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Deciding to breed your mare is a big decision, especially when you stop to consider the implications. You are not just creating a foal to sell, you are creating a life that is going to have to fullfil the wishes and goals of it's owners for the next 20 plus years. Nobody wants to think of their precious, cute little foal ending up in a bad situation, but luckily, a bit of planning before settling on a breeding decision can go a long way at ensuring that foal has a great future. The first thing I personally assess in either parent is temperment. Some might find this odd since I'm breeding for gaited horses, but to me, if you don't have good temperament you don't have much of anything. All of the talent in the world is wasted if you don't have a willing and agreeable partner. Evaluate both the mare and the stallion, make sure they have pleasant and willing attitudes. If the owner of a potential stallion prospect won't allow you to interact with the horse, find out why. Being a stallion is no excuse for poor manners. A stallion with a good disposition will be curious and friendly, while remembering to respect your space even as he seeks your attention. Evaluate your mare with a critical eye as well. Just because she CAN reproduce does not mean that she SHOULD reproduce. While it's certainly true that there is no perfect horse, she should be a nice example of her breed, level headed, with no hugely glaring conformational faults. Once you have narrowed your search to a few suitable stallions, you want to match up their strengths and weaknesses. For example, if your mare has a slightly long back and a thicker neck, try to find a stallion with a short back and more refined neck. Evaluate their gaits as well. In a perfect world, both would perform nothing except for a picture perfect foxtrot, but that is rarely the case. In the world we actually live in however, even the horses that will foxtrot consistantly will still lean a little to the trotty or pacy side. Your job is to determine which way they lean, and cross with an animal that counteracts it, with perfect, 100% of the time foxtrot being the ultimate goal. When you're evaluating them, don't just take into consideration what they do under saddle. By all means, ask to see them ridden, but also be sure to watch them moving at liberty, preferably in both high and low excitement level situations. In a low level excitement situation, there may be more tendency to hard trot... the horses is bored, his head is relaxed and lowered, and he's not going to put forth any more energy than necessary. On the flip side, a horse moving in a high excitement situation will have his head up and alert, and he may be more gaity. Spend a bit of time thinking about the other things you'd want in your foal. Size matters, so if you are looking to create a smaller horse, you obviously are not going to want to cross two 15.2 plus hand individuals. Good hard feet that will seldom require shoes is a nice thing to have. Pretty heads, while not necessary, are something most people like in their horse, and something you will want to consider also. Many horsemen will tell you a good horse is never a bad color. While I agree wholeheartedly with that statement, today we have the technology and the knowledge to eliminate a lot of the guesswork out of breeding for or against certain colors, and as long as the more important criteria are met first and foremost, there is certainly nothing wrong with trying for the color of your dreams. Decide what traits are important to you, then start your planning. The more time you can spend evaluating the horses in person, the more you will learn about them. Knowledge is power! First hand knowledge is even more power, and can be the best tool in your arsenal when choosing which horses to create your new foal from. Click here to see things from the foal's persective. |