2012 season

Time and again the question comes up on breeding forums – “What stallion should I use with my mare?” Sometimes the question is asked without any further details, or conformation shots, so it’s tough to know how to respond – but the more experienced posters are skilled at asking the right questions to prompt more information so that they have more to go on when coming up with suggestions.

And of course we have all started as novices in the breeding game (some of us still are!), and well remember that sense of confusion when trying to choose a suitable stallion for the first time, often for a mare that is your pride and joy, but who you might not be entirely objective about when assessing her good and bad points.

I’m a member of a small syndicate which has just bought a Cavalier Royale x Clover Hill mare with plans to breed an eventing foal, and I thought that it might be interesting to draw upon our own experience to provide a layperson’s guide to some of the critical things to consider when choosing a stallion, and the key questions to ask yourself (and others):

(1) What discipline are you breeding for? An obvious but fundamental question that
  will influence which stallions you consider

(2) With that question answered, the next step is to try and take a totally dispassionate
  look at your mare. What are her strong points that you would want to try and retain,
  or build upon, in breeding a foal out of her for a particular discipline? What would you
  want to correct about her conformation/temperament? As an example, here is our
  mare “Izzie” (Clover Caval).

We are aiming to breed an eventing foal from her; she herself is a Grade B showjumper. There is a lot to like about her – she is a good “old-fashioned” type of showjumper with a powerful frame, very clean straight limbs, a good shoulder, and she moves well. Her temperament is lovely, she is biddable but keen, and easy to handle in the stable and out.

(1) What would we be looking to improve?  Generally lightening and refining her; developing greater athleticism; length of rein; and longer legs! So those will be not the only, but amongst the most important, criteria that we will be using to assess potential “husbands”.

Whilst you are generally assessing your mare, review her pedigree. Because traits and temperament often skip a generation, are there any on the top or bottom line of her pedigree that you would want to enhance or avoid? You can often find photos on the All Breed Pedigree website, and posting a question on the breeding forums enquiring what people know about her forebears will usually produce a result. If you want to get rather more adventurous, you might consider line breeding to a desirable ancestor – in sport horse breeding you often see Cor de la Bryère, for instance, appearing on both the top and bottom line of a pedigree.

(2) Who are you breeding for?  If it’s for yourself, again, what are you looking for? A good all-rounder? A showjumper that might be capable of jumping at international level? In our case, we are aiming to breed a talented but sane youngster who might suit the riding club market, or might be attractive to professionals. If we can achieve the right balance, we (potentially) have a wider market open to us, which leads us on to the next question :

(3) Are you breeding to sell or to keep? In the current market, if you are breeding to sell, this might influence your decision about whether to take a risk on a younger, less well-known stallion, or whether to play safe and go for a stallion whose progeny sell readily in the marketplace. (You can imagine that there will probably be people queueing up for the privilege of buying the first Totilas youngsters!) Also, think about the marketplace – in our syndicate we have had some discussion about whether to aim for the North American market, and there are clearly some stallions that are more popular in the U.S and better-known over there.

(4) Again, the decision about whether to sell or keep, and if you are keeping the foal, what you plan to do with it, will influence how important it is to you whether to choose a graded stallion. Do your research, and think carefully about the implications of choosing an ungraded sire. It is likely to become increasingly difficult in the future, for instance, to enter foals for the BEF Futurity if the sire is ungraded. Equally, if you think that you may want to compete the youngster in in-hand classes or when it’s going under saddle, you may find your choices are restricted. Some studbooks are a great source of data on stallions graded with them – the KWPN carry detailed information about the marks awarded for the different elements of the tests, for instance, which can give you a much more accurate idea of the suitability of the stallion for your mare.
 
(5) Finances – stud fees vary enormously, and as a generalisation, the better-known the stallion, and the more successful progeny that he has on the ground, the higher the stud fee is likely to be. Even so, there are some studs who are well-known for their reasonable fees, even for stallions that have an impressive performance record – so shop around. Some stallion owners offer concessions to quality mares, so it’s worth asking whether this would be the case when researching stallions.

Hopefully, having got this far, you will now have a broad idea of the stallions that might interest you; the next stages are often more subjective! Two members of our syndicate, for instance, are smitten by the Holsteiner – the other two are rather less enthusiastic! There is definitely an element of “Does this stallion wow me?” in the final choice, and I wouldn’t dismiss this – it’s important! If he does, he’s likely to have impressed others as well – and after all, you should feel excited about the sire of your forthcoming foal! So do try to visit to see the stallion in the flesh – photos can be deceptive, and sometimes the horse before you will be much more impressive than his picture. Videos can be helpful to show movement and athleticism, but can also be used to disguise the less desirable points of a horse, and are not always a helpful guide to conformation – there’s really no substitute for seeing him for yourself.

So where are we up to with the shortlist of stallions for our particular mare?

I think (at least when we last consulted with one another!) that we may – just may – be down to three candidates. They are, in no particular order: