Marans Bloodlines*the strengths & weaknesses *pls share yours

[cottagegarden]

Ha Ha-my Arab mare towers over my POA's. But I rescued her from being an abused cart horse and figured she would be retired as a happy lawn ornament while she mostly learned to trust people again. At least she has a pretty dished face and stops your breath when you see her running.

NP-I still think that's alot. You could have turned around and sold your first eggs on eBay as
Wade Jeane C1 French Marans but you learned about the breed, saw where you needed to improve, and chose the next step. AND most important selected away from what you didnt want. By sharing all this with your fellow BYCers you help people who are struggling with choices or are just starting out with the process.
Kudos.

Quote:
I agree with you on the Arabs because back in those days it was common to find 13 to 14.2 hands horses. Now its reaching 15.2 to 16 H and golly, the type went out of the door. I dont see "dryness" or dished heads as much and they are looking more like Saddlebreds. UGH! Bring back the classics!

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
I agree with you on the Arabs because back in those days it was common to find 13 to 14.2 hands horses. Now its reaching 15.2 to 16 H and golly, the type went out of the door. I dont see "dryness" or dished heads as much and they are looking more like Saddlebreds. UGH! Bring back the classics!

We bred Paso Finos for years and found exactly the same thing... although the breed standard calls for a small and sturdy horse everyone it trying to breed them bigger and bigger and even judges will favor a larger horse every time... Same with our Irish Dexter cattle... I have seen time and again where an animal much larger than the breed standard takes it all in the ring because the judge is impressed with the massivness of the animal.

I do think that 8 pounds for a cock and 7 for a hen gives us a pretty good sized chicken already without going much beyond that.

I, too, used to have Paso finos and oh dont get me started on those heavy Colombian tight fino fino on the strip board. The rules say do not stop on the board but oh no, they still do it! And the sizes, they used to be the same size as Arabs. I am not sure how they got started in the size wise but I thought maybe Plebeyo or Capunchino started increasing size ontheir offsprings and the Paso look is lost. Take a look at Bolero LaCE, and the good horses in the past, and look at them now, UGH UGH UGH! I love the breed but I'd rather stay away from the "fads". It gets harder to find pure PR and COL lines. If I ever have another one, I would like to get El Pastor x Ardita x Sin Verguenza with Hilachas, Resorte III and Bolero thrown in LOL. I can tell you a few horses that are not worth breeding!

Back to your regular Maran program!

 

[monarc23]

I owe my passion for Marans to NP, so for that she diserves a TON of credit

 

[pasofinofarm]

Quote:
We bred Paso Finos for years and found exactly the same thing... although the breed standard calls for a small and sturdy horse everyone it trying to breed them bigger and bigger and even judges will favor a larger horse every time... Same with our Irish Dexter cattle... I have seen time and again where an animal much larger than the breed standard takes it all in the ring because the judge is impressed with the massivness of the animal.

I do think that 8 pounds for a cock and 7 for a hen gives us a pretty good sized chicken already without going much beyond that.

I, too, used to have Paso finos and oh dont get me started on those heavy Colombian tight fino fino on the strip board. The rules say do not stop on the board but oh no, they still do it! And the sizes, they used to be the same size as Arabs. I am not sure how they got started in the size wise but I thought maybe Plebeyo or Capunchino started increasing size ontheir offsprings and the Paso look is lost. Take a look at Bolero LaCE, and the good horses in the past, and look at them now, UGH UGH UGH! I love the breed but I'd rather stay away from the "fads". It gets harder to find pure PR and COL lines. If I ever have another one, I would like to get El Pastor x Ardita x Sin Verguenza with Hilachas, Resorte III and Bolero thrown in LOL. I can tell you a few horses that are not worth breeding!

Back to your regular Maran program!

OK waaayyy OT but I just can't resist. Here is my stallion Magnum as a 13 year old. He is 13.3 and a Plebeyo son with a very classic look. None of that monsterous muscling or limosine length back. I also have a gelding who is Reorte III and Hilachas... wonderful animals with great biro and tremendous largos. But alas, the horse market is so bad that I gelded Magnum and sold him last year as we just could not bring more horses into a situation where there are no good homes. Very sad.

And Sombra one of my mares. She is such an all around horse. An excelent and fearless trail mount and brood mare supreame with her colt Diamante

And before I make any of the really SERIOUS chicken people here angry I also return you to the regular cluck! If any one is truly offended I will take them down... after all this is a chickens thread!

 

[ninjapoodles]

The same thing happens ("bigger is better" mentality) in our breed of dogs, when we show our minis. I've seen it a lot in toys, too, even worse. This is REALLY bad, because the standard specifically states that, if the dogs being judged are of equal quality, then the advantage MUST go to the "more diminutive" specimen--but this is NOT what happens! I've seen plenty of 16" minis (the limit is 15"), and tons of 11" and even 12" toys (the limit being 10"). UGH.

To bring it back to the chickens, I have noticed that a lot of American Marans are really big birds. I was shocked when I read the French standard as to ideal size, because it doesn't match up with what's out there on this side of the pond.

 

[EweSheep]

I am going to start another post regarding to the horse breed inferior rants LOL! this gets interesting and we need to keep this Maran thread going for others so for those who are into the horse breed rant, see my post on the Rambling forum.

 

[Solsken Farm]

Thanks Ewe sheep.

I would like to keep this focused on the birds and so many Marans threads get closed. Maybe this should be the thread where we post our eggs too? I could re-post my eggs from a thread that got locked yesterday.

I am thinking out loud but perhaps we should have one thread for bloodlines, one for eggs and positives about breeders we've actually gotten stock from, and one for pictures of the stock. Drom's thread is wonderful, and a lot of us have connected there but it is so big that it would be hard for someone to get the info they need. I started a Marans primer thread last year and a troll or two came on and almost got it shut down. It had advice and warnings about buying this breed. I might contact a mod to see if I can start another thread...given yesterday's turned into a fight between 2 folks.

 

[EweSheep]

Good idea to contact the mods!

 

[Solsken Farm]

I contacted Nifty. Yet another request.....poor man.

 

[EweSheep]

For those of you want to add your "piece" of the pie about the horses, put them in here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=157968

Back to your favorite Maran program!