Breed the best to the best and hope for the best ...

But what if you don't get the best?

My post on making money breeding horses is still a work in progress and will come soon but I find myself consumed by this question today. You can have the best genetics around but what about the elusive X-factor that makes a superstar?



Poetin II- part of a genetic goldmine dynasty, but you've got to have the X-factor too!

Let's assume you're a responsible breeder, maybe a small breeder with just one or two mares. You put time and effort into your mare choice and your mare has respectable bloodlines, good temperament, movement and conformation. You spend hours researching stallion choices and as a result have picked an excellent frozen semen husband for your mare, you've selected based on the idea of a complimentary cross. You've taken a critical look at your mare, worked out her positives and her negatives, and picked a stallion based on that.

You've put down say, $3500 in semen and insemination costs, perhaps a further $3000 to get your mare through her pregnancy remembering vet bills, special feeds, foaling equiptment, imunisations and a 'disaster fund' that you've got waiting just in case. It's roughly been 340 days and finally, after putting you through nights of sleeplessness and false alarms and days of fear and worry ..... your mare has given birth.

For the sake of making things easier, there was no dystocia, everything went smoothly, the IgG came back with good levels and you're now speculatively looking at the foal that you've produced.


And it's really goddamn average.


Sure it's cute, find me a baby who isn't. Sure those knees will probably come back a bit as your baby grows. Sure his temperament is lovely and you can't stop showering his perfect little muzzle with kisses.

But you can still tell. Your foal isn't flashy, it doesn't move that nicely, it's a foal who would blend into a crowd given half a chance. And you have barn blindness ... to an extend, I mean you love your baby, but it's not like you're stupid.

So you have to ask yourself the question: Can you judge a foal from birth, or do you need to wait and see what it's like later on.

I think the fairly obvious answer to this is that it's horses for courses. Some stallions make flashy foals, others don't. Some foals stop being average, they grow up and you go OH WOW. Some don't. Some foals are born being little superstars- big, lovely, amazing movers- but that doesn't mean a damn thing once they grow up. Rideability, temperament and conformation mean a lot more than just having a flashy foal. The flashy ones don't always stay flashy, either.

At the end of the day you can breed the best to the best and not get the best, no matter how hard you work, how much money you spend or how hard you research. Even the greatest studs in Europe breeding the greatest horses in the world ... they get average ones too.

It always amazes me how not alike siblings can be, although I suppose it shouldn't be too bizarre. Look at the Sandro Hit/Poesie cross. Okay so Samba Hit I, II, II and VIIIIIIIII are all very nice, but none of them have been Poetin. None have had that special magic. It's a great cross, but the genetic masterpiece part of it? Fluke.

I think this really sums up the 'hope for the best' part of the old adage. Breeding is a lottery. Even providing everything goes well, not all foals are superstars, not all horses are superstars.

I can think of only one absolute 100% sure way to get a superstar in your barn ....

Go and buy one.

Five things to remember before you buy

Today’s post is simply going to take the form of a list- five things I wish I could bludgeon into people’s heads regarding the warmblood breed. Here goes.

1. Not all warmbloods are made equal
There is bad quality breeding and good breeding. People breed on fashion trends which is definitely a dangerous thing to do, people use poor quality mares with the latest ‘hot’ stallion and wonder why their foal resembles a mule, people don’t bother to research pedigree and type and complimentary crosses and latent genes. When you buy your first warmblood, do some research and take the time to learn about lines and what they mean. Don’t look at the breeder with all the flashy advertising, look at someone who knows what they are talking about.

For God’s sake do not buy on the basis that it came from a big name stud and therefore has a fancy prefix in front of its name! If you do that then you can close this blog right now, you are an idiot. Look for the lines, the
temperament, the conformation and the movement.
Then look at the horse in front of you, forget its breeding. Is it really a horse you want to take home and spend time with every day?

2. Most of us aren’t going to the Olympics, don’t buy a professional’s ride!
There are some really nasty horses out there, even if they move well. People see ooh it’s flashy, ooh it has bling, ooh it can move the house down. But do you want to actually be around that horse? Remember movement is one thing but if the conformation is bad, well the horse will not be able to cope with the dressage work you are asking it to do, if the temperament is bad then you’re never going to get anywhere at all, never mind how talented the horse is.

A horse can sound like a wonderful idea in theory and you’ll see the horse from the flashy breeder all plaited up looking excellent and running away from a plastic bag on a whip looking outstanding, but when you actually have to ride and be around that horse every day? Maybe not such a wonderful idea in reality. Remember the horse you see at the auction is done up to the nines and is in an artificially created atmosphere. It’s not necessarily going to be like that once it’s covered in mud and standing in your paddock eating hay.


3. MARES, MARES, MARES.
If people stopped importing euro trash stallions that the Germans don’t want (remember they wouldn’t let the good ones leave!) and started importing premium quality mares we would find ourselves catching up to Europe very quickly. Aunty Norma’s lame, bucking thoroughbred mare isn’t going to cut it, neither is the mare that was too hot for you to ride. If you start with a poor quality mare your foal is going to be poor quality- simple as that.


4. Some stallions produce foals, others produce competitors
There are amazing stallions that make foals, and amazing stallions that make dressage horses. Only in rare circumstances are these horses the same! Look at what the stallion has done, look at what his kids have done. And please god, think twice about what you’re doing before you put down 3.5k as a stud fee for a horse that would cost 500 euros to breed to in Europe. If it had its balls at all. Have a look at the stallion’s progeny on the market, if you want to sell it, what prices are they getting? Is there an oversupply? If there is, why the hell are you breeding to it? Go buy one that’s already there!


5. You’re not buying a foal, you’re buying a horse!
Don’t get dazzled by a fancy foal. The reality is that the people actually buying the wonderful horses most of the time are not the professional riders. They are your average rider like you or me, maybe a middle aged lady with dressage aspirations and enough disposable income to get a nice prospect for the future. Dear nice middle aged lady, are you actually going to be able to ride the adorable foal once it’s 17hh of explosive movement? There are amateur friendly lines but you’ve got to remember that the horse is only as good as it’s rider, and at adult riders club you’re probably going to be happier with a clydie cross than something by Sandro Hit. Harsh but true. Go spend the rest of your budget on a Mercedes or something.

Next post will be about how to make money breeding horses (HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA) an obligitory follow up to that statement because it requires more neurons than most seem to put into it.

Happy Riding!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. It probably won’t take off, but I wanted to read it and no one else had written it, so I will! Here you will find a discussion of the warmblood horse. Fashions in breeding, fashions in dressage, what buyers want, what breeders are doing, individual horses will be discussed, the appeal of the horse and its future and hopefully, just maybe, some juicy gossip!

Is there anywhere more divisive or drama ridden than the equestrian world? And dressage and warmblood types are the princesses, so buckle up!

I suppose that, considering it is the sole reason for me beginning this blog, I should begin with why I love the warmblood horse. I can very clearly remember the first time I saw a real warmblood, oh I’m sure I’d seen heavy great big horses, usually bays, and I liked the idea of them, but the true ‘modern’ warmblood, one impeccably bred with dressage in mind, I remember the first moment I laid eyes on one. She was by the Jazz stallion and out of a Donnerhall mare, her owner let her out of her paddock and oh, she floated across the ground. I’d never seen a horse move like that, look like that. She was big and black and beautiful, and those of you who have seen a Jazz bred horse move know exactly what I mean when I say she floated.

It happened so quickly and very profoundly, I fell hook, line and sinker in love with the idea of these amazing horses. As anyone who has been struck by a passion knows all too well, it becomes very consuming, very quickly. I found myself learning and researching, first about Australian stallions, then about some of the internationals. I didn’t know much, but I was so enthusiastic. There was nothing commercial about my interest, I didn’t really care about what lines were actually most suitable for dressage, and I didn’t know one thing about jumping. But soon I had it in my head that I wanted a warmblood. A palomino warmblood (you’ll have to forgive me that folly!) to be completely exact. Don’t worry, I did my research ... and my horses are all varying shades of brown, thank you very much.

When I came to pick my very own warmbloods, I picked not on the basis of movement, breeding or even conformation but temperament and trainability, to me these are the two most crucial aspects of a horse. You can have the best lines and the most amazing movement but if you can’t ride the damn thing then what is the point?
I researched and learned and watched and listened and read everything I possibly could (even with the shaky help of google’s German translator) and through this blog I want to talk about some of the things I have learned.

Expect future posts to be breedist, rather gossipy, possibly a bit slanderous and full of different opinions. Deal with it.

Au Revoir!