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Conformation? APHA mares

My mom was considering breeding two mares this year to our buckskin stallion. She wanted to know if these two have good conformation or if there is anything that would be a huge no to breeding.My mom was supposed to help me take pictures but she didnt so please ignore the grazing,dirt,messy manes and hooves that need to be trimmed! Snowflake: [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…] [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…] [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…] Spice: [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…] [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…] [img]http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c143/Sn0wLe0pard/Animals/Paint%20and%…]

Daylene Alford Wed, 05/13/2009 - 21:38

Please don't take this the wrong way at all its not a reflection on your mares but something you need to think about. With the current state of the horse market what makes you feel that the foals will be marketable? If neither the stallion or the mare(s) has show/race success within a generation you will be lucky to get $500 out of the foal. I know I've been there.

As far as the mares themselves go they are not bad mares. They look to be sturdy using type mares. I think the sorrel is the better out of the two but that may just be because she has a better picture. They both look to have longish loins.

CMhorses Wed, 05/13/2009 - 21:54

Well this was my moms idea, as they are her mares, and if she did breed this year I wanted to make sure she choose the best of our mares to use. Yes she know the market is low but she believes if she gets them saddle trained at 18 months and stays on the ball about it (unlike the last foal crop) that she can easily sell them as yearlings or 2 year olds. The last generation to show/race was the stallions father, Golden Oak Holiday, which was a racing QH. Even if she dosn't breed this year, she could want to breed them in the future, so she still wants to know if they are broodmare quality.
Yes we've been there too and are kind of there now (with selling them cheap). We don't have a problem finding buyers for the price she asks, we have a problem getting them trained to ride since we do it ourselves and its hard to find the time.
And I hope this isnt offensive either!

NZ Appaloosas Wed, 05/13/2009 - 22:06

Well, what sort of disciplines are being considered? Both mares are way to light for breed halter, and look too "short" for what goes into the APHA pleasure horse classes (based on comments made by people who show APHA, not on any experience myself--seems the 16+hh horses are the ones wanted for pleasure classes). Unfortunately, with long hooves, it makes it hard to judge pastern angles, etc.

Might an option be to consider leasing these mares out for 4H kids (or something similar), for use at this point, until your mom has a chance to get things all sorted and the mares in full 'bloom' for critiquing down the road for use as broodmares?

Diane

CMhorses Wed, 05/13/2009 - 22:36

The mares are Paint/QH but registered APHA of course. I would guess they would be good for western rodeo type events, that seems to be what our horses sell the best for-barrel racing prospects, but that could just be whats popular around here. Those mares are not trained, and are around 9ish years old (I'd have to look at their papers). They do have nice dispositions and I would love to train them to ride when I get the time, which will hopefully be over the summer.

Also I was surprised today at how long their hooves had gotten. Normally they wear down quite well naturally, maby all this wet weather has kept them from wearing and chipping.

Morgan Wed, 05/13/2009 - 23:09

I dont really see show horses in either of them, maybe games if they have the speed and mind.
1. She has the better hocks of the two but her hind cannons are a bit long, rump is steep (which I kind of like) but it is rather short. Her bone is light for my taste and her neck is a bit thick on the bottom, would prefer more jaw definition in a paint. I see trail and games horse.
2. first thing that popped out is her straight hocks, I dont really like that in a horse. Her tail set is also very high but thats more cosmetic (though it would be a problem in pleasure classes). Other than that she's a pretty horse with good balance,more substance and nice neck and head (depending on taste, its an old spanish style head). I'm seeing using ranch horse.

Now the bigger question would be are these going to be an ok match for the stallion, can we have pics? It might work out as long as he is stong in the areas where they lack. Personally I would only breed something a little higher caliber but it's your call as long as you know what to expect. Pretty much local level 4-H, rodeo, game and trail horses.

CMhorses Wed, 05/13/2009 - 23:23

She has some better mares than these two, but she did not want to breed them back to their father.
Local 4h, trail,rodeo and ranch horses are what we were going for currently.
I never got great pictures of our stallion, but I put him up on this forum, I believe the post is called AQHA stallion.
Also the second mare had an 'oopsie' foal from a colt of our buckskin stallion that turned out to be a rather nice local rodeo horse.