Dressage Stallion Opinions

[kastbury47]

Hi there knowledgeable people. I’ve been considering putting my Hand in Glove mare in foal for two/three years now and after an injury this year meaning she will be out for the season I’ve decided now is the right time.

She’s succeeded at BE90 and Dressage up to Elementary. I’m in two minds with which way to go stallion wise. I love dressage myself personally and the foal would essentially be for myself.

I’m looking at Sandro Hit or Sir Donnerhall at the moment and also looked into Fidertanz. Does anyone have any opinions on this? She’s a fabulous stamp of a mare and if I were to add anything, it would be strength behind and something uphill as she’s typically built to event. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated as where I am it’s hard to avoid trainers biased to their own stallions. Thanks in advance !

[beowulf]

These are three very solid stallions so it really depends on which one complements your mare best. Of the three you picked I have the most experience with Sir Donnerhall I’s offspring, every one of them was lovely, with good character and sit. I own a granddaughter of Sir D I and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

[kastbury47]

Thank you for responding!! I’m really looking to add something more uphill and maybe a stronger hind leg. They all seem like good options to me and I just can’t pin it down.

[Nootka]

Sir D is awesome as are your other choices. I would have her genetically tested through UC Davis for FFS before breeding.

Fragile Foal Syndrome (FFS) Type I | Veterinary Genetics Laboratory (ucdavis.edu)

[beowulf]

It’s recommended for both Sir D and Sandro Hit to breed to a mare with a good hind end. Sir D is rather flat in the croup, Sandro Hit is rather straight.

[Nootka]

Oooops … I missed that.

I would still test if Sir Donnerhall isn’t tested himself. Donnerhall was a carrier

[weixiao]

Definitely test her if using a stallion that isn’t clear, OP. My understanding is that Hand in Glove was a carrier so your mare could be too.

[Willesdon]

Have a look at the “Stallion AI” website for a smorgasbord of stallions. Tullis Matson and his team have huge knowledge at your disposal. I waste too many hours looking at the stallions they have available. One thing, they always stress the importance of good temperament in the stallions, not performance alone.

[Edre]

Of the 3 you mention, Fidertanz is the one that I would say will reliably improve the hind end. Sandro Hit and the Sir Donnerhalls are generally recommended to use on mares who have good hind ends. Fidertanz is known for passing on an excellent hind leg. He’s a bit of a compact type and can produce compact so if that is a concern maybe something to evaluate. I also think that of the 3, Fidertanz is the most likely to add a little bit of bone (I don’t find his types particularly course or heavy but they are not on the super refined side). If you look for Fidertanz used on Lauries Crusador mares you can see how he crosses on the TB type (I have sen several I quite liked).

Sandro Hit and the Sir Donnerhalls are very popular so you see a lot of offspring but I think the most consistent success is S over D and S over R - both D and R will bring power and/or correctness to the hind end.

[kastbury47]

This is exactly what I have been thinking and you have 100% confirmed each thought. Thank you for taking the time to help me out with that. I love Fidertanz and the only thing that put me off was reading somewhere that his foals weren’t that great but I guess if you look hard enough you will find negatives about every stallion.

[Edre]

Not really sure what “not that great” means? - I have heard some of his offspring can be more sensitive/reactive (so won’t “quiet a temperament”) but he’s incontestably impactful as a sire. Horsetelex lists 64 sons approved for breeding (and that is only the ones that HTL has on their site, so I assume there are more), plus all the offspring of his that get up to Grand Prix - from a dressage perspective, he’s a huge name - Hannover had him as their stallion of the year in 2021.

That said, all the sires you mention (not sure if you’re looking at Sir Donnerhall I or II but both have been very widely used) are going to have a lot of offspring - I would look at well known TB lines (just to make it easy to research Laurie’s Crusador is the big one in dressage that is reasonably recent, but you may be able to search Heraldik, Lemon Tree, and Prince Thatch as well) and see how they cross with these stallions, you will surely find a fair bit to look at based on just how big all these stallions have been.

You can probably find more about all of them by researching breeding values, even if they’re not actively listed anymore, some of the historic listings will have them (I was able to find Fidertanz’s on SES for example)