How we select the sires of our foals

Some people will tell you that breeding is a crapshoot, that you never know what you will get! Really??

If selective breeding did not work, we wouldn't have the diversity of livestock we have today. We would all be riding rather stocky, diminutive, stiff gaited, thick necked horses (not that there is anything wrong with them-if that is what you like!) because we would have been unable to breed away from the Prejwalsky horse basic shape.

Clearly, this is not the case, so at some basic level, selective breeding works.

So since it is not a complete crapshoot, we believe that to breed responsibly you must select a sire and dam in a way that will increase your probability that their offsprings will have the qualities you are looking for.

We already gave you a glimpse of why we selected the mares that we have (in their write up, on their page).

Now here is how we select the sires.

Finding Mr. Perfect.

We are almost constantly keeping abreast of which stallions are available by reviewing material put out by the various warmblood registries,by magazines, internet sites and articles that advertise or mention stallions that are available for breeding.
If a gem is hiding in the middle of nowhere and has absolutely no exposure, we will not know about him and we will certainly not breed to him. Sad but true.

We have compiled our list over the years and we constantly add to it as we become aware of new stallions. But as you will see, the list is not as long as you might think!

First criterium: Is the stallion proven?

We don't generally breed to a stallion that has less then 4 or 5 foal crops on the ground unless he comes from absolutely stellar bloodlines on both side of his pedigree and he is performing exceptionally well in his discipline.
Is the stallion fertile? Does his semen ship well/freeze well? Are the foals he produces correct? Are the older ones showing talent and trainability?
We search internet sale site for offspring for sale, contact owners and breeders, go to sales, horse shows and keep a keen eye out, investigating the breeding on horses we particularly like or that perform well.

Second criterium: Is the stallion approved by a warmblood registry?

Has he been inspected and judged to be clear of major conformation faults by a trained and experienced inspector? This inspection and rating system based on well established criteria is what sets warmblood and sporthorses breed apart. Usually by the time the stallion has 4 or 5 foal crop this is taken care of and very rarely do we have to eliminate stallion solely based on their approval status.

Since we like to work with the Canadian Warmblood and the RPSI, if a stallion has been approved by another warmblood registry those two organisations will allow us to register the foal with them. This saves us time and money so we dont't have to pay multiple membership fees and trailer all over the country side to attend various inspections and yet it gives us the freedom to breed to the stallion of our choice.

Third criterium: Is the stallion prepotent?

Prepotent: exhibiting genetic prepotency hopefully for the characteristics we are seeking. Is the stallion stamping his gets with the same characteristics regardless (to a certain point) of the characters of the dam? Stallions (and mare) can't be prepotent on all their characteristics (if that is what you want you need a clone, not an offspring).

With a stallion that has 4 or 5 foal crop, or more, one should start to see a pattern emerging. What is it? Does it compliment my mare?

So although the glossy pictures, the well presented catalogues are fun to look at, we find ourselves not looking very long or hard at them except to gather the most basic of information on pedigree, size, age etc...

What we really care about is not so much what the stallion looks like (as long as it is functional and correct) but what he passes on!
Lets be clear that truly prepotent stallions are rare and far between and very highly prized by breeder.

What flavor: Jumping? Dressage? All rounder?

So we have now narrowed down the list to approved, proven, prepotent stallions. Now what? The list is not that long but we still can only breed to one stallion per mare! We can further narrow it down for each mare based on her strength and weakness and wether we are trying to breed for dressage or for jumping. We generaly try to produce horses that can do both and so we will often look to balance the natural tendency of the mare and her pedigree with that of the stallion.

What else? Ah, Yes, Money!!

Like it is mentioned above: proven and prepotent sires are truly far and few between and are therefore more expensive. The most proven sires available in North America range from $2000 to $3500 for a breeding with live foal garantee. Once must of course add on top of that the cost of collection, shipping and vet work required to inseminate the mare on average over two cycles. This cost for us runs close to $800.

Frozen semen offers even more choices and some stallions are only available to us with frozen semen. Frozen semen can be cheaper to buy but doesn't come with any guarantee and is sold by breeding dose. If the mare fails to conceive, aborts or delivers a stillborn foal, all money is lost. The cost of shipping and the vet work required for the insemination is also more expensive. This cost for us is close to $1200 for the average of two cycles it might take.

So once all is weighted and considered, when all known factors have been compiled and analysed the best match might simply prove to be too risky monetary wise.

For us, the affordability of the resulting foal is paramount and so we weight our options carefuly and "invest" conservatively and, we hope responsibly.

We hope this little review has helped you understand how we select the sires of our foals. Again, if you have any insights, questions, comments or suggestions, we would love to hear from you.
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