Lw cob mare for breeding?

lucky7

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I have a really lovely lw cob mare who is a real gem. She's very sensible super safe but not a plod. She has a wonderful personality and I know her dam and sister is the same. She is 9.
Her conformation is fairly good although she is quite upright in her pasterns and slightly cow hocked. She is a good alrounder.
I would love another just like her but perhaps something with scope for dressage. She is 15.1hh and would like something bigger. I would love to maybe try her with a dressage warmblood stallion but don't know where to start!! Also not planning on putting her in foal for another 2 years. This foal would be for me to.keep. I have had experience with youngsters (my current 2 horses I have had since they where 12 months ld and with help have brought them on and backed them myself at home.
Thoughts please!!
 
If you are aiming for riding club dressage and general fun all round type I would use a nice 3/4 TB stallion rather than a warmblood. If you are aiming for a decent level BD horse you might be better buying in a foal.

The trouble with breeding from cob mares is their tendency to have a lot of unknowns back in their heritage which can re appear in the progeny. I bred 2 foals from a nice irish cob mare, first foal by a top class RID stallion, I wanted a middleweight hunter, I got a small hunter. The second foal was by a smart NH sire, I wanted a large riding horse, I got a huge middleweight hunter. When these two youngsters stand together the only inkling that they may be related is the same kind expression.
 
If mare's conformation is not 100% you need something which is your 'ideal' as the sire, also WBs are quite chunky so I'd probably go for a Trakehner x TB or similar, so it has the flashy dressage paces but can add refinement to your mare. Plus if you don't know her background it's worth remembering that often with height etc. it can be a throwback to the grandparents.
 
I have very little breeding experience but I was told that if your mare is of unknown parentage go for a purebred stallion, it should minimise the randomness of the result. I had a pure ID mare, 16hh, put her to a pure tb, the same height, and got an 18.2 youngster...so randomness really is out there.
 
Her sire is south hill duke who is a coloured native type......
I was thinking of a TB and i don't really mind it she throws a massive foal as i am pretty tall. Yes a nice alrounder aimed at RC stuff such as dressage would be nice. Where do you look for nice stallions? also if i went for a stallion larger than 16hh am i likely to get a bigger foal?
 
Her sire is south hill duke who is a coloured native type......
I was thinking of a TB and i don't really mind it she throws a massive foal as i am pretty tall. Yes a nice alrounder aimed at RC stuff such as dressage would be nice. Where do you look for nice stallions? also if i went for a stallion larger than 16hh am i likely to get a bigger foal?

There are some nice stock by that stallion and using a tb on the mare would be a sensible way to have some idea of what you will get, I expect if you do some searching you will find a few around out of mares by SHD by tb stallions which may give you something to get started with, otherwise look for a stallion that is producing the type you want and getting decent stock from cob mares, they are out there and you have plenty of time to do the research.
Often the first foal is smaller that expected, not guaranteed as they can throw back but as you know the sire and dam of your mare you should have some idea of whether there is more height further back or not, I would look for something with a good hind leg as the mare I had here by the stallion was not good in her hind leg and yours is also a bit cow hocked.
 
both tb and arab stallions have been used to upgrade most major horse breeds, the reason is that especially some stallions of those breeds throw themselves, they dominate, and regardless of the mare add a measure of predictability to the result, they are potent, and you can, today research and look at their stock.

if you get a colt it will most likely grow bigger than a filly, and our stallion although 15. 2.hh produces 16.2.hh for me the ideal size, and his sire was 16. 2.hh., so you need to look at the size of the grandparents.

there are also anglo arabs well worth looking at, they can add a certain prettiness about the head if needed, look at Rollin`s shagya arabs, beauty and soundness, and spanish horses, coloured partbred spanish is very attractive and they are good solid working horses well tested and hardy talented beasts

tallness is usually dominant in horses, look at several generations. there are several web sites, stallions on line, and all the breed societies and wetherby`s tb and non tb reg, and a large selection of stallions on sport horse gb, as they are trying to encourage as many different types to enlarge the gene pool and choice

warmbloods can be very genetically diverse, some having 7 or ten different types or races which are approved for the continental stud books, so it can be unpredictable using them
 
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