Breeding Musts?

I've been reading about breeding lately and I was wondering you guys consider Breeding Musts.

(Please note I am not considering breeding, I am just interested in it. I do not have a horse . Sadly .)

I am assuming you mean mustang?

Hehe, I think it actually meant musts, as in have-to's. :)

No, I think they mean things you must know or must do, etc, before you breed your horse.

As in, you must know your horse's status on genetic diseases before breeding

Ok, that makes sense. Major blonde moment on my part. Sorry guys

Good conformation. Without it, your horse can't do much of anything (well, can't do especially well), and we eat useless horses. If a horse has nothing special bloodlines and this parents were do nothings, that doesn't prevent him from being a do nothing. Bad conformation, however, can.


Good training is the most important thing, but that isn't a breeding thing... It's a training thing.

Papers. Papers. Papers. I cannot say it enough. If your horse doesn't have them, it doesn't have any business using its uterus and shouldn't still have testes.

Genetic testing. For anything and everything that can possibly be in your horse's line (which you will know from its papers).

Excellent conformation. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it should be better than average. Breed to improve this - your mare has a long back, make sure that the stallion you cross to has a great back that is as close to perfect as equinely possible.

Intent to improve the breed. Don't just breed for the sake of it - have a clear goal in mind. Once you know what your goal is, you can determine the cross.

You need half a brain. If you have to ask if the mare/stallion is breeding quality, then you should definitely NOT be breeding. You should have the knowledge at least to be able to figure that out before you start.

You need the money to pay for the worst possible scenario for the pregnancy and foaling, and the health of the foal post birth. You have to have the income to support the horses you already have and the foal on top.

You have to be realistic and accept that you won't make money off breeding. Only the bigshots do, and they put a huge amount of investment in before they get anything back, and that return is never guaranteed.

DITTO You took the words right out of my mouth.

Thanks, those all make sense!