Evaluating quality in a foal

[butiwantedapony]

This year marks the birth of my first homebred. I am beyond thrilled with the result - a big strapping colt with legs a mile long and a sweet, personable, and inquisitive temperament. I am hoping for a “once in a lifetime” horse with him, we will see of course!

But, I know very little about evaluating “quality” in a foal beyond bloodlines. Can someone provide some basic points to look out for? I chose the stallion carefully and bred to a mare that had little that needs improvement. Mare and stallion are similar in type and stallion’s pedigree is FULL of successful competitors, up and down both sides.

He will be registered KWPN. He will not be inspected, so I am curious to know specifically what qualities ins foal make them more promising than the other foals. in my experience (and to my untrained eye), it seems that foals can look to be stunning movers when little but as they grow their movement sometimes becomes more average. Are there conformation points I should be looking for that will help determine what the final product will be?

Colt is not for sale but I do consider doing more breeding in the future, with foals possibly for sale, and I am interested to know more about how to evaluate what you have produced while it is still a foal.

[Manni01]

go to a foal inspections with as many foals as possible and compare your foal. And be honest. Dont say, oh he just has a bad day…

[stoicfish]

You call tell some info about a foal but not the end deal. Dressage foals show more than jumpers. I think you can say the foal shows quality but it is hard to say how that will turn out.
Foal classes don’t translate into finished products, necessarily.

[Laurierace]

Timing is very important. The rule of thumb is you evaluate them at 3 weeks, 3 months and 3 years. Some people add looking at them 3 days as well.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I have always heard the threes, but I think three months is the earliest for me! They are so compact at three days. Hard to see a long back, etc. that early, although you can start to get an idea of how the neck will tie in, etc. But I am not an expert foal evaluator either.

After three or four months, be prepared to forget about looking at him for a couple years.

[Nadia1990]

from my experience 9/10 a nice foal is a nice horse. However its important to not get too caught up in the foal cuteness.

at 3 weeks you tend to get a fairly good idea of what you have. Generally the proportions are pretty accurate

One thing I tend to notice is that a good shoulder and hind end will tend to always be well structured at any age when looked at in isolation however how it fits in with the rest of the body can create pretty funny/ugly pictures. Again movement doesn’t usually change to much. If it move well chances are it will always move well and vice versa.

this is from my experience away

[gumtree]

IMO and experience it takes a well educated eye based on many years of experience of putting their money where their mouth is. Not a lot of people are good at it.

I have gotten some really good “deals” on some foals that the less educated dismissed/discounted. Have also had my butt handed to me on a few. Which happens to the best of them. As long as you win more than you loose is all that counts.

The ones I tend to shy away from are the ones that look like perfect “little” horses. We tend to call them “sucker foals”. They don’t always finish out the same. Knowing the family and what it typically will get you goes a long way.

[Tory]

Breeding and raising a horse is a crap shoot.

My first homebred was a bit of an accident, but mare and stallion had quality blood lines. The mare had no athletic ability whatsoever, but her daughter turned out to be very athletic, clever and gave her 110% even though she had some conformation flaws (short neck and a bit downhill).

I put a lot of thought into choosing the stallion for the daughter. Luckily for me, her filly has taken on many of the stallions characteristics. This filly doesn’t have a short neck, is built uphill and has amazing gaits at 10 months old.

With that said, there is no guarantee that she will like eventing. It is a wait and see game.

Many years ago, I got an OTTB that had almost flawless conformation. He was so athletic and so very talented, but had absolutely no self-confidence! As it turned out, he ended up being my dressage horse vs an eventer. Only horse I have ever had/seen that would stand in the start box square and on the bit every single event. He was a good jumper, but just didn’t have the heart.

Enjoy your homebred and enjoy the journey, wherever it goes

[Ticker]

What I have noticed over the years is how much of the grandparents shine thru on the foals I have bred.

If the grands were very good at reproducing ‘type’ characteristics that you are looking for ‘and’ the parents are known for producing those characteristics, you have much better odds of getting the same in your foal.

I have to love love love both sides of a pedigree before I breed.

Study videos of as many ancestors you can find and learn as much about them as possible. This will help you recognize traits, movement and other characteristics as they emerge in the foal.

[maybesmom]

Just curious: why wouldn’t you consider taking the foal to a KWPN inspection to get the opinion of experienced inspectors who look at a lot of babies? I also have a few homebreds, also KWPN, and I have taken min e to the inspections specifically to hear what they thought about my babies. I learned a lot by taking my babies and also got some very helpful breeding information on my mare.I thought it was a very worthwhile experience and both the people at the inspction site and the KWPN people were very helpful to me,espeially since I am not an experienced breeder.

[butiwantedapony]

[QUOTE=maybesmom;8711881]
Just curious: why wouldn’t you consider taking the foal to a KWPN inspection to get the opinion of experienced inspectors who look at a lot of babies? I also have a few homebreds, also KWPN, and I have taken min e to the inspections specifically to hear what they thought about my babies. I learned a lot by taking my babies and also got some very helpful breeding information on my mare.I thought it was a very worthwhile experience and both the people at the inspction site and the KWPN people were very helpful to me,espeially since I am not an experienced breeder.[/QUOTE]

Because A) foal is not eligible for inspection, B) there is not a KWPN inspection near me and C) he will be a gelding,
Not breeding stock.

[Kerole]

I agree with that said about the foals that look like little horses. These ones look all balanced and well-shaped but inevitably end up awful. A foal should look like a foal, with proportions of a foal not of an adult.

[soloudinhere]

[QUOTE=butiwantedapony;8713203]
Because A) foal is not eligible for inspection, B) there is not a KWPN inspection near me and C) he will be a gelding,
Not breeding stock.[/QUOTE]

I’m not familiar with KWPN but in other registries any foal sired by an approved stallion is eligible for inspection. What makes a foal ineligible for inspection with the KWPN?

If that is always going to be the situation, I would not plan to breed for sale as buyers are going to want an inspected, branded foal with a score.

[butiwantedapony]

[QUOTE=soloudinhere;8717050]
I’m not familiar with KWPN but in other registries any foal sired by an approved stallion is eligible for inspection. What makes a foal ineligible for inspection with the KWPN?

If that is always going to be the situation, I would not plan to breed for sale as buyers are going to want an inspected, branded foal with a score.[/QUOTE]

The stallion is registered KWPN but is not approved. Foal is eligible for register B but not for inspection.

Obviously if breeding for resale I would chose stallion/registry that would result in foal being eligible for inspection.

In this case the stallion quality is there despite his lack of prestigious affiliation with a registry, and since I bred for a horse for myself I could really care less about foals eligibility for a butt stamp :). Foal is eligible with other registries I just decided to go with KWPN.