BREEDING AND BLOODLINES

  CHOOSING THE CORRECT STALLION

Writer:  Nancy Montana

Credits: 30 years as a small breeder

As a breeder, I have read every article I encounter on breeding and choosing a stallion for my mares. I want to learn all I can about the subject because I am passionate about horses, and professional about our breeding program. Of all the articles I have read in local, national and international publications, I have only read one that was unbaised.  Unfortunately, that one didn’t cover some of the most important points. All contained some valid points, but many failed to give the inexperienced or novice breeder the basics needed to make an informed decision. What I would like to do is just exactly that.  This article is very general and is intended as a starting point, a guide for locating the best possible match for your mare. There are no brilliant revelations here only good common sense and basic fundamentals.

As in all things, the place we all have to start is how much money do we have to send on a breeding fee. Remember, the fee is only the tip of the iceberg. There will be vet bills, shipping fees, mare care, and almost a year of feed before you ever see the end results of your decision. Still, the breeding fee should be the most expensive part of the bill, so avoid any unpleasant surprises. You should know up front how you are expected to pay the fee, if there is a live foal guarantee and what the stallion owners obligations are to the mare owner. Read all breeding contracts carefully before you enter into any agreement.  And to quote one of the articles I read: “breed to the best stallion you can afford.”  The one thing that the stallion’s popularity does affect is the salability of his offspring. Foals produced by well known lines with proven records will always bring more on the open market. But the better known the stallion, the more you will pay for a stud fee.

The process of choosing the correct stallion for your mare should be done with a great deal of forethought and planning. A true breeder sets out to produce a horse that will have specific traits and abilities. You need to set goals for the foal in the same fashion you do for yourself. If you are breeding just because you want a foal, rethink your reasoning. It is absolutely normal to want to raise a baby, but it is irresponsible to breed just to satisfy that desire. To quote an old horseman's saying: "it costs as much to feed a poor horse as it does a good horse". It cost as much to produce and raise a poor or mediocre foal as it does a good foal. If what you want is a baby: then, you would be money ahead and better off purchasing a weanling, or a suckling. That way you can avoid the sleepless nights waiting for the mare to foal.  If you want the experience but upon close inspection see that your mare will not produce what you want, there are alternatives. There are good breeders who may be willing to lease a mare, or allow a buyer to be part of a foal’s life from the beginning.

To produce a quality foal, you as a mare owner must be willing to do something that is very difficult: be critical of your horse. You must be willing to take a good hard look at the mare. Recognize her shortcomings and conformation faults. Study them with the understanding that no horse is perfect. Decide what about the mare could be improved. Then study her strong points, the things about her that are correct. If the mare is papered, learn as much about her breeding as possible. Become familiar with her bloodlines. They are a clue to the type of stallion she should be bred to, and the potential of foal she will produce.

Decide what the foal will be used for when it is grown. If what you want is a performance horse, you should choose a stallion that is a performance horse himself, or is producing performance horses. The same is true if a person wants a sport horse, pleasure horse, endurance horse, cutting horse, reining horse, etc.

Once a decision about the foal's future has been made, the stallion needs to be matched to the mare. Remember that rarely will a breeding of two extremely diverse animals produce an outstanding individual. Stay within the mare's breed, and body type, or go to a proven out cross. Selective out crossing can be rewarding, experimental out crossing can be disastrous. The trick is to choose a stallion that will improve on the mare's weak points, and compliment her strong points. As simple as that sounds, it is not always so easy. All breeders agree that there are too many stallions. None will admit that theirs should be a gelding. 

Don’t choose a stallion just because he is popular, or heavily promoted. He may be an excellent horse, but that does not mean that he is right for every mare. Besides, the fact that a horse has earned a championship does not make him a good sire. Do not judge a horse by his accomplishments alone. The quality of the foals he produces is as important as show (race) record. Do not discount a stallion just because he lacks a record. There are probably as many exceptional sires that are relatively unknown as there are stallions with championships at stud. Again, look at the breeding and the get of a stallion. There is a dramatic difference between a sire and a stallion. The proof of a horse's ability to breed true can be seen in his get. A sire will produce uniform foal crops. His foals will look more like him than the mare. A stallion will not stamp his get. The offspring of a stallion will usually look more like the mare, and are more likely to have her conformation faults. This fact is important because it is more difficult to improve the quality of the foal if the father is a stallion, but not a sire 

With all the preliminaries out of the way, take time to look for the right stallion. The things that need to be considered about a potential stallion in the order of importance are:

1) Conformation

2) Disposition

3) Breeding

4) Color

1) The stallion's conformation should be true to his breed. His strong points should compliment the mare. As odd as it may sound, both parents are 60% of the resulting foal. Looking at the stallion's get will help ascertain if he produces babies with his strong points: IE: short back, straight legs, long neck or good gaits. Breeding to a stallion that has the same conformation faults as a mare will ensure a foal with the same faults! The object of breeding is to improve the next generation. The best matings result in a foal that is better than either parent. A good mating will produce a foal that is of the same quality as the better of the two parents. Do not be afraid to ask the stallion owner what his horse's faults are. But keep in mind that stallion owners can be as blind to the shortcoming of their horse as mare owners.

2) The disposition of the stallion is as important as that of the mare. A person cannot expect a gentle foal if the stallion is not kind. How easy he is to handle on the ground and in the breeding shed are good clues to his disposition. If you can, see the horse being worked. Talk to the people who handle him during breeding. Ask how he behaves in the breeding shed. Watch his expressions. Are his ears pinned back or pitched forward when a person approaches the stall? Is he trusting? Will he allow strangers near him? Ask yourself, would I trust him if he were mine? Admittedly, disposition is more difficult to judge than conformation, and can be affected by external factors. But if there are any doubts, look for another stallion. If a person is determined on breeding to a horse that is difficult to work with, you must be willing to deal with the possibility of an obnoxious foal. If your choice is between a stallion with a conformation fault and one with a disposition fault consider this. It is easier to breed out a conformation fault than it is a bad disposition,

3) Take time to become familiar with the breeding of the stallion. Certain lines within a breed, like certain breeds are noted for their ability to excel at a given sport or venue. Unless a person is a very experienced breeder, it is wiser not to experiment with crossbreeding. Avoid inbreeding. Inbreeding (the breeding of full or half siblings, father, or other close relatives) tends to accentuate hereditary faults. Some breeders practice line breeding, the breeding of less closely related individuals. It can work very well, but there are risks involved. The end results can be any thing from an outstanding individual to one that is badly deformed. Old time Western breeders used to say that the difference between inbreeding and line breeding was the quality of the foal produced. But then, they were willing to be ruthless when culling. If the mare is already line bred, out crossing will produce a better individual. (Go to a horse that does not have any of her bloodlines) The best rule of thumb is line breed for two generations and then out cross for hybrid vigor. Trakener breeders use the same type of a program, every third generation they out cross to a Thoroughbred or an Arabian depending upon which was the last outcross. 

The stallion's breeding should blend well with the mare's. As a rule of thumb, stay within the standards of the mare's registry. U. S. breed associations have very definite requirements for registration. Although more and more U. S. registries are papering half-breed foals, the value of the foal is not normally as much as that of a pure bred foal. A half-breed horse is an animal with only one parent registered by the club; the other is parent is not registered with an accepted club. Perhaps the best know example is the Arabian. The club registers 1/2 3/4 & 7/8 Arab, no matter what breeding the other parent has, but will never give any better than 7/8 status no matter how many full Arab crosses the horse has in it’s background.

Warmblood registries in general are not like U.S. associations. They are inspection based and have strict requirements for both mares and stallions.  With Warmblood registries, the stallion must be inspected and then approved (passed the 100 day test) before a foal can even be considered for inspection (or even legally bred). The mare must either already been listed in a mare book or she must be inspected at the time the foal is presented for inspection. Both mare and foal must then be approved by the particular Warmblood registry. To produce a Warmblood foal, you must match the mare to the stallion’s registry. Many Warmblood registries discriminate against certain U. S. breeds.

In simple terns, if the foal is to be registered, be familiar with the breed requirements. Don’t depend on the stallion owner as the only source of information. The vast majority of horse breeds have U S based affiliates. All of the breed associations send out information and/or have web sites. Invest some time in research; the end results will be fewer problems down the road. Even if the foal will not, or cannot be registered, you improve the chances of producing an exceptional individual if you learn all you can about the stallion you intend to breed to your mare.

4) Color, meaning the base body coat, not coat patterns such as found in Paints, Appaloosas, or Pintos, is the least important factor when choosing a stallion. A person who uses color as the only parameter is less likely to get an exceptional foal. Even color breeders need to realize that an outstanding individual with good conformation is as important as color. If coat pattern or specific color is a must, which is the case with true color breeders, the process becomes more complicated. The stallion must have the needed conformation, disposition, breeding and coat pattern or color.

One last footnote. The stallion should be registered or approved with a well-recognized breed association even if the mare is not. It is the mare owner's responsibility to be familiar with the breed associations. There are a great number of registries available. Most are valid clubs, but some will paper anything. If you are not familiar with a registry, learn more before breeding to that stallion. A little research can save a person from having a very expensive baby that is not eligible for registration.  Remember that the final responsibility for the anticipated foal lies with the mare owner, not the stallion owner. It is only prudent to make all of the necessary preparations to insure the highest quality baby arrives as anticipated some 11 months after mating.

Never lose site of your goals for the foal. If you are a novice, or are not sure how to chose the correct stallion, get help from someone in the horse world you respect, and will give you an unbiased opinion.  Finding the correct stallion for your mare can be very time consuming. It can be frustrating on occasions. But the end results are so wonderful that it dwarfs all other factors. There is nothing more delightful than a beautiful foal, or more rewarding.