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I personally don’t keep anything that has a PT score of under 10. The lower PT range 10-11 ish will gain points faster generally because they will level off quicker but the higher PT scores 11-12+ will earn more points statistically later on. I keep a medley of both to balance it out. Any senior people please correct me if I’m wrong but that’s how I’ve understood it :)

When first building your show herd ideally it’s best to have a wide range of PT scores. Once your herd is established then you can cull for different statistics but I never cull show horses by PT scores.

The only thing PT scores tell you is how long and well a horse will train. A horse levels off roughly around the time their age reaches their PT score (altered horses will hold on about a year longer than intacts) it does not tell you how well of a show horse that horse will be.

Low PT horses earn a few points each week towards their show score (it used to be around 3 but it’s been years and years since I’ve tracked it) this means they will stay in the same level for multiple weeks and have a chance at being competitive and placing higher the next week or so after arriving in a new show level and earning more points before moving up.

High PT horses earn more points per week and tend to rocket up the lower levels and will struggle to reliably pick up any points (I’ve seen high PT horses place last in every class because they earned enough points to move up but not enough points to be competitive) once those horses age up and reach the higher classes with more entries they will start to find their legs and earn more points consistently. Since those classes have more entries their point payouts are higher and they will make up for lost time and catch up to (and maybe exceed) the lower PT horses.

By having a range of PT scores the low PT horses cover for the high PT horses until they start to earn their own points.

I have a couple accounts and I’ve tried different methods on each of them. But the one that is doing the best and has the biggest daily bonus is the ones that I kept every foal I bred. I had 50 foundation mare’s in my pasture and first I BA everything then I geld all colts that don’t pass my requirements (Hom DP + Ssty) then I go through the everything and PT test them all inconsist foals are snipped and tossed in a show barn. Then I paper whatever is left, colts and fillies have to paper better than sire and dam. Everything that doesn’t, gets snipped and tossed in a barn. Oh 2g mare’s had to have a PT of 10 or higher to stay mares, and have all the color I want. I sell maybe 5 foals a year off that account. That account is making about 3,000 more everyday then the accounts where I didn’t keep all the foals, and didn’t cull as strictly. My bootstrap account’s daily bonus is actually $5,000 less than that account.

So my advice is keep everything, and snip like crazy.