing a foal likely to die or be severely disabled due to genetically linked conditions such as Lethal White Overo Syndrome, HYPP (Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis) and PSSM (Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy).   In addition, genetic testing can help a mare owner who wants to breed for a specific color and/or coat pattern.

Many stallion owners advertise their stallions as having (or not having) certain genetic traits. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the stallion has actually been genetically tested for those traits. Stallion service contracts often don’t include any information about whether the stallion has been genetically tested, and if so, what they were tested for, and what the results were. Accordingly, before entering into a breeding contract, the mare owner should ask to see copies of any genetic testing results that are important to the mare owner’s breeding decision.

Stallion Death, Sale, Gelding or Infertility

Sometimes, a stallion dies, becomes infertile, or is sold or gelded before all of the stallion owner’s obligations under the breeding contract have been met. Often, stallion service contracts don’t address these contingencies.  For example, if the stallion dies, is gelded or becomes infertile, will the mare owner be able to obtain frozen semen, or breed to another stallion? If not, will the stallion owner refund any of the breeding fee? What happens if the stallion owner sells the stallion – will the stallion’s new owner honor the breeding contract?

Semen Quality Concerns

Quality of semen varies from stallion to stallion. In addition, how the semen is processed, shipped and stored can greatly affect its potency. From time to time, the equine reproduction professional who receives the semen may examine it and discover it is not of sufficient quality for insemination. If that happens, will the stallion manager replace the shipment? If so, who will pay for the replacement? And what happens if the mare owner never receives any viable semen or doesn’t receive it in time to breed the mare?

Embryo Transfer

Today, some mare owners elect to breed particularly valuable mares, or mares that have difficulty carrying a foal to term, via embryo transfer. If more than one embryo results from insemination, stallion service contracts typically charge a per-embryo fee for each additional embryo. Often, contracts with live foal guarantees specifically exclude breedings via embryo transfer from the guarantee.

Discounted and ‘Free’ Breedings

Many stallion owners offer multiple mare discounts. Sometimes, stallion owners offer discounted or even “free” breedings for mares with certain accomplishments or pedigrees. Mare owners can also purchase discounted breedings through stallion service auctions and other charitable fund-raisers. However, these types of breedings may or may not be subject to the same terms and conditions as other breedings sold by the stallion owner, so the mare owner should ask to see the applicable breeding contract before purchasing a discounted breeding. In addition, “free” breedings aren’t really free. At a minimum, the mare owner usually will still have to pay for collection, shipment, container deposit and container return, and of course the costs of inseminating the mare.

Conclusion

When reviewing a stallion service contract, a mare owner might identify some areas of concern, or important terms that don’t appear to be included. If that happens, the mare owner should politely approach the stallion manager and explain their concerns. Often, stallion service contracts are legacy documents cobbled together from pieces of other contracts that may or may not have been up to date or good quality. The stallion manager may use the same contract year after year with little consideration as to whether it needs to be updated or changed, so bringing contract concerns to a stallion manager’s attention can result in a more thorough and suitable contract for both stallion owners and mare owners.  If you need a stallion service contract, ELS offers shipped semen agreement forms and on-site breeding agreement forms that you can purchase and download from our website.