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No need to send me any straws as it is hard to find outside studs that fit my lines.

Here are my parameters for the horses I keep in my breeding program:

All are evenly bred, all must pass SBA, all must be EE aa, none may have frame or grey.

Gen 1: All are B/Red papered or above

Gen 2: All must be A/Blue papered

Gen 3: All must be A/Blue papered

Gen 4: All must be Star papered

From there, I geld/spay any that are "plain" in coloration (didn't receive the desired genes). I narrow down colts to one from each Sire to keep. All others are gelded. I keep most fillies that meet the requirements so long as they aren't completely plain color-wise.

@SaraB

Thank you so much! This is very helpful!

So the horses that you don't keep for breeding, do you just show them? Sell them?

Oh, I use #A to stand for 'x acre pasture'. And @Sarab reminded me even breeding is a must! and gene and size culling is also great for when you start getting a lot of breeders in a gen. Lots of people have no problem handling multiple large pasture but I find more than 30 or so in a gen cumbersome.

thanks for the straws :D

Probably way more opinionated then your wanting but it’s what I do so…here we go!

If a horse fits your breeding program perfectly and passes BA, do you risk SBA?

I only SBA test. Idk why, probably to keep my herds smaller. But I also have a really bad habit of not BA or SBA testing horses that I think are really pretty and are everything I’m looking for genetically. In my mind, theses horses aren’t making me any money. I just like to look at them so…who cares. That being said the horses not being tested are an incredibly small few. Maybe 10-20 horses a season out of the 3-400 I breed.

If a horse doesn't pass BA but fits your program well, do you unspay/geld and boost?

On the ones I test and they do fail I just cry about it for about two whole seconds then throw them into the auction. My account isn’t big enough to worry about boosting anything right now.

If a horse doesn't fit your program, do you test BA before selling? Why/why not?

Typically yes. I tend to do most of my testing in bulk. (You can’t be sad about the pretty ponies who failed if you never see them) Another reason is it doesn’t cost anything and it’s quick and easy.

Do you only breed certain papered horses?
Ehh not really. I’m only truly picky with papers in my bootstrap line anything below blue gets culled (I don’t test the men in this line, they’re all gelded and it’s a waste of money to me)
However with my second gens I mostly like everything to be red/B+ and then we climb as we go blue/A+ third gens ya know…the usual

When starting lines from scratch, which paper levels tend to breed best for foals that pass SBA while also improving your lines?

I think your supposed to breed even papers for the best chance at passing. example yellow to C red to B blue to A. However I think it’s really just luck of the draw. I’ve had just as many horses pass and fail with even breeding as I’ve had with Yellow to B and Red to C

Really any info you can give. I don't know enough to know what all to ask

I always see people post that you should be keeping your altered offspring. I’ve never done that. Ive always sold altered babies it’s part of my cash flow. I think when your starting out the best possible thing you can do is establish a bootstrap line

Yayyy!! This is totally the kind of information I was hoping for! Thank y'all so much!

@boredaf no worries on paying me for the straw pulls. I'm really new here, but I've got a decent amount of hbs, just no steady income yet. Lol. I do like that foal though!

@Blaze5115 wow this is all very useful! I was going to ask exactly how bootstrapping works, but looks like annismyrph followed that up nicely. I know I don't have a lot to offer. But I'd be happy to send straws your way if any of my boys interest you?

@annismyrph such good info on the bootstrapping! That's definitely the kind of detailed explanation I needed on that topic. I know you said you only breed blue roans and liver, but if you see any studs of mine that you like, let me know and I can send you straws!

Also, if y'all haven't already, these would be great submissions for the big info dump contest going on!

No need for straws here, I’m pretty picky with my boys too lol.

For context- I breed mostly for breeding quality, with a secondary focus on getting a true breeding line of Prl/Prl sty/sty dp/dp ND1/ND1 warmbloods. I use mostly even breeding. (Ignoring my secondary line for now, those are mostly just for fun.)

1) I only have a basic upgrade, so no SBA here, but passing BA is absolutely essential.

2) No boosting for me. I specifically aim for true breeding colors so I won’t be tempted by pretty. If all my horses look more or less the same I can judge purely by quality more easily. ;) Because I do this, it’s simply way more efficient to wait for a better roll next season. Eventually the odds will fall in my favor.

3) Everyone gets BA tested, period; it helps me choose my breeding stock. The first thing I do on pasture breeding day is move everyone to my foal barn and mass test. Then I sort from there.

4) I only use ExPro foundations, so red/B. Any second gens must be Blue/A; I’ll rarely make exceptions for perfectly colored mares that paper red but test superior to their dams. Everything past that has to test superior to their parent. I’m just getting into my fourth gen and getting some golds and stars, so I haven’t thought about much past that.

Some other miscellaneous things I do…
1) I keep every horse I breed for now. Second gens make the BEST show ponies, especially when you’re starting out; I had one recently pass away that had over 3000 points and her PT was something like 10.4. All my highest pointed horses are gen 2.

2) the most useful phrase I ever taught myself when sorting? Oh, that’s a cute show pony! Keeping everything I breed also helps with the temptation to breed pretty but lower breeding quality horses; I know I can just see them later in the show pony barns. (I also let myself buy really cute fantasy spelds from auction, it curbs the urge to start a fantasy line. :)))

3) I have a 15 stall barn for “undecided” horses and GMT projects. If I’m on the fence about a foal I throw it in there and come back to it later. Most of the time I end up altering it once the excitement of breeding season has worn off and I’ve had a chance to think about it more, but this takes the pressure off and keeps them from getting lost in the chaos. (It also keeps my GMT projects focused!)

4) I keep one stallion and one stallion only per generation. (Except foundation, I keep two there to cover my 60 acre pasture.) Any colts of that gen who have the right colors get tested against the reigning stallion, and if they don’t test superior they get gelded. I recently got a superior 2nd gen who will replace my current stud when he’s old enough! The replaced stud will be gelded and put in the show pony barn, with an R added to the prefix of his name. (I get too attached to my studs to just auction them.)

5) I’ll sometimes do minor GMT work, like adding on a missed Pearl for an otherwise high quality perfect horse, switching gender, or altering height or bone weight. I try to limit it, though. Like I said above, usually the odds will fall in my favor within a season or two and I’ll get a perfect foal I won’t have to spend extra money on!

My approach kind of boils down to patience and strict standards, but also letting me keep the ones that tempt me as show ponies so I can still look at them. :)) Hope this immense info dump gives you some insight!