I unfortunately recently had to retire my prelim mare due to an ankle issue. It is not genetic, and my vet has cleared her to have one foal. She is Shire/Thoroughbred and competed through preliminary. I’m looking for a stallion that will lighten her, and add a little hotness, as she is VERY laid back. I prefer either a thoroughbred or a warmblood with a lot of blood. Thank you!
I would stay with a thoroughbred since your mare is an F1 draft cross. Breeding “like to like” is the general rule of thumb and since you can’t predict exact which genes are going to come through, choosing a thoroughbred is going to reduce some of that variability, IMO.
Here are the tb sport stallions I can think of off of the top of my head that might be worth looking at. Some are not my type with regards to jump, but everyone has different opinions so I’ll list them all that I can think of right now. Some may not be available anymore, I’m not sure.
- Sea Accounts
- Sea Lion
- Friend or Foe
- Just a Devil
- Rather Well
- The Twain
- Weston Justice
- Coconut Grove (frozen only, but the jump is undeniable out of all the tb stallions available. I have heard that he hasn’t improved movement on others but our full tb colt was quite a nice mover out of a below average moving mare)
- Copy Cat Creek
- Clever Deception
- Murkas Gem (Gem Twist clone)
- Baatesh
- Goldmaker
- Artrageous
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹- Saketini
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Adding Gatsby to the list. Lots of blood, and I’ve seen several of his kids out of draft and draft cross mares who still look very much like him - he’s really prepotent for that. He lightens up heavier mares, adds substance to lighter mares, whether they are light TBs (like mine), or heavy coarse WB mares, of thick heavy stock horses, or a Clyde x TB mare (who looks the cross), just a wide range of mare types.
Take a look at Hirtentanz (TK) - recently imported from Germany after a stellar career at a jumper. He is a gorgeous type, would lighten up your mare, a lovely mover and a proven sire of upper level eventers, great pedigree also.
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Hirtentanz himself is actually Splash and so is Cassio’s Picasso:)
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I wouldn’t say Gatsby for an eventer personally.
I am in love with Humble GS. He is freaking gorgeous, lovely mover, huge jump and I have met him at events and he has hands down the best personality I have ever seen. Hope to breed one of mine to him some day!
Hes doing the CC4* with Jess Pheonix this weekend.
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A lot of Gatsby offspring are Eventing. And doing Jumpers and Dressage and Hunters. A lot depends on the mare, as he doesn’t really change the type of movement, but can easily add suspension and power to a mare who may need some help there. He also quiets down hot mares (within reason, the mare does raise the foal), and adds good energy to “slower” mares. I know of several offspring who were purchased by upper level Eventers.
Are they capable of ***? I don’t know, but again, the dam has to be considered too. If a Shire x TB mare was successful at Prelim, Gatsby isn’t going to detract from that, and is likely to improve on it. Of course, other Eventing-specific sires likely can too.
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Thanks for mentioning Saketini. I’m not sure he would add “hot” to a mare, he’s a pretty chill guy and so is his pedigree. However he isn’t lazy and has a fantastic work ethic; he’s a light and easy ride. Good gallop. So far my 2yo TB by him is much the same, great attitude and quick to learn.
I’m in Ocala if you happen to be down here for the winter. Come see him and sit on him if you like.
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Can you share some of the ones Eventing just for personal interest sake?
There are some on a private Gatsby offspring FB page, so cannot share them here.
From Gatsby’s website 
[IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"https://www.mountaincreeksporthorses.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/GatsbyOffspring17.jpg)
I’m sure his FB page also has some, and with some decent web searches you can probably find more.
Here are two photos of her. She is rather long in the back and short in the neck. I’d like to improve those two areas, but keep her insane amount of heart and perfect little knees 🙂
Two young stallions are Escher ( Escudo II X TB mare ) in California who is a lighter type and short coupled. Also Elizabeth Callahan has bred a lovely young stallion that Doug Payne is eventing - Quiberon ( Quite Easy, A Fine Romance, Riverman) who is a lighter type and jumps a 10 , as they say. She is planning on presenting him to the warmblood registries and I don’t think he is breeding yet. There are several videos of him on her Facebook pages ( which are public).
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She looks like a sweetheart. What a lovely jump photo. :yes:
Have you bred horses before? It is always a gamble, you never know what sort of foal you will be getting, but even more so in the case of an F1 draft cross. Will it be OK if the foal is not suitable for eventing or jumping? You could buy a suitable youngster for what it will cost to breed your mare and raise the foal.
Be sure to understand the risk to your mare and the expense, and be OK with it.
If you’ve bred horses before, you know all this so please excuse the repetition.
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I know a Gatsby offspring that is the real deal, and I’m really excited to watch her grow. She belongs to a friend who bred her. She just competed at Southern Pines this weekend.
I used to not be sold on him until knowing a few in my network.
If shire/TB I would agree with staying with TB or something that isn’t known to add heavier. All of the TBs mentioned are wonderful. Tough class to pick from.
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Diarado
I have a gelding by Coconut Grove out of a WBx mare. He’s solid (which I like!) with good bone, but very agile and typey. If you look at pictures of CG’s offspring they seem to tend toward a type, so I’d say he’s got a pretty strong “stamp.” The only reason this guy isn’t an eventer is because I’m a chicken who likes to play in the dressage sandbox :lol:
I also did some work with a mare by Gatsby and holy moly, what an animal. Catty and super cool and brave. She came to me for some mental rehab work after being in a rough spot but even still she had a great brain. Really liked that mare. No reason at all why she couldn’t have gone on to be a neat eventer. Super UL potential? I’m not the right person to assess, but she was athletic, bold, and had a pretty deep well of energy and smarts.
So there are my anecdotal sample-sizes-of-one experiences. 
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I would want to see offspring from drafty mares. Even if they are out there, the resulting foal from this mare is really an unknown and there’s no way around it.
I wouldn’t put anything other than pure TB on a shire x tb.
I can’t help with US based stallions but if you would consider EU take a look at il divo and future prophecy
Tatendrang and Hirtentanz both seem to really stamp their get and have sired eventers.
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