Mare Management

The Mare Management Program covers all aspects of the breeding process, from insemination to weaning.  Mares live out in large pastures 24/7, with large sheds and individual feeding.  They receive daily checking over and weekly grooming.  We have a wonderful reproduction veterinarian we have worked with for many years, Dr. John Weaver, who oversees each mare’s breeding.  Inseminations are performed on the farm by experienced Hilltop staff.  We have a very experienced team of people on hand for foaling out.  As mares near the end of their gestation they begin coming in overnight to generously sized stalls and are under 24 hour watch.  Once the foal arrives mares and foals begin turnout in individual grass paddocks when they are both physically ready and once settled in outdoor turnout they begin group turnout with other mares and foals.  This process is normally done over the first few weeks of their lives and then they begin 24/7 turnout.

Our Mare Management Program ties uniquely in with our Raising Program and is a wonderful solution for those looking for a safe, well-staffed environment to handle the foaling out and/or breeding of their mare. Hilltop offers Short Term, Long Term and Mini Management Programs.. 

Short Term Management includes care for your mare from breeding to her 30 day pregnancy check.  This check would be the final required check for Short Term Management although mares are welcome to stay through their 60 or 90 day pregnancy checks if desired.

Long Term Management is for those who wish to leave their mares in our care year-round.

Mini Management : For those looking to do the majority of the management of their mare at home we now offer the Mini Management Program as another option to our already popular Short and Long Term options.  With this Program the mare owner tracks the mare’s heat cycle at home and brings the mare to Hilltop when she is close to or ready for breeding.  The mare will remain at Hilltop for the insemination process and once she has ovulated she can return back to her owner’s care.  While here the mare will be on stall board with individual turnout.

 

Foaling Services are available on a limited basis each year.  This option is designed primarily for mares in Long Term Management, although shorter term options are available on a very limited basis.  Typically mares come for foaling through weaning and then return home.  Foals out of these mares have the option of joining the Raising Program or also leaving after weaning.  Flexibility on short term options depends on space. It is required that mares arrive for Foaling Services at least a month ahead of their estimated due date.

 

Priority in all aspects of Mare Management is given to mares being bred to or currently in foal to stallions in Hilltop’s lineup.  We do accept mares being bred to outside stallions if space allows.  Breeding with both fresh cooled and frozen semen is available.

 

2010 Availability

Open mares for breeding- April through July
Foaling Services- April and May (accepting mares with estimated due dates in these months)

 

Please contact Megan Fischer at megan@hilltopfarminc.com for further details.

 

 

Client Testimonials:

A very special thanks to all the staff at Hilltop for the wonderful professional manner our mares were handled and the special care these babies received. It is a very long process from breeding to success in any sport and good beginnings are "priceless."   ~ Joan Mishler Reifman, Old Acres Farm

“My mare has been a resident at Hilltop Farm, in the mare management program, since March. My husband and I have visited her three times. Each time, we were welcomed by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff. My mare participated in the Hanoverian inspection held on the farm this August and the staff at Hilltop took care of everything. My mare was professionally turned out and was handled beautifully. All we had to do was sit and watch.
We have never had a day of worry or a questionable experience. The photo updates are wonderful and I feel completely informed. We’ve had this mare since she was a yearling and this is her first foal. It was of the greatest importance to us to find a place where we felt comfortable with her being so far away.
I have the utmost confidence in the program and have to say, the toughest choice was choosing from the amazing line up of Stallions! My mare will remain and be rebred and the foal will definitely participate in the raising program. We couldn’t be happier!” ~ Tracey and Scott Noonan, North Carver, MA

The decision to breed Ellie was one that came with many mixed emotions.  After riding, training and showing her successfully for 6 years it was really hard to decide whether or not to interrupt her career as a show horse to let her have some time off to be a mommy.   At the end, I made the decision to breed Ellie because she is incredibly talented and quite frankly has the warmest, most loving personality of any horse that I have ever had the pleasure to ride and own.  Even the slightest opportunity to recreate some of that in a baby was enough to send me looking for the perfect stallion. So, the decision to breed was made.  Now came the even harder decision of finding someone to do the breeding and care for Ellie and her baby.  I live in Massachusetts and board in an A Circuit Hunter/Jumper barn.  They have the best care available for the competitive show horse but breeding and raising babies just isn’t what they do.  I was referred to Hilltop by a friend who had been to Dressage at Devon and saw the Hilltop horses do very well there.  I contacted Megan and the rest is history.  From the very first e-mail to all of my really stupid questions, Megan has been absolutely amazing.  In the 6 years that I have owned Ellie, I have never been more than at most a few days between visits with her.  The idea of moving her to a farm where she would be 8 hours away and totally cared for by someone other than me was incredibly scary.  After my first visit to Hilltop, all of my anxieties and worries were gone.  The facility is like no other I have ever seen.  Horses get to be horses.  Megan is professional, responsible, knowledgeable and most importantly cares for the horses as if they were her own.   Ellie is now in the 6th month of her pregnancy and looks better than she has ever looked.  I have not worried for one second of the time that Ellie has been in Megan’s care. ~ Melissa Hamlet, Whitman, MA