HGG Community Forums

I just came back from a bit of hiatus myself. I felt a bit guilty not breeding anything, but coming back has left me refreshed and ready to purge, and in a similar spot to where you are now. My first step is going to be figuring out which genes I really, desperately still want to breed for, and which genes I can just drop to my bootstrap herd only.

I bought a new pasture for introducing my lower papered mares from other lines into my bootstrap bunch without seriously throwing off my method, and my lines are getting a major sweep through. You might try counting your number of lines, and giving yourself a "cutoff" so , say you have twenty lines, telling yourself you can only have fifteen. That will tell you what your least favorite lines are, the ones that don't really bring you that sense of joy as much as the others. (Can you tell my roommate's been watching Marie Kondo?)

You might also try combining lines. That can be an easier way to simplify your effort. If you have livers and appaloosas, make a liver appy line! If you love satin and pearl, satin and pearl line! Figure out which genes don't overlap the others, which genes work well with others, and that can help you further simplify.

It might also be time to increase your standards to trim down individual lines. My bootstrap mares are running scared because I'm upping the weight/height requirements again :P

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with “randomized” breeding if that’s what you enjoy! I enjoy not having a clue what I’m going to get from my mixes. Some months I like DP, some I like cream, some I’ll take any kind of white I can get. Some months I don’t know what I want, so I just pick out my show ponies and auction everything else for a break.

At the end of the day, this is meant to be fun and relaxing. :)