HGG Community Forums

I personally use SBA on all of my pasture foals (except bootstrap fillies). I produce huge numbers of foals each season, so I need the stricter testing to help me cut down my intact numbers.

I don’t use SBA on my bootstrap fillies, my breeding lab or hand bred foals, or anything I buy.

As far as using it on your existing stock or whether any given horse will pass, I think you need to think about how upset you’re going to be if your favorites are snipped, especially if you can’t afford to unalter them. I would consider using it anywhere you’re feeling a little overwhelmed by numbers, whether that’s in specific generations of specific lines, or all of your colts, or all of your foundations...

I would expect a higher snip rate in any of your uneven foals with SBA. The greater the quality discrepancy between the parents, the higher the chance the foal will be snipped.

Just as an illustration for your uneven lines, I used a decent Star stallion in a pasture of low to medium Blues for bootstrapping this season and forgot to not SBA that batch when I brought them in from pasture. Mares had full pasture bonus. 4/50 foals passed SBA. Definitely think hard before you SBA uneven foals!