eventer producing sires?

[Damien]

Quite honestly I would not breed from such a mare full stop, rather buy a nice well bred eventing youngster or find a mare without lameness soundness issues or even lease one. Why oh why do the Brits feel that if a mare has no other purpose in life due to soundnes issues it needs to have a "job" in life as a broodmare..... This weeks Horse & Hound discusses what makes a good broodmare and the possibility of ET - so what future does this "next foal" have? Will it inherit the flat feet and likelyhood of bone cysts from its dam? The chances are most probably... Genetically hereditable traits are passed on so why bother spending all that money taking a big risk and adding yet another possibly unsound horse to add to the already thousands.

Fascinated to learn what you were wanting to achieve Airdale by crossing a Welsh Section AA with Treliver De Canter do tell me more.

 

[machannah]

Someone has to breed "these nice young horses" dont they....I realise that some people do it as a "job" for some mares however that isnt always why.

I've had my mare 11 years, she evented to 2* level, is graded Intermediate and is 15.1, generally very good confirmation apart from slightly flat feet.

I decided to breed from her because she was an amazingly brave, talented, well bred mare. I put her to a stallion who i would hope add some height, a little more substance and also to correct the angle of the feet (the pastern angle was correct).

There is only so much you can create, however if you have a good mare, who is "proven" then why not? If my mare had not performed to the level she had, then she would not have had a foal or be in foal now.

 

[DollyPentreath]

She sounds similar to my mare; shown and won at county standard, competed BSJA and evented up to PN before suffering a sacroiliac strain, well bred with a lovely temperament. So with wholehearted recommendation from my vet I have decided to breed from her. Yes, she has slightly flat feet but my vet agrees that's no reason not to breed from her. We wouldn't have any TB's left if every flat footed horse was cast off; thats a breeding oversight from the past that we can try to recify, but it won't happen over night now will it?

I've travelled the length and breadth of the country looking at stallions the past three months and to be honest I haven't got a really bad word to say about any of them. I just have certain preferences and have picked a stallion that's IMO most suitable for my mare.

I'd recommend visiting whole studs rather than making the trek (if it is miles) for 1 stallion. Helped me 'get my eye in' as it were! I visited Hobgoblins but I can't say anything there really caught my eye. Twemlows is well worth a visit as is Quainton - some lovely warmbloods there. Welton horses cut the mustard but there's something (don't ask me what!!) thats always put me off, perhaps because I've seen the odd quirky Welton horse. Same with Fleetwater; I think they're excellent professional horses but not for an amateur eventer IMO. I really liked McGuigan, Weston Justice and Uptons Deli Circus. But as my mare is by Shaab and I also need a little height and substance I had to discount the latter! After watching the stallion parade at Badminton (Try to go to a stallion parade, it's a unigue insight into another aspect of their temperaments!) I've settled on Song Song Blue. He's evented by Marcus Reid and is only 6. Check out his record on BE, he's competing in his first Int at Rolleston. He was fab at Badders, the only stallion to really gallop and then go back to walk and wonder what the fuss was about. His breeding is pretty special too.

The only extra visits I wish I'd made were Brendon Hill and I would've liked to have seen Treliver Decanter; but I didn't know he existed when I visited Quainton!

Best of luck, sorry for the essay!!