>>Tracey, this is an interesting post. You apparently feel
that you have sufficient expertise to critique the filly as a breeding
prospect, so I'm curious why you weren't sure about your objectivity with the
colt. I DO totally respect you for getting outside opinions--but no
matter how many credentials the observer has, they are not guaranteed to be
impartial, either.
Heidi, I KNOW TBs. I’m new to WBs. My colt
is three this month, and it’s hard for me to look at him and see what he will be
like as a 5yo, or 7yo. I can look at a TB as a six month old and go “that’ll be
good” or “that should have a high projectile lead injection”. I just didn’t trust
my judgement with him and wanted someone totally impartial. The breeder who gave
him to me is a trusted friend and HE said I should geld him, so it was also not
a first, but a second opinion.
>>That said, does the
lady's critique of the colt agree with what you see of him with your own
eyes? If so, great--you've come to the right conclusion with her
help.
Pretty much. He’s a lovely horse, but he does
have some conformational faults. Not enough to make me back off him as a competition
prospect, but enough to make me concerned about breeding him. He’s slightly toe
out, although that is improving as he gets bigger, and he is thick in the gullet
and slightly short in the croup. One or two conformational flaws I can forgive,
if put to the right mare, but more than that concerns me.
>> If not, get other
opinions. What are the qualifications of the people who want to breed to
him? Do they know what they are doing, or are they also just enamored
with the pretty color and the chrome? Do they have solid reasons for
wanting to breed to him?
They’re good riders but know squat about breeding.
Their reasons for breeding him are colour and temperament : he does have the most
solid temperament around. And he is incredibly well-bred.
>>admire people who
won't breed simply because the opportunity presents itself to make more
mediocre horses. But it is also frustrating to see really quality colts
cut just because somebody from a breed association passes an opinion. I'm
not there in your shoes so can't say which is happening--but the whole scenario
of an "inspector" panning a colt raises real big red flags to me.
The woman who inspected him didn’t do it as
part of a “breed inspection” for stallion grading (he’s too young for that) but
rather so that I could get a good, objective opinion of him as a potential stallion.
She competes at dressage and eventing and she has stallions of her own. I thought
that she was objective and quite valid in her critiques. Rod thought it was a waste
of time “she didn’t tell you anything you didn’t know”, he said. The thing is that
I didn’t KNOW. I suspected. I’d have kicked myself if I’d gelded him without taking
a second opinion. Keeping him entire was never an option. I can’t be bothered with
a stallion. Had he been good enough, I’d have drawn semen and cut him.
T
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