Arabian Horse Center prepares for newborn foals
By Elise Ong, March 3, 2026
The W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center currently houses 63 horses and is awaiting the arrivals of five new foals to join the Cal Poly Pomona community.
CP Starlight Dancer, one of the pregnant mares, was due Feb. 10 but has not given birth yet. The other four mares’ due dates range between now and early May, according to Rebecca Herrera, the breeding coordinator at the Arabian Horse Center.
To prepare for new foals, each pregnant mare is assigned to a live-in student. Live-ins help disinfect stalls, install cameras and groom the horses. They also stay with their horse during the night, when they are more likely to give birth, according to Herrera. When the mare is especially close to giving birth, caretakers put straw on the ground to help soak up any birthing fluid.
At this point in their pregnancy, the mares have no dietary restrictions and are in consistent contact with humans, so they are comfortable around the people who work at the stables, which aids in a more relaxed birthing process.
“We groom them regularly, a couple times a week, to make sure that they’re well-handled and they’re comfortable with us,” Herrera said. “The horses being comfortable with us is probably the most important thing that contributes to a comfortable labor for mom.”
It’s tradition at CPP to have blue and pink flags strung on the Foal Pole by the entrance of the Arabian Horse Center when a foal is born, which could be any day now, according to Herrera.
After a foal is born, live-ins are responsible for feeding, distributing medications, testing for antibodies and ensuring standing and nursing thresholds are met.
Keira Roberts, an animal science pre-veterinary student and current live-in at the stables, has been a live-in for a year and a half and enjoys the whole birthing process.
“I hadn’t been around reproduction at all when I first started,” Roberts said. “… Getting to be a part of watching them be artificially inseminated and the whole gestation process and then them actually giving birth, seeing the foal grow up … I saw the nine babies last year, and now they’re a year old, so watching their personalities grow has been really interesting.”
According to Herrera, the fertility rate varies each year. The team attempted to have seven mares pregnant this year but only had five successful pregnancies. In 2027, the center is hoping to have at least eight new foals.
For the 2027 pregnancies, the artificial insemination process will start over again, beginning with sperm donations from stallion owners. According to Herrera, donors are very particular about which horse gets which sperm, so the team is very cautious about their process.
“Most breeders would pay something called a stud fee,” Herrera said. “That stud fee is donated to us, but they do care what mare the sperm goes into. That’s really important and we sign a contract about it.”
Veterinarian and CPP alum Dr. Michael Peralez visited the stables Feb. 19 to perform an ultrasound on two of the horses, CP Copper Treasure and CP Chaka Khan, who were previously screened and deemed ready for the artificial insemination.
Before transferring the semen to the horses, Peralez examined and explained how he determines the quality of the sperm when looking at it under a microscope.
“We want (the sperm) kind of moving forward,” Peralez said. “Progressive motility isn’t all that good in this sample. So, what we’re going to do now is take more of the other vile because we need more quality semen, and this particular semen is not holding up to well, so it’s not going to last.”
Following the artificial insemination appointment with Peralez, the horses will be checked in 16 days to determine if the pregnancy was successful.
