Personal Stallion Evaluations

[_DressageDiva]

I always find people’s stallion choices intriguing, and find myself curious why people chose a certain stallion for their mare(s).

We all know we have our key things that we breed for be it temperament, etc and recognize that each mare is an individual and has weaknesses, but how do you start your roughed in “long list” in general?

What sort of things do you look at? Do you just look at “who’s hot right now”, or are you apt to choose someone perhaps lesser known, but had outstanding scoring at their stallion testing? Do you choose a Up N’ Comer who’s affordable with solid basics, hoping that in 1-3 years he’s a household name, lending itself to a more marketable foal? Do you consider certain characteristics of biomechanics given the direction your desired discipline is going in?

I know personally, the stallion scoring from testings weighs a lot in my considerations. I’ll be honest in saying if a ridability score is less than a 9 they’re almost always immediately crossed off my list - same goes for any movement below an 8, and even that 8 has me kind of “meh”.

What about you?

[beowulf]

It really depends on what your end goal is. Breeding for the foal market? Go with a big household name en vogue with foals on the ground that exude tons of gravitas. Breeding for your own horse? Pick the stallion you wish you could ride.

@_DressageDiva

I know personally, the stallion scoring from testings weighs a lot in my considerations. I’ll be honest in saying if a ridability score is less than a 9 they’re almost always immediately crossed off my list - same goes for any movement below an 8, and even that 8 has me kind of “meh”.

Rideability is up there on my list, but I also remember the people judging the rideability are much better riders than I would ever hope to be. I’m not going to say it’s a meaningless metric to me, and I look for added anecdotes from regular riders who have ridden their offspring for a better picture of what they are like.

My biggest thing is I want a resume. It isn’t enough for me personally that the horse did well in the Stallion scorings or the young horse championships/ Bundeschampionate. I want to see that horse in 5 years still competing and going up the levels. Once he’s been standing for 10 years I want to see his offspring out there and competing consistently too. Even better if they are being competed by non-household names.

[exvet]

I was breeding within a specific breed so that certainly narrowed my choices quite a bit. I then focused on those that not only had the ability to perform in the discipline of my choice/focus but were producing offspring that could do the same. Lastly I was fortunate enough to ride a few of the stallions I was considering in order to determine if they had what I wanted to repeat with my mares especially speaking to disposition. Lastly I raised and kept entire one guy that I stood at stud who clearly produced exactly what I was aiming for in all areas and still maintained the breed standard. This process evolved over several years (and individuals); but, in four generations my results made me very happy.

[Laurierace]

I spent 6 weeks at WEF watching the hunter rings and researching pedigrees of the horses that I liked Over time a few names started rising to the top so I researched the temperaments of those few then ultimately had a mentor help me narrow it down to one.