HGG Community Forums

So, I'm still fairly new to the game, and actually started out over on the Bluegrass server. I came over here because I wanted to start up a second line of horses, but didn't want to get too confused, switching back and forth.

Everything I can offer is things I've read on the forums, advice from other people and what works for them.

So, here's what's been going well for me, so far:

Limit my breeding stock. I mean, REALLY limit. On the other server, I mostly breed black appaloosas, and I only breed with ExPro or ExPerf mares and studs. With my foals, first they get SBA, then comparison tested against their same gender parents. They only get to stay intact if they're superior - AGA gets snipped, too. They don't even get a name, they just keep their number. After I've sorted all of the foals, I do go back and PT all of them, but that's just so I can cull low performers later on, if I need the space.

When I only have babies left that pass SBA and test superior, then I check genders. I only keep 1-2 stallions out of each line's foals, so any that are left at this point get comparison tested to each other, and I choose the best 1 or 2, based on how well they fit my goals.

Any foals that don't meet my color goals, but still test superior, I've been putting up for sale. That's definitely a personal choice, though. I'm sure plenty of people would rather just snip them, and have more show ponies.

My naming strategy on the other server is to have a prefix "LL" and then a number, which denotes the generation. I have some watercolor and phantom horses there, too, so that gets added to the prefix with a letter. For example, "LL2w Green with Envy" denotes a 2nd generation watercolor.

I try to keep things simple for myself, as well, by having all of my show horses in a 1k barn (haven't quite filled it yet, working on it), and having several pastures, one for each of my main line's generations of mares, and one for each of my other lines. For example, I have one watercolor pasture, one phantom pasture, one gen 1 pasture, one gen 2 pasture, etc. Then I choose the stud I want to go in that pasture based on those goals.

Your pages and pages of unorganized horses make me itch to organize them for you. I'd love it! Anyway, I hope that didn't come off as me being preachy or anything, I just thought I'd share what I've learned so far in this awesome community.

What genes do you breed for? Duns and Grullos, over here!

What Genes do you try to keep out of your herd? Appaloosa! I've got enough of that over on the other server. :D

Whats your favorite shiny gene (you dont have to own the license, this is for show foals) Oooh probably Wrong Warp or Plaid.

What licenses do you own? None, at the moment.

I.D. Number: 50656

Aww, thanks so much! Another thing I'd suggest, since it's such a big job to tackle, is to just do it in small pieces. Maybe get a new pasture, like 30 or 60, and auto-select and dump some in there, then go through those and label them all, then move them back out. Then rinse and repeat! On a good day, when you're feeling motivated, maybe you can make it through a couple runs of that. On a bad day, or a bored day, just make it through once. It'll take a while, but no one said you HAD to breed all of your horses every year! Take a break from breeding, until you get back to wanting to do it, and knowing what you're going for. :D

I'm still evolving my strategy as I don't have many horses old enough to be worried about turn over, replacing births as fast as passings. So I'm also watching everyone else for different strategies and an understanding that it's easy for this to get out of hand :)

Controlling the birthrate is the main thing. Then I can guessimate how many barns I need to keep my shows at a sustainable number. If I add 100 foals to show every season then I need 2000 stalls to hold them to the age 20.
I'm starting to change to smaller pastures, like Confluence, and I'm changing over to ExPer/ExPro FDNs with baseline requirements for each line.
Foals go through all testing BA, SBA, Performance, Breeding Inspection, Genetics in that order.
So far I've been keeping the mares but I'm getting to a point when I'll be comparing them to each other the way I compare the boys.
I don't bootstrap. I played with it but it was too messy.
All lines will have to be A Papered SBA Consistent by G3. Then I write them out in a column with the info I care about (PT, Height, Bone, Genetics) and start circling the parameters the make my cutoffs. The horses which make the most cutoffs are compared to each other for superiority. The top 5 studs that best represent their lines and Gens and are AGA each other will stay. It will probably go down to 3 when I get to do a whole count again, probably next season.
I haven't decided when/if I ever want to stop breeding foundations. Getting the studs blinged up with the RGS might have started something...

Culling old horses is minimally helpful right now and I'm hoping it won't be necessary if I anticipate this right.


What genes do you breed for? DP, Appaloosa, Sooty, Brown, Snowflake

What Genes do you try to keep out of your herd? Dun, w20, Ch, non-sooty Red

Whats your favorite shiny gene (you dont have to own the license, this is for show foals) Nexus

What licenses do you own: mu, chn, plaid, wtr, thunderstruck, onyx

I.D. Number: 48800

I wish I could help you but I am in the same boat. I try getting rid of the oldies by giving them to some people that will make good use of them and breed very little. Breeding only the fanciest genes and mixing closed genes together.
This is what I mainly breed, sometimes try just foundations.
I love your fancy nexus stallion.
I own most closed genes but a couple ice ones I don't.
21753

Geld all the things! Also organization is key.

Write down your goals then compare your horses against it altering anything not fitting. When finished and if you still feel like you have too much then narrow down your goals and go through them again. Reducing my intact horses helped tons when I felt overwhelmed although I’ve been a “geld all the things, keep all the things” player for years.

Even if you keep all the things a single breeding mare costs you at least 7,500 plus a 15 stall barn to hold all her foals (at least, more if you pull eggs).

A show horse will only cost you its single stall and at most 140hbs per week but as long as they have over 190 points they pay you back the show fees.

I just did a massive cull on my breeding stock and went from well over 100 g2s for each line and culled them down to 30. Offspring must paper better than both parents and pass sba. I'm rethinking this as I got no g3s that papered gold/star from my foundation b/red line. But one more try and I'll tweak that I guess. I spelded everything else and threw them into my show barn.

First of all you should know that I am not at all a sentimental hoarder. My favorite way to clean is to throw things away - my logic is that if I own less things, I have to clean less things :D So this is what works for me.

*My suggestion is to decide on one trait that you don't want in your herd. Do a search for all your intact horses with that trait and cull ALL of them. Just chuck them in the auction. Don't give them a second look, going through horses individually is part of what makes you feel overwhelmed. Getting rid of that group will make you less overwhelmed and give you the motivation to start culling everybody else.*

Good luck culling!

All horses are in Pointed Creates

https://hj2.huntandjump.com/buddy_chat.php?chatid=775

@ladylaurana your horses are up!

@Looper your horses are up!

@SpryOfJune your horses are up!

@wendolyne your horses are up!

Everyone else, ill get your horses up first thing tomorrow. :)

Ooooh! Thanks! :D

She gave me a really pretty baby! :D


SNFG4E Luminous Snow