… for a tall, rangy TB mare who scored a 7.66 at her inspection. The judges really want to see her bred for a dressage foal (even though she’s my jumper). Prefer cooled but will consider frozen semen. Looking for a sire who is highly sought after as the foal will be for sale. Breeding in 2018.
Oooh, I’m following because I’d love to see others suggestions for popular dressage stallions for a TB mare in the US. I know of a few I would personally breed to, but they are not necessarily in-vogue stallions.
Do you have pics/videos of the mare, pedigree? What does she need improvement on?
I’m guessing you are breeding for dressage despite her being the jumper, and therefore, looking for dressage horses?
At the moment, there are a lot of Furstenball offspring that are going like fat on fire around here, but I’ve never seen a Furstenball foal out of a TB dam. Really nice horses, he is definitely in vogue, but $$ so a son stateside might be easier. Finery (Furstenball x Diamond Hit) looks exciting.
Dreamscape has a good lineup, Freestyle has a fairly good reputation and does do well with TBs. I also really like Sir Gregory. Hilltop also might be worth looking into, I really like Don Principe.
Belissimo M is pretty popular here, as is Rascalino.
I know that if I had a nice TB mare, I’d probably breed to Schroeder or Freestyle. I’ve seen and met offspring of both out of TB mares that I really liked, but I am an eventer first and foremost. I’d be curious to see what a Rocazino / TB would look like, I’ve met him in person a few times and I am really smitten with him.
I love Freestyle and have two by him out of the same mare, but he’s dead. You’d only get frozen for him. His cooled semen was great. They generally have very good reputations. Both of mine are super, super talented, but very different. (I’m a dressage person–they are at 3rd level at 7 and PSG at 9 years.) Jennifer is a good resource to look to for recommendations, and the cost is a lot better than some other places. She’s really smart about getting a lot of good bloodlines.
I agree with Beowulf on Don Principe, too. He ticks off everything I want in a stallion.
Don Principe is without question a top dressage stallion who crosses well with a broad mare base.
However, I would recommend that you go with a stallion with multi-discipline appeal as many Dressage buyers won’t want a half TB regardless of who the sire is. Many Dressage folks are bloodline savvy and want proven lines top and bottom. You may have a tougher time selling the baby if you breed to a stallion known as primarily a dressage producer.
Arrian, Freestyle, Schwarzenegger, and Harvard come to mind.
Wild Dance or Worthy Opponent maybe, but putting them on a TB may result in a bit too much spice.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I personally know the judges who inspected your mare. They absolutely love good TB mares. But they come with more of a dressage focus. They look at breeding from a registry perspective (good to inject positive TB blood into the breed) rather than a commercial perspective (I’ve got to sell this offspring as a foal).
My fear is that regardless of the stallion you pick, you will have difficulty selling the foal as a dressage prospect because of the TB mother no matter how good she is. That means you’ll likely end up keeping the foal until it goes under saddle. Then what? Are you a dressage rider?
For me, you should breed for the market you understand. If the mare doesn’t produce well for that market, sell the mare. With the right stallion, this mare might produce some very nice hunters or low level jumpers and that might be better for you commercially. Nice moving pretty hunter types will sell as foals regardless of pedigree.
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Thanks for the input! I honestly had never considered breeding her to sell the foals until she was inspected (the one she has now will hopefully be my next jumper). When they were so excited about her, I started thinking I should listen to the experts and try what they suggested, but I have no interest in a dressage horse for myself. I would have a hard time selling the jumper foals because I’ll want to keep them for myself. I guess I’ll go back to my original plan of breeding her every 3-4 years (assuming her first foal turns out alright) for myself… it sure is fun having a baby around, and I really love this mare.
Go for an all arounder! Several nicely bred jumper stallions that move well are available. Have seem some very nice foals coming from Valentino, Toronto, Novalis to start with a few that are AHS approved.
You could breed her to Lissaro Van De Helle. He is totally jumper bred but has been a very successful dressage horse. He crosses well on horses with blood, as he is a sturdy fellow. I bred a 1/2 TB mare to him and got a really lovely foal with excellent movement. Frozen only, but it is very, very good. Hanoverian approved.
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I agree . You will never sell a half TB foal as a dressage prospect. If you want one for yourself, that is one thing but as far as resale - you wont even get a look. I would breed to a sire that has good jumping lines but moves well enough to produce dressage horses as well. quite easy is one - I’ve been very pleased with the foals versatility.
Quite Easy pairs really well with TBs and a lot of them are snatched up for eventing. I love him as a sire.
I also rode a quite easy (out of a Swedish mare) who is a gp dressage horse. I think he’s a super versatile stallion choice.
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I think the Lissaro recommendation is a good. I also like Widmark for producing dressage horses as well as nice hunter types.
