HGG Community Forums

For breeding, Paper scores are more important. PT relates to showing ability.
In my "XB" aka "Xtra Black" herd, I started with Black Exceptionally Perfect mares, which all have Red papers and 10.40PT score. Then I require each generation after them to have 10.40PT or higher, and pass Breeding Advice.

Papering ranks are Failed, Yellow, Red, Blue, Gold*; Yellow is Average. Red is Exceptional.

You always want to focus on the papering grade for breeding. Papering directly corresponds to tiers of breeding ability. The exact score of a horse's breeding ability is always hidden, but it is the most important score for producing better foals.

My understanding is that foals inherit a PT score and a (hidden) breeding ability score when they are born. They are two separate and essentially independent scores, so a foal could inherit good breeding ability and bad PT score, or vice versa. The only relationship between PT and breeding ability is that a horse with higher breeding ability will tend to produce foals with higher PT scores, but there is a lot of randomness to exactly what score the foal rolls. So the PT score of any given horse doesn't normally tell you anything about what breeding ability they have, just maybe tells you something about the range of their parents.

You also mention foals passing or failing breeding advice. My understanding is that breeding advice looks at the breeding ability score of both parents and then gelds or passes foals based on if they fall within an acceptable range of their parents. So if the foal scores close to or better than their parents then they pass breeding advice. If the foal's breeding ability is significantly worse than the parents then it will fail and be gelded/spayed. Since breeding advice only looks at the (hidden) breeding ability score, knowing a foal's PT won't help you predict if it will pass breeding advice.