I thought it was very expensive, but it seems to have paid for itself. However, I’m not sure it would for every stallion. The yearly activation dues are an unhappy event for me every year. I don’t enjoy spending that much to keep him activated.
I do not plan on getting any of my other stallions approved, however. For MOST purebred ponies I do not think there is anything to be gained by approvals.
However, crossbreds like GRPs are another matter entirely.
[QUOTE=rideagoldenpony;5908610]
I thought it was very expensive, but it seems to have paid for itself. However, I’m not sure it would for every stallion. The yearly activation dues are an unhappy event for me every year. I don’t enjoy spending that much to keep him activated.
I do not plan on getting any of my other stallions approved, however. For MOST purebred ponies I do not think there is anything to be gained by approvals.
However, crossbreds like GRPs are another matter entirely.[/QUOTE]
A friend of mine who was considering taking her Arabian to inspection (ATA) decided not to, after speaking with someone else who’s stallion was approved but it really she said, was more money than it was worth… and I was wondering more about that.
Yep, I am sure not a popular breeding philosophy amoung pony people. I think this is an example why GRP’s don’t “fit” in with pure bred pony breeders. It is just such a different philosophy.
I guess the best way to understand is to imagine Welsh would not give your pony papers unless he proved x-y-z. That is what the inspection process is for GRP breeders.
Personaly I would geld a stallion if he was not approved (GRP) by his parent registry…
However, looking at the pure bred model…I also would not breed him until he had proved something in performance.
Nope, I don’t think that is why…at least not for me. I would have no problems getting into GRP’s and doing inspections and approvals, etc. I think you will find that the majority of the pony breeders who post on this list tend to specialize in pony hunters…that’s where the money tends to be. 
Unfortunately, for the most part, GRP’s don’t always fit into that mold.
Now, before I get flamed, I can name several successful GRP’s that are showing in the pony hunters and I would love to have in my barn, but for me personally, they tend to be built too upright, too much movement and suspension and too high of a head and neck carriage to fit into a pony hunter breeding program successfully. Jumpers and dressage - perfect mold.
The other big downfall of the GRP’s for me is their height. Standing a GRP stallion wouldn’t appeal to me at all, as I would have to turn down all of the interested warmblood and TB Mare Owners…and those are my biggest clients. If I am correct, most of the GRP stallions are in the 14 HH-14.2 HH range, and that really eliminates all of those mares. For me, the money is not in attracting the pony Mare Owners. (they often have their own stallion already or know of one close to home) I have to try and convince Mare Owners to ship semen, and the warmblood and TB Mare Owners are totally OK with that. :yes:
And the other hard sell is because they are a crossbred…which throws an “unknown” into trying to predict final height. Especially when a Mare Owner will a larger mare would like to take the risk and breed anyways. There is often just no way to determine which side of the pedigree will pop up. So, I think for many of us, the allure of standing purebreds is a much safer option when trying to produce a specific range in height.
There are several GRP stallions that I drool over on a regular basis, but for my pony hunter program, it’s just not the right fit.
Hope that explains it better!
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