No immediate plans to breed right now, but I did just buy a mare. She is green, but a pretty fancy mover/jumper. The plan is to progress her training, but with a pretty lady horse I like to have a backup plan should she ever be laid up for an extended period. I am not a hunter person, but she is a hunter so once we have a solid change that’s what we will be doing. She is 15hh, chestnut roan with lighter mane and tail, high stockings and I suspect the tobiano gene. I’m not going for spots but I do like the high chrome. What’s the heritablity of white leg markings? Roaning? I wouldn’t mind making a copy of her a hand taller, does anybody jump to mind?
I found a stallion named For Play that I super like (I’m into dressage and he went both ways) but he is dead and I’m unfamiliar with the long term viability of frozen. I’m guessing I shouldn’t just scoop a couple of doses of him up to keep in my freezer. I’ve also read recently that younger stallions produce better offspring, so a fella with great movement, a fancy jump and a short show record would be more interesting than an old pro that everyone is related to. Thanks y’all!
Congrats on your new horse. It sounds like you have much to learn 
I think you’ll probably want to tell us her breed/breeding and share a conformation photo if you want good stallion suggestions. Hard to make a suggestion knowing nothing about the mare except that she’s small and chestnut with pretty markings 
I have never heard that younger stallions produce better offspring. That’s a very strange thing to say.
Sabino?
I’d love to see a picture! :yes:
What is her breed/breeding?
Why do you suspect the Tobiano gene? While fairly rare, it does sometimes occur that the only immediately recognizable white on a “slipped” Tobiano is high whites in the back, there is still a certain look to it, such as coming up over the hock but not that high in front, to point towards Tobi and not just Splash or White, and even then, it would be even more rare for there to not be a white spot either at the top of the tail, or the base of the withers.
Sabino or Rabicano are as likely to be the cause of the roaning in her coat, as Roan is.
I’m just very interested in seeing a picture of her
There are quite a few Hunter stallions who are known to pass on lots of white, such as Popeye K, Balta 'czar, Alla 'Czar, Amazing, Parcival, and more. But not all of them will suit your mare.
Breeding is a complete unknown. Is that something that can be found out from a cheek swab like in dogs? I’ve googled it and not found anyone advertising the service. I would need to find this out before I was actually comfortable breeding her. I’m guessing QH/arab or welsh, though the welsh would be a long shot in New Mexico. The history I got is that she is from a natural horsemanship guy who rescued her from a defunct rescue, who must have rescued her from somewhere else (I guess this horse needed a lot of saving).
My friend has had her for a couple of years but she’s a little bit of a tricky ride and they didn’t get along. She was sitting so I started working with her, we clicked and she gave me a great price so I bought her. She’s a doll and we just did a little beginner novice schooling event to get her off the farm. Afterward she was a little sore behind and she does this thing popping her head up in transitions that might be habitual but I suspect has it’s origin in pain. Teeth done, bit changed, feet getting better, chiro and saddle fit next week, vet after that, I will find the source. But if it’s going to be a long rehab, maybe I could have TWO hunters with high chrome and little Thelwell heads!
I’ll work on getting a good conformation shot and a close up of her markings. It is the top margin of one of her hind stockings and a little of white she has between her back legs that make me thing there’s some pinto gene there, but I am not a pinto or paint person. I’d be very interested in the opinion of more educated eyes. Is there a genetic test I can have run to know for sure? If it is something that is likely to crop up in the next gen then I probably wouldn’t breed her. I don’t want to end up with anything I wouldn’t want to keep and showing a pinto hunter is a little bit more “playing the game on hard” than appeals to me.
No cheek swab for horse breeds
Tricky personality and soundness questions. Unknown breeding. Why exactly is she breeding quality? Unknown parentage and no performance record? Has some quirks and soundness history? Consider why breeding her would be better than buying a foal. At least until she proves herself in competition. She’s as likely to pass down negative traits as the cute head. That’s not a very compelling reason to breed, in my book.
“No immediate plans to breed right now”
“I would need to find this out before I was actually comfortable breeding her.”
I guess instead of giving any info about the mare I should just ask if there are any chestnut roan hunter stallions with high chrome on the market.
There’s much more to breeding than that!
Have you read the book Blessed are the Broodmares? It’s an oldie but fascinating and packed with information. It’s a must read for anyone even thinking about breeding a mare, and I think it may answer some questions and give you some background/education that is helpful. It’s a great book and usually you can find it used fairly cheaply.
Pony? Horse? What is her type - QH type I’m guessing?
You’re much more likely to find a chestnut Roan with chrome stallion in the pony market. Roan doesn’t exist (for all intents and purposes) in the TB, and it’s rare in Warmbloods and where it exists, afaik, it’s the Jumper/Dressage type of horses, not Hunters.
There are some QH stallions who might fit the bill, Roan is much more common there, though depending on the level of performance you’re looking for, maybe not even there, as most aimed at the QH Hunter circuit which is different from the USEF circuit
Is there a reason you’re set on that specific color and pattern? Just something you like? Guarantee a chestnut and would prefer roan and/or white markings?
I guess this pretty answers my question about stallions. Thanks!
I’m not sure why you would want to breed a quarab pony to a proper hunter stallion, which these days would be a big warmblood with low but large gaits, or perhaps an exceptional thoroughbred.
I am not sure that a roan quarab with high socks is going to get you very far on any formal hunter circuit, though of course she may be just fine for the local schooling shows once you solve her soundness and behavior issues.
You should read up on discussions about hunters on the hunter jumper forum . Hunters is a mix of performance and appearance. The horses are meant to take set stride lengths between fences and travel in a certain low headed fluid manner. The jumps are typically set for taller horses with bigger csnters, so if for instance your horse can’t do a four stride set up for a 16.2 Warmblood to canter at a relaxed pace, your horse will either scurry or add a stride and lose points.
Now this is of course different from AQHA hunter under saddle but you can only do that with a registered AQHA.
In other words, you may have a sweet and deserving horse but you don’t have typical hunter material. I’m unsure why you say she is a hunter if she is a rescue of unknown history. You also say she is green. If you don’t have a show record and she is not really broke you can’t really say she is a hunter.
You may have a nice lower level jumper but that’s not a hunter, different rules.
In general, the most successful breedings are to the same type, but selecting for things you would like to improve conformationally. If most likely you have a quarab I would look at Arabian or QH stallions, among the more sport horse lines of those breeds. Roan and pinto markings are a crap shoot. They aren’t guaranteed even with both parents having them. You could end up with a plain chestnut foal.
You can’t test for breed but you can have color genetics tested at UC Davis and find out if you have a roan or a sabino. There are also good color genetics websites to browse with many interesting photos.
Wanted to follow up on this comment as I wasn’t sure if this was a tongue in cheek or serious but frozen semen isn’t kept “in your freezer”. It needs to be kept in an adequate liquid nitrogen storage tank. You could certainly purchase and maintain your own storage tank but it can’t go in your freezer next to the ice cream
For Play’s former owner and rider is lovely, and he is one of my personal favourite stallions…so definitely don’t put in your freezer
For Play being a Hanoverian ? Pretty sure imported from Germany . Spruce meadows owned and stood him for a few years then went to Ian Millar I think.
Same horse?
P.
for Play by For Pleasure was my presumption http://www.steppingstonesporthorses.com/breeding-program.html
I have no idea if he was originally imported by Spruce.
That’s the one I saw. Website says she has some frozen available. No, I wouldn’t put that in my ACTUAL freezer (:
This question was posed more for fun than anything, but consider me properly chastened. I will not breed this mare. She is cute, but not knowing what went into her goodness knows what lurks beneath the surface.
Now that I actually think about it , I was thinking of For Jump . Still wonder where he is these days.
P.
Aw . He was such a cute boy . Loved cuddling with the mates but never really wanted to breed them. Not surprised he got gelded .
Nice hearing an an update on him!
P.
