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Breed? Don't Breed?

6K views 43 replies 6 participants last post by  farmpony84 
#1 ·
Ok...

This is a semi-hypothetical thread because I go from seriously considering to seriously not considering to thoughtful, etc. So let's get some really honost and blunt opinions shall we?

Beauty is a 17 year old AQHA registered mare. She does have some pretty decent bloodlines, most of which are halter. She has been bred 5 times.

Riley, my gelding is her fifth baby. He is 16 hands and has been a nice all-around gelding for me. He fractured his pelvis as a baby and I've had to do a lot of maintenance to keep him sound. We are still doing some fairly costly things with him but he's a great minded, kind hearted, great moving horse so I'm doing what I can. I want to face the possibility, however that in a few years he may have to be used for trail and light riding. He may, howver, ride great for many years.

I've thought about buying a yearling or a two year old and having it trained. I've thought about buying a made horse or a young one ready to start in the show ring and I've thought about breeding.

Obviously I'm not ready to make any decisions as I've missed this breeding season anyway for the most part. I have considered a few studs, one that I really like is really small. Like maybe 15 hands and since she's only 14.3 that probably won't give me much size.

Now, there are things that I have not given much thought to yet that I would really have to put consider such as, do I want to deal with a baby? My property is not baby proof, what will have to be done to get it there? Do I really want to go through that trouble again...? Raising a baby was hard work!

Anyway... I took some fairly poor conformation shots tonight but I'll post them anyway for conversations sake.

The last two pix are of Riley.
 

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#2 ·
Me personally, would breed her. Riley is a absolutely gorgeous horse and I'd certainly be happy if I had a second one of him around the stable. ;-)

But I would breed ONLY to the best of the best stallions. (Cough Cough, All Time Fancy...;-))

But seriously...I think she is a nice mare that WILL outproduce herself. (As in Riley...) :D
 
#3 ·
I must admit, she looks rough in these pix! She hasn't been ridden in a couple years and she's very sun-faded and ate up! What little "muscle" tone she does have is natural. She also may appear a little lopsided because she severed the tendons in her back leg and doesn't have full flexibility anymore so she doesn't fully use her back end.

As far as I know, she has never been shown although she was western pleasure trained. Her "attitude" is what got her turned into a broodmare. We bought her for beginner walk/trot small lope riding and she is a great beginner horse. She prefers beginners. Period.
 
#6 ·
As in like a two year old or younger?

I've been looking at the on-line classifieds and haven't seen anything that interests me. At all. Of course some of that may be that I'm not quite ready to make that decision yet. I keep thinking, let's give it some time and maybe next year look or even the year after...

I havn't had any discussions with my trainer yet either because I'm in so wishy-washy right now....
 
#7 ·
Yeah, you can.

They don't give world titles in disposition.


I'd buy a prospect. She's an older mare, and not very modern. I think your goals are to compete at the breed level, right? You could purchase a prospect, maybe even a 3 or 4 year old that got stuck on the back burner, for about what it would take to get your mare bred. Without the risk to your mare.
 
#13 ·
I'm not sure I trust myself to choose a baby. I don't think I have the "eye" to know what it will grow into. I know, I know... take my trainer. But what if I see something in a different state?
 
#17 · (Edited)
#20 ·
...and he's a small (15.1) 6 year old...

I think I want something around 16 hands but thick. I'm not a fan of the appendix body style. If I get to choose the color, then I'd avoid the color gray...

So far the cons are that Beauty is an aged mare with an older style body. Breeding fees added to vet fees will cost what a good prospect would cost. Either way there will be training fees.

I don't agree that Beauty can't throw a $10k baby because she's done it before with at least 3 of her offspring but that's not really the point because I'm not breeding to sell. I'm breeding to show.

If I breed I'm looking at a minimal of 3 years because I get on it's back (and that would be breaking as a two year old - I think I'd prefer to wait a little longer).

If I buy a prospect then I could be on it's back anywhere from next spring to a couple years depending on the age.

If I buy a prospect I get to pick the color. If I breed then I'm looking at a bay or a chestnut (going from her past babies). If I buy a prospect, I get to pick the sex. If I breed I have to wait and see, although all of her babies were boys...

Am I missing anything?
 
#22 ·
15.1 is a fine size for a pleasure horse.

If I had only seen the videos posted on their website, he would be a 10,000 horse. But seeing the other things, he's not.
I think I have to agree with you. One issue I have is that I would like a horse that doesn't have a lot of show miles so if it is ready to ride, then I want it to be fairly new to the show circuit. If it's not ready to ride, then I want to know that it has a good personality.

There was a stallion here a while back that was an older style build (he's still around - just gelded for health reasons). His name was The Last Captive. If he were still a stud, I wouldn't even be having this conversation becuase I haven't seen a baby of his that doesn't have a great personality. I would have bred to him years ago...
 
#25 ·
Yep. He is still in the show circuit around here. I see him a few times a year, he's almost completely white now, almost a flea bitten grey. He has a novice amatuer that rides him. She does fairly well on him. I don't think she's his owner though.

He is very HUS, I do agree and so are most of his babies. But he's not tall and lanky, he's slightly thicker. What really draws me to him though is the personality that he has thrown over and over and over again.
 
#39 ·
Yep. He is still in the show circuit around here. I see him a few times a year, he's almost completely white now, almost a flea bitten grey. He has a novice amatuer that rides him. She does fairly well on him. I don't think she's his owner though.

He is very HUS, I do agree and so are most of his babies. But he's not tall and lanky, he's slightly thicker. What really draws me to him though is the personality that he has thrown over and over and over again.
Pretty sure I said that.
 
#27 ·
Yes. We are. I think he looks very QH to me. He is thick. I do admit he's tall. I'm not sure how tall. I would geuss 16 hands? Is he taller? I don't know the rider personally but I certainly recognize the horse when I see him.
 
#30 ·
You really love to argue don't you? Take the phrase older style out of the equation then, but leave the stockier build as a description. The horse is stockier then a TB. He's not narrow, he doesn't have a thin neck. He does have the TB looking face.

I personally prefer a thicker styled horse. I feel he's an older style horse then what is currently in the show pen. That's MY opinion.

Because I prefer the older style, because I prefer the stockier build, do I forefit the right to like anything that doesn't fall under the "Impressive" body style?

What I have been consistently saying about the Last Captive is that he throws some amazing personalities. Because of what he throws, the willingness and the calm and I say it was him that was passing that on, is because it doesn't really matter who the mare was, the offspring has a terrific personality, that is what draws me to him. His mind.

Although since he's gelded, I geuss this conversation is kind of a mute point huh?
 
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#34 ·
They shouldn't be heavy on the forehand.

I would have bred him to Beauty though. I think the two of them would have been a good combination. I know from your comments that you think my mare is mediocre and that's fine because as I said, I wanted blunt and truthful comments.

I think she gave me a great horse though. He's even earned some AQHA points in both english and western.

and just so you know, there are a lot of appendix horses out there that I think are very pretty. But I also think they are very english and since I really want an all-arounder, I'm aiming more for a western built horse.

If I can't find one that can do both then I think I will aim for a western ride.

Or... maybe I'll go english... who really knows?
 
#33 ·
Just for anyone who is interested.

The Last Captive is out of a TB mare.

His sire is Last Detail.

Here's his sire's side:
Last Detail is by Jetaway Easy (1979), who was an appendix that advanced with a race ROM.

Jetaway Easy is by Easy Six (1972). An appendix who advanced by race ROM. Jetaway Easy is by the TB mare San Fran.

Easy Six is by Easy Jet (1967) an appendix who advanced by race ROM. Easy Six is out of Peggy Toro, an appendix who advanced by race ROM.


Here is LD's dam side:

Last Detail is out of Lilly La Belle, an appendix mare by Lady Bugs Moon (who goes back to Nassak, Three Bars, Peace Pipe, and Top Deck who are all TBs. As well as some unknown horses.)

Lilly La Belle is out of Little Sage, a TB mare.


Lots of TB there.
 
#37 ·
goappendix said "heavy-on-the-TB" not "heavy on the forehand". Go is very, very familiar with the HUS horses, I can promise you that.

I think if you are set on breeding your mare, you should go for a western horse.

****! That cracked me up! Oopsie...


I'm not argueing what Go does or doesn't know. I don't think it's fair for her to assume that I don't have any knowledge either and I'm not sure why this turned into an argument.


I don't know if the insinuation is that I don't know what I'm talking about, that I've never seen this horse, that I'm a moron, or what.

The fact of the matter is. I'm not drawn the the TB style of horse for me personally to own or ride. It doesn't mean that I hate them or even that I think they suck. I do understand that in order to really be competetive in HUS that I would need that style of horse. It's not what I want.

I know the Last Captives bloodlines. I researched him back when he had one testical left because I was considering breeding to him. I took too long making the decision.


I'm sorry that I said that I don't like the TB look and then turned around and said that I like the Last Captive in the same sentence. I'm not changeing my stance. I prefer the Western pleasure body style. I do however love that particular horses mind and I think breeding him to her would have given me a nice all arounder. It may not have but I feel it would have.


Call me a moron if you want but that's how I feel. Why is this such a huge deal?

I do really like a certain palomino stud.
 
#38 ·
While I love your mare, one of my Horse Forum favorites.

For the price it would cost you to breed her, it'd almost be worth getting someone more experienced (as you said yourself, you couldn't trust yourself to buy a young horse) to help you pick out a young horse that could turn into something very nice. Which has a nice conformation and temperament. I believe that it would be much more worth it, because as you said - your mare is an older horse and does have that bad tendon.

Not only this, but you could choose exactly what you want (obviously the horse would have to mature and sometimes don't turn out the way they look they would). But you could choose a horse which looks to have the things you 'like' in a horse. Because, when breeding, you don't ALWAYS get the things you want.

Still, if you were to breed her - I think the foal would be super cute.

Just my two cents.
 
#40 ·
While I love your mare, one of my Horse Forum favorites.

For the price it would cost you to breed her, it'd almost be worth getting someone more experienced (as you said yourself, you couldn't trust yourself to buy a young horse) to help you pick out a young horse that could turn into something very nice. Which has a nice conformation and temperament. I believe that it would be much more worth it, because as you said - your mare is an older horse and does have that bad tendon.

Not only this, but you could choose exactly what you want (obviously the horse would have to mature and sometimes don't turn out the way they look they would). But you could choose a horse which looks to have the things you 'like' in a horse. Because, when breeding, you don't ALWAYS get the things you want.

Still, if you were to breed her - I think the foal would be super cute.

Just my two cents.
And then I could have tons of super cute baby threads!:wink:

I think I'm inclined to agree. I really don't think I have the eye though to see past the gangly stage to see what the horse will turn into some day so I will have to talk to my trainer. She has a really good track record when it comes to matching people to horses.
 
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