HGG Community Forums

I'm seeing the same things happening as well. Very unevenly bred, A papered higher generations that should be Star papered. I hope liver doesn't go this way as well. :(

I've been gelding all that paper lower than the sire but can't afford comparison testing yet. Fillies in not sure how to compare other than pt scores but that doesn't tell their breeding ability. Any tips would be appreciated

Pt score has nothing to do with a horse's breeding, only his parents, so I don't let that influence me when looking at breeding stock, I let that influence me with show ponies, since that is what it affects. I look at breeding quality. (Paper level and consistency) Fortunately horses that are high breeders like I look for in stallions tend to have higher PT scores too, but not always. I just don't have a big enough stable to be wasting horses that can improve my breeding program by turning them into show horse duds.
That aside, I have found it strange how many DP horses are for sale all of a sudden, as when I started they seemed to be more coveted. I am concerned about quality. If you guys are using PT score to determine quality, I hope I am not a perceived "bad breeder" I honestly don't care about a foal's PT score aside from deciding who to throw in the show herd, since that is what PT is for. I do use it to cull the mothers of the foals, however, and people say I am rather strict in my practices, so I assume that my foals should have a good chance at being good breeders until testing can prove otherwise.

We can't put rules on public breedings, bt if anyone want to start a thread where we sell straws with rules, I'd be happy to add my 4g boy, Bandit, to try to help with quality.

@Wildland - I think what bugs me is that the newer players haven't gotten that point yet. So many people see a color name, and buy the horse without looking at anything else. Heck, I just bought a StySty Chestnut Perfect Foundation, and THEN found out it had been spayed!

I have always struggled with the breeding vs performance thing. So my way of dealing with it is to shoot for both. My final goal is to have a horse with a popular color(s) that is on top of the high points list.

And, how do you answer the question what does a good producer produce? Do they produce great colors? Do they produce other producers? Do they produce higher PT scores (than their own)?

Please understand, I am NOT saying anyone should breed their lines the way I do (it is REALLY slow and sometimes very frustrating!). I just don't want to see a bunch of gen 4 liver stallions with PTs substantially below both their parents!

ETA: Oh, and the restrictions on breedings/straws? That's what the chat rooms are basically for.

Well, and then you have bestfriend who was worried that her 2g 10.4 B papered colt wasn't good enough to breed. Somehow we aren't getting the message out. I get it for people who aren't on the forum. I have a feeling we are going through growing pains right now, and I'm not dealing with them too well! :P The New Member Pack barn has gone from 'have you joined in the past 2 months' to 'have you joined in the past 2 WEEKS'!

ETA: I'm waiting for Ammit to come on and correct me on this stuff...she usually does! I am a stubborn old coot!

All you have to do is ask about whether there's a buddy chat for whatever you're looking for. I run the KP and Satin chats, you're welcome to join. I just need your id. :)

Thanks for all the info. I do paper all of my mares and stallions as able, I just never know how to tell which fillies to keep and which to sell LOL...Im becoming a little bit of a foal hoarder! If anyone wants to peruse my Livers, if you do the search I am 15073 and I put Liver in the color name slot :) If there are any horrible ones that need gelded/spayed I would like to know it! Is it possible for someone to start a Liver or DP chat room, I have a basic upgrade so dont think I can. That way we could discuss plus post stallions/mares for breeding with a bit more control.

There is a DP chat, I don't remember who runs it, though!

You're very welcome :)

@Confluence Farms, Yes I discovered the bookmark button the other day lol and it has been a life saver. It is just hard looking for information in the search. I can type in pasture advise or something similar...and everything that has the word pasture pops up. Unless there is a better way to search a particular subject? :)

As far as "People not knowing the answers" I understand that there are a lot of new players and these things take time. Everyone has been lovely. I guess I like to be independent and not bother people with questions that they have probably answered 100 times before.

@Obsidian - you're practically an old timer by now!

How do you bookmark from off of a phone? I am constantly having to go back through my discussions to find my answers. Thanks everyone.

FAQ/User Guide: http://hj2.huntandjump.com/faq.php

My Links List: http://hj2.huntandjump.com/forum/discussion/15736/links-list#Item_3

I am also working on an abbreviations list. I think that would help a lot.

Goobanni, uneven breading can be used to great advantage when done well. When people don't understand it well and don't want to waste foals figuring out parent quality is when things get tricky. If you got unevens of good quality, that is great and that can be worked with. I have some fillies like that because I refuse not to use my best stallion because my quality is too low. Sounds counterproductive. One of his fillies just threw a 12.8 PT foal, so I am fine with that. It is harder to sell them, because you are one your own quality scale, but uneven breeding is a different strategy that can still be used.

I don't use my phone to play, if I can help it. Does anyone have an answer for bestfriend on how to bookmark a forum post on a cell phone?

A lower PT score than the parents is a sign that you need to cull the parents of that foal, and likely the foal as well. Typically it is the mare that is dragging you down, as it is easier to determine the quality of the stud. Cull her, cull all her foals, since they were being compared to her mediocre breeding quality they are likely mediocre. PT has nothing to do with breeding scores. Forget about it when you are considering the breeding ability of an a horse or pony. No, really, don't even take it into consideration. Don't even PT test your animals until after you determine which ones you are going to keep for breeding.

Want to breed high quality animals with color, don't look at the color, just breed for quality starting with a colorful batch of foundations. The color will happen. Cull savagely, I have 3-5 studs per generation, just enough to breed the mares. Pasture breed! All, and I do mean all, of my breeding is done in the pastures, with mares at the full breeding boost. This helps to make up for the mares lagging behind in quality due to not being able to test them as easily. Keep a breeding herd of around 150-300 mares per generation, with one stud per 50 mares. Breed a generation only long enough to get a viable breeding herd for the next generation then retire the mares to show.

Keep all the culls to be show ponies, or you can auction them all off to recoup some breeding costs and breed the retired mares for strictly profit babies. Don't test them for anything, just cull them and put them straight from the pasture to the auction. It's a decent way to make money with a smaller stable. It does require a pasture you can rotate the mares through, to keep breeding costs down. It will buy you time until you have a cushion of cash that can be spent on barns for show horses. You need a huge show herd to be profitable. 100 mares cycled through a 10 horse pasture with a random foundation stud then put back into a barn to show can net you 200,000 profit a month plus show earnings. Not a small sum for a barn getting started.

I managed to take a full 12 months of breeding time away from the game and my horses are still on the 0 era leaderboard. These methods work to get you high quality animals. They do require a bit of time to get the ball rolling, but you can work with smaller numbers and still make progress. Larger numbers just increase the chances that the random number generator will give you a good quality stud. If you only have 50 mares you really only need one good quality stud, you can always outsource that stud from another breeder, if you don't get a replacement of your own.

I have not been culling everything produced by a mare when I cull the mare. I might need to consider that going forward.

I usually do that strategy with foundations only, I feel that might be less risky, and they are usually normal colors, so people rarely buy any of this ones. I do free testing first, but I don't test beyond that unless I was considering keeping that foal myself.