I am interested in hearing from those breeders who have retained a filly from their breeding program as a replacement for the dam. Who has done it and what were your reasons for doing so? Age of the dam, the foal being a better example of the quality, temperament, etc.? Also, how much of a performance career do you want to see under the youngsters belt before sending them to the breeding shed? I’d also love to see photos of the mare and the foal if available.
I have one now.
I actually have done this before and was really pleased.
The one I have now is:
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Amazing pedigree (by my favorite stallion who is old) and out of a wonderful mare who’s sire is deceased and famous)
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Gorgeous conformation
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Serious mover
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Child friendly and gentle
I also think as (serious) breeders this is something we all strive to do.
I did it, last year. The mare x stallion combination had already produced two nice colts, so I’d vowed if I could get a filly from the same mare x stallion combination, I wanted to keep her to replace her dam. Last year I finally got my filly 
so when she was weaned I sold her dam. (I’m too small of an operation to have kept both, sadly, or I’d have held on to the mare for at least a few more years until the filly was old enough to be bred.)
Here is a very short video clip of her I took last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA4Z9NSepQc (please disregard the neighbor’s place in the background, lol, one of the joys of living in a rural area…)
She is an improvement on her dam, a better representative of the breed, and combining the bloodlines of dam + sire gives her a more solid sport pedigree, plus the sire brings some TB blood to the equation (plus a great deal of proven dressage success).
I also think as (serious) breeders this is something we all strive to do.
I agree.
-Gigha
I’m curious of others responses as well!
I decided to do this with my Corlando mare “Amelia”…she’s getting bred this year for the first time so we will see how it works in 2013!! I’m super small breeder that works at another full time job so two a year is plenty for me, and I had both “Mae” the Corlando filly’s mother and another lovely TB mare in foal for April and May babies this year. I decided to sell the other TB mare, and keep Amelia as she is a very nice mare all the way around, and Mae is getting a bit older. In a perfect world I wish she had a bit better trot, but she has so many other great traits that are improved upon from Mae, so for me it was a better choice to sell the TB mare, and keep her; plus for me a fantastic trot isn’t my end goal, and I think when crossed with the right stallion she will be a stellar mare for me! Mae has produced exceptionally well for me (I honestly couldn’t ever ask for a better mare), and I hope "Amelia’ will continue her moms tradition.
Pictures of both are on my website! www.neighland.com/Broodmares
I do this if the mare either has special bloodlines, an exceptional temperament or is an outstanding individual - things that are not easily replaceable when buying a new broodmare. I will keep a filly that is an improvement on the dam and has the traits that I am breeding for. I will usually try to keep a filly early on so that I’m covered if anything happens to the broodmare.
An example of this is my Donnerhall mare. Yes, there are a million “D” line horses, but she is a direct daughter, an Elite mare, black :-), and she has all the good Donnerhall traits and does not have the undesirable ones that can come with the Donnerhall blood. Since he never had any good frozen semen, there will be no more direct Donnerhall daughters. Her first filly was VERY fancy, but not exactly the type I wanted to be breeding (tiny!) so I sold her. I kept her second daughter but she died young and I have now kept her third daughter as her replacement. She is an improvement on the mare and also has her good qualities. Even though the mare is only 12 and hopefully has many more breeding years left, I am now covered if anything happens to the mare.
I kept two of my '11 fillies. Both will eventually replace their dams.
It is a financial hit for the year but in the long run I think it is necessary.
I completely agree that it is a financial hit. I’ve been approached by two serious byers about my filly (now two years old) and I just can’t do it.
Dam has out produced herself before and is hard to keep in foal (but she IS this year and will foal in April!!! happy dance)
Sire has get that were USEF year end high score champions.
Yes, my current yearling is a replacement. I bought her aged dam hoping for a nice female filly within one year of breeding and it worked out. It was nice to chose the stallion knowing I was planning on keeping the foal as a potential broodmare and competition horse for myself, actually.
That said, she still has to prove herself under saddle. My current plan is that if she continues to develop as I hope when she goes undersaddle, and enters competition, then I may breed via embryo transfer at some point.
Side tangent here, but honestly, I’m getting less and less interested in breeding her. I don’t see the financial sense in breeding, unless you have a certain volume, stand your own stallion(s), (or are just doing it because you love breeding). After being a bit burned out the last several years, I am getting more and more excited about starting to ride/show instead. I figure I’m not getting any younger…
I have kept several. All were either an improvement over their dams or offered a bloodline from the sire that was extremely desirable and not easy to find. Two stayed in training for quite some time. They have all given me exceptional foals. One gave me a filly that I am keeping. I agree with VirginiaBred that the development of fillies worth breeding is any serious breeder’s goal.
I think that whenever we breed, we consciously or unconsciously breed for a replacement filly, or better said, an “expansion” filly, weaving what the sire’s bloodlines offer with those of the dam. Each foal is a lesson to us, showing what does make a serious contribution to the mareline. We try,too,to put our mares into a certain level of performance which further informs us as to what can be improved upon. There is also a wish to keep certain marelines in our own herd, which can only be accomplished by retaining the fillies. This reasoning holds more for our jumper-producing mares than our hunter-producing mares, although we have a new addition to our hunter mareband that may put paid to that assertion!
I dis-agree with all this. Your #1 goal when breeding should be to produce the best athlete you can / the best sporthorse you can.
Replacement fillies need to come from selection.
“I got my filly and sold the dam” ? Ha! you should have gotten more than one filly and then SELECTED which one to keep. Just because a uterus is born doesn’t mean it needs to be selected as a replacement.
Mine did.
Well, I rarely, almost never offer fillies for sale. I prefer to keep them and then decide as they grow up whether they are the quality I’m looking for in a broodmare.
You can lose a broodmare at any point in time.
You can lose a youngster at any point in time.
The girls are special and sometimes it’s an insurance policy to have the mom and all of her daughters at home. The daughters are taken to broodmare inspection/approval and the best ones kept as each daughter will bring something slightly different to the table as they become moms themselves.
[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;6145351]
Mine did.[/QUOTE]
:yes::yes::yes:
I agree with Rodawn - you can lose a broodmare at any time, and I want to be prepared.
I currently have 3 young fillies in the barn that I’m waiting to see how they finish before deciding if they will replace their dam’s. I only keep the best of the best in my broodmare herd so they have to prove themselves.
It would be devestating for me to lose a broodmare and not have the option to carry on her bloodlines etc.
I prefer to keep the fillies around until the same dam has another filly… then I can decide between the two as to who stays as a broodmare prospect and who will go on to have a riding career.
I do not necessarily do this with all my mares, but definitely with the ones getting up there in age.
:sigh: Bayhawk, the voice of negativity in an otherwise enjoyable discussion.
Every poster on this thread has given good thoughtful reasons why they’ve kept fillies to replace broodmares. “Because the filly is an improvement over the mare” and “to add the bloodlines of the sire” seem to be popular reasons. Not a single person has mentioned “replacement uterus” as a reason.:rolleyes:
[QUOTE=pinecone;6145435]
:sigh: Bayhawk, the voice of negativity in an otherwise enjoyable discussion.
Every poster on this thread has given good thoughtful reasons why they’ve kept fillies to replace broodmares. “Because the filly is an improvement over the mare” and “to add the bloodlines of the sire” seem to be popular reasons. Not a single person has mentioned “replacement uterus” as a reason.:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
Not being negative only pointing out what I hear all too often. "Got my replacement filly " …the world is great ! Never hear anything about SELECTING the replacement filly.
It matters very little about the sires…folks need to be SELECTING the best filly no matter the sire. The BEST one.
Totally OT, but RiverOaks, I watched your video (gorgeous!!!) and then my finger slipped 
and I watched Fizzy Kitten. Way. Too Cute for her own good! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I have gotten 3 fillies out of my foundation mare…here is her video… and her pics here
I sold the first one (who I leased back last year and got an incredible colt out of her). Here are her pics. Her colts video… (Please excuse the mud and winter fuzz…)
I am keeping the 2010 filly because she is an improvement and fancier then her. I plan to have her compete a few years under saddle before breeding her. If I am in a position to do embryo transfer by then I will most likely do that so she can continue to show. (I love her so much I am repeating the cross for 2013) Short Video clip…
My 2011 filly is for sale, but is priced higher as I am not “really” looking to sell her at this time as I want to see how she will develop. She is one of the last Padinus (Heartbreaker X Grannus) babies out there so…that is what my “plans” are with the fillies and my (future) broodmares
