From: Ashley
Jessica, You are such a wealth of information, I am hoping you can help point me in the right direction. I have decided to breed my maiden mare next year and am in the process of researching stallions. Broadway is a Hanoverian who is well bred and of good conformation. She is also very talented. I have a lot of knowledge about the different bloodlines in Hanoverians, so I know I can pick a well bred and compatible stallion. I also have a good grasp of correct conformation and what areas I would like to see improvement in my mare.
It is once I am past the bloodlines and conformation that I get lost. I have been told by friends who have bred, that the stallion's movement is very important and that the stallion's movement must complement my mare's movement. What does this mean and how do I check this? Are there any good books that you recommend on the subject or any horse matchmakers who I can contact (and possibly hire) to help me. I am hoping to breed my next show horse and want to do this right. I don't want to be sucked in only by his great bloodlines or his looks or his movement, I want the right stallion for Broadway. Are my friends just confusing me or do they have a valid point?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Ashley and Broadway (the unsuspecting Mother-to-be)
Natural movement - movement that has been created by nature and not interfered with by nurture (that is, has not been damaged or restricted by environment, equipment, training methods, or rider skill) - is largely a product of conformation. If your mare has good conformation and correspondingly good movement, and you select a stallion of similar bloodlines with good conformation and good movement, the foal's movement should be good too. In your case, since both animals should be good examples of registered Hanoverians, and you will be carefully comparing their conformation and bloodlines, this shouldn't be difficult. There have been quite a few studies of movement and heritability in horses, and some studies dealing exclusively with Hanoverians. It's been some time since I read one of these, but if I remember correctly, the trot appeared to have the highest degree of heritability, and the authors of the study concluded that a mare-owner hoping for a foal as a future dressage horse would do well to focus on stallions with bloodlines that were (a) known for dressage performance AND (b) similar to those of the mare. The greater the similarity, the better the chance of getting the desired type of foal. I believe that in terms of heritability, dressage ability was considered to be more predictable than jumping ability.
This is all fairly elementary stuff, of course, but the point is that any analysis or discussion of movement quality and heritability will inevitably bring you right back to conformation and bloodlines! But I did want to mention it, partly to keep you from worrying too much, and partly for the benefit of other mare-owners. Sometimes, a mare-owner will want to breed a mare with one sort of conformation and movement to a stallion with completely different bloodlines and an entirely different sort of conformation and movement. It's usually done in the hope of getting a foal that will somehow ignore the mare's genetic input and replicate the stallion's conformation and movement - but it's not a very practical or sensible way to breed horses, and there's no way to predict the outcome of such a breeding.
There are some excellent basic resources on the subject of conformation and movement. Here are two that I consider essential:
HORSE GAITS, BALANCE, AND MOVEMENT by Susan Harris PRINCIPLES OF CONFORMATION ANALYSIS by Deb Bennett (paperback, 3 volumes)
These are easy to read and understand, so don't worry about being overwhelmed or bogged down in a mire of techical terms.
As for advice on the practical selection of a stallion, you are lucky to be breeding Hanoverians, because you'll have the great advantage of available information. I expect you can get your best information from the American Hanoverian Society and the German Hanoverian Verband.
The best general advice I can give you is to consider some of the things that I keep uppermost in my own mind when trying to match a stallion with a mare:
#1 Soundness and temperament share billing at the very top of my list.
#2 In terms of conformation, if there are flaws in your mare that you would prefer not to see in her foal, don't try to "stack the deck" by overcompensating. In other words, don't look for a stallion that has the opposite flaw. If your mare has a short neck, don't look for a stallion with a disproportionately long neck, in the hope that the foal's neck will be a perfect compromise between "too short" and "too long". It's more likely that you will end up with one or the other of the two extremes. Similarly, if your mare has a very long back, don't choose a stallion with an extremely short back, choose one that is correct and has a correct back. This doesn't mean that you can't look for a stallion that will help correct your mare's flaws - more about that in a moment.
#3 Look for stallions that have a lot of offspring on the ground - not for untried young stallions in their first season, or those with only two or three foals. In time, these young stallions may prove to be absolutely wonderful, but you want to breed your mare next year, and right now the owners of those stallions won't be able to give you the kind of information that you need... and that is:
#4 What sort of foals does the stallion produce? How are they similar to their sire? How are they different? How are they similar to their dams? How are they different? THIS is the information you need. Remember, no matter how luscious an individual stallion is, you aren't going to get a clone of that stallion, you're going to get HALF of his genes for your foal. Of course you want to find a beautifully-built stallion with wonderful gaits, movement, and a kind disposition. But more than that, you want a stallion that can pass those qualities on to his offspring.
#5 What the stallion passes on has a lot to do with the stallion himself - but don't forget that half of your foal's genes will be coming from your mare. Be absolutely honest with yourself about your mare. We've all thumbed through stallion catalogues and the "stallion issue" of our favourite horse magazines, and we've all picked out the stallions that WE would want to own and that WE would want to ride. But the BEST stallion for your mare won't necessarily be the first, or even the second or the third, one that you would select out of a stallion catalogue! What you want is the stallion that makes well-built, sound, sane, attractive foals WHEN HE IS BRED TO MARES LIKE YOURS. And this brings us to
#6 The matchmaker! You asked about horse matchmakers, and yes, they do exist. The most helpful matchmaker for a mare owner to consult will almost invariably be the stallion's owner, or the person in charge of the breeding program at the stallion station. Obviously you should deal only with reputable people who have been in the business for some time and have ethics and integrity as well as experience. Steer clear of individuals who will gladly breed their stallion to any mare whose owner is willing to pay the stud fee - you will be best off with breeders who are just as selective as you are, and just as determined to produce quality foals.
Good stallion owners will be able - and very willing - to answer your questions, and to look at your mare's pedigree and photos (and perhaps even a video), and advise you on which (if any) of their stallions is most likely to produce the kind of foal that YOU want. Sometimes the mare's breeder can be a good source of information as well, so that might be another way for you to get ideas about stallions that would be a good match for your mare.
In your case, since you are already familiar with Hanoverians and the popular bloodlines and most sought-after conformation within the registry, I would suggest that you look through some of those catalogues and magazines, and then get in touch with some well-established breeders who stand multiple stallions and would be able to give you good advice based on good knowlege, long experience, and many foal crops.
Don't worry that a good, reputable breeder will tell you "Oh yes, our stallion will be perfect for your mare" just to get your money. That's extremely unlikely to happen. For one thing, good, reputable breeders don't over-use their stallions, so their stallions are likely to be used only a certain number of times during each breeding season, after which the stallions' books will be closed until the next season. In other words, the number of breedings they'll arrange during any given season isn't unlimited, so your stud fee doesn't represent MORE money, it represents SOME money - that would otherwise come to them from another mare-owner.
Good, reputable breeders are also very interested in using their stallions to produce GOOD foals. Their stallions' reputations are based on a quality product, the owners have a vested interest in that product - and just as you are hoping to "stack the deck" in your favour by finding the stallion that crosses best with your mare, the stallion's owners will be hoping to "stack the deck" in their stallion's favour by breeding him to mares that are likely to produce a quality product. For a stallion owner, accepting stud fees from the owners of badly-built, unsound, inferior mares is a losing game, because every person who sees one of the resulting foals is going to blame the stallion, just as everyone who sees a lovely foal is going to give the stallion credit. ;-)
In addition to wanting their stallion's reputation to be enhanced by each new foal, good, reputable breeders are generally nice human beings who care about quality, care about their clients, and would really like to see you get the sort of foal that will make YOU happy.
Here's what I would do if I were looking for a Hanoverian stallion. This is not necessarily what YOU should do - I don't know where you are located or which bloodlines you are looking for. As I said before, you know more than I do about the bloodlines in general, and about your mare. But this is how I would go about looking for a match for my hyopthetical Hanoverian mare. ;-)
Since I've been impressed by several of the Hanoverian stallions that stand at Hilltop Farm in Colura, Maryland, I would probably begin there, if their stallions' conformation, movement, and bloodlines complementeed those of my mare. I happen to know a little about that farm's breeding program and the people who run it, and I would feel confident that they would give me good advice. If I told them that I wanted to breed my mare to "Stallion A" and they - based on my mare's bloodlines and conformation, and on my plans for the foal - told me that based on their knowledge and experience, I would do better to breed my mare to "Stallion B" or "Stallion C", I would take their advice. If they felt that a stallion standing elsewhere would best complement my mare's conformation and bloodlines, I would expect them to tell me so.
There are many lovely Hanoverian stallions and a lot of good, reputable breeders around the world - you should begin wherever you want to. It sounds as though you are already on your way to making a sensible decision. Good luck to you and Broadway, and please put me on the list of people to receive baby pictures when the time comes. ;-)
Jessica
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