HGG Community Forums

PT measures the training potential (and therefore, indirectly, the showing potential) of a horse. It does not at all address the breeding ability of a horse.

So, if you have spayed or gelded horses with very low PTs, I highly recommend that you auction them. They will not be good Show Ponies and you can’t use them to breed, so really they’re pretty worthless to you.

If you have breeding horses with really low PTs, that does not directly reflect their breeding potential. You should definitely put any of your potential breeders through Breeding Advice. If they can’t pass that, they won’t be very good breeders. But if they do, there is no reason not to use them to breed if you like their color and size.

The only other thing to note here (well, there are lots, but I don’t want to hit you with too much all at once!) is that inconsistent horses usually have lower PTs than consistent horses. Consistency is at least partially inherited (though it’s not quite as simple as color genetics) so if you use an inconsistent low PT horse to breed, it’s foals are more likely to be inconsistent and also have a low PT. This isn’t a big deal if you are in love with the horse’s color, but if you’re only so-so on them, it can be a reason to sell them off.

I am already getting to the point that I don't like to keep anything lower than a 9.9. But I do sometimes if I really love them.

I would encourage you not to keep anything under a 9 PT as a show pony. But PT numbers don’t effect breeding ability. There are some very low PT mares running around who live in a pasture and are amazing producers for their owners. But there are also some low PT horses that are just lemons all around. It’s a gamble.

If they are foundations then no PT is too low, as it has no relation to breeding ability, but for showing spay/gelds PT's under 9 aren't much good.

For anything other than foundation horses though, under 9 is too low. Although it doesn't reflect on the horses breeding ability, it does reflect on it's parents breeding ability

Sqeakerblue! You said the M word! Math! *shudder*