Mare, Gelding or stallion for the top of the sport?

[rodawn]

[QUOTE=dressurpferd01;6023139]
Respectfully, I disagree. I know several people, myself being one of them, that prefer mares any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Stallions, I simply don’t seem to get along with, and have desire to deal with 1200 lbs of testosterone. Geldings, well, they’re usually steady, but don’t have the fire a good mare will.

The saying I live by: a gelding will give you 50%, 100% of the time. A mare will give you 100%, 50% of the time. I’d rather get 100% half the time, than 50% all the time.[/QUOTE]

Well, it’s a matter of personal choice.

I have ridden all three sexes and have no qualms with any of them, except I do like the little extra spark that comes with a stallion or a good mare, but sometimes a gelding is just less complicated, especially when it comes to travel and quarantine. With both mares and stallions there are hormones to deal with (well, they have to deal with OUR hormonal moods too so let’s cut them a break already).

I don’t care what color or sex the horse is. It must have stellar rideability, a decent will to win and perform, and be willing to be a teammate. I need the right feeling under saddle.

However, that all being said, as a breeder, I want my best mares kept at home. They are far too valuable to risk them travelling on the roads (or planes) to the next show and their job as a broodmare is dangerous enough as it is.

[Equilibrium]

Andy here in this country they encourage you to breed a mare of sufficient type and pedigree. As in the studbook. And I also know one of the best horses jumping for Ireland now is Loughview Lou Lou as well as Tinka’s Serenade. Only one is registered with the IHB. But yes in fact it is encouraged to breed good mares while they’re young.

ET, costly and involves more invasive work, timing, and lots more misses than collecting semen. Most really good stallions are frozen only and some aren’t even available or only in small quantities as owners concentrate on certain in the ring goals. From some of the people I know who do ET, it’s not just the expense it’s also not a sure way of getting foals every year. So if you go to an MPT and or your mare is very good in the age classes such as they are in Europe, makes sense to breed her as long as the other factors are there. If you owned a full sister to say Coronet Obelensky what are you going to do? Spend huge money on a competition career or make money in the breeding shed?

Most mares at the top of the sport are there because in general they don’t have the tried and true female families behind them but through their competition they are enhancing that damline or making one stronger.

So no I’m not buying the statistics as telling the whole story.

Terri

[JumperJane]

I prefer mares 100%. They absolutely give you 150% once you bond with them. And I’ve never noticed a bias in the show-jumping world. There are lots of mares at the top of the sport and I’d say its fairly equal numbers in sex at most of the AA shows I attend. This is a quote from a 2018 article on the subject, “Conversely, for outdoor classes, although there are more geldings than stallions and mares placing in the Top 10, mares won the most classes. This observation indicates that mares were able to be faster while jumping clear to beat stallions and geldings at a higher rate outside.”

[Dressagelvr]

Horses at the very top of their sports are unicorns. There are legions of stallions, geldings, and mares that never get anywhere for a myriad of reasons.

The tragedy is when someone has a mare who fails out of sport, but breeds the mare. This perpetuates the legion of horses that never get anywhere. It happens with stallions too. Nobody wants to see that their horse is average or below average. Everyone has the “dream” of breeding their own horse which, of course, they will never ever sell.

The solution: only breed the best horses. Even then, getting a unicorn will remain relatively rare because genetics are a crapshoot and there are innumerable environmental factors that have a negative impact on horses. Precious few people are willing to be patient while young horses develop. Fewer still have the education and resources to give horses what they need on a day to day basis.

[EventerAJ]

Zombie thread from 2011.