Horse Talk

I got a new horse one week ago, I went through several horses trying to find the right one, and she's the one! (picking based on personality, not color or training). She is a 2 and a half year old registered palomino quarter horse, that I named June. When I picked her up Monday she had never been halter broke or worked, just givin treats all the time, so she's a little stubborn but she seems very smart. I've worked with her about 5 days this past week (I would every day but she's at my grandparents and it's a bit of a drive from my house) and so far I have her leading wonderfully, stopping great, making improvements on backing, flexing, yielding fore and hindquarters (hindquarters still needs some work) and picking up her feet (well, 3 of them anyways). Also getting her use to standing tied and doing some desensitizing with a plastic bag. I trained a horse when when I was younger in 4-h but my grandpa did most of the work since I was so young and he knew more than me. This is my first time training by myself and I know I still have lots to learn but I think me and the horse are both doing good so far. I've also got some riding lessons set up for sometime in the next couple of weeks since it's been quite a while since I rode and I need to build confidence. I want to make sure im ready once June is ready to be ridden. I will most likely hire a trainer to start her under saddle, and hopefully they will work with me and teach me while they're teaching her. I've done a lot of reading up and training and have been watching Missy Wryn videos, what does everyone think of her?
I'm thinking June will be ready to start lunging in the next week or two, I did try once but it was evident that she wasn't ready yet.
I've also been thinking, I may want to breed her sometime (after she's broke), maybe next spring or the next. I've had mares before but never any that I've wanted to breed, but she has good conformation, good color, registered (and several people have told me her bloodlines are good ones, I don't personally know a ton about bloodlines yet), great personality and she's a pretty quick learner. If I did breed her, i would most likely keep the foal for myself, or at least the first one if I decided to breed her more than once. I've been doing some thinking on this and I would either go with another qh with good bloodlines, conformation, personality, and if I'm lucky, color. Or I would go with a friesian stud that I like that is close by. I know the friesian would add height (she should mature to 14.3) and the thick build I like, as well as good personality. But I was also wondering, what colors would be possible from a friesian and a palomino? Not that that's the most important thing but it's fun to think about.
Anyways, I wanted to post this thread to get as much advice on training as I can (because like I said I have LOTS to learn) and talk some about breeding as well.



Ignore how messy everything is, ill be picking up rocks when it gets warmer. And I have more pictures, they wont upload right now but ill try later!

She's a cute little thing! Sounds like you're on a good path with her.

More pictures of June!

shes a pretty little filly always loved palominos. id wait untill she is fully mature before deciding to breed her at least 4 to 5 yrs old. that way her body has a chance to reach its full potential(once her growth plates have fused) before carrying a foal . and you also get a chance to complete her training before she goes on "mat" leave. as for choosing a stallion it ould depend on what you plan on doing with the foal. if you plan on selling the baby I'd consider breeding her back to a papered QH with good bloodlines as the foal would be easier to sell if its papered rather than grade. if you plan on keeping the foal a flashy little friesian cross might be nice to have if you plan on riding dressage or other English diciplines. most friesian crosses ive seen tend to be either bay or black tho im not sure what a cross with a palomino with a dominant cream gene would produce

I'll at least be waiting till next year if not longer, so she'll be at least 4. I plan on keeping the foal, if all goes well the first time around I may breed her to an AQHA stud a couple of times and sell the foals, but maybe not. I just trail ride, so that's what I'd use the foal for, surely a friesian cross would be okay for that. And I have seen some buckskin friesian/qh horse crosses, they're very pretty, but I'd be fine with any color really. The only color of horse I dont like is sorrel. Anyways, how exactly do you pronounce friesian?

Are you a dues-paying member of the AQHA? Have you paid for a transfer of ownership with them for your filly? If not, she is technically no longer registered, so any foals she produces, whatever the sire, couldn't be registered, either. As unregistered Quarter Horses, her foals probably would cost you more to produce than you could get selling them - and that's assuming that all goes well. If something goes wrong, you could wind up with an astronomical vet bill, and no foal to show for it; maybe even a dead mare. It happens, it happens a lot - are you sure you want to risk your filly's life for that?

I'm not just trying to discourage you, simply pointing out some of the realities of horse breeding. It's fun to have dreams, but before they become plans, it is better to know what you are facing. You have a wonderful horse, with a chance to make a lifetime's worth of memories; why the hurry to breed her? You talk about breeding for a foal that has this or that feature - if the filly as she stands wasn't really what you wanted, why did you buy her? An awful lot of people seem to see a mare as a walking uterus, ready to pop out dream foals, but breeding horses isn't as simple as mare + stallion = foal worth its weight in gold. There are no guarantees; you can't pick and choose what a foal inherits. Of the 5 equines that I currently own, 3 have physical features that they were born with that seriously limit their usefulness. One, a Quarter Horse mare, has the stupid little feet that so many Quarter Horses have these days, and she was given to me as a pasture buddy because she was chronically lame. If I hadn't taken her, she'd have gone to auction, which most likely would have meant a truck ride to a slaughterhouse in Mexico for her. With the help of a marvelous farrier and by reducing her weight, I have gotten her sound on dirt again, but she still can't walk on gravel or even a paved road without limping. This mare is in her early teens - she could go on like this for another 15 to 20 years.

BTW, Friesian is pronouced "freeze'-yun." And while we are on the subject of that breed, a very common problem in Friesians is Neonatal Isoerythrolysis, something that is a lot like Rh incompatibility in humans. It can occur in any horse breed, but the incidence is higher in Friesians; it occurs when the stallion has one of the blood types that trigger a mare's immune response. If you are considering breeding to a Friesian, it probably is something that you need to educate yourself about.

Yes I have sent in the transfer papers and paid the dues. I would like to have two horses at some point in time, and since I do like her traits so much, and it was clear when I picked her up and met her dam and sire that her personality and looks was passed on from them, I started considering breeding to get my second horse, and I do understand that there are a lot of risks, which is why I haven't decided for sure yet, like I said I would wait till 4 at the very least to breed her, so that gives me a year or more to think on it. And I know more people end up losing money than making it when breeding, which is why I said maybe not for doing it more than once. It's a big decision and definitely don't take it lightly. I love this horse, which gives me reason to breed but also reason not to breed. Thank you for the info on friesians, ill read about it more and if it's something that's just too risky obviously I won't do it. And I wondered! I've seen a lot of people say "free shuns" or "Fray shuns" and I didn't think it was right.
Anyways, if breeding her is just too much of a risk or something I decide not to do, I'm fine with trying to find another wonderful horse to just buy.

Your mare is very cute. I think you are on the right path. One thing about horses is that you never stop learning and you can spend hours of time in research alone. If you plan on breeding your mare, I would become more familiar with her bloodlines. The internet is a great tool for looking at pedigrees and gathering information. So, this is my...I don't really want to say advice, but more like musings...anyway, I've worked with a lot of Friesians (and pronouncing it Free-shuns is perfectly fine) and they are by far one of my favorite breeds. They are incredibly versatile and have an old-world intelligence. They have quite a few genetic health problems (dwarfism, hydrocephaly etc.) from being so inbred which is darn unfortunate. Genetic testing has come along way for breeding purebreds to help prevent future heartache with sickly foals and promote healthier animals. These health problems are greatly reduced when cross bred. There are a couple of registries you could register the potential foal with, if you decide to register. You would want to look into Friesian Heritage Horse and/or FPZV USA with the latter needing you need to breed to one of their approved stallions. FHANA, the North American affiliate of the Dutch registry does not accept crossbreds. I think you are going to have a lot of fun with this little mare!

She is very pretty and learning a lot with you already! Why was she never halter trained before you got her? It looks like the two of you are going to have a lot of fun this summer.

There are so many horses that end up unwanted and homeless each year. It might be better to rescue or adopt one of those instead of breeding your mare. Maybe when the horse market gets better breeding would be a better option. Over 100,000 horses from the U.S are slaughtered each year in Canada and Mexico.

Post more photos as your training progresses!

It sounds like you have reasonable expectations and are doing your "homework;" that's great to know. One place you could look for information is a forum called "Marestare." I joined it years ago, when it was much more active, but when the horse market tanked a lot of breeders went out of business or at least drastically scaled back their operations. There aren't nearly as many mares to watch these days . . . . Still, being a fly on the wall in someone else's barn is a great way to learn about the details of late-term pregnant mares, foalings, etc. If you are like a lot of us, you will almost feel like family by the time a mare delivers; you'll cheer her on and get all emotional as the foal is born. You can learn about a bunch of other animals, too - there are lots of donkeys, goats, sheep, cows; even dogs whose owners put them on camera.