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Choosing the right stallion for your mare is a difficult job with all those studs on the market. Do you want to cross-breed or stay true? Should you artificially inseminate, hand breed or pasture breed? The answers depend on what you intend to use the foal for and how easy or difficult your mare is to settle or take.

Generally speaking, you should know what breeds of horse are suitable for your discipline of riding. So if you want a cutting horse, you probably don't want to cross your Quarter Horse or Paint mare to a Thoroughbred. Conversely, if you're looking to improve your hunter horse, you might want to breed more with a Thoroughbred or Warm-Blood.

So you know what breed and found a few studs you like. My best advice is try and find one you can drive to or go see in-person. We took my QH mare to be bred to an Appaloosa stud and both the studs were much smaller than their photos showed. I didn't want a real tall foal so it didn't matter to me, but a photo can be deceiving so beware.

Also, it is better to haul your horse to the stud farm and have her hand bred or pasture bred because it's probably cheaper than AI or artificial insemination. You can price both methods. Most importantly, your odds of success are higher with a live breeding than with AI. You pay a lot of money for that little vile when it may not take.

My husband and I raise and breed Appaloosas. We wanted to breed my QH mare Abby to an App.. I chose a local stud, one that would be 100% color producer on a solid horse. He didn't take. So next season, we bred her to my few-spot App. stud. He was unproven and it didn't take. Finally, my mare was bred to our blanketed App. stud and she had a filly. It took multiple pasture breedings for my mare to stick probably due to her age of 15.

With Appaloosas there are two ways to breed. Foundation or modern. I'm a big fan of foundation lines. With these you get leopard horses, lots of blankets and spots, not to mention you're preserving the App. breed. Many people are breeding modern to Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. It is ok to a point, but the Appaloosa journal advertises solid colored horses as full blooded Apps. and that is not right. These horses are non-characteristic and therefore not the breed standard.

No matter what kind of horse you have or hope to produce, breeding is a difficult choice. Do a lot of research and look around at different farms. Good luck.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca K..
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