Help me decide on a stallion to breed my mare to! Update #120

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Ok, my husband bred horses for 25 years, and this is what he says. You want to breed to the Black silver or the palamino. Good luck!

 

[georgialee]

Thanks for the info

Did he say why?

 

[lasergrl]

I agree on the black silver. It will be the most marketable foal I would think. There are much much better pics of him on the website.

 

[Candiss]

I would use Sir Keith, he is beautiful, has a perfect face and great type. I think you stated they are also related via Sir Keiths sire being the 1/2 brother to Goldie. Do you feel that the coefficient is lacking in chest and producing longer bodies? If so then I would not go with Sir Keith, because you do not want to double up on those traits.. I would hate to have to make this decision, they are all pretty, I like #3 but he is alittle feminine for my taste.

Good Luck.

Candace

 

[muddyhorse]

I would hesitate to breed to the stud that is closely related to your mare. I know there is a small gene pool in the US and I would want to diversify my gene pool.

 

[20123001]

i like number 2!!!!

 

[WIChookchick]

If you are doing AI.
Look at your budget, your cost of AI, vetting and so on...
Widen your search to look at conformation that will improve anything thrown by your mare, tractability, trainability, availibity do to AI, and then color and hair.
If what you find is more expensive or as expensive than your current choices, get pros and cons for both. If the pro's of another choice outweigh the ones you have chosen.
Go with those.
And for my 2 cents... Will the cost of this foal be cheaper with all of the stud fee, AI cost, vet care, mare care and feeding for her and then her and the foal, than buying a foal in the color, conformation
and type you want. Also do you have a buyer for any foal's by your mare?, Can you sell it in utero? Are these stallions you are looking at NOW, are their foals selling? Have the breeder's had to drop the
price? Weigh that with the market today and where it will be in a year.
How long will you have to sit on a foal/young horse in order to sell it? How far can you drop your price before taking a loss.
IF that seems like it is a losing battle...
Let you mare have a year off. Ride her, drive her, show her, get more use out of her than just a baby maker ( I am sure you are... but I don't know)
I only ask as it seems that certain breeds are a fad for a while and then they taper off into an every day thing.
Good luck and let us know what you decide!!

 

[georgialee]

Quote:
Actually, both Sir Keith and his sire have broad chests.... Goldie's dam must have been narrow.

 

[georgialee]

Quote:
Those are valid points.

Yes, the foal will be cheaper. Buying a buckskin colt or filly will run around 12-18k, and only go up as the horse ages. Sir Keith's stud fee is $1200 if I decide to go with him. She is broke to ride, so I'll be riding her once her foal is close to weaning. It can take a while to sell a gypsy just b/c of the investment, but all of the stallions I listed are well known and their foals sell well.

I have no way to know what the market will be in a year or two. A farm an hour away from us imported 140+ gypsy vanners this past year. Almost all of them are tobiano and traditional colors so that's a plus for us, but I'm sure they'll saturate the market quickly. The money part of this will obviously come into play, but it's not the most important thing to me. I get a lot of enjoyment just being around gypsies, so regardless of monetary gains it's all worth it to me.

 

[welsummerchicks]

"If you look down a few posts..."

I see no conformation shots of the mare or the stallions.

I don't see any conformation shots on any of the websites, either. There are lots of pictures, but no conformation shots. Not where I can see from the side, the neck, hind quarters, etc.

WOW. 3000 dollar stud fee? That's really high.

For that, I'd want the stallion to have won some performance awards in driving or something.

I looked at villa's videos to see how their stallions move, and all the pictures of the various stallions.

I'd keep looking if it was my mare.