b4breeding

Breeding horses successfully involves a whole raft of factors.

Fact one: Breeding successfully is not easy. Only a tiny proportion of horse bred for yearling sales get those top prices, and many struggle to cover their costs. And only a tiny proportion of horses bred each year reach the stage of racing and winning, let alone becoming consistently high performing horses.

You often hear the simple formula: “Breed the best to the best and hope for the best”.

For me, the formula to “beat the odds” of successful breeding looks more like this:

1 + 2 + = + $ + U + ?

Which translated means:

1  What the mare brings to the table, plus
2  What the sire brings to the table, plus
=  How those complement each other, plus
$  The added value of how you raise the foal
U  Your goal – what you are aiming to succeed in, plus
?  An element of luck.

My blogs examine the different parts of this equation.