As a warmblood breeding stallion owner I frequently get questioned by mare owners about breeding their mares to him. I am most comfortable talking with the mare owner who has a mare that is registered with either one of the warmblood breed registries or the Jockey Club or Arabian Breed Registry and is approved by at least one of the warmblood breed registries for breeding. I also like to hear that they are looking to breed for a foal that will be a good hunter, jumper, or dressage horse and that there is a plan for the future of this foal. It is a mistake to think that just because you have a mare, you should breed her just because you want to. She may be beautiful to you, but you should really consider if she has the right conformation and pedigree for breeding. If she is already approved by one of the warmblood breed registries, then that is all the conformation you usually need. But if she isn't you should take her to one of the inspections that are held all over the U.S. and most other countries. This will tell you if she has the right conformation and a good pedigree that will result in a favorable outcome with one of that registry's approved stallions. You can then choose a stallion that will most likely strengthen your mare's weaknesses and produce a foal that will be able to be the horse you are planning for.
A mare and stallion can be approved by multiple breed registries, not just the one in which they were registered as a foal. The foal is usually resistered in the same registry as the stallion, but different registries have exceptions to that rule. You should investigate the registry you want your foal to be in and choose the stallion accordingly and be sure that your mare meets all their requirements. The World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses has a web site ( http://www.wbfsh.org ) that lists the resistries along with links to their websites.
Even if you are breeding your mare to get a foal to keep for yourself, it is wise to consider the future of this foal. If something happened and you could no longer keep it, would you be able to find it a good home? Would someone else want it? If you follow the above suggestions, the answer to both of those questions would probably be "yes". Mare owners could really influence the future of horse breeding in a positive way if they all bred to only approved stallions with only approved mares, and tried to improve on both with the resulting foal.
1 comments:
This is a great post. You are right so many mare owners think, " well I will just breed her", which can be very wrong as you said because of conformation etc.. I believe that if more breeders were more selective, we wouldn't have so many backyard disasters.
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