WHOBAA COMMUNITY MESSAGE FORUM - By digitalcreations

My Waler mare is only 5 so I don't intend if at all to let her have a foal until she is much older. If I decided to put her in foal it would be for me to keep anyway. It's hard to find Walers over here and she is such a wonderful horse it seems more sensible to find her a nice boyfriend and make one myself anyway. That also will be a challenge. But I am torn as to wether to do it or not. Time will tell down the track but I thought I'd see what you thought out there in cyberworld.

So my question to you all. Why did you decide to breed?

G'Day FMN
I think the answer to your question, from my point of view, is in W.H.O.B.A.A.'s Vision Statement:
The Future: Our vision is that once again the Waler will be recognised and identified as our unique Australian Heritage Horse. It's contribution to our pioneering heritage and the way of life we enjoy today will be honoured and preserved.

I believe in this vision wholeheartedly.
When the opportunity arises I will put my Waler mare in foal, mind you, we only have a few Stallions in N.S.W. also,
like you said FMN Walers are hard to find in W.A., not just W.A. but I think all over Australia. So treasure what you have and use her wisely.

Cheers!

How do you plan to go about finding a stallion that best suits your mare?

Stallion to suit mare ? ...... I guess it's just a matter of considering what is wanted in the foal, and the characteristics of the stallion that may influence the result of the mating.
A few to consider may be as follow ... of course there is no way of knowing whether the mare or the stallion will dominate in influencing the foal any any respects, or even if some previously hidden trait will suddenly crop up. We just have to make the presumption that the mare and stallion will pass on the traits they exhibit and both contribute 1/2 each to the foal.
Some things to consider ....
a). Temperement. No matter how good the foal looks or performs, temperement is paramount. A bold stallion may compliment a placid mare etc. etc.
b). Soundness.
c). Conformation.
e). Rembering that the size of the foal is more likely to be influenced by the mother.
At the end of the day however, if you AND THE MARE like the stallion, they are not suspected or known to be related, then that is the bottom line .... especially if you want to keep the foal rather than produce one that will appeal to a certain market.
It is also worth consideration than no horse is "perfect"; some faults in a stallion that are of little practical consiquence may not nescessarily be expressed in the foal - or if they are may be more than compensated for by the good points in the foal.
Hope this helps a little, the subject is very deep and there are many opinions out there.

How do I choose a stallion? EASY!!! I look out my front door to my gorgeous boy lol... But seriously there are some beautiful stallions out there and I wholeheartedly agree with Gatekeeper and their suggestions... Good Luck

Yes it's picking a boyfriend that she's going to be happy with thats the trick isn't it.

In a perfect world I'd have her in a paddock with a shortlist of spunky boys in adjoining paddocks at various spots around her and see which one she picks. But alas that is not an option. Esp here in WA where we have slim pickings with possible boyfriend material.

I don't think any Eastern States Stallions come and spend time here either do they? I guess the ideal would be breeders doing a little temporary Stallion swapping.

I dont think you will have a problem with her liking the stallion or not. All the mares I have had here to Dibs have liked him as soon as they were in season.