What you look for...

Ok - you have all inspired me...

What do you look for in a stallion?
What are the MUST haves and what are the just nice features???

For me it is:
1) Pedigree - sire line is 25% and female family 75% - I don't give a rip who his sire is if his momma was a whozitwhatzit...I need that female family to be strong! (and yes, I have bred ONE mare to a stallion who has NO female family...but that is another story)

2) Performance - I want a race horse (over 100k and fast and sound) OR a horse that had a dang good reason for not running (ie: non-racing injury, etc)

3) Individual merit - looks, etc...conformation...

4) Fee...

Usually I look at ALL of the studs in my price range and I include stallions that are out of my price range by 500-1000...then I evaluate them all - then I call and see what kind of deal they will give me :-)

My mare isn't good enough to fix some stallions...
I want a stallion that fixes my mare!!!!!!!!!

GENES talk!

First, for me, form to function.

If Im breeding for

Pleasure,
I want him to be a pretty pleasure sire. Good in the hocks, Good lift to the shoulder, flat knee, at least 15'2. Pretty to look at. Pretty to look at, something that will make it stand out in a sea of good moving horses.
Preformance record With a Reg. Assoc. Use to that wouldnt have mattered but with todays market, A must! Only way to market a foal.
IF he has foals on the ground, Id like to see them doing something as well.

Halter stallion,
at least, 15'3, N/N, Show record with a Reg Assoc. Again if old enough, foals doing something in the show ring. Color a plus but not a must.
Not as Posty, as I see some of the stallions I see winning, Call me silly, but Lord, Id like a sound adult horse. And hopefully, as close to level as possible, Good V, nice slope to the croup , muscle, neck coming out high from the chest, pretty headed, clean throat latch, long neck. Short headed and big pretty eye.

Huntseat, 15'3 plus. Long , lofty Stride. ( this is me posting, Yes it looks like this! ) Long clean neck, comes out of the shoulder well, and clean out of the chest. Higher set to the croup. Again, AQHA/PHBA/APHA Show record. Show me your worth sending my money on please. Again A marketing tool.

All the above good minded, and after all of this, 20% of my mind is swayed with bloodlines. MY GRIP.. To much Line breeding.

The first thing I want to see is a pedigree with horses I am familure with and like. If that passes then I want to see confimation. And, if he isn't pretty forget it no matter what. I like my QH to be built like bull dogs, have arab type heads, big round butts, wide chest with a nice deep V in them. It does not matter that much to me what they have done. Simply because most of that is fake and not natural for the horse. I like to see what is real and not man made. Keep in mind I am a halter person who thinks a horse should be ridable at the same time.. Too many halter horse have had so much done to them they are not who they appear to be..

Also, so much of what a horse has accomplished is based on politics and who has the most money to go there with them. This does not mean the produce it. I do also like to see some of the foals they put out there. Some of the best horses in the world cannot produce.

for a stallion he must have a show record take the stallion we are breeding to he has won over 50,000 NCHA not much I prefer over 100,000 but it is free (because my mare is a producer)... his sire is a huge money earner Peptoboonsmal and his dam is a huge money earner over 100,000. He has also produced futurity winners in his 1st crop to reach that age last year. I wouldn't breed to a horse that doesn't have colts winning $ earnings and sire and damn earnings. He does have roan color and produces it which does help although not a huge selling point. I will only take 1 horse on the papers to not have a show record or I won't breed outside to it I have my stallion at home why spend the money. I have spent a huge amount of time selecting mares with pedigree, conformation, disposition and earnings specifically for my stallion and am seeing exactly what I wanted. Further he must complement my mare each of my mares has strengths and weaknesses as each stallion will have them I want to see offspring and the stallion and see if they will hopefully be complementary.

Oh, WOW, that's a tough one... just my opinion on this...

Definitely what Bluejay said - gotta be purty - I don't care what the heck he's doing, if he doesn't turn my head, he's not turning anybody else's.

I've been to the World, Paint and Quarter alike, and I see some of those stallions coming out of the class (I'm right on the ground at the gate to see this), and I'm like, uh, WOW, he doesn't impress me at all!!!!! Usually it's the ones who didn't win that impress me - go figure!

I want something that doesn't have to have points, money, whatever... that's not what I'm after. I'm after something that has the attitude and the presence. In other words, I want something to match my personality. If we fight, then so be it, but if we come together, we'll be one heck of a team - been there/done that mess!!!!

I read something a long time ago about picking racehorses... now, I don't know if this is true, but it's always stuck in the back of my mind... when you go to pick a baby, you pick the baby out of the alpha mare. Why? Because she's the boss, and her baby will think it's the boss... and it'll intimidate the living snot out of anything it runs against. Granted, I've never had running horses, never intend to, but to me, that goes for any discipline.

I know as time goes by, what I liked and bought 20 years ago is nothing compared to what I buy/bought within oh, the last 3 years. Whole different ballgame, different class all together. Comes with age, ya know...

Truthfully, the mares are what I worry more about. Stud can put maybe a little something on them, at least probably 95% of them- the other 5% that can put their look on their babies are few and far between. It's the mares that I put the money and the stock in. Kid puts a little finesse on the real good mares and a little more bulk; on the ugly/average/all-around mares, he puts a lot of finesse... go figure!

The hardest thing about breeding that I've ever encountered is getting bloodlines to match -- good GAWD that's a pain in the arse! What should match, doesn't; what should, won't; what works years with the same mare and stud, doesn't always work one year - get that throw-back or something or another.

I'll tell you something else a friend of mine once told me... you better by-gosh look at the grandparents of the sire and dam - especially the dam. She used to always tell me, you want to know what they're going to look at, see the dam's dam....oops! HA! One reason, why if at all possible, I try to see the dam and sire out of each one I'm breeding! If I can't, well, it's called shooting craps!

I don't pick a stud because of what he's done or not done or whatever... that doesn't impress me... money can go a long way, and I'm not impressed with that... there's a certain look as far as bodywise and in their eye that I'm looking for. When I see it, I know it. And it brings up goose bumps, I get all giddy, and start trying to figure out HOW IN THE HECK I'M GOING TO AFFORD 'EM! HA! Simply put, I want the warrior with the body and the mind. And once you match with one like that... oh, man, life don't get any better than that, as far as horses that is!