HGG Community Forums

Ok. I personally only breed/buy even bred horses. Foundation/foundation, 2g/2g, exc. I also primarily breed yellow/C foundations but have a few yellow/B and Red/C parings, it is a lot harder to get a foal to pass BA that way though. 2g horses have to be red/B papered, I will not use a 2g A stallion with my mares. 3g is a bit more lax I accept Red/Blue mares and A papered stallions.

I’m more lax on paper levels than most, but it’s how I like to breed and it works for me. I know plenty of players who want even generation and even paper pairings. It pretty much boils down to how many foals do you want to pass testing and how far do you want to breed a line of horses do you want to reach 10 generations or is 7 good enough? The more wiggle room you have in your papers the harder it is to get high generation foals that pass.

So the answer to pretty much all of your questions are it’s personal preference.

However if you want to sell horses even generation horses are much easier to sell than uneven. It’s the reason I switched from random breeding myself.

Even bred can be even by generation, even by papers or both. I'd suspect that your horses, although same paper, are not the same quality, as there is a range in each level.
So a high A stallion with low Blue mares won't get as many intact foals as if they were both high or both low. You don't say if you're using pasture bonus, but that can often help get you more intact foals. I personally breed even by generation up until 6th generation or so, and then 7th gen foals go into my bootstrap herds. But my paper levels in each generation don't necessarily match. I use B and A foundation stallions with mostly Red mares, but a few Blue and Yellow mares as well. My 2nd gen is A stallions with mostly Blue and some Red (must test AGA a blue). 3rd is Star stallions over Blue and some gold. I do have a bit of mare lag, but i don't mind so much because I have so many foals, i couldn't possibly keep them all.

I breed true to Gen AND Paper. My Gen Herd MUST ALL PASS SBA. This is mandatory with NO exceptions.

I ONLY use Red/B Foundation (I refuse to use any Yellow/C or Blue/A in this point of my program, looking to revamp a section to higher papers soon... stay tuned!)
I ONLY use Blue/A G2s (which need to be of course superior to parent)
I ONLY use Blue/A G3s from BLUE/A G2s (a MUST), and they all must be superior to their parent.
I ONLY use Gold/Star G4s (superior to)
I ONLY use Gold/Star G5s, G6s, and G7s and they ALL must test Superior to parent.

Bootstrap mares MUST pass BA and test Superior to their dam as well as be Gold paper (I like to see multiple gold/stars behind her)
Bootstrap studs MUST pass SBA and test Superior to his sire and be Star (I need to see multiple gold/stars behind him).

So during foal season, I match stud to their pasture, breed, then remove the stud so he can continue showing. I then mass move the foals and begin sorting.

Sorting process:
1. Immediately SBA and move all alters. I ONLY keep and further continue testing my bootstrap alters.
2. Breeding Inspection. I then move out all undesirable papered foals to another pen. At the G3 mark, all those who paper Red or B if they for whatever reason pass SBA... IMMEDIATELY get snipped.
4. Performance Testing. I use this as a tool to keep my numbers down (G2s must be 10.5+ but I will keep 10.2-10.4 if they came from a dam who was under 10.4PT), G3s must be 10.8+, G4s must be 11+. Those who hit these markers are automatically considered for future replacements but they stay for Gene testing first.
5. Genetic Testing. I use this to further add onto my herd and herd goals. Those who are UNDER the PT cuts will get individually inspected. Those whose genes I dont favor will be sold, and those who I desire will then be individually hand moved over to my replacement holding.

Those who automatically made the cut arent safe, either though. I open every Replacement's page, comparison test each one against parent individually... then place a name on them and change the background when I'm finished (those who are superior to dam/sire). Those I dont care about or test As Good As... will receive a "$", given a generic label, and offered for sale. I usually only hold sale animals one week, then they get auctioned off as I need room. I lose money this way on occasion but I have a quick flow here and like it stream lined.

Studs I compare to each gen's benchmark stud (the proven dudes who I currently use). The only reasons a proven dude will leave the program is if I find a flashier version, find a higher PT with equal genetic value (usually a brother it seems!), if he ages out, or if a newbie tests better than him (which usually doesnt happen as my breeding stock are generally pretty high papered here).

Typically the stuff for sale here is already fully tested and about 65% of the foals I offer privately have also been comparison tested. I also include that in pricing... so if I know they're as good as, they're generally discounted. If they didnt get comparison tested, they're automatically very much discounted. That kind of thing. I NEVER will keep OR sell a foal who tested WORSE than parent. They are snipped.

It's been two years in the making but I have a VERY solid herd now with very few holes.

Oh and ps... I also sort my proven mares as well. At 8 years old, they're checked for foal numbers. If they have yet to make an intact foal, they're sold. If their AFPT is less than their own, they're retired or used as a recip. I recheck them again at 12, and then of course pull mares at 17 after their last foal. Then they retire and show here. Also I move the girls to pasture the MINUTE I can move them so they start their pasture bonus. Once they're out there, they sit until theyre pulled.

I like to customize mane, tails, and backgrounds on my adult keepers. That's something I do for ME.

I have been working on my daily show bonus recently and am pushing for 40k/day. I hope to reach that by this fall.