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RunFarAway · Jan 25, 2019 2:48 PM

I'm curious about how everyone else culls mares in their bootstrap lines. I'm overflowing with mares and have already cut out reds unless they are Hom KP, but I'm not sure the best way to cull beyond that. I've got 40 breedable Golds and another 36 under breeding age. In addition to 103 breedable Blues and 86 under breeding age.

So what do you do when all your mares fit your color goals within a bootstrap line and you still need to cut down on numbers?

HTRanch · Jan 25, 2019 3:25 PM

I cull by AFPT at that point. My other account is strictly bootstrapping and because I don't have a premium upgrade that records APFT automatically, I calculate it manually every season and put it as a prefix to all my mares' names (e.g. "1160 Rosies Girl" or "1210 Holiday Kiss"). Then when I cull my breeding age mares all I have to do is search them and sort by name.

LairRua · Jan 25, 2019 3:43 PM

I look at the mares that are over 8 years of age. If they have produced a filly of breeding age that is as good or as better as themselves (paper and PT), then I spay the mare and add her to my show herd. Also, if she has produced NO keeper foals by the time she is 8, she also gets spayed.

If I still have too many, then I cull based on height as one of my studs tends to produced smaller foals than I would like.

HunterUnderSaddleGirl · Jan 25, 2019 9:35 PM

I think most people cull by afpt and genes. Although I’m a mare hoarder and keep all of mine, and buy every single blue/gold mare I can get my hands on for variety. To be fair I often just use them to cross to random stallions for a mid season auction fodder run if I’ve spent too much money. (Do as I say and not as I do..... lol. I do have too many mares, but I still keep buying more...)

Other people cull by consistency too.

DragonRun · Jan 25, 2019 10:04 PM

I started by culling any mare that was not Gold. Then I culled those that were inconsistent, then by AFPT. Every year my lowest AFPTs are culled to make room for the new three year olds to move into the pasture.

Dinascar · Jan 25, 2019 10:15 PM

I second that @HUSG - she does buy a lot of blue/gold BS mares :D
I must admit I did sell all mine (often to HUSG!) that didn't follow my strict genes but I now have a special barn called "Intact Show Mares" where I chuck everything that doesn't quite fit and just use to make pretty/different show ponies and experiment on with my wrong warp. I don't alter but treat them as show ponies otherwise. If they haven't got many points or have levelled off in a bad place they go off to auction.

I try to make sure each generation is a bit better than the last, if not then they either go in this barn or get speyed, unless of course I absolutely love their genes and then I forgive them! :)

DinaChill · Jan 25, 2019 10:28 PM

I want my girls to get better with each gen even with bootstrapping but one of my aims is to breed really small so I cull by height. It hurts when I sell my fantastic but too large mares. Hopefully everyone appreciates them ;) So far, as long as my golds are ponies I keep them but my blues have to be below 14hh. The blues who will be good showers are speyed and kept, others are offered for sale or auctioned. Every season, watch the bootstrap forum, as I sell my great warmblood/draft gold rejects. At present I have 200 golds and 500 blues. Every season I cull more blues to make my mare total remain at about 700. Consistency is a good one to cull on, as is AFPT or just go for those with your fav genes. Bootstrapping is about "anything goes" so have fun with it :)

DinaChill · Jan 25, 2019 10:29 PM

PS I only bootstrap on this account so 700 mares is all I have so that is not a lot for me.

Wildland Acres · Jan 26, 2019 1:24 AM

I started out only keeping blues and golds out of random lined horses. Then I culled to only blues, then I ran BA. Then I got a higher stud and ran BA on foals again while phasing out the previous mares, Now I am going up another level with my stud, running BA still, and as my remaining previous level of mares are or have been on the era 0 leader board I intend to only keep mares that make it on with three foals. I know this will cut down my numbers drastically, but that is kinda the goal, I have 64 in pasture with like 40 in the wings. XD All but 16 I want to say haven't reached their here foals yet, so I think it is safe to say things are crazy.

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