How many foals is too many?

What do you consider to be overbreeding (mare or stud)? I would just like ideas for my future breeding program. Thanks!

Last edited on 2016-02-17 at 05:45:35 by Demure Dutchies (Jenneth)

my strategy for now is only breed horses older than 15 cause of stats.
so i will probably get 5/6 breedings from a mare, more for a stallion.

All depends on your strategy i think, are you breeding for conformation and health or stats?

If its conformation you can start breeding them has soon has they are ready, then depends on the amount of foals you are prepared to have XD

I tend to have a maximum of 3 foals from a mare, maybe 5 for a stallion. I don't really mind more than that as long as it's not excessive (I would consider 12+ excessive), but personally I won't do more than what I mentioned above.

i agree with kate, personally for my private breeding program one foal is all i am doing per pair :)

I do a max of 4 for most stallions (not including twin potions). When I had mustangs I purchased from other players I was less restrictive and put them for public stud/brood with the exception of a few pairings with my own horses and their final breeding for a foal to keep.

for my store Arabians and GVs I'm going to stick to two breedings for each horse. My akhal tekes, which have a conformation goal, might be bred more often to ensure I get a foal with good numbers.

I don't have any issue with horses being overbred though. I'm just as likely to snag a 10 year old with 20 foals from the RC as I am one with 0

Was wondering yesterday if we will get twin potions back?

I have no issues really with the amount of foals a horse has. All that matters to me is that I have the last possible foal with the best possible stats from a pair.

I don't believe in the term "over breeding" when it comes to sims.

My own mares have a max of two foals, most of my stallions a max of 3.
I would never buy a foal if one of the parents has more than 7 foals.

I've thought of a new breeding program just to keep things a bit fresh and get new blood in.

When my horses reach 20 years old, I'll breed them in their pairs but only one foal per pair. Then, I'll buy a store foal to pair with the 2nd gen. I'll repeat this until I stop playing EV/stop the breed.

Not sure if this will work very well, but it's a good way of getting fresh lines in. Instead of getting store foals I may buy foals from other breeders but not entirely sure on that yet. I have a while to decide haha, my 50 foals aren't even a year old yet.

Does anyone find any faults in this idea? Or a reason I shouldn't do it? Is it a good plan?

Last edited on 2016-02-17 at 12:27:33 by ᴀᴜᴛᴜᴍɴ;;

Well, you'll be perpetually lowering the stats on your horses by using store horses.

What I do in some of my lines is add in a separate line of stores and this way once I get down to my last foal my horses won't take a stat hit.

i got several horses with high stas from RC and public sales and will breed them, now im getting horses with a good balance of conformation and stats from RC (but foundation horses) and will wait till they are 15 years old and older so that they had time to get more stats, that way i think will have enough new lined and high stat fooals lined up to breed (mostly colts for my TWH program).

its the only way at least for my TWH breeding program since im breeding them for dressage and there are no public stud stallion that does dressage

:D

Last edited on 2016-02-17 at 12:48:13 by T&T Ragnarok Stables

I try to use the "rule of real life" in my breedings. A typical stallion can sire as many foals as shipped semen and live covers will allow. I don't restrict stallions because of this. Mares, I typically don't like to see any more than 5 foals. This all being said, I do wait until my horses are 15-17 to start breeding them here, so that limits how many foals they are able to produce.

I keep my foals at 6, or less, regardless of the gender of the horse.