Choosing a Stallion
The most important question for any breeder is how do I choose a stallion for each mare?
Breeders are given very little guidance and information on this process.
Traditional methods of selecting stallions have focused on type/conformation, breeding for spectacular movement, and breeding champion to champion. These all seem like logical paths to take. However, history has shown us that hybrid horses like warmbloods do not breed true to type, and that breeding champion parents has a very low success rate, as many champions have weak pedigree structures and are unable to reproduce their desirable characteristics. These topics are discussed in the Breeding the Best to the Best and Breeding for Type pages.
A pedigree full of top performing GP stallions has been another well tried method, or using Olympic winning stallions – but the blood of these top stallions does not always work well together and has not reliably produced more GP horses.
The latest trends of using spectacular moving young stallions seen in short social media clips, as compelling as these are, are not a reliable method of selecting stallions. Spectacularity is not an heritable characteristic, and given that 90% of stallions fail at stud, it is risky and one dimensional.
Stallions should be chosen with clear breeding goals in mind, and focusing on what the mare needs first and foremost, to bolster her strengths and improve weaknesses. Stallion choice should be an intentional selection process based on what the mare needs to upgrade her progeny in terms of type and athleticism. Decisions should be grounded in scientific principles, history, a basic knowledge of genetic inheritance, a study of bloodlines and close relatives, genetic compatibilities and affinities – together with conformation, temperament, soundness and how these all interact.
It is about raising the probability of breeding a top horse from the cross between stallion and mare. It is the cross that is important, and not the traditional focus on the stallion to bring all the quality to the foal and to “fix” flaws in the mare. If the genetics do not build on each other’s strengths or blend together in such a way that the power of the DNA from superior ancestors may be available to the foal, then no matter how spectacular moving the stallion, it is unlikely to yield quality results.
No one method can guarantee success or all breeders would be using it. The probabilities of breeding a top horse improve when breeders use all the tools and information at their disposal, from many different sources.
Balanced Breeding Principles
A very useful tool that breeders can add to their selection process is balanced breeding principles and pedigree theory to help plan more effective matings. In this way, choosing stallions that are genetically compatible with your mare is the starting point for deciding whether to proceed with a stallion. These principles are not meant to replace traditional methods built up over years of experience in choosing stallions – they are meant to be used alongside these to help make the best choice for the mare.
The first step in choosing stallions is to evaluate the genetic dominance in the mare by looking at her extended pedigree. Notice what ancestors she has duplicated in her pedigree within seven generations, and make a note of which generation they appear in. Are the bloodlines are coming in via sons, or daughters of sires, or sons and daughters of sires (sex balanced line breeding), or if you are really lucky, two progeny of a mare. This process determines what type of breeding method the mare is going to need. Some mares will need linebreeding, or very carefully evaluated inbreeding. Mares that already have a tight pedigree structure may need an outcross or a partial outcross mating. It is also possible to see if any female families and strains, mitochondrial DNA and sex linked genes can be built into a mating – as well as any nicks and genetic affinities that may be helpful.
This way you can see what potential connections the mare’s pedigree has and what corrections will be needed in the next generation to upgrade the sport ability and type in the foal.
Stallion pedigrees are evaluated in exactly the same way.
Test Matings
Hypothetical test matings are run where the mare and stallion pedigrees are evaluated together on the one page. These are a vital part of the process in stallion selection, and are the key to finding compatible matings for each mare.
The only real way to critically evaluate which method of breeding is required for the mare is with balanced breeding and genetic compatibility principles. These give you the ability to analyse and interpret pedigrees and the complex relationships within them.
The best stallion choices will have both parents bloodlines combining in such a way that the foal has the best chance of inheriting the superior DNA and sport ability of its ancestors.
Test matings are the actual starting point in narrowing down choices and coming up with a short list of stallions for each mare – in line with the goals of the breeder.
This way you do not end up getting crazy and impulsive about a stallion and then have to work backwards to get a mare to fit. This process allows you to draw a line through stallions that are not going to add to the mares genetic strengths, and may even detract from them – even though they have great commercial and popular appeal.
Once the short list is in place – then assess each stallion on the equally important aspects of conformation, temperament, soundness and athleticism – together with what the mare needs to upgrade the quality of her foals.
In this way breeders can make more informed decisions in choosing stallions, and begin to think in generations. Future matings can be considered which will cement the bloodlines being built on in the current generation.
This allows the breeder to have more control and creativity in the selection process. Breeders may find themselves considering stallions they would never have looked at before instead of just going with what is popular. It can mean bringing in or revitalising different bloodlines, and bringing together important female strains and dam lines.
Clive Harper: “These methods are not a silver bullet, merely a way of minimising the risks of breeding failure.”
Top breeding stallions reflect the principles of balanced breeding. It can be seen in the pedigree placement and reinforcement of their dominant superior ancestors – but these prepotent creatures are fairly rare. About 90% of stallions fail at stud across all disciplines, and those that fail tend to have a much looser pedigree structure, and are therefore unable to reliably transmit type and sport ability in the progeny, unless they happen to meet the right mares.
Many of the stallions that fail at stud are freakishly talented riding horses, performance test winners and Bundeschampionate or World Young Horse Champions. They are sold on as riding horses , or to another country, after a small number of disappointing foal crops because they may not have the tight gene groupings in their pedigree that dominant breeding stallions need. One of the biggest problems is that they are largely missing out on meeting mares that carry the strains they need to produce well.
The most profound statement made on selecting stallions comes from pedigree expert Clive Harper :
“The most important principle in breeding – which most people find difficult to understand – is that a stallion will tend to get his best progeny from mares whose pedigree lines complement or supplement his own genetic strengths.”
To complement means the mare may add an element – such as providing a daughter of a sire to balance a son of that sire in the stallions pedigree, or adding a full sibling to an important line in the sire’s pedigree. To supplement means to add more lines of what is already present in the stallion pedigree – to strengthen and cement the effect of important bloodlines and ancestors.
Examining a stallions top progeny in sport and his stallion sons is definitely the most effective way to determine what patterns are working with his own pedigree structure. There is more about this in our in-detail page on stallion selection.
Evaluating an effective pedigree using Balanced Breeding Techniques
A simple but effective example is stallion Graf Top – Hanoverian stallion of the year 2011.
Graf Top is by Graf Grannus – who is 3 x 4 x 4 to elite sire Gotthard. This is his pedigree dominance within seven generations. He also has Goldfisch II at 6 x 6 x 5 x 6 x 4 – he is the sire of Gotthard and appears once as sire of Graf also. This line is present only via sons (which will ideally require a correction later).
Starting with the mare, Capries herself – she is the product of an outcross mating. She is by Calypso II out of a Gotthard / Steinpilz (TB) mare – Holstein / Hanoverian / Thoroughbred. She has no common bloodlines both sides of her pedigree at seven generations , and at first glance this is not an ideal breeding pedigree for a mare. However, on a closer look she has superior ancestors and elements in her pedigree that can be built on with the right stallion selection.
This is why running test matings is so important- it reveals what dominances and directions are possible, with options you would never have imagined otherwise.
Graf Top’s dam Capries here creates a balanced genetic connection by adding in a daughter line of Gotthard in the 3rd generation.
Graf Grannus has the stronger genetic pattern here, and she is able to tap into and expand on that by adding another line of what is already present – she is supplementing the stallions own genetic strengths.
Gotthard is represented at 4 x 5 x 5 x 3 – right in the engine room of the pedigree.
It can be just this simple – adding in one line of what is already dominant in the stallion.
Foals by Graf Top have a raised probability of inheriting the superior sport characteristics of Gotthard with these duplications in this position. It gives an example of how a mare who does not have a solid genetic dominance of her own can be used to breed a top horse.
Capries actually produced a full brother – Graf Top II, who on record at Horse Telex only had 13 progeny – yet he produced 4 Prix St George dressage horses and one 1.40 m show jumper – so something in the crosses was clearly working.
We will look at the show jumper, Stakkato’s Highlight, that Capries produced as another example of how to build on her genetics and how to choose a stallion for her.
Stakkato is an excellent choice for Capries and is a direct example of what Clive Harper is talking about when he says that stallions tend to get their best progeny from mares that supplement and complement their own genetic structure . Stakkato’s sire Spartan is out of Gottlinde – who is in fact a full sister to Capries’ own dam – Geri.
These full sisters Gottlinde and Geri appear at 3 x 2 in an inbred pattern. Geri is very importantly on the tail female line of this horse, which takes advantage of any superior mitochondrial DNA and sex linked genes from this family, which has produced some elite performance horses. These full sisters are not just any horses – both are by Gotthard who is the linebred target in this instance.
A quick look at Stakkato’s top progeny reveals that he is indeed looking for mares with Gotthard , as was Graf Grannus, as one way of cementing his own pedigree dominance.
Geri is from the Steingilde female family, and she also produced the GP dressage horse Giovanni (Graphit), and her daughter Candy produced well known stallion Laptop (Loredo). Full sister Gottlinde is dam of sire Spartan (Servus) ,and dam of 1.60m and 1.50m show jumpers, Alwins As and Starlett N.
Geri and Gottlinde are also sisters to Gambrinus 1.60 m show jumper – indicating the possibility that this family transmits superior mitachondrial DNA.
So not only does Stakkato add a full sister to a horse in Capries’ pedigree – he also adds two crosses of Gotthard – in a similar way to Graf Grannus. This allows Capries to link in to the sires greater genetic strength with her one line of Gotthard. And very importantly, Stakkato adds a Goldfisch II daughter on the 5th generation (not seen above) that is very valuable.
Whenever there is an over riding dominance of a line through sons only – as in Goldfisch II here, present three times via sons, the addition of a daughter line will bring it into a sex balance, which opens up the power in the line and is more effective for the transmission of sport ability.
Stakkato brings potency, reinforcement and balance to Capries’ own pedigree structure. This closely related group of mares were bred often to Stakkato or his son Stolzenberg , so the breeder obviously realised that something about Stakkato was working with his mare line , even if he didn’t know why.
The pedigree can explain the consistency in transmission of sport potential, and reveals how a simple sex balance of a male dominated line can sometimes be all that is required to open up the flow of sport talent to the progeny.
The further addition of a sibling that is connected to the dominant factor in the pedigree, and also adds a duplication which engages the tail female dam line, is the most powerful configuration of all to bring forth athleticism and talent to the foals.
The mare Capries happened to get what she needed in this mating, and also in the mating with Graf Grannus to produce the stallion Graf Top – but these things happen rarely by chance. A different stallion with no common bloodlines would have left a random outcrossed pedigree with no common relatives either side, resulting in a foal with no genetic potency , that may have been a nice riding horse but would have been little use in sport or for breeding in the next generation.
This is a great example of how pedigree analysis can reveal how matings can be planned for in a concrete way, and how test matings can reveal different ways of building in and reinforcing particular superior ancestors in the mares pedigree. It shows how important female family strains can be united, which you would not get in random matings to popular stallions. It is an excellent example of how running test matings can effectively be used to manipulate the genes that will be available to the foal – and to allow the breeder to have more control and a creative input into the process.
By running test matings, breeders may end up considering stallions they would never have looked at before, which will produce a much better outcome in the foal than a popular or random choice with no common elements.
This is also the beginning of putting the mares needs first – and this is why balanced breeding and genetic compatibility should be the first stop in stallion selection.
To read more about Stallion Selection, continue on to Researching Stallions.