HGG Community Forums

@Silverstar That's what I've been leaning towards lately, I have 4 studs right now, one I might possibly loose at rollover but I don't think I'll replace him just because that is a lot of studs that don't get used.
I have one stud for my Splash M line, one for my KP line and one for my Inkspot/phantom lines. And my mares are usually a bit more over the top like these girls:

r Coco Cream

r Strawberry Milkshake

r Tropical Punch

I usually do big GMT stud once a year (and then when needed will replace my Splash M guy) and a mare every 2-3 months if I can afford it

My GMT studs are my go to but I have so much fun with the mares.

I love to use outside straws on my GMTd mares and hope they produce some good colts. These colts are homozygous for the fantasy genes or KP/Satin or Mushroom etc that I want in the line. I can then use those colts to cross on all the 2nd gen mares sired by my studs for a good mix of lines.

I have more GMTd mares then studs.

I always prefer mares over stallions. Typically I will have one GMT'd stud and a minimum of four matching mares with some slight variation depending on the line goals. I mostly do this because I don't want to wait for third generation possible homozygous foals lol. So impatience. :))

And partly because GMT'd stallions are a dime a dozen, so my flashy mares can have their pick of the litter. ;)

I have to do boys, because not too many people seem to breed for heavy bone. Riding horse/pony type seems to be really popular which I can understand why. If I want outside blood it's just easier for me to get straws so I can cross them with my foundation mares that have either DP or appaloosa or both, since I require all my lined breeding stock to have DP and appaloosa at the absolute minimum. If I get warmbloods from those resulting crosses, that's ok, I can breed more bone in.

@stardust that was my main problem :))

@Alianne that's why I do it too! I prefer studs, but I HAVE to have a mare to match because waiting until Hom 3rd gen studs is just TOO much work

@Forestshadow That's actually why I'm in the process of re-starting my breeding program. I realized I had fallen so far into breeding for one color (which is fun and all but like you said, boring) so I'm adding more appaloosa, bay, and pearl into my lines! I've also decided to mix my KP and rainbow riot lines because it just sounds fun!
I had strictly been breeding for DP livers/Chocolates but it got so boring so I'm welcoming DP bays and Grullos into my lines along with more white genes!

I personally always start with a stallion because like you said, there is the potential for so many more foals. Plus I sort of enjoy the suspense of waiting until 3rd gen for all of the fancy genes to become homogenous. It also lets me choose slightly different mares so that I can get some variation in the less fancy genes, say have some with Lp, some Roan, some with White, etc.

Good luck with your re-start project, @kgstable - KP with rainbow riot sounds like it will turn out pretty cool! And I know what you mean, I started out with DP chestnuts and then got bored and started adding in bay and palomino too.