Breeding

Requirements:

In order to breed your horses, you will need to build a Breeding Barn on your ranch (which, of course, means you need a ranch), a mare and a stallion.  It would also be prudent to make sure you have enough barn space for your new foal when it is born; the mares of Horse Isle are very particular about their barn slots and don't want to share after the foal is weaned at 111 days old (.3 years.)

Mom and dad also have to be in tip-top shape when you're planning on breeding them. They must be healthy, not hungry or thirsty, and be in a good mood. If they don't meet these requirements, the breeding just won't happen (but they'll tell you why they won't breed so you can fix it.)

Mares can breed from 4 years old to 20. Stallions can breed from 4 years old and then until they pass away.

Natural gestation in Horse Isle 3 takes a full seven days to complete, or 168 hours. Despite what the timer on the mare says, foals in Horse Isle have a bit of growth and time magic surrounding them- they're rather in a hurry to get out into the world and grow up! So even though the mare says she has 335 hours/in-game days, she really only has half of that.

Really want a foal out of a mare you don't own and want to use your own stud? You can do a Surrogacy breeding trade in which the mare's owner sets a fee for the use of their mare.

The foal will be owned by the stud's owner, rather than that of the dam- as soon as the foal is born, it is transferred to the stud's owner and will be listed as nursing until it's weaned.

And no worries! The foal will find a nanny mare in the stud owner's herd, so they'll get all the nutrition they need :)

To complete a Surrogacy trade, BOTH horse owners must select Surrogacy during the trade. 

To see which of your mares is currently being used in a Surrogacy trade, click "Show Surrogacy Contracts" at the bottom of your horse list.

NOTE: Surrogacy will never result in twins, as the price is just for one foal. Even if both players have Double Bubble as a specialty, this remains the case :)

Studding:

You may use another person's stud if they have that particular stud available in their store, or complete a Breeding trade.

Store Studding: 

A store owner may choose to put their stallion up in their store for studding. He will stay in your store, taking up both a horse slot and a store slot. You cannot ride or compete with him at this time, and if you'd like to use him for breeding, you'll need to do so through your store. He'll still continue to age and require food and water, so keep an eye on him! 

You can safely remove him from your store at any time and he'll continue his life like nothing happened. :)

A stud standing in a store will also have a counter of times used, letting you know how popular the stallion is.

You can also see the 20 cheapest stallions standing in a store at any Shopping board.

Breed Trading:

If you don't own a store or just don't want to have to bother with keeping a stallion up for stud, there's also the option of a Breed trade. This is a fairly simple process!

Click "Trade" like you'd offer up an item and hit "Breeding."

Player A offers up a single mare and the (previously agreed upon) stud fee. 

Player B offers up their stallion. 

Both players accept the trade if they think it's fair and neither horse leaves the account- the breeding is completed on the spot and the mare will become pregnant. 

Each player may only offer ONE horse up in a breeding trade (so no trying to get seven mares bred at once! ;) ) There's no limit to how many breeding trades a player may complete.

Gelding a stallion will give a personality boost in the Follower stat by 10%, and Easygoing by 10%. 

Geldings also have a slightly longer lifespan than their stallion counterparts. 

A stallion may be gelded at the age of 4 (breeding age) at any Veterinarian for a fee. 

Gelding is permanent. You cannot get your stallion un-gelded, so be sure you really wish to geld him!

Your foal will share barn space with its mom until it's gone from Suckling to Foal (Colt or Filly.) While they're living with mom, they'll never get hungry or thirsty, as she provides them everything they need.

Adorably, if you have your mare in a showpen or pasture while the foal is nursing, they'll stand right next to her!

Rarely, your mare will have twins. This is very special and a mare will always deliver her twins safely in the lands of Horse Isle. 

It's recommended that you always have space ready for any foals that will age up, or you'll go over your horse limit when they do and your horses will NOT be happy about the lack of barn space! Your Energy and Travel will also get a penalty hit until you reduce the number of horses you have. It's good to plan ahead!

A foal cannot be separated by any means from its mother until it is no longer suckling and its protective status has left it, at about 113 game days old.

Foal Aging

Horse Isle is a magical land of growth and renewal happening very quickly; trees regrow even after they're cut and entire gardens grow in a matter of hours! 

Curiously, this magical affect also extends to the foals born in it. Instead of the year long pregnancies a mare experiences in other lands, it's halved, and foals grow twice as fast in Horse Isle than they do in any other lands, magical or no. They continue this amazing growth until they're exactly four years old, and the growth magic fades away.

Providing a pregnant mare with a Gravida Amulet will speed her pregnancy along even further- in just over two real life days, she'll foal safely. (Approximately 2.3 days.)

Providing a foal with a Geminus Amulet will surround the foal with MORE of the world's mysterious growth magic, allowing them to go from birth to adulthood in just over a week (9.3 days, if you're curious.) After they hit adulthood with the amulet on, they'll still age three times faster than they would without the amulet, so time it carefully.

A foal will get their mane in just a few short months if they've a long one; shorter manes or maneless won't become apparent until they're nearly a year old.