Comment on my mare, please!

barrelracingurl · Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:32 pm Post subject: Comment on my mare, please!

This is my 20 year old AQHA mare, Dee Dee Can Do. Her barn name is Gracie. Please comment on her!

If you want to see my dog, here he is...(I know he's not horse related, but he's cute lol!) Very Happy

I hope you like them! Tell me what you think, please!
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lucky Clover Farm · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:10 pm Post subject:

Welllll-you're probably not gona like a whole lot of what Im going to say-but here we go..
#1 it is really hard to judge a mare in her 20's-you get some that look amazing and others that time has been not so nice to.
#2 she is mega upright inthe shoulder-wow hope the stud you crossed her has a nice long sloping shoulder to balance that out.
#3 shes either too long in the back or too short in the neck-personally I'd rather have a horse whose neck is the same/longer than its back
#4 She looks goose rumped-meaning her top point of her hip is actually behind where her hip starts
#5 Looks like shes got good low set hocks-to really get under herself and use those legs and turn on the hind
And while her head isn't the most attractive its not downright ugly either-plain is a word that comes to mind
It is so hard to judge a mare whose age is showing-I just bought a 20 year old mare-sway backed but straight as a whistle-clean legs-her head isn't the nicest either-but I've seen pics of her as a youngun(ok at 13) and you can see what she used to be. I've also seen her porgeny-and theres nothing wrong with their conformation either.
You never know-you may get a real cracker jack of a baby from that pairing-but so you are aware there are faults that may also creep out.
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barrelracingurl · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 7:57 pm Post subject:

Lucky Clover Farm -
She does have a long back so it makes her look like she has a short neck. She is very long bodied. I think the reason she looks goose rump is because of the way she is standing. I have a picture somewhere of me on her and she doesn't look like she's like that... I'm not too crazy about her head, that's why I am going to breed her to a stallion with a nice looking head on him. Do you think he would be a good cross with my paint stallion? She is almost 16 hands, so she is huge! I haven't seen any of her progeny, but I seen on APHA that she has had 2 paint foals, and one of them turned out to be a gray tobiano, so hopefully she will have a great looking foal by my stallion. I hope the foal has a bigger hip than his, though. I'm still learning about this, so help me out! We bought Gracie because I couldn't ride my mare anymore because she was a couple of months from her due date, and we wanted her because she was Registered and I am wanting to show some horses in AQHA and possibly APHA if they look good enough. I wasn't planning on showing Gracie though(possibly her foals) because I just Barrel Race and do 5 other events on her. She's quick, I got a 26 on the long patterned Cloverleaf(came in 6th) after going way wide on 2 barrels. She sure does get down and turn around the barrels if she's having a good day!

Thanks for your help,
Brittney!
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JR · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 8:55 am Post subject:

I can't stop you from breeding your mare, but I do suggest you don't breed her to your stallion. If you want to really promote your stallion and do well getting bookings, you need to breed him to absolutely incredible mares, the best you can get your hands on. I'm not saying your mare isn't a wonderful old lady with plenty of fine qualities, BUT she's also got a few strikes against her that could be passed along to the foal. for whatever reason, people will associate conformation faults and non desireable traits with the stallion, not the mare. People will bypass a foal with an unattractive head and they won't place in a show pen. You can't count on your stallion fixing conformational flaws on a mare.. she is 50% of the mix and while he may correct some of it, you could still end up with a less than perfect pony and people will equate that with the stallion.

if you really want to do justice to your stallion and his future, offer free breedings to approved mares, discounts to quality mares whose foals get shown and promoted and turn down anything less than perfect.
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TX-WI · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 10:42 am Post subject:

I stand with JR and LuckyCloverFarms. this mare does not need to reproduce.

When it comes to breeding your stallion, be picky with mares that are brought to him.
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barrelracingurl · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 12:51 pm Post subject:

Well, fortunately, I care about disposition better than conformation. You can't ride beautiful but you can ride safe! I think she will have a very nice foal and I want her lines to keep going. Everyone has their own opinions.
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JR · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject:

well you're a fool. yes, disposition is important, but just because your mare has a good mind does not mean that the foals will. I've been doing this horse thing a lot longer than you've been alive and it's the exception more than the norm that the foal's disposition is anything like the dam's. Feel free to breed for poor conformation, it'll look bad for you as a breeder and bad for your stallion in the breeding shed. Hope you can keep them all because horses like that (remember, poor conformation leads to soundness issues) wind up in the slaughter house. But hey, we should all do our part to feed the hungry. Rolling Eyes

You can ride beautiful and there's no reason beautiful shouldn't be safe.. you cannot ride lame, cripple and unsound.

I really don't think you want opinions either.. you want to start #### so that people will tell you how it is. You then get to run and cry about people picking on the kid and how rough things are for you. Meanwhile, you have no intention of learning and have your mind set on breeding horses JUST to breed them regardless of how low quality the foal may be. This makes YOU a backyard breeder and by GOD the world has enough of them. You have no inclination to better the breed by breeding ONLY quality, this makes you part of the problem, not a solution.

Neither one of your horses has the pedigree that screams to be bred, however your stallion is correct enough that he can make it if he throws quality well balanced foals. he will not do this bred to poorly conformed mares and mares that are not better than him. Breeding him this way will make him worthless as a stallion and you'd be just as well off to geld him now before he's standing for $250 to Bob's plow horse down the street.

And don't PM me about this either, you ask for opinions of experienced horse people that you have no intention of actually listening to because you have your 14 year old mind made up already... if I want to talk to a wall I'll have a conversation with my toddler.

Have a nice day
Mr. Green

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It's never the horse, it's the rider.
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lucky Clover Farm · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:09 pm Post subject:

ok so you can't ride beautiful-but did you realise that many horses with leg problems are due to conformation faults?? And I'm not just talking TBs-but pleasure/halter and gaming sore legs or whatever are due to a flaw/weak spot in their conformation.
And breeding conformation faults just because shes a quiet "old" thing(doesn't mean she was as a yougin) is as irresponsible as breeders breeding just because shes a mare.
You asked for an opinion-you got 4 identicle ones.
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Inyureye · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:41 pm Post subject:

I agree with the opinions on this mare - and poor conformation is not safe. What makes you belive it is? It sounds like you ddin't think about any of the opinoins you asked for. A shamefully irresponsible response.

TX-WI · Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 5:44 pm Post subject:

rakitsa · Weanling Joined: 19 Jun 2005 Posts: 2

she has the conformation of the older quarter horses, and they produced wonderful(sometimes) offspring, so i would give her a chance. i believe she has a long back(i personally like a long backed horse) and she has wonderful legs. her head could look better though. i would breed her to see what she could produce, and then when you find another very exceptable stud, you should breed her to him as well. i have been around horses for many many(over 30 to be exact) years and i believe she really does look like the older quarter horses of the early days

lucky Clover Farm · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:40 am Post subject:

I do not believe that any of the major "old" ranching QH farms would have this mare in their herd-not intentionally. And every foundation type QH I have seen do not have the glaring faults this mare has-as a for instance-take a look at the thread with My Leo FLicka(hope I got the name right) That is a foundation type mare!!!
This mare has a lot of speed-way back-and if you look at the pics in the pedigree-this mare resembles none of her ancestors.
But hey-shes already bred-nothing anyone can say or do now-you'll just have to remember these points when the foal starts to gorw up and these faults are seen again-THEN you can put the mares faults-at fault
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JR · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject:

Dawn · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:38 pm Post subject:

I would be surprised if this mare carries to term, she looks thin and seems to be carrying the look of "age" (neck drawn down, ribby, and muscle loss).

Though I am sure she looked nicer in her younger years, this is not a horse I would choose to breed.

Her neck is long and she is plain headed. Her back also seems long and her hip and shoulder angles do not match.

She looks very upright both in front and behind, which would lead me to believe she has a short, choppy stride. She is long barreled, and has a very weak hind end, gaskin and stifle.

She does appear to have short cannons and good sized feet, however her overall appearance is long and plain, further there is nothing exceptional in her pedigree except for a few of the horses several generations back.

In my opinion, if you want to get your stallion off to a good start, you need to breed him to the best mares you can find (conformation and pedigree), because as someone else already mentioned, his pedigree is not that stellar itself. This is just my opinion!

barrelracingurl · Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:07 pm Post subject:

I saw her in her younger years, probably about 5-6 years ago and she looked great. She was more greyish than whiteish and she had alot more muscle and all. I wish I had a pic of her from then. I know this because I rode her before, many years ago.
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