Good management and preparation are the keys to a successful breeding program. Good management starts with proper health care and nutrition. All mares should be on a regular deworming, vaccination, and dental care schedule. Mares should not be obese or emaciated. Barren mares and maiden mares should be fed 1.5-2% of their body weight daily; this should be divided to no more than 25% grain and no less than 75% good quality hay. Lactating mares and mares in the last trimester of pregnancy should be fed 2.5-3% of their body weight daily; this should be divided to no more than 40% grain and no less than 60% good quality hay. Preparing for breeding session starts with selecting a stallion. Make sure the stallion has a negative coggins test and a negative EVA test. Visit the breeding farm to observe the safety of the paddocks and barns. If your pregnant mare is to foal at the breeding farm, make sure there is an attendant available 24 hours a day. Mares are long day breeders meaning reproductive fertility occurs in the months when daylight is longer than darkness (April - September). Mares are infertile in the months when daylight is shorter than darkness (October - March). If a mare owner wants to breed a mare in February or March, they would need to put the mare under artificial light. It takes 40 to 60 days with 15 hours of light a day for a mare to become fertile again; therefore, the light should not be started later than December first. A one hundred watt light bulb in a 12x12 stall is enough light to stimulate fertility. All open mares should have a breeding soundness exam before going to the stud. For maiden mares, this consists of checking for an intact hymen and ultrasounding the reproductive track to check for abnormalities. In barren mares, the exam consists of uterine culture and/or cytology, a vagino-cervical exam, and ultrasounding the reproductive tract for abnormalities. All pregnant mares should be vaccinated for rhinopneumonitis at 5, 7, & 9 months of pregnancy. Within twelve hours of foaling, the mare should be examined for reproductive tears and for retains placenta. Mares should have aggressive uterine lavage for 2-3 days after foaling.