HGG Community Forums

I second the above, but would note gelding all of your colts could mean you end up with 'mare lag', I personally do all of the testing and then any remaining colts get switched to mares. The highest testing colt is then used to comparison test all of my mares.

The question remains how to decide which ones to keep and which to geld... hopefully without going broke lol

Personally I use Maribo’s method but when I’m low on funds I switch the last two and I do comparison testing last. I before I had the funds to GMT on a whim, I also would geld anything inconstant, or with a low PT. Honestly some breeding years I haven’t kept any stud colts, I don’t even paper them I would just snip them all, but those were always 2g colts, which are easy to replace.

I feel like most people want to use their own home bred colts as a herd stallion. So for the most part I don’t even try to sell colts. If I see someone is looking for a specific colt and I happen to have a similar colt then I’ll offer that colt, but otherwise they get snipped and put in a show herd.

I think my problem is I'm always worried the one I like the best looks wise might not be the best producer heh.

I also wonder sometimes if a horse who passed sba is gelded is he any better or worse than one with the same pt who didn't pass, show horse wise. Or am I totally wrong in viewing pt as a useful measure of general showability... if so I have no idea how to figure out which yearlings to keep as show stock

If you're going for breeding horses, I follow essentially what Maribo as well. Except I am a bit more hateful towards my lined horses and am extremely hesitant to GMT much at all on them, included inconsistency. They'll get the snip pretty quick that way, because there's always others who are similar and consistent. I also do the same testing on my mares, since someone brought that up. I'm equally as strict on my mares, and twice as unlikely to GMT them, spare the foals who happen to come from my very select few "special" foundation mares who got GMT/boost work. Then I know those foals will be worth the extra funds for GMTs, provided their quality is up to snuff first.

PT does not equal breeding quality. So if your using PT as a narrowing factor, your already potentially slipping over a better breeding, for a better shower. Comp testing is literally the only way to heh compare the breeding quality of 2 given horses. And being a bigger barn, with what my husband calls fork it money, I'll even comp test comp tested colts of the same gene against each other, hoping for a new, higher benchmark to compare the rest to. I'm really mean to my pixel ponies, of you can't tell by now lol.

What it boils down to is you have to decide what your goal is for breeding. Do you want to be crazy strict on breeding quality like some of us loons, or do you want something else from your herd. That's up to you. I will add a little piece of advice though, since you've asked about selling. Many moons ago, a woman who I would call a friend and mentor imparted this little tidbit in my mind. If a horse isn't worth you keeping as a breeding horse, quality wise, for your own herd, why would you sell it for someone else's herd? So anything I do offer for sale... which happens once in a blue moon... has passed all of the very same quality checks as my keepers, but missed something color wise, like DP or LP, or some other random silliness but I couldn't stand to alter it and toss it in the show barn with the rest.

Ah, and on the showing front, keep them all is almost always the answer. But really, you're going to want to cull your older horses, and not by PT, but by points made and whether they're leveled off and still making them. You'd be surprised the amount of points even a low PT horse can bring in, just by leveling off in a "sweet spot". And higher PT horses train longer, and therefore have a slower pace before they hit their prime and level off. And again, it depends where they sit when they do level off, as some will continue to bring in more points, while others level off in an odd spot and don't make many more points after that. So look at your older show horses, like 10+ years old, and start your show horse culling there, if you find you don't have the room for them.

I do not cull my show horses on PT scores. Those lower PT scores sometimes are the better money earners because they sit in a point earning level longer. I keep all my spelds as foals. I cull starting at age 10, by sorting thru using "points this year" in the search menu. I get rid of all the showers that leveled off in a crummy spot. The auction gives me their lifetime payout and I make some room for new foals.

I am the QUEEN of procrastination! If I can't decide whether or not to keep a colt intact I toss them in a barn with the other young, intact colts and put off the decision until they are 3 and then they get their 'generation' tattoo, and move to the stallion barn.
It does give me more time to decide, and things might change in the upcoming month before they turn 3 that might have an effect on my decision.

It's fascinating to hear all of the different approaches people take to managing their barns! :D Also I love your new banner @annismyrph

@DarkFrost Thanks!! I loved the one @Blucrystals did for me ; but since I am branching into livers ; thought I should represent lol