Breeding can be a pleasurable hobby, and checking potential sires is one aspect that many breeders enjoy doing themselves. If you are really interested in beating the odds, selecting a sire with a pedigree to match your mare needs careful consideration and, yes, research.
Everyone is happy to give their advice, for free. “It’s the same cross as Auckland Reactor, you can’t go wrong.” “Try Under A Plum Tree. He’ll give you a 7x7x8x5 to Michaelmas Daisy.” Or in my case, “You’d be mad not to go back to McArdle.”
There’s no shortage of sires to ponder over – including a stallion called Ponder!
Pedigree matching has become a bit of an industry, with theories, books, software programmes and consultancies. There’s plenty of material about pedigree theories and lots of pedigree charts on Tesio or the HRNZ website to study in the wee small hours if you can’t get to sleep. I often tuck up in bed with John Bradley!*
But how many of us feel confident that we understand the significance of what we are reading?
And which, if any, of the theories has been proven to work in practice?
Where can you get good advice – and is it worth paying for it?
b4breeding 
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