Successful Breeder

Prepare to Become a Successful
Breeder of Sport Horses

How do we become the successful breeders we want to be? Sport horse breeders have a difficult mission; mares only produce .65 foals/per year at best, therefore it may take years to see your efforts bear fruit. I believe most of us can say, even if we are successful breeders, that we have produced many animals that fell short of our goals, and even some we could call mistakes.

Reliable information we need to help us form our breeding choices is often elusive. There is alot of pseudo-knowledge out there, such as the correct sounding "breed the best to the best", a practice that doesn't even return 50% on its promise. We are doing what we can to improve our stocks' productivity with better nutrition, worming and vaccinations etc. Now we need to learn what breeding choices do in fact work, and stop wasting time and money on those that don't.

The Thoroughbred industry has paved the road for us in breeding research. They have uncovered the breeding practices that have proven successful both for sport and pre-potency. We can use this new science with confidence, because the genetic principles remain the same, no matter the breed of horse. So let us apply all their hard earned knowledge to our own breeding programs and start meeting our goals.

Having a natural aversion to math, I personally want to thank Clive Harper for the statistical research he did into breeding theory, and the results he compiled from other researchers, which he presented to us in "The Thoroughbred Breeders' Handbook". His work gives us the hard numbers that either support or crush our treasured breeding ideas. As he said, "Sound theory must be supported by scientific evidence." This is what we all need: the scientific proof, so we can get beyond the mythology and start breeding winners.

Before you do anything else, obtain your horse's pedigree. Many breeders have no idea what their horse's lineage contains beyond a few generations. The pedigree is the map of your horse's genetics. Unless you are able to read your horse's genome (DNA) chart, you will need to understand it's genetics through its pedigree.

Understanding your horse's genetics through its pedigree may be the most important thing you can do for breeding success.

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."(Ben Franklin)

This will take some effort, not only in filling out your pedigrees, but learning what the ancestors represent in genetic value. However, the payoff will be success. Whether your desire is just a sane athletic horse that an amateur can ride, or a multi talented super star suitable for the international scene, with all the trouble and expense of horse breeding you will surely want to achieve your goal.

Accuracy counts! Studying an inaccurate pedigree is a waste of time. You can use a great service like www.allbreeddatabase.com, or obtain a extended pedigree from your registry if they offer that service, or do the research yourself. (see note). Whatever your source of information, do try to verify it- many pedigrees are inaccurate for various reasons.

Think of the pedigree as a language you are learning. Each name means something, and you will want to learn what the names represent in breeding value, and then you can use that knowledge to build the horse you desire. You are the creator of the foal's genetics- by choosing your horse's mates you are building a new genetic combination into each foal.

"If one can align the names in a pedigree with their corresponding attributes or weaknesses a pedigree becomes a genetic guide." (McLean)

The Thoroughbred Industry has determined through research what practices actually succeed- we just need to follow the proven Breeding Principles to obtain our goals.

This website contains the information and the explanation in depth you need to become a successful breeder of sport horses. And we pledge to update this site with any information or new science we discover to help you reach your goals.

note: If you are using any of our services we will do our best to fill in any pedigrees you submit, and any inaccuracies or omissions we find in the pedigrees we will correct as we are able.

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