Saturday, April 23, 2011

Picking From Available Friesian Stallions At Stud

By Merle Nixon


People who own wonderful mares also own a wonderful possibility - that they can breed their mare and get another wonderful horse. In order to do this, however, they first need to go through the process of picking from available Friesian stallions at stud.

Well-bred Friesians are great horses. This breed excels in many different sporting and show events, including dressage, showing, riding, carriage work and more. Standing 15-17 hands high on average, they are built like a light draft horse, and only a bit smaller. Black is the only registerable color, but because many blacks carry recessive chestnut genes, the occasional chestnut purebred is born.

There are differences in what to consider if you are trying to breed a purebred foal versus a crossbred foal. Conformation is important in both cases, but in different senses. A purebred foal should be bred to meet the breed standard as closely as possible, while there is no standard for crossbreeds. If your mare and her mate are both Friesians, it is important to consider what their faults are, and how they will complement each other.

Crosses between Friesians and other popular breeds are also common. These horses excel at many different aspects of horse showing and sporting, and people often breed them for a specific purpose. Conformation is important for these foals, too, but only the type that affects their ability to work. Checking in with people who own the specific cross you are considering can give you a good idea of what your foal might grow up like.

Once you are sure that you want to breed your mare to one of these majestic stallions, it's time to start looking for that perfect stud. Try to look at not just pictures and the horse's pedigree, but also the actual horse and any of his offspring that may be in the area. If more than one of his offspring displays the same fault, it might be a recessive gene he is passing on, no matter how perfect his conformation is.

Temperament is one of the things to consider in both the stallion and his offspring. A trained horse won't behave the same way as an untrained one, and a two-year old is different from a ten-year old, but a basically solid, not-too-spooky, not at all mean temperament should be apparent in the stallion and his offspring. Willingness is an important, and genetic, quality in a horse.

Consider a sound, well-built stallion with a great temperament even if he has never been shown. The horse's owners may have not had the time or the money to show him - it doesn't make him a lesser specimen. Alternatively, don't choose a stallion just because he has won many awards. There are other, more important considerations to think about.

friesian stallions at stud




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