[whicker]

I'm considering breeding my best mare and would appreciate your thoughts. She is willing, talented and takes care of me. She was in a broodmare band until I bought her at age 7, with less than 30 days training. She is about 15.3h, and takes after her damsire, Rubinstein. I would like an amateur friendly, kind, sound UL horse for all seasons. eventing, foxhunting, dressage and mountain trails..

http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/donner+rubina

Vineyridge, I sent you a p.m.

[Judysmom]

LOL When I read your title I thought the "is my dress too sexy" spammers were back!!!

No advice on breeding, sorry!

[whicker]

Well, She is gorgeous and all the geldings in the hunt field become blithering idiots around her,

I can't change the title to say its really about the ultimate stud.
Not that that would help..

[bornfreenowexpensive]

She is really pretty. Not a lot of blood in her pedigree although she is pretty modern looking. I would still pick a sire who is more of a refining type.

Me, I'd probably look at some of the eventing traks. like Grafenstolz or Tzigane.

Royaldik might be interesting with her, would give you line breeding to Rubinstien. He's lovely in person...can jump a house and a good mover. I think you would have enough blood with that combo for 2* but beyond that might be iffy. http://yancey-farms.com/royaldik.html

Since you had so many goals for this offspring (and goals that I would say need a catty, smart and tough horse)....I was thinking an out of the box suggestion might be that Akhal Teke stallion who JER used for her mare -- Super Star. He is at the bottom of the page her:

http://www.willowhillequestrian.com/stallions.php

Their TB stallion also looks interesting...


Good luck. You know your mare best. She has some great dressage lines and that seems to be what she was bred for. I think you will need to make sure you add as much blood and jump as you can but not lose her movement given your goals. (and of course keep or add catty, tough, smart...etc. )

[whicker]

How close does one go with line breeding? She has 3 of the top lines. What are the pluses and minuses of doing that?

I was thinking about an out-cross, for hybrid vigor. The long oval rib cage is an easier shape for me to ride. I do better riding a Tb shape/ a shaped tree than an arab or hoop tree shape.

She is refined and light. One of the things I love about her is her sense of balance. When I bought her, I thought that para-equestrian was all I would be able to do. (I had broken my back, courtesy of a deer) She has taken on every new thing I've asked of her, as my back improved. She is very soft to ride, and doesn't hurt my back.

I need to be careful to keep the trustworthy if I ramp up the octane.

[Clear Blue]

I just about fell off my chair when I saw her pedigree - lucky you!!

In the picture shown on the all breed site - is she the mare or the foal?

If she has had some foals before I would check them out to see how she produced - and use that info as a starting point.

If she was in Germany (or you don't mind frozen) I would consider Sir Shutterfly, in the US maybe Lagoheider.

Good luck!

[bornfreenowexpensive]

How close does one go with line breeding? She has 3 of the top lines. What are the pluses and minuses of doing that?

I was thinking about an out-cross, for hybrid vigor. The long oval rib cage is an easier shape for me to ride. I do better riding a Tb shape/ a shaped tree than an arab or hoop tree shape.

She is refined and light. One of the things I love about her is her sense of balance. When I bought her, I thought that para-equestrian was all I would be able to do. (I had broken my back, courtesy of a deer) She has taken on every new thing I've asked of her, as my back improved. She is very soft to ride, and doesn't hurt my back.

I need to be careful to keep the trustworthy if I ramp up the octane.

I'm not an expert in line breeding but the theory is that it consolidates the traits so you have a greater predictor of what you will get. The trouble is it will consolidate good AND bad traits....so you do need to be careful.

Royaldik is out of a TB mare and from what I saw in person, he was more of a TB type. I didn't think it was too much line breeding with your mare as it would have the consolidation in the 3rd or 4th generation and that is what I understand is preferred....and it was just the one line.

I would do as much research as you can in to what she has produced as a broodmare. If you can find her offspring, that can help you a lot in trying to think about what cross you want to try.

[whicker]

She is the black mare. Her filly foal is by Liberty Gold, and was kept by her breeder in the broodmare band. I hope Vineyridge can help me remember her name.
Rubi also had an embryo transfer filly foal that was carried by a surrogate mare. That transfer happened a cycle or two before the breeding of the one above. The sire was a Knabstrupper. Note the horses grazing in the field and the herd of goats meandering through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BECdXG-q6co

[Clear Blue]

I almost recommended Liberty Gold as he is such a good cross with the D-R lines. He himself had good jumping scores. We saw him at his performance test in Germany(won the SPT) - what a sweet heart! The only question on him is sometimes the foals are not big - so depends on if that is important. I would definately track down the LG filly and see if you like her.

Lagoheider would still be on my list. He is a full sibling to the GP jumper Landor S. Lago competed in GP dressage in Germany with his American owner. He is now back in the US. Some of my friends are breeding to him for the Hunters. His owner is super nice to work with and the few times I have seen him in person he appears to be quite the gentleman (I think he won his performance test as well).

[whicker]

With permission of Karen Meyers, the photographer, these are some photos of Rubi out hunting with Old Dominion Hounds.

This was at one of the special CotH meets at Hunter's Rest farm. Please check the threads over on the hunting forum, to enjoy the fun

http://www.KLMImages.com/p893998861/e1372def5

(This is the first time I've posted a photo on CotH- Hope this works..)

[JER]

bfne's suggestion of Super Star is an interesting one for your mare. They certainly look like a good match from the photos.

You can see my Super Star mare here. She's a brilliant jumper, a beautiful mover and you can take her out on unfamiliar trails anywhere by herself for days. She also works cattle like a pro. Her dam is full TB.

[Stacie]

Whicker, I know you don't want to hear this, but with a back injury, a baby is going to be challenge. They can be very physical as you well know. Plus it's going to be years before that baby is going to be steady eddy enough to pack you around without risk of further back injury from spooks or being dumped. Even the good ones are silly when they are teenagers. Not to mention all the cash outlay for breeding, raising and having someone else train your youngster because you just can't take the chance of getting hurt....again. Rubi is a lovely girl and I love babies, but are you willing to wait that long for your baby to be settled to be sure of not being hurt?

[tuppysmom]

My vote would be for Tzigane. We have had 4 of his foals, so far, and they have ammy friendly temperaments while maintaining the ability to compete in UL company. We have an approved son of Tzigane here who we started as this summer and took him to his approval test. He has a stellar temperament.

We bred our Rubenstein grand daughter to him, we like him so well.