Hi, just wondering if anyone has any experience crossing Balou du Rouet over tb mares? Have seen one recently, nice looking thing, moved and jumped well but seemed to spend a lot of time in the air and was huge, 17hh as a 5 year old!! Also, does anyone know of any proven tb stallions that have produced eventers/show jumpers that have frozen semen available? Preferably without northern dancer lines. Thanks 
Not sure about TB x Balou du Rouet, but a lot of his licensed sons have been crossed with TB’s with extremely successful outcomes. I just bred my TB to a Balou son.
Ok. Why did you choose to use a son instead of Balou, ie was it the dams line, his performances, comformation? Which son did you use and what type of thoroughbred is your mare? Sorry for all the questions, just very curious as I really like the line 
My mare is an older maiden, so I wanted to use fresh semen (Balou only available frozen). I used Bliss MF - I just really, really loved his conformation, beautiful movement, and he jumps spectacularly. He has a good number of babies on the ground and they are all lovely and beautiful movers.
I’m not sure what you mean by what type of TB? She was very competitive in the AO jumpers in her showing days.
Makes sense
Sorry that was worded badly, I meant is she a lighter leggier type or more of a compact solid type? I’m not sure what AO jumpers is? Do you know her breeding?
Makes sense
Sorry that was worded badly, I meant is she a lighter leggier type or more of a compact solid type? I’m not sure what AO jumpers is? Do you know her breeding?
I have used 3 of the Balou son’s in our program on our Tb mares.
We have had two by the stallion Amazing and are in the process of our third cross to him.
We bred on mare to Bliss although she slipped her foal and we will be breeding her and one of our client mares back to him.
We also bought a lovely TB mare who was in foal to Bon Balou and are very excited with the results from this cross.
I have not had luck with local vets in my area to use frozen so we decided going the fresh route was the way to go.
I also like incorporating these boy’s dam lines in crosses.
Each one of the Balou sons are quite different and depending on your goal for the resulting foal and your mare’s type they could even be a better option.
I would be happy to share more information on our experiences with using the sons in our program.
The first pic is Aut of the Balou by Amazing.
The second is Red, White and Balou by Amazing
and the third is Bon, James Bon by Bon Balou
Alliekat they are spectacular! Love the names!
is the Bon fully written “Bon, James Bon” :lol:
I bred a TB mare to Amazing and have an incredibly athletic, sweet, beautiful 2 year old filly. I loved the Balou du Rouet influence and for that reason I am breeding my Hanoverian mare to Bliss this spring.
Mine is a light, leggy type. AO = amateur owner jumpers. You can look up her pedigree if you want (Turnpike Queen) - I’m not super knowledgeable about TB pedigrees.
[QUOTE=pony grandma;7550497]
Alliekat they are spectacular! Love the names!
is the Bon fully written “Bon, James Bon” :lol:[/QUOTE]
Yes it is 
Lovely foals!! Love the colour they all seem to throw that second foal is gorgeous!! Were you aiming for jumpers or eventers with the cross? Do you have photos of the mares? Amazing looks like a really lovely type, does he have frozen available internationally?
Lovely foals!! Love the colour they all seem to throw that second foal is gorgeous!! Were you aiming for jumpers or eventers with the cross? Do you have photos of the mares? Amazing looks like a really lovely type, does he have frozen available internationally?
Sorry it keeps posting twice…
I bred my refined trak mare to Bon Balou. I’ve loved Balou for a while, and am going to meet him in Germany this September! Two different registries (RPSI and Old NA) have mentioned Balou can throw some “firecracker” ride ability, and I didn’t want to try frozen, so I researched his sons and their dam lines. They’re all lovely, but meeting Bon Balou at the 70DT just reaffirmed my decision (mare was already bred to him)… PM me if you’d like, I can talk about my colt all day long!
I have 2 offspring by Balou sons (Banderas and Amazing), and breeding 2 mares to Bliss and Bon Balou this year so hopefully by next year will have had a foal from each of the sons. I did have a Bliss foal this year but he passed away at 5 days old.
I believe that the sons are chosen over Balou himself not only b/c of the fresh semen option but b/c Balou is known for passing on some spice (via Galoubet I would imagine), and what I’m seeing in the sons are the mare lines are helping to pass on a better temperament.
I would be hesitant to cross Balou with a TB mare simply b/c you could end up w/ too much horse (which it sounds like is the issue w/ the one you liked). The Balou line really passes on an incredible jump, so you won’t be loosing out on that and the sons in NA are much better movers than their sire
“I bred my refined trak mare to Bon Balou”
What we’re you hoping to produce with the cross? What height are you expecting the foal to reach and what is his movement like? Thanks
“I would be hesitant to cross Balou with a TB mare simply b/c you could end up w/ too much horse (which it sounds like is the issue w/ the one you liked). The Balou line really passes on an incredible jump, so you won’t be loosing out on that and the sons in NA are much better movers than their sire”
In terms of too much horse are you talking height or temperament? I like the look of the sons over in the states but they seem a little heavier then their sire and I haven’t yet looked at movement but it appears over there they are being aimed more at hunters then sj/eventing? With the temperament, if crossing wb mares with good temperaments (also in their bloodlines) is producing better tempered foals, would it be logical to assume that the same would be true for a tb mare?
By too much horse, I am talking of temperament. Here in the states, the hunter discipline is where the money is (for the most part) so many stallions are marketed to the hunter world but doesn’t mean that is all they can produce. I believe Bon Balou received great scores for his cross country at the 70 day test. My 2 yr old by Banderas has an unbelievable uphill canter that covers a lot of ground. Either of those stallions I imagine could easily produce eventing horses. You will also get a great temperament from the NA sons, I haven’t heard any negatives regarding any of the offspring in that department.
TB horses are just naturally hot b/c of what they are bred for, which isn’t always bad thing (I LOVE TB’s) so you can’t really compare a good tempered TB w/ a good tempered WB. But like any breed, the bloodlines have a lot to do with it.
[QUOTE=G3myst3ry;7551228]
Lovely foals!! Love the colour they all seem to throw that second foal is gorgeous!! Were you aiming for jumpers or eventers with the cross? Do you have photos of the mares? Amazing looks like a really lovely type, does he have frozen available internationally?[/QUOTE]
We are breeding for the hunter market. The first three pics are of our mare DoUThinkUCanDance. She is the dam of the two Amazing foals.
Flying Mountain is shown in the last two pics and she is the dam to the Bon Balou Colt.
I was hoping to add a little bone to my mare. After speaking with Jennifer, she thought Bon Balou would be a good candidate, and as a bonus my colt seems to have a better trot than my mare, but hoping to keep the jump that Balou passes on. To me, my colt looks small- I’ve done the string tests but he is pastured with a gigantic filly by UB40 who is a month older so I keep comparing him to her, which isn’t fair. As for the brain, my colt is very sweet, smart and pretty easy going. His farrier loves him and says his manners are impeccable. My mare HATES the vet, to the point where if she sees her coming she starts dragon snorting. My colt doesn’t love the vet but doesn’t seem to mind her either. I bred for a hunter/derby prospect but will let Danny (the colt) tell me what he wants to do as he grows up. He has already jumped out of his pasture, so I think I’m good there
My mare is 16.3 and Bon Balou is too, so I hope he ends up around that height, just with some heft/bone. I’ve taken video of him trotting, and he got high movement scores at his inspection, but again, my mare is no hack winner, so that’s just a bonus.
Louie got great ride ability scores at his 70Dt. Jennifer is wonderful to work with, I highly recommend talking to her.
