Whether you are considering Maverick Stables for your mare or young horse, interested in one of our horses, or planning a visit, some questions naturally arise.
Below you will find answers to the questions we are most frequently asked about our services, horses and the way we work.
We prefer to welcome pregnant mares as early as possible in their pregnancy.
Having mares with us throughout their pregnancy allows us to follow them over a longer period, become familiar with each individual mare and provide continuity in their daily care and management as the pregnancy progresses.
It also allows our broodmares to live together and establish their social groups well before foaling. We believe this continuity has an important advantage once the foals are born: mares that already know one another can return to suitable group settings with their foals, allowing the foals to experience social contact with other mares and foals from an early age.
For us, mare guidance therefore begins long before the final weeks before foaling. We see pregnancy, foaling and the first months of the foal’s life as connected stages rather than separate moments.
Of course, mares can also join us later in pregnancy where circumstances require it, subject to availability and individual arrangements.
Yes. Foaling supervision is available as part of our mare guidance.
We aim to provide mares with a calm environment while observing them closely as foaling approaches.
Yes. Mares and foals can remain with us after foaling, allowing us to continue observing both during the important first period after birth.
After birth, both mare and foal are closely observed.
Once the mare has foaled, we offer her mash. Foaling requires a considerable amount of energy and we find it important to encourage the mare to take in fluids afterwards. Mash provides an easily digestible feed while also helping to increase her fluid intake during this first period of recovery.
Our standard routine also includes performing a SNAP Foal test approximately 24 hours after birth to assess the foal’s IgG level and whether sufficient antibodies have been absorbed from the mare’s colostrum.
Where veterinary assessment or treatment is required, we involve our veterinarian.
Yes. Veterinary expertise is an important part of reproductive management.
We work with Dierenkliniek Emmeloord for the veterinary care of our horses and involve veterinary expertise whenever appropriate.
Yes. We can accommodate both mares carrying their own foal and recipient mares carrying an embryo-transfer pregnancy, subject to availability and prior agreement.
Because our capacity is deliberately limited, we recommend contacting us as early as possible during the pregnancy rather than waiting until the expected foaling date approaches.
More about Mare Guidance →
We believe young horses should have the opportunity to grow and develop as young horses.
Social contact, movement, appropriate nutrition, professional care and daily observation all form part of our approach. Management changes as horses grow and is adapted where necessary to the individual horse.
We deliberately keep our groups small, with a maximum of six young horses per group.
This allows the horses to benefit from social interaction while making it possible for us to continue observing each individual horse closely.
From their second winter, colts are housed individually.
Their management continues to be adapted according to their age, development and individual needs.
Yes. Young horses learn the practical basics required for routine care and management.
We believe in creating a useful foundation without unnecessarily treating a young horse as though it were already a horse in work. Growing up remains an important part of its development.
Routine professional care forms part of our management.
We handle and present horses for veterinary and farrier appointments where required, so owners do not need to be present for routine appointments.
Yes. Visits are possible by appointment.
We ask owners to arrange visits beforehand so that they can be planned around the daily routines of the stable and horses.
No. We deliberately limit the number of horses in our care and may therefore be fully booked.
Current availability can be requested through our Contact page.
The thinking behind our breeding decisions.
Our breeding programme is primarily focused on KWPN horses, both jumping and dressage bred.
We begin with the individual mare rather than with the stallion.
Conformation, movement or jumping qualities, pedigree, dam line, health, character and the qualities we want to preserve or improve can all play a role in the decision.
We also look beyond the immediate generation. A breeding decision is not only about producing one attractive foal, but also about what a combination may contribute to future generations.
Genetic diversity is an important consideration within our breeding decisions.
We study the wider pedigree and aim to avoid unnecessarily concentrating the same bloodlines.
Our goal is to breed horses for the future, which means considering not only the qualities of a potential foal but also the longer-term implications of a combination.
Not necessarily.
While many combinations naturally remain within their discipline, we are open to looking beyond conventional boundaries when we believe the individual qualities, pedigree and breeding objective justify doing so.
For us, the individual horse comes before a label.
No. We consider the stallion that we believe best complements the individual mare.
Proven older stallions can be just as relevant to our breeding programme as younger stallions. Pedigree, performance, offspring, type and the qualities of the mare all form part of that consideration.
Yes. Embryo transfer can form part of our breeding programme.
It gives us the possibility to obtain an additional foal from a mare while allowing the donor mare to remain available for other plans, depending on the individual mare and our breeding objectives for that season.
We decide on the use of embryo transfer individually rather than treating it as a standard approach for every mare.
Occasionally, yes.
When embryo transfer forms part of our breeding plans, an embryo from one of our mares may in some cases become available to a third party.
Whether this is possible depends on the individual mare, our breeding plans for that season and the particular combination. Not every mare or every planned combination is therefore available for embryo purchase.
If you are interested in an embryo from a specific Maverick Stables mare, you are welcome to contact us to discuss the possibilities.
Yes.
If there is a particular mare within our breeding programme that interests you, you are welcome to contact us before or during the breeding season.
We can discuss whether embryo transfer is planned for that mare, which stallion combinations are being considered and whether there may be an opportunity to purchase an embryo.
From time to time, horses bred, raised or owned by Maverick Stables become available for sale.
Not every horse at Maverick Stables is for sale. Horses that are currently available will be presented accordingly or can be discussed with us directly.
Occasionally, yes.
When embryo transfer forms part of our breeding plans, an embryo from one of our mares may in some cases become available to a third party.
Whether this is possible depends on the individual mare, our breeding plans for that season and the particular combination. Not every mare or every planned combination is therefore available for embryo purchase.
If you are interested in an embryo from a specific Maverick Stables mare, you are welcome to contact us to discuss the possibilities.
The veterinary information available depends on the individual horse, its age and stage of development.
Where veterinary examinations or radiographs have already been carried out, the available information will be discussed with serious prospective buyers.
We believe in being transparent about the veterinary information available to us.
Yes. Prospective buyers are welcome to arrange an independent pre-purchase examination with a veterinarian.
Where a horse has already been veterinary examined by us and a buyer requests an additional examination, the additional examination will be at the buyer’s expense.
Before arranging such an examination, we require a signed purchase agreement confirming the agreed purchase and stating that completion of the sale remains subject to the outcome of the veterinary examination.
This gives the buyer the opportunity to carry out their own veterinary due diligence while providing both parties with clarity that there is a serious intention to proceed with the purchase.
No.
We can provide and discuss the veterinary information available to us, but a prospective buyer remains free to obtain independent veterinary advice and arrange an additional examination under the conditions described above.
No. Visits to Maverick Stables are by appointment only.
Our days are organised around the care and management of the horses. Arranging visits beforehand allows us to plan them without unnecessarily disrupting the horses’ daily routines.
Questions about riding opportunities at Maverick Stables.
Maverick Stables is not a riding school and we do not offer riding lessons.
Our activities are focused on breeding, mare guidance, the rearing and development of young horses, and the management of our own horses.
Maverick Stables is a private breeding and youngstock stable and does not offer recreational riding, riding experiences or horses for public use.
More about the way we work.
We carefully select the companies, products and services that form part of our everyday management.
These include partners involved in nutrition, roughage and bedding, stabling, pasture management, fencing and manure removal.
Rather than simply displaying their names, we explain why these companies and products have earned a place within the way we work on Our Trusted Partners.
Our horse manure is collected by Staal Eemnes.
The horse manure they collect is not simply treated as waste. Fresh, straw-rich horse manure can be used again as a raw material for mushroom cultivation.
It is one of the less visible parts of keeping horses, but an important part of the wider cycle behind the daily management of our stable.
Maverick Stables is not a general training or competition stable.
Our work with young horses is primarily connected to our own breeding and development programme and the services specifically offered by Maverick Stables.
For questions about a particular horse or situation, please contact us directly.
You can contact us through the details or enquiry form on our Contact page.
Our working days revolve around the horses, which means we may not always be able to respond immediately. We will get back to you as soon as our work at the stable allows.
If your question has not been answered above, you are welcome to contact us.
Whether your enquiry concerns a mare, young horse, embryo, horse offered for sale or one of our services, providing as much relevant information as possible helps us answer your enquiry more effectively.
