Seven Hacks For Picking A Great Dressage Foal - Hack #4: Factor In Bloodlines

Breeders and professionals with knowledge of dressage horse bloodlines can be a terrific help. This is one of the great advantages that breeders have in Europe. By attending the stallion inspections and young horse championships, they have early knowledge of which young stallions are producing the next generation of great riding horses. It’s not uncommon for me to hear Americans talking about a stallion they are excited about, when in Europe, people are already breeding to that stallion’s best son, or even grandson!

Typically, people focus on the stallion when discussing a foal’s breeding, but I recommend focusing on the mare line even more. As temperament is one of the most predictable traits that mares and stallions pass on to their offspring, prioritize foals out of mothers who competed successfully in sport. If you’re buying a potential breeding stallion, look for mother lines that have produced other approved stallions. 

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to buy a foal out of a good mother-line and this is also why I’m a huge advocate of shopping in Europe for world-class foals. The number of world-class mother-lines in Europe per square mile is exponentially higher than in the United States, where we have a much smaller percentage of exceptional mares and they are scattered far and wide. 

Certain bloodlines produce certain traits, good and bad. Knowing the bloodlines helps you know what to look for. For example, I can think of one stallion that often produces crooked legs. Knowing that, I’m very careful to look at his offspring’s conformation. Some bloodlines are known for producing foals that are prone to cribbing, or easily develop uneven heel height. Some stallions produce fabulous young horses, but they rarely make it to the FEI levels. 

Be careful not to be completely dismissive about any particular bloodline. Some stallions that are reportedly difficult to train are fabulous in the mother line. The famous Amor was an example of this. His direct offspring were mostly difficult, but he produced many mares that became famous producers of horses that didn’t have Amor’s difficult nature. 

While I’m a strong advocate of picking good bloodlines, I’d caution buyers to pay a lot more attention to the horse itself. I’ve seen many, many terrible horses by famous stallions. I look for a fabulous foal that has the brilliant traits of its parents. There are plenty of mediocre horses with great pedigrees. I see them advertised on Facebook every day. Be careful not to end up owning one of these by being too enamored with the foal’s papers. 

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This post is the opinion of Steven Wolgemuth at the time of publication. If you have ideas you'd like to contribute to this article, a question, or even a disagreement, please share them with Steve. Together we make one another better.

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