Tuesday, December 16, 2008

DQ'ed

I proudly say I'm a dressage queen.

DQ status usually comes as a negative connotation. We've all heard of the evil narcissistic DQ who hogs the cathedral-silent arena with perfect footing, excessively places demands, hates anything different and generally is just... evil.

But I believe there are good DQs out there. The ones who, while are fussy, are doing things for a larger persepective.

I'm not your typical queen. I ride ponies, I do my own chores and try to remain as nice as possible (most of the time). I can, in theory, only afford one lesson a week, and the other three come from a unique exchange. I ride with reiners, and go gallop out.

Being a DQ I can't resist the larger horses somedays and was contendedly planning a breeding program around them.

But since my eventual ascent to co-director status for the National Dressage Pony Cup, numerous conversations about ponies popping up, I've come to realise that I was on the right path to begin with (and what I was more comfortabling dealing with to start).

I've begun to realise the breadth and depth of my commitment to ponies, to the point where starting over seems not only foolish, but detrimental. Breeding and training elite ponies is no small task.

Training wise, the community is fractured. Mares are sent in to be breeding stock past the age of four. Stallions are breeding actively and breeders usually can't afford to send them off to be promoted. Geldings are just sold. There isn't a link between breeders and rides. There isn't a huge effort to track bloodlines as a larger whole.

So finding quality stock that is semi-broke and not breaking my wallet is incredibly tough. Finding siblings or patterns is even harder.

Finding mares that have not only competed above 4th level, but have excellent minds and pedigree are hard to find, if not damn rare. I have one of those coming up and people are clamoring for carbon copies.

So, the formula is clear. Find the very best mares, who have records/high rideability, compete them, breed them (via ET) and see what occurs.

Time will tell if the formula will work, but meanwhile, I'm gathering force.

2 comments:

Mama2Arden said...

Just picked up your blog...not even sure how I found it...but I've greatly enjoyed reading about your plans and look forward to watching them unfold.

Karen said...

I think you've really got a cool thing going with your goal of breeding world class ponies. It will take time, but I can't wait to see some of your results!