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Hello fellow HEE community, I was wondering if someone (preferably a very experienced/successful stable) can tell me which horses they cull. I feel that my breeding herd is improving but I don't want to use horses that will reduce the quality of my herd. I currently use EPP+ mares only and I cull mares that don't produce well or don't level up at least one trait for week 4. I really want to keep only the best horses though. So, what is considered a decent week 4 for a mare/stallion to increase the quality of my herd? Also, is it better to sell an EEE stallion that doesn't make the ABLB than use him? I have more questions but I'll wait for an answer first😄😉 Thanks to anyone who can help me!
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Just thought I would give you some of my thoughts. I'm no serious pro, but I know a few things. ;)
Regarding mares- you mainly want to have the EE combos and above. There will be some exceptions for really great producing E combos, but you don't really want to dwell on them too much. ;) It's really hard for me to cull my mares, but it just works better in the long run if you focus on the EE+ combos for the most part. And for training, you really want to make sure all your mares have all bars up wk 5.
Regarding stallions- it depends on how advanced of a breeder you are. If you have little stallions, you will be fine just keeping the PPP+ producing ones (even if they don't make it to the ABLBs). But you definitely want to make sure they make it to the LBs. If you are a larger more experienced stable, which I have a sense you are, you will definitely want to focus on only the ABLB stallions. Larger more experienced stables will get many stallions, but you have to sift through and only keep the good ones with the potential of making it onto the ABLBs and being champion producers. If you are an experienced stable with many horses coming in each rollover, you don't want semi-ish stallions. You only want the best of the best because all other semi-ish stalions just are clutter and are considered 'barn trash'. Sell them and other less experienced stables will buy them from you. :) For a really nice stallion, you want to look for at least 4+ bars up on wk 4. That is the main thing to look for. If they have 4+ bars up, they will most likely make it onto the ABLBs. I breed WBs, so 4 or more bars up is really good, but I know that differs with different breeds. So you might want to check with a more experienced stable with your breed. :)
Hope this helps! ;D Good luck with everything! |
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Do not focus on weeks 4 and 5. My ABLB stallion was only up 1 trait week 4. Weeks 7-10 are better indicators of strength, but weeks 11-14 are the even better than that. Seriously though, people put way too much stock on weeks 4 and 5 and then weeks 8-10 and/weeks 11-14 can show the horse is stronger or weaker than they thought, by a lot. Track longer. I do recommend culling if a horse has more than 2 traits still down at week 5. I allow up to 3 down week 9, but want at least 1 up week 8. I cull if they have any bars down week 10, unless their week 8 was amazing. Same for week 13. I cull if more than 3 down week 13 and want all up week 14, but allow 1 down if week 12 was great. Keep a nice LB stud if he's producing well, but the main thing is to keep your strongest mares and breed them to the best stallion you can. I have 2 ablb stallions but only breed a few of my own girls to them. I match the highest ablb that I can. I cull EEE and PEE combos as harshly as I do the rest, but I do not keep PEPs or PPPs and under at all. They are not worth the rider fees to track. My recommendation is to go through the stallion and mare eventing ABLBs and look at the training tracking on all of them. You will see that they end up pretty consistent when you get to weeks 11 and higher. Try to get your horses as close to that as possible. |
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Tricksters Choice said:
Do not focus on weeks 4 and 5. My ABLB stallion was only up 1 trait week 4. Weeks 7-10 are better indicators of strength, but weeks 11-14 are the even better than that. Seriously though, people put way too much stock on weeks 4 and 5 and then weeks 8-10 and/weeks 11-14 can show the horse is stronger or weaker than they thought, by a lot. Track longer. I do recommend culling if a horse has more than 2 traits still down at week 5. I allow up to 3 down week 9, but want at least 1 up week 8. I cull if they have any bars down week 10, unless their week 8 was amazing. Same for week 13. I cull if more than 3 down week 13 and want all up week 14, but allow 1 down if week 12 was great. Keep a nice LB stud if he's producing well, but the main thing is to keep your strongest mares and breed them to the best stallion you can. I have 2 ablb stallions but only breed a few of my own girls to them. I match the highest ablb that I can. I cull EEE and PEE combos as harshly as I do the rest, but I do not keep PEPs or PPPs and under at all. They are not worth the rider fees to track. My recommendation is to go through the stallion and mare eventing ABLBs and look at the training tracking on all of them. You will see that they end up pretty consistent when you get to weeks 11 and higher. Try to get your horses as close to that as possible.
I completely echo this! |
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Crimson Rose said:
Tricksters Choice said:
Do not focus on weeks 4 and 5. My ABLB stallion was only up 1 trait week 4. Weeks 7-10 are better indicators of strength, but weeks 11-14 are the even better than that. Seriously though, people put way too much stock on weeks 4 and 5 and then weeks 8-10 and/weeks 11-14 can show the horse is stronger or weaker than they thought, by a lot. Track longer. I do recommend culling if a horse has more than 2 traits still down at week 5. I allow up to 3 down week 9, but want at least 1 up week 8. I cull if they have any bars down week 10, unless their week 8 was amazing. Same for week 13. I cull if more than 3 down week 13 and want all up week 14, but allow 1 down if week 12 was great. Keep a nice LB stud if he's producing well, but the main thing is to keep your strongest mares and breed them to the best stallion you can. I have 2 ablb stallions but only breed a few of my own girls to them. I match the highest ablb that I can. I cull EEE and PEE combos as harshly as I do the rest, but I do not keep PEPs or PPPs and under at all. They are not worth the rider fees to track. My recommendation is to go through the stallion and mare eventing ABLBs and look at the training tracking on all of them. You will see that they end up pretty consistent when you get to weeks 11 and higher. Try to get your horses as close to that as possible.
I completely echo this!
I completely agree with this! |
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What they said. xD I was kinda off lol. |
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Warming, with Sleet and Heavy Icing
