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Narrowing studs down...
  • I went through and narrowed my uneven boys out except 2. How do I narrow my even boys down even farther? I know realistically I won't use all of these boys. What makes you all choose who stays intact and who doesn't? I know I want to move all my lines into two lines only. One line I want strictly DP and Macchiatto.
    My next line I want to go black based. I want to combine my KPGP, Ice9.
    I love black horses with white on them. Just not sure how to do this.

    I want to go to sport ponies/riding ponies.
  • I usually start with my basic cutoffs - consistent, proper paper level for their generation, and superior to sire.

    Once I've got all the boys who make my cutoffs, I start by looking to see if I already have any boys in their generation. I usually will accept 2-3 boys per generation/line, so if I don't have any yet or only have one, I'll accept one or two into the line just for passing my cutoffs. If I've already got enough boys in that line/gen, then I'll look to see if they have anything special - rarer genes, etc. If they're special enough to keep I keep 'em - if not they join the show horses.

    If you've got a line that's specific about colour then I'd add the colour into the basic cutoff - so for DP/Macchiatto I'd require the studs to have either one of those or both of those genes. Then when you're narrowing down, you can give preference to boys that are hom Macc and hom DP for instance.
  • I'm much more strict with my studs than my mares. If they are from a line that I have for a specific gene (snowflake, KP, GP, etc), then they have to express the gene to stay intact (A het snowflake stud will most likely get snipped at 3g, as will a hom that didn't pick up Lp). Colts that were supposed to get ice, Axiom or Nexus will get snipped automatically if they missed it (het parents). After that, I look at lethality. I don't like w1 or w2 simply because they really don't get along well with much. If a foal gets one of those genes, it will most likely get snipped, regardless of sex. Frame is one I have a lot of, but I try to limit it in my studs (with varying degrees of success). At 2g, if it's a toss up between a colt with frame and one without, I'll snip the one with. I lost 3 foals this year (2 to frame and 1 to splash2, splash3) because I wasn't paying attention.
  • I breed for grullos with white patterns excluding roan and appy. Each server also has 2 special genes I’m breeding for on top of the grullo KP and nexus on hj1 and ice and satin on hj2.

    I mostly pasture breed and remove all the foals of one generation at a time. some years I sort in the primary barn, other years they get sent to their generations barn first before sorting.

    First off I run all available testing on all my foals from the barn page so none get skipped because they’re so perdy! I usually go strict breeding advice, performance testing and Gene testing then stop before papering.

    Next I view all that barn in search clear gelding and spayed mares from the options and search by consistency, flip to the last page and alter all the inconsistent foals.

    Then I put grullo in the colour name and select not like and alter all that appear.

    Next I search for all intact and use the “find on this page” search function on my computer or phone and look for Sa, NX, IC and KP depending on which server I’m on those are all pattern indicators in my horses names. I go through and either add the indicator to the name or snip. Nexus and ice must inherit one copy of the gene. I’ve started to be more selective with actually putting horses with the same genes together so they have 2-4 chances of inheriting at least 1 copy. I only have a few satins and haven’t saved enough to add it to a foundation yet so am not too concerned with continuing the line at this point so if they inherit great and it’s not an automatic snip. Once I have my own foundation things may change. Searching Kp I add KP to any homo kp and kp to any foals of homo KP horses. Once again if the foals don’t inherit or show the kp I don’t snip but if I have multiple similar sons I’ll keep the homo KP intact.

    Next I’ll paper everyone and then go through each barn moving show horses out and into show barns and do a quick check down the papers column and snip any of the lower papers. I’ll allow the top 2 paper levels for each generation but if the higher paper level is becoming the majority and I’m looking to snip I’ll cull the bottom paper.

    Once all those basic testing and snipping is done (it looks like a lot but I’ve got it down so it takes maybe 15 min each barn to test, sort and snip everything.) then I start going through all the stud colts and comp testing to their sires snipping all AGA or worse and adding notes and prefixes to the superior colts. Once all the foals have been comp to their sires I go through each studs page and look at their colt foals, snip the lower paper levels and comp test the rest against each other snipping worse than unless there’s a superior then snip all the other colts.

    If a stud still has a bunch of colts I compare gene tests and keep the ones that will guarantee the most patterns or are EE DD so their foals will be grullo
  • Since you have a goal in mind I would open a search for all your studs and mark don’t show macchiato, E and ice 9. Go through the studs that are left showing and snip any that are not DP, KP, or GP.

    Check to see how many studs you still have and maybe go through and snip all your tall horses and ones with heavy bone weights
  • I do mine a little bit backwards, but I find it helps keep my colt numbers down and keeps me from spending too much unnecessarily.

    First I run SBA, then gene test those that pass. I pick out any that have the genes/color I want for that line, or any that are just super gorgeous. I then PT those "first round" colts. Any inconsistent get thrown out, or rarely GMT consistent (if I feel I can't likely breed a similar one of better quality). And then I will paper and pick out the best papered and compare to sire. Occasionally I don't get any from a line that pass this way, but most lines I already have studs for, so I'd want higher quality to replace those, and I am fine with not keeping a colt from every line, every season.

    This method keeps me from papering 30 intact colts, when only maybe 10 are correct colors i would use anyway. It also keeps me from having to compare several colts to sire and each other. And since I don't test the colts that don't fit my program, I'm not tempted to horde colts I won't use just because they are quality. I figure I can always breed the parents back next season if a colt I like doesn't pass and eventually get a better colt of similar genes or even one that has a better combo.
    #28036
    Thanked by 1GeneverGinger
  • My problem is all of these boys have passes SBA. I think I need to really figure out what color I really like. I love buckskin duns and black tobianos.
  • That's why I pick colors after SBA. I get 30+ colts that pass SBA and only keep maybe 5.
    #28036
  • I usually work through mine by generation.

    So SBA first, get rid of any that don't pass. Paper next, get rid of anything that doesn't meet standards. Then PT test and remove inconsistwnt unless I think their patterns make them worth keeping. Then fire through gen testing and remove anything that doesn't match what I'm looking for, like not picking up fancy genes from parents.

    Then I compare to my current studs from that gen of similar genes. So I had 2 4 gen studs, one with kit M and one with ice 1, then got a same quality 4th gen foal with kit M and ice 1 so got rid of the previous two.

    After you've sussed quality, it's mostly about colour and personal preference!
  • My method is similar to @Haltanny - SBA and purge alters, then gene test and remove anyone who doesn't fit my goals (e.g. in my black line, studs aren't allowed to carry cream or w20). Then I do PT and papering only on the ones that are left, and then pare the list down based on that.

    Comparison testing is still really expensive for me, so I don't use it until I've narrowed things way down to 3-4 colts for the generation.

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