Many loyal readers may recall the birth of my second homebred as I began this adventure of being a sport horse breeder two years ago. I had chosen to repeat the cross I produced the year prior, as I was so thrilled with the resulting filly. I was blessed with another filly, and while similar in many ways, she is a fairly different "type" than her older sister.
I'm counting my lucky stars, as I'm 2/2 for both my foals selling prior to weaning. Phascinating BRR sold a few months ago, but is remaining with me until the roads are more reliable as she has a long journey ahead to her new home in south eastern Quebec; a 4200 KM (2600 Mi) trek.
She's truly a remarkable filly and I'm extremely proud to have produced her! I absolutely love her balance, bone, size and friendly personality. I took some new photos recently for her new mom, and just can't help but find myself pondering how much I will miss her when she's gone.
Breeding can be tough - there's huge risks, but equally huge rewards and I'm having an absolute blast chasing my dreams of producing a small number of carefully selected Ammy-Friendly sport horses, talented enough for a professional to enjoy.
I didn't re-breed my broodmare (aka Vida/V/Vids/Mama V/Big Mama) in 2020 and I'm seriously kicking myself for it, even though it was the responsible choice. With the state of the world, and the unknown that surrounded my financial situation as I entered Mat Leave, I chose to give her the year off. While i'll miss having my own baby this year, she's been booked into a stallion for about 4 months now for Spring 2021, and I can't wait to do my very first AI!
what a cutie!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fuzzy bear!
ReplyDeleteI know very little about breeding so forgive me if this is a silly question, but how can you know if your young horses are ammy friendly yet? I feel like there's still so much that can happen between two and riding age!
ReplyDeleteThere is, but their temperament and personality is apparent from very early on. It's said foals learn up to 90% of their mannerisms from their moms and the other horses they interact with, just like humans. Naturally, they are predisposed to some personality traits that can often be passed on, but most behaviors are learned through interaction.
DeleteMy goal is to produce horses I, as an Ammy, would love to ride. A lot of that is training (from humans and horses), and a little of it is bloodlines while controlling what teachers they have access to. As an example, I have no interest in ever breeding a mare who's flighty, stand-offish and anything less than a pleasure to handle on the ground - they could have won Gold at the Olympics but I would never let them raise a foal and teach that behavior. That'd be a candidate for Embryo Transfer, lol!
Very interesting! Thanks for the education.
Delete(And apologies for the rudeness of my comment -- it was late, which is not an excuse, and there were better ways to ask what I was curious about.)
Oh no!! I didn't precieve it as rude at all!
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