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Amen to you Chris!
I feel the same way and do the same as you do-- with one exception-- I 
have a buyer for my horse before it hits the ground. I send videos of my 
mares with their previous offspring by Halynov (although I now have 
three of Riverdance's on the ground that I will add to their tapes) and 
client's lease my mares to breed to my stallions. There is far less 
"crap shoot" as you say that way. My mares have been pretty consistent 
as was Halynov and now it appears that Riverdance will do the same.
If I breed without a buyer in mind, I usually wind up raising the foals 
until they are three years old and then buyers don't want to take into 
consideration the cost of raising a horse in CA which can be 
significantly higher than in many other parts of the country. This way 
it is a win-win situation for both and client and me, the breeder (and 
my husband doesn't freak out about me breeding! :-)  ).
Much success to you with your program-- sounds like a very responsible one/
Bette

Chris Paus wrote:

> I breed for a good, dependable, well built riding
> horse. The traits that make a horse good at endurance
> USUALLY are similar traits that a horse needs for
> other sport horse activities.
>
> In fact, the "sport horse" crowd is much more likely
> to pay a decent price for a prospect than is the
> endurance crowd.
>
> Two of my babies have gone to people interested in
> sport horse activites.. these are my Anglo Arabs. My
> purebred has gone to someone who does endurance. I'm
> keeping one of my own horses for myself. She's going
> to be an all-arounder for me.. endurance, CTR, and
> dabbling in a little bit of this and that.
>
> I can't designate what jobs these horses will get when
> they get to their new homes. but I can  breed  for
> good legs, soundness, good conformation and good
> brains. These criteria help a horse succeed at many
> jobs. And if they end up being someone's back yard
> pal, that's OK too as long as they are treated well.
>
> You are right in that as in the race horse industry,
> you can breed two champion endurance horses and not
> get a good endurance prospect. It's always a crap
> shoot. But there are certain bloodlines and  certain
> conformation qualities that seem to have a higher rate
> of success over the long haul than others.
>
> Unlike the "big time" breeders, I can't mass produce
> foals and hope for one fabulous winner. I have to
> carefully select mates for my mares to give the
> resulting foal the highest odds of being a good
> quality animal. 
>
> I hope this helps answer some of your questions.
>
> chris
>
> --- Mike & Laurie Hilyard <PFmorabs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  
>
> > I find this thread interesting for a couple of
> > reasons - first off, how do you breed for endurance?
> > Other than the slow heart rate that recovers
> > quickly (essentially, a heart with great stroke
> > volume), adequate legs, and an unstoppable desire to
> > eat and drink, I'm not sure what the similarities
> > are.  Maybe a high pain tolerance?  Someone pointed
> > out a flat croup is rotten in the mountains - but is
> > it as bad a fault in Michigan sand?  A horse with
> > perfect conformation for the rockies might get left
> > in the Florida dust.  
> >
> >
> >    
>
> =====
> "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot
>
> Chris and Star
>
> BayRab Acres
> http://pages.prodigy.net/paus
>
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--
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians
Home of Bunny and 16.2h TLA Halynov
who lives on through his legacy Hal's Riverdance!
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com

Always remember: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." (George Carlin)




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