What made you choose to bred & the choice of stallion

[magic104]

I bought Horse Deals last night & could not believe the choice of stallions so...

I wanted to breed because I enjoy the education of the foal. I like knowing how they have been handled, what they have been fed, wormed, everything. It gives me a real buzz to see them under saddle & taking everything in their stride. My choice of stallion nearly did not happen. Sas was away getting some extra schooling & Sponeck was resident at the yard. I loved his temperment, the way he walked, (I love a horse that is going somewhere). He is well made & moves well. Sas came home & a few months later I kept looking at her & thinking what a nice foal we could have. We have her full breeding, we know she moves well (she is a very comfortable horse to ride) & she has a good temperement. My initial thoughts were to use a TB (being QH x Welsh) I thought this would be a good X. I really liked Groomsbridge May 1, but thought he would be too small, same as Special Addition. It was only by chance when I mentioned my plans that I was reminded of Sponeck. Though I had no intentions of using a WB, Sponeck is at least 5 generations Trak. I had seen some of his offspring & they all had his temperment, he was graded which was a plus & he had some top horses in his breeding.

Mo was more sentiment, her foal would be kept no matter what. She has a great trot, moves well & is full of character, I would rather live in a tent then sell her. This time though I wanted something that might event or SJ. I saw some fab stallions, & I really liked Coolcorron Cool Diamond. I had some money from selling my house, but I could not justify his stud fee on a mare that I had no breeding for. The gamble was just too big. But then I as luck would have it his son was then standing 20 miles away. He had the movement & temperment & his confirmation would compliment Mo's. Breeding is a big risk from start to finish, so what made you go that route?

 

[AmyMay]

I had always wanted to have a foal from Amy. Purely for sentimental reasons (don't all start shouting at me!!). However, she does have decent confirmation, if not the best attitude to life.

My original choice of stallion was Prince of Darkness. Fabulous stamp of a horse. However, I eventually used Lostock Huntsman who is standing at the same stud. Apart from being a nice stamp of horse, he has the most wonderful nature - which I hope will stamp itself on the foal more than Amy's.

It's very exciting and a dream come true for me. I would love to repeat the exercise, but funds may prevent that - we'll see.

 

[TwigFairweather]

My mare unfortunately got injured in her paddock, whilst flirting witha neighbour.. She belonged tpo a friend of mine then who was doing Intermediate eventing on her, dressage and some show jumping. She achieved a reasonable amount of BSJA points and soem BE points. Unfortunately my friend wasn't able to affiliate her in dressage as well.
Anyway, my friend was told that the mare needed a lot of time off and may potentially never come right again. As such my friend knew that I have always had a passion for breeding horses so she gifted her to me.
I really like the mare, she moves well, is good looking , with pretty good confirmation and has a good temperament. She has spark which could also be said to be a bit sharp, but I think they need a bit of something to be better than just average.
I went for Fleetwater opposition because he has achieved so much success, himself and his progeny. Rather pricey stud feebut I thought it was worth it. Sadly on the second attempt she didn't take to him (frozen semen) so I tried his son, Utopian. I know less about him and to be honest I went for him because it was late in the season and I didn't want a barren mare. I think he looks a lot like his sire and has bred some advanced eventers. He was also BSJA silver disk so like my mare, good at his jumping. He is rather under represented, I'm not sure he gets that many mares as I've never seen him advertised anywhere! Hopefully mine will be a diamond (isn't that what we all hope) but you know it's a mine field and there are never any guarentees...
Who did you decide on?

 

[TwigFairweather]

I have worked with Prince of Darkness and erm well I wouldn't use him if your mare can be a bit grumpy... Good decision I thinkl!

 

[tigers_eye]

Seemed silly not to, having an Advanced mare who'd evented for 11 seasons and has a lovely temperament to boot! Also when she injured herself in Spring 05 (when I first tried to get her in foal), she was already 14, so it seemed more sensible to try then than to get her fit again just for one more season out of her. Choice of Mill Law was commercial really. His offspring are doing well and hopefully this will make the foal more sellable. My next choice of stallion will be far less sellable I think, he stands in Belgium and isn't known over here. That will be my foal to keep, and be my next ginger wonder!

 

[amandaco2]

i bred because i have a proven good mare who is very well made and was put out of competition by injury not related to conformation, who is in good health and had a clean breeding soundness exam by two vets.
she was put to a stallion who is graded and whos offspring is graded, who has an excellent dressage index, throws foals i want from mares like mine, excellent temperment and movement and physically complimented all my mares weaker areas.and the stud is also excellent.he is in one of the best stud boooks in the world for sports and dressage horses and i was very happy with the AI vets (100% in foal) and costs.
the offpsring are also very much in demand so i could if i had to find a nice home for the foal.
his WB breeding is very good and i do like WBs.
and i got a beautiful typey filly who moves great and i have high hopes for her getting to PSG.

 

[_jetset_]

If I am honest, it all sort of just happened for me...

I decided to put Hannah in foal (although am now questioning my own sanity at doing so

) because I know deep down that she is never going to make my advanced dressage horse. Saying that, when she is back in work I believe when affiliated I will get her to medium without much hassle, but I don't think it would be fair to push her much further than that.

I started looking around for a youngster, but the horses I was falling for were extremely expensive (found a stunning 4 year old by Montecristo who was to die for, at £13,500

). I was having to stay down to London, and initially I was planning on sending her to my instructor's for four weeks of schooling. But when I thought about it, I realised she did not need the schooling as she was already out competing at Elementary, and it would work out very expensive for something that she did not necessarily need at that time.

I then started thinking about putting her in foal, but I never thought I would make it into a reality so soon due to costs. I have always known I would like to have a foal from her because she has a nice conformation (just a little long in her back) and has very correct paces, but not flashy really.

I spoke to my Dad about it, and he shocked me by suggesting I put her in foal and he would pay for it as a birthday present

From there it sort of all fell into place... she would go to stud while I was in London, and as I came back she could come back if she had taken the first time.

Looking for a stallion was really exciting, and this is when it started to become real. I looked at Demonstrator, Tyson, Donnersong and Fleetwater Opposition. Fleetwater was looking really expensive, and although I considered his sons, I still wanted something finer. I did look at a few TBs, but Hannah has a very TB temperment and can be quite hot and as this is my first foal I did not want something too much for me.

I had been to watch Your Horse Live the November before and watched the Carl Hester demo where he was riding a stunning Dutch Warmblood. I remember saying to my friend at the time, "Now if he was a stallion, that is the type I want to put Hannah to!" As I was flicking through some of the stud websites, I suddenly saw Pro-Set, realised he was a stallion, and that was it! Decision made!

Sorry for the long post... it's quite emotional for me at the moment thinking back on all of this at this stage.