Sire line and having a colt gelded

[Elles]

These are Thoroughbreds:
https://www.google.nl/search?q="grand+steeple+chase+de+paris"&hl=nl&rlz=1T4MERD_nlNL503NL503&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MmIUVceiG8OvU6yjg8AI&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAw&biw=1600&bih=698

And a number of these are also Thoroughbreds:
https://www.google.nl/search?q="grand+steeple+chase+de+paris"&hl=nl&rlz=1T4MERD_nlNL503NL503&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=MmIUVceiG8OvU6yjg8AI&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAw&biw=1600&bih=698#hl=nl&tbm=isch&q=puissance+thoroughbred&imgdii=_

And look here:
https://www.google.nl/search?q=thoroughbred+show+jumpers&hl=nl&rlz=1T4MERD_nlNL503NL503&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OmQUVd-KNMbkUtbmg5AI&ved=0CCEQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=698

Cumano, I do not understand what you are saying when you say: they were winning 50 years ago and they are still winning now.

[Cumano]

Elles, the opinion I was trying to express, and again it is only my opinion, is that the best horses win because they are the best. Courses 50 years ago were easyer but bigger, and now that the courses are more difficult, the best still wins. My point is that I believe that the courses are more difficult than they were, and are not just purpously designed to advantage one type of horse over the other. Courses 50 years ago were mainly a matter of power. Nowedays, the courses require a much more complete set of skills, power, suppleness, carefulness, reactivity etc… So to me, horses winning today are the best and most complete athletes, and not only the horses that are being advantaged by a bias in the course designs.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=stoicfish;8074492]
Good post.

It is evident that you have experience with the sport and knowledge of breeding.[/QUOTE]

You mean – unlike some other posters? :winkgrin:

[tuckawayfarm]

Thanks for the update on your colt Elles. I’m sorry about the swollen hock, hope it resolves for you. I sometimes think it’s a miracle when they manage to reach three without some sort of blemish.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=tuckawayfarm;8075786]
Thanks for the update on your colt Elles. I’m sorry about the swollen hock, hope it resolves for you. I sometimes think it’s a miracle when they manage to reach three without some sort of blemish.[/QUOTE]

I think you are making the right decision. Follow the thread on “New Decision in Holstein” for the discussion on TBs being used in WB breeding in Europe.

Uphill battle. Also (for me), even though your boy isn’t lame because of the swollen hock now, doesn’t mean it won’t cause trouble once he’s in work. It would give me pause (as a Mare Owner) to breed to a stallion who is already having joint issues when he’s not even u/s yet.

But you have your $$ saved – I would go ahead and use some of that money to freeze his semen. Once your boy is going well u/s and “proving” himself, you might get some owners of nice mares to give him a try.

Good luck!!

[Elles]

Well, the best clinic with regard to tendon problems and other soft tissue problems in Holland examined my colt. They said the leg is sound. The problem is cosmetic.

[Elles]

Sorry but I am not going to have his semen collected before having him gelded. It is all or nothing for me.

[omare]

You likely have saved yourself a financial black hole as I think that is what most stallions are, of any breed and caliber, if owned by a small breeder.

[Kyzteke]

[QUOTE=Elles;8075903]
Sorry but I am not going to have his semen collected before having him gelded. It is all or nothing for me.[/QUOTE]

Well, I think most people would advise “nothing” then. And while the leg is proclaimed sound, all I’'m saying is that with so many stallions to choose from, your boy having that issue AND being a TB are things that might well turn off many mare owners.

If you can afford to have him put into sport and get 3-4 yrs of successful performance o/o him, prospects could change.

But again – all of this costs serious money.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=Kyzteke;8075735]
You mean – unlike some other posters? :winkgrin:[/QUOTE]

Although the OP was talking about eventing and aiming him toward that market…which also some of these “knowledgable” posters do not have knowledge (and admitted to not having knowledge).

Tom Reed just wrote an interesting article on the need of more TB sires and event breeding. Event breeding IS VERY different from dressage and jumper breeding. And we do have a lack of good TB sires to choose from. I struggle to find a good quality blood sire to cross on my WB mares to get the right type for what I know is needed and desirable in eventing.

THAT said…OP, I think you are making the right decision for you. The only way your boy would be truly marketable as a sire for event horses is once he has proven himself in eventing and has several offspring doing well…and that costs a LOT of money to produce. And even then…there are not that many breeders who are focused on breeding for eventing so I’m just not sure it is worth it to do unless you are keeping the colt to use with your own mares.