One more time. Which horse would be better suited as a stallion?

Question

First and foremost, let me say this. These are not my horses and I am not advertising them for sale nor am I buying any of them. Thank you to whoever reported this as me advertising. The question posted is not about buying or selling. My question is: Which of these horses would be the better stallion prospect? Since I see this all the time about how cool owning a stallion is, should I get a stallion as my first horse, should I breed my stallion, etc. I decided to let everyone here look at several horses and list the good and bad points and maybe open a few eyes about what is and is not stallion material.

The gray horse is listed as having points in multiple AQHA events and a World class pedigree and a great disposistion.
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa283/paint_pony/horsec.jpg
The big sorrel & white overo is listed as having points in halter, color, roping and western pleasure in APHA out of a World Champ sire
http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa283/paint_pony/horsea.j

The tobiano horse is listed as having a "sweet disposistion

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa283/paint_pony/horseb.jpg

Like I said earlier, one is still a stallion and two are geldings. Which one would you leave a stallion, or would you geld them all?

Joan, read the whole question. This is not about ME owning, buying or selling a stallion. It is to maybe educate some on here who think stallions are "cool" and do not realize that not every horse was meant to be a stallion

Frozen - I understand. I was sniffling when I had to retype this whole thing over again because of some little troll. LOL

Link to the sorrell and white horse picture (horse #2)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa283/paint_pony/horsea.jpg

Barbara - Evidently you lack the knowledge to completely read and understand the question. Did you miss the part about this is not a "buy -sell" question, but rather a conformation one? Evidently your lack the knowledge to be able to compare horses and list the reasons for keeping a horse a stallion or gelding him. This question is meant to educate people just like you.

Just for the record. I have owned horses for 35 years and shown several to World Champion titles. This is not a question about buying a first horse for me, or do I like or dislike stallions. This is designed to point out flaws in horses (and they all have them), and maybe make someone realize that the sometimes a trip to the vet could be the kindest cut of all.

Not drinking the Pepto yet, instead I am going to order a Pepto IV after this one.

Answer 1

Ok, I will answer your question the correct way, lol! The two paint horses have very bad conformation for BREEDING purposes, they both have very up right shoulders, straight hocks, short necks, and the list goes on.... The first paind horse that HAS shown is nicer then the thrd paint horse. But I would NOT ever breed my mare to them. However, the grey horse is REALLY nice looking! I absolutely love his type, he is really an awesome looking horse. He has a very well proportioned body, his neck is nice and balanced for his size, good lenght of back, nice clean looking legs, and a sweet looking face. I def. would consider breeding to this horse.
I hope this answers your question!

Answer 2

Based on the three photo's, I prefer the gray as a QH stud prospect. I wish his shoulders were even with the butt and his neck had some muscle, but he looks like a fine example of his breed. He has the best back of he bunch by far.

The tobiano is hard to see in the pic. The way he's turned, his head looks too big for the neck and he looks oddly balanced. He might be put together well, but hard to tell. What I see would be a better gelding.

The overo horse looks young (I hope), poorly muscled, and has a very weak back and pencil neck. His shoulders need to catch up with his butt, but even then, I'd have a hard time fitting a saddle to this fellow. If it is a baby, he might grow out of this, but that long back and general conformation will make him hard to keep together. Nice color, but looks very odd to me overall.

With my favorite breed of horse, Spanish horses, A stallion is much preferred for a riding/ showing horse. Of course, owning a stallion in Europe is much easier and accepted. I could not find a single mare broke to ride and few geldings, usually coming from the killers in Spain. I have yet to see a mare or gelding in the show ring. ;-( The stallions I've ridden have been amazing and 100% better than all the geldings with no stud behavior. My next one might be a stud that I geld so I can have a quality gelding that might keep his stallion fire and looks. I'm glad most other horse breeds are not so rigid in acceptable show and riding horses!

Answer 3

Hi, first off I think that you are perfectly qualified to own a stallion and you have made it perfectly clear that this is not your first horse you are poking at the people who want one for their first horse.
(I too loathe the idiots that think ooh a stallion cool should I get one? and then when every one advises them not to the thumbs down you) . I have several and they are quite a sound investment providing you a. know what you are doing, and b. you shop for a stud carefully. I think this is a great question

It would be nice to see these horses move because I feel that a horse's athlectic ability is just as important as looks and conformation as well as attitude. Just by looks alone, I am having a tough time deciding on number 1 (gray) and nuber 3 (tobiano). I do not like the build of the second horse (overo) because I think he has an ugly neck and I do not like his hocks b/c I think they are too straight. I do not want to offend you I mean his markings are pretty....but pretty is as pretty does if you invest in a stud it is your obligation to improve the breed and the other two are built beter, thus I am assuming they move better and they look nice too. As for deciding between the gray and the tobi...I'd like to see the back end from another angle on the gray ashe may be a bit straigt hocled too, but he has a nicer neck and better top line. I like the fact that he is gray and a pretty variety at that, I am bored with the solid brown QHs of the past decade (on a side note, just down the road form me, what is now a gravel pit was a stud farm and for a limited time, wimpy stood there and an old guy told me when they were digging for gravel they dug up tons of foal skeletons because if the foals were born with any white they were destroyed!) So I am glad that grey is popular again, but the gray gene can be trickey as it is domiant and sometimes comes up when you do not want it and it does not mix well with some colors, so you may be turning some peole off with the fear of not the color they want. The tobi has nicemarkings and you do not have to worry about the overo lethal frame gene and his markings are popular...thus almost guranteeing an influx of clients. I liked his topline and his neck too. But I guess I would pick the gray based on pedigree and show history.

As long as you have a safe facility which I am sure you already took into consideration (here in connecticut studs have to be kept in metal pipe (round pen) corrals).

This stallion selection process remindsme of an old saying about finding and breeding for the perfect stallion. "Out of 100 stallions you should geld 90 and shoot 9...and then you might still not even have the right one."

Answer 4

Okay, I'm chiming in as far as this goes - all three should be gelded. Just because a horse is a champion does not make that horse stallion material. Only horses that display the closest to specific breed confirmation should be kept as stallions and that is debatable as well.

The gray horse is a quarter horse and two me is nothing to write home about and if I was to evaluate these horses on whether I would like to breed my mare to one of these horses if the other two were stallions is a resounding no. First, pictures do not tell a whole story about a stallion - he could be the most gorgeous thing out there but his attitude sucks and he has a tendency to pass on this type of personality to his get - do you want to deal with that?

So to answer your question - non would be a better stallion prospect and because your comparing apples to oranges it doesn't quite make sense.

Answer 5

The only horse I'd take as a stallion is a Gypsy Vanner. It'll be a long time before I have the money for that purchase though. I'd only get a gelding in all other cases. If a person wanted to get a stallion for stud then he would have to be of exceptional bloodlines to make any good money. I wouldn't be riding him.....it's too much of a risk on a person's physical well being. I don't know what the big deal is with this question. People need to lighten up. If you don't like the question then move on. It's not like any animals are being hurt here. I got my education from owning a horse and as far as I'm concerned that's the best way. There are plenty of people out there to help (i.e. trainers, vets, other horse owners, etc.).

Answer 6

I agree that non are good stallion material at least as far as I'm concerned, judging by pictures. But there is so much more to evaluating a stallion than pictures. If the grey horses points were in cutting or reining I might not care so much what he looks like.
In many ways the thought of people coming here to learn about horses is very scary. The answers you got to this question make me fear for the future of our sport and our world.

Answer 7

Ok, I would not have kept any of them entire. Most stallions should be geldings. It takes exceptional traits to make a stud in my humble opinion and none of them look like anything particularily special. I also want my stallions (and I have owned 7 in my life) to have a superlative competition record before I use them on my mares. For the dressage horses I want a dressage index of at least 125.
I looked at your grey horse and wouldnt want him entire as he is croup high. This is a major fault and makes training hard. (The grey he is supposed to look like another poster showed us is a lovely specimen and would make a super riding horse. Lovely conformation) The red and white youngster is sooo ordinary, why leave it entire its just a garden variety neddy.
Let me agree with you...stallions are not cool or suitable for novices nor is it necessary to keep every colt ungelded...it should be the best of the best of the best, only!

Answer 8

I can't see the picture, but on your discription I would say the gray horse. He has points which shows he can be shown, he has a world class pedigree which shows he comes from a line of producers, and disposition is just a bonus. As we all know when it comes to horses that are shown big, its mostly about pedigree and show-ability. If the horse has a bad attitude but can be shown and win, who cares. But if the horse has a bad attitude and can't be shown or win, then theres a problem. The Sorrel and white overo, sounds ok, too but if he is only out of a world champ sire, and not having a world class pedigree I would place him below the gray. And the sorrel having the great disposition, well who cares. If I am going to spend my money on a stallion to breed to I am going to look at what the horse has done, and what the horses in that stallions pedigree has done.

Answer 9

People don't read.... Do they??? I agree with Debbi, good luck trying educate some people. The only one I liked was the Grey(but I don't know much about Quarter horses conformation, just the general).

Answer 10

I'll hazard a guess here that the first one is the stallion. Good luck with your attempt to educate people but I think it will fall on mostly deaf ears. It's the same sort of thing as having a pitbull - because it looks good.
Sorry but I wouldn't have a stallion on my mind never mind my stableyard. I have worked with them but I prefer not having to muck out whilst armed !