Broodmare only?

[katastrophykat]

I’m currently toying with adding a broodmare to my little herd- I've bred before, I’m not a fluffy hearted novice and have had experiences with twins/not ideal births and plenty of youngsters over the years


my friend has recently found the most lovely Connie stallion, and I adore connies and part breds, so the thinking is to breed either a full or part bred (preferably the latter!) for my daughter to play with in her teens, me to ride and hopefully, if we can get a Matchy matchy pair of colts on the ground, I’d like a driving pair bigger than my current boys, ready (and I’m looking at a good ten years ahead at the moment!) to take over from my little pair who will then be mid-late teens and potentially taking a step back.

I’m finding that having a small pair is lovely, and great in many ways… but I’ve always had ride and drive horses kept very fit with ridden work/gallop work etc and I’m absolutely never going to be small enough to ride my 11.3/12hh pair… so I’m struggling with their fitness when I don’t have a groom.

anyway- as per the current market, a nice broodmare no longer goes at a decent price… so I’m wondering where your ‘non essentials’ were in this case? I’m thinking about a decently built mare, anything from 14.2 up to about 16hh, I don’t mind her being into her teens if she is proven, ideally able to live out (with rugs/additional feed/decent shelter and a box if needed!), in my mind I’d look at something with a genuine injury/scarring, if absolutely not caused by a congenital issue, and I’m pretty easy on exact breeding- but if I’m looking at a full bred, obviously she needs to be tested and n/n HWSD. Other than that, she just needs to move well and have a decent brain. Is there anything else that would go into your ‘must have’ list?

 

[TheMule]

I panic bought a broodmare this year (long story ?) but actually I got a very nice mare for not much money (less than 1k) by being patient and offering the right sort of home to someone who genuinely just had the mare's best interests at heart.
I have compromised on one major thing which goes against my norm- my mare was backed but never really ridden on due to her breeder's injury. I only overlooked this because her dam was very proven and she has several half siblings out doing the job I want. Most important to me was that she is the type of horse I would like to produce, so if the foal ends up exactly like her, I will be happy.

Tbh if you don’t mind keeping a mare through the winter then you may pick up a good mare in the Autumn. Facebook has a couple of good 'broodmare for sale' groups which is where I found mine

 

[Jellymoon]

I actually would be picky about the breeding, I think the lines are really important for temperament and soundness. I’d be doing my research on connie breeding!
I’d probably go for something young from very good lines and take a risk that is wasn’t proven…

 

[tda]

Another option would be to find some studs breeding the types you like and speak to them about possibly getting an older brood mare from them? Some studs do move older mares on especially if they retain a colt to use.
Plus side experienced mare, even late teens you should get a couple of foals from her.

 

[katastrophykat]

Thank you all! I have an agent in Ireland on the case- I’ve told him that I’m happy to hang on til near the end of winter when people are likely to let something go that they were running on… I have fingers crossed!