Horse breeding

 Hi there, how are You? Hope You're doing fine and Your horses are healthy and mares safely pregnant! 

Another year has passed and we've come a long way with the Pintabian breed. And still not much, since we're still working with the first generation of our own breeding. But I've learned a lot, mainly because I started from zero. Let me tell You, the very first time I was in a situation where I might be on my own taking care of a horse giving birth I had to Google how it's done! Even though I had twenty years of experience with horses, I never dealt with birth before. Fortunately the mare also thought better do it later on, so I didn't help her alone. It was 2020 and she gave birth to the first Pintabian foal born here in Loimaa, Finland, all on her own in the pasture, at night. An entire month after the due date. 

The idea behind the Pintabian breeding here was simple. The breeders had the Pintabian stallion, and they brought Arabian fullblood mares from Lithuania in Finland to be used in endurance riding. One of the mares was a bit difficult to handle and not anyone wanted to buy her, so they thought they'd get a foal out of her. And what a foal it was, the most stunningly beautiful boy I've ever seen, with a friendly, calm and vice character! I fell in love with him, the breeders named him AK Sergei. During the time I spent with him I learned that these horses, the Arabians and Pintabians with a little extra to Arabian fullblood, are my horse breed. I wasn't able to purchase Sergei, since the breeders wanted to get acknowledgement abroad and therefore they sold him to Sweden. Unfortunately he died the very same day he arrived there. 

I had bought Sergei's mother, Automatika LT ox, and leased her to the breeders for more foals. I didn't have the courage to breed her for me, but I was there learning more every day. Automatika happened to be a good mare. Her pedigree wasn't spectacular but she had a good structure, good teeth and good overall health. Her temper was problematic but I believed then and I still do that it was because of the handling, not something biological. She knew how to get pregnant and how to take care of the foals, and she gave her all on every foal. She was a true Arabian mare, she wasn't easy to get to know and seriously wouldn't let anyone harm her babies, but to the ones she trusted she really gave her heart. She gave us three Pintabian colts, two from sire GP Touchof Dandi and one from Inkspots de Terackie. The first, AK Sergei, died. The two later ones, AK Janosh and AK RustyInk are here to stay with me. As stallions, for the Pintabian future in Finland. 

Today I was thinking that as a breeder You obviously need to know the lines You use. You absolutely need to have mares that are good enough. I've learned from experience that breeding isn't just adding the stallions genes to the mares genes by chance, lucky if the two represent the same horse breed. No way. We added the stallion and a mare to make another Pintabian, and yes we got a "purebred" colt, but he surely has some serious temperament! We didn't do our homework with the lines behind the parents, and now we have a small boy who's adorably beautiful but very opinionated. It's not wrong, of course! There are Arabian fullblood lines that do have some extra character, some charm, and also are quite difficult to handle. Not all of them are safely ridden, for example. And it's okay, but when I as a breeder am about to use these lines in my breeding program, I need to know what I'm doing. 

So the main question as a breeder is of course why am I willing to get this foal. Why do I use this specific mare and why do I want to use this stallion, what features from them do I wish to have in the foal. Do I want to keep the foal or am I going to sell it? To whom am I selling? What do the buyers want in a foal? I think that every single foal must be for a purpose. In my opinion there should be no foals born without a reason, just for fun or just by accident. At least those "love foals" should be wanted to keep. I find it very sad that there are many foals looking for the five star homes year after year, growing older and not getting the education and attention they deserve as individuals. Their moms might be on a sick leave from their actual jobs and therefore pregnant, their sires might be just the stallion that broke loose on the day. Their genetic constructions are not planned and there is no interest in the market for them. It breaks my heart. I've seen it, there's been some older colts, somehow they always are boys that end up being three or more years old, untouched and uneducated, fearful and strong, full of testosterone and very insecure. Many of them get a bullet, not the five star home. They would certainly deserve more, but there are not enough skillful people to take all of them. So my point here is, that when breeding, have a plan! We didn't and I learned my lesson. 

These are of course thoughts of a hobby breeder. We've had here a total of ten foals so far during the years from 2020, and one is on the way, an Icelandic horse. One foal and one mare lost in the birth. One foal and one mare saved from a possibly fatal birth in a wrong foal position in the uterus. Three cases of birth complications for the mares, all saved. One foal saved from a mystery illness via a month-long antibiotic treatment. Three foals born with legs that were not ideal, all fixed. One foal saved later on from a bacteria. Also some births that were optimal, everything by the book. I've had such strong emotions with all these babies that I can't even describe them here. But I know my limitations and I admit that I don't have the knowledge of a professional horse breeder. I don't have what it takes to tell which warmblood sports horse to breed and with which stallion. I can't even imagine what it's like to have something like a hundred foals born every Spring. And this brings me to the bottom line moral problem I've been also thinking about lately. 

As a breeder You always aim for the best. But as we all know You can't always get the best. So what do You do with the other, not so good ones? In Finland the harness trot racing is the biggest horse sport and standardbreds are bred only for that purpose. Every breeder wants to have the fastest, healthiest and strongest foal. After the racing career some of the horses are retrained to riding, but not all. What happens to all the horses that can't be on top in racing, and for some reasons can't be trained to be ridden? Most of them are killed. Of course I know that the horse doesn't suffer from the bullet if the shooter knows the job. It's always a better option than becoming neglected for example. But for me the question is that when a breeder knows the foal doesn't have what it takes to become the winner or anything they want, does the breeder sell the foal to anybody who gives the money, or does he give the foal the bullet. Since the breeders job is to breed mares for more foals, and they can't keep all of those foals that won't find their five star homes. It's a difficult question without one right answer to it. But it's also worth thinking about for a while, to be prepared to justify Your actions for Yourself. 

This text has been a bit more serious, but it's for a reason. These deep thoughts have been in my mind during Christmas time. The breeders here have decided to end the Pintabian horse breeding in their account. Inkspots de Terackie is still here but we don't have a mare, not a good nor a bad one. And we still do have both 2023 foals here as well, there's not been much happening in the foal market in Finland lately. Everything is so expensive these days that people rather buy horses that are ready to ride, not foals. So I'm fostering the genetic heritage of both stallions, GP Touchof Dandi and Inkspots de Terackie in these two boys, AK Janosh and AK RustyInk. Maybe another Spring will come for the Pintabian breed here, maybe not. At least I'm satisfied with my horses, they are exactly what I want in a horse. If this is the end of the Pintabian breeding story here in Loimaa, it is a happy one for me. 

Hope the best for the New Year 2025 for You and Your horses! 

Love, Anna