Dressage stallion for a Rotspon mare...new to breeding, enlighten me!

[Canteringcait]

We just bought a broodmare with intentions of breeding her several times, and intentions to keep the foals (at least keep til broke, and evaluate if we keep/sell) I have bred one mare before but wasn’t very educated and didn’t pick the best stallion for her (although that said, I still have that baby, now seven, and love her to pieces!)

I’m not super familiar with bloodlines, I’ve never been into breeding. So I’ve been doing tons and tons of research to try and figure out what we should cross with our mare next spring. I’m hoping to learn from people more experienced than me!

Mare is Rotspon/Weltbekannt/Leibniz. She’s around the 16.1 mark and is a TANK! She has three good gaits and a lovely disposition, which I’d like to keep in the foals. I’m quite tall so I need to add some height. She could also be more uphill and leggier, and have a little more lift and expression in her gaits.

Some stallions have stuck out to me but many are quite young and unproven. I like Tolegro in some pictures and videos but not so much in others. However, his pedigree would make an extremely marketable baby should we decide to sell. I really love the gaits on Belantis, he appears big and leggy, but his conformation photo makes him look long and not very uphill, though I suppose he’s still growing. I also ran across Ghandi and Heinrich Heine.

Fairytale, GlamourDale, and Everdale are also of interest to me, and they appear long in the front legs with lovely gaits and a little more refined, to tone down my tank of a mare.

Anyone have other suggestions? Experience and/or opinions on the stallions listed? Guess I should mention that I’m looking for a cross that will hopefully make my FEI horse.

Looking forward to the responses!

[Blume_Farm]

I too have a Rotspon mare, but with a very different dam line. Has your mare been inspected? What did the judges feel about her conformation? Gaits?

It appears you are breeding for a dressage mount based on your stallion choices?

The R-line had a “known” nick with the D-line so that might be a good direction for you to pursue. Dancier with Rotpson mares has been quite successful (at least with producing stallions sons). I too like Everdale, but the Negro is not going to add length of leg so that might be a consideration. I am a huge lover of Hohenstein so his son Heinriche Heine IMO is quite nice. However, I think the frozen is quite iffy. He also will most likely not add suspension in the gaits.

If sounds like you are open to frozen semen so you have many more options. If this is your first foray into to breeding and using a mare that has yet to produce I would lean towards using a proven stallion so you take a better chance of knowing what you might get. Personally I would be leaning towards proven stallions with D-line in them like Dancier, Sir Donnerhall, Danone (can’t remember if I or II is the taller of the two), Dante Welltino, etc

[Marydell]

I have two Rotspon mares that I adore. They are super producers.

One has produced 2 Traveling Trot winners and several are out there doing the performance up to third level with super results. This mare is Rotspon/Argentinus and only stands 16.1. Her daughters were all 16.2 to 17 hands. Her sons are smaller-16.1
The other is Rotspon/Ramiro Son II. More substantial than the first mare and taller at 16.2 1/2. Allof her offspring have been in the 16.2 and up range.

Rotspon himself is known for throwing both very short and very tall. The “D”/“R” cross is super and well known.
Some of the stallions above are very good ideas. Sir Donnerhall I will add height and expression but can at times, add a bit more sensitivity. My Don Principe/Rotspon mare had a super Sir Donnerhall I filly last year and we are expecting another. I also like Danone. I believe, not sure, that only Danone I is available frozen for the USA?

I LOVE Belantis!!! He is still growing- I have seen him several times over the past year and a half. You will be line breeding the Rotspon. Do not see that often over in Germany, but I intend to breed him to the Don Principe/Rotspon I mentioned before in 2015. He has not been available for export to the US with his frozen. They are supposed to be freezing for export this fall.

If you want to stay with fresh vs frozen, do take a look at Don Principe or Doctor Wendell MF. Both have TB “blood” up close and will help to refine. Both are leggy and do not take away from a mare’s height. Both are absolute gentlemen in their charachter and work ethic. Both are sires of the top in hand horse in the USA for USDF. Doctor Wendell is coming out at PSG in FL this coming January at age 7.

[Canteringcait]

Thanks for the suggestions, keep em coming!

I’m very well acquainted with your mares Maryanna…this is Brendan’s old groom My new mare actually reminds me a lot of miss Duet in type.

[MoSwanson]

I just sold you your mare. Your mare is carrying what I considered to be the best cross for her- Sir James, which coincides with the suggestions already given above for Sir Donnerhall blood. I suggest you see what the foal comes out looking and moving like before buying frozen semen from a foreign stallion. Please don’t buy into the “if it is from Europe, it must be better” mindset. Dancier, Negro, Everdale or Belantis would not be on my list if I still owned her.

[Marydell]

Then I agree with Mo–wait and see what you get with this cross. I do like Sir James alot!

[Canteringcait]

We are waiting (and excited!) to see her Sir James foal…but it’s still fun looking and learning about the different lines out there and what people like to cross with what, and why. Never really got to learn about bloodlines, I’m finding this very interesting and educational. So educate me! I want to pick brains and learn a thing or two. Why would you not pick those stallions? Discuss the pedigree of Sir James and what crosses well and why and what his pedigree tends to offer/improve/not improve.

[rodawn]

It’s your mare and you can breed her how you want.

S line stallions are not the only lineages that suit R, and specifically Rotspon. A survey of every R stallion in the world will show you the variety of damlines that were paired that did remarkably well.

As I stated on another thread, there is a diamond in dressage breeding - the 4 points of the diamond each reside a major foundational stallion: Weltmeyer, Donnerhall, Florestan, and Rubinstein.

If you need a visual reference, draw a 4-point diamond and input the name of each stallion on a point. Even the lineage directly across from each other blend nicely together.

What you focus on is type and the things you think need a bit of attention - whether the mare needs more shoulder freedom, or whether she needs height, a longer leg, or what have you and then choose a stallion that tends to check those boxes.

S-line, B-line and Q-line can also be chosen as crosses and are also nice. Most recently, the German breeders are using imported Dutch blood to shake things up, such as Ampere, etc.

Each line I mentioned has its good points and it’s flaws. No one mare or stallion are perfect.