Choosing a Stallion for a Mare

It’s getting to be that time of year when people are pondering breeding their mares. I was asked how I choose a stallion for my mares. It’s a decent question since I have three foals due, by three different stallions!

From my perspective, there are three fundamental questions to consider when choosing to breed a mare:

1. Do you need to breed? This is the title of a chapter in my first Fell Pony Observations book, and while it may seem annoying, it is based in the fact that there are many, many unwanted equines. I have even seen unwanted Fell Ponies, and it’s not something I want to see again. So if we’re wanting to bring another Fell Pony into the world, we’d best have a pretty good reason to do it. Click here if you’d like to read the chapter from my book. Spoiler alert: breeding a mare isn’t a way to make a profit…! If you decide to breed to produce something to sell, be prepared to keep the foal for as long as four years, which is the longest I’ve had to keep one before it sold, thanks to the Great Recession. So, ask yourself honestly: do I really need to find a stallion for my mare after all?

2. What are you breeding for? The Conservation Breeding Handbook states: “A basic and guiding philosophy is the single most critical component of any breeding program. A breeder’s first task is the development of a specific purpose in breeding animals. This may seem obvious, but it is very often overlooked, with the result that breeding is done with little progress toward any goal.” (1) Putting another rare breed foal on the ground isn’t a good enough reason (see #1 above). Rare breeds, including the Fell, don’t need randomly bred animals that may cause people to choose what they know instead of something unusual like a Fell. You will want to choose a stallion that will produce with your mare a foal that is consistent with your breeding philosophy. If you are interested in reading the chapter ‘Breeding with Intent’ from my first Observations book, click here.

3. Where does your mare need improvement? There is no such thing as a perfect pony, so it’s important to choose a stallion that will improve on her. In Sue Millard’s very important book Hoofprints in Eden, she quotes Ivan Alexander of the Lune Valley Fell Ponies as saying, “It’s more of a ‘trying to knit ‘em together,’ than ‘picking two good ‘uns.’ You’ve to try and find summat that’ll suit what you‘ve got. Mind, having said that, you want summat that you like, cause if you don’t like it to start with you’ll never like it, will you?” (2) There is an entire chapter on creating the next generation of Fell Ponies in Hoofprints, collecting the wisdom of the long-time breeders Sue interviewed for the book, so I highly recommend reading it. Click here for reviews and more information.

It's one thing to ask these questions, and another to answer them, so here’s my current answers. 1) I have chosen to continue to breed Fell Ponies despite the unwanted-equine problem because I have a clear view of what is special about the breed and of how to produce ponies that will be good partners for their humans so are unlikely to become unwanted. If I don’t feel I can produce ponies like that, I don’t breed. 2) My breeding philosophy is to produce ponies that have important breed characteristics that I feel are in danger, specifically proper movement (very different than action) and a ‘package’ suited to the breed’s historic versatility: ride/drive/draft/pack. 3) I am my mares’ own worst critic. None of them so far fit the picture in my mind’s eye of an ideal Fell Pony. If you don’t know where your mare’s faults are, find them, because there is no such thing as a perfect pony. I used three stallions last year to see how they could improve the three mares.

I chose to use three stallions for three reasons: First, I’ve used all three of these stallions before, so I have seen what they throw, and I know there’s always more to learn. Second, all three mares have been bred before, so I have seen what they throw, and again I know there’s always more to learn. Finally, each pair had unique circumstances. In one case, I felt an outside stallion was a better fit for my mare than the stallion that I have. In another case, I very much liked what my stallion and the mare produced, and I’m looking forward to another just like it. And in the last case, I bred a very good mare to the father of a filly I own to learn more about the filly.

I was asked whether I prefer stallions that have a history of working. While I have used that criteria in the past, there’s so much more to what a stallion brings to breeding. I was reminded of the late Walter Lloyd’s advice. Walter was the long-time breeder of the Hades Hill ponies and someone who put Fell Ponies to work in numerous ways. Walter’s son Tom is now stewarding the Hades Hill herd and shared Walter’s selection criteria for either gender in a Fell Pony Podcast: 1) will it survive on the fell? 2) will it breed (recognizing that not all ponies will), and 3) can you work with the temperament? (3) Notice that only one of these has to do with working, and it isn’t even about working in the strictest sense of the word. It also occurs to me that a temperament that one person can work with isn’t necessarily one that another person would choose. So again, we as mare owners must answer the three questions above and develop our own unique selection criteria.

Several of the breeders interviewed in Hoofprints said something similar to this advice from Barry Mallinson of the Hardendale Fell Ponies: “People want to look at what to improve. I look at the actual quality of the ponies. You’re just trying to breed better each time as you go along. And it can go wrong. It can throw back to its grandparents and you’re nearly back to step one again.” (4) Breeding is obviously not for the faint of heart!

1. Sponenberg, D. Phillip and Carolyn J. Christman. A Conservation Breeding Handbook. Pittsboro, North Carolina: The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, 1995, p. 11.

2. Millard, Sue. Hoofprints in Eden, Hayloft Publishing, Kirkby-Stephen, Cumbria, England, 2003, p. 97.

3. Lloyd, Tom. “Episode 10: Ruth Chamberlain,” Fell Pony Podcast at https://fellpony.co.uk/podcast/2022/1/10/episode-10-ruth-chamberlain

4. Millard, p. 97.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2022

When Traits Seem to Skip Generations

My late husband always said that he’d never forget the look on my face as we watched one of our early Fell Pony foals being born.  The foal had a huge white star, the biggest I’d ever seen on any equine, let alone on a jet black Fell Pony.  I suspect I was holding my breath.  I eventually let out a big sigh.  “He’s a purebred,” I said.  “I wonder where that came from.”  From that day on, the further I got into Fell Pony breeding, the more I heard, and even said myself, “Traits can skip generations.”

I’m grateful to Sue Millard, who wears many hats in our international Fell Pony community, for making the connection between epigenetics and the oft-uttered phrase “traits can skip generations.”  Epigenetics is the study of genes that express themselves differently than through heredity.  Dr. Carey Satterfield says, “I would define epigenetics as alterations in the pattern of gene expression, such as ‘off/on’ or ‘a little/a lot,’ that are based on changes in the structural configuration of the DNA rather than its sequence.  These changes can be permanent and have been shown to be heritable, but not always.” (1)  Satterfield says that every day there are new findings, so the definition will continue to evolve.

What causes alterations in gene expression?  There’s more unknown than known, but the environment in which a fetus develops in-utero and neonatally is known to influence gene expression.  Click here to read about how room in the womb influences size at and after birth, for instance.  Some epigenetic modifications occur only on genes passed by the father and some passed only by the mother.  Some affect only the current generation and some can be passed to the next generation.

Some traits that are thought to be influenced by epigenetics include coat color patterns and markings, cannon bone circumference, and glucose metabolism.  How mares are fed before and during gestation has received some study.  Ardennes foals whose mothers were fed concentrates in addition to forage were eight times as likely to develop the joint condition osteochondritis versus those whose dams were fed a forage-only diet.  Saddlebreds fed forage-only diets had foals with thinner cannon bones, less efficient glucose metabolism and delayed testicular development compared to foals from mares who’d received concentrates in addition to forage. (2)  There is concern that mares who are overweight when bred could produce foals more likely to have the easy-keeper’s disease equine metabolic syndrome.  Another area of concern and potential research is whether human handling of foals neonatally could cause epigenetic changes in the foal. (3)

Many Fell Pony breeders have experienced similar surprise to mine when they have a foal born with white markings to two solid-colored parents.  I often think of the late Tom Capstick’s comment (paraphrased here) that the best way to breed white markings is to breed non-marked parents together.  A review of Fell Pony foal markings from 1993 to 2018 indicates that, of the foals born to solid-colored parents, an average of 25% have white markings.  Overall, we have an average of 33% of each foal crop with some sort of white markings. (4)  Mr. Capstick’s comment, then, isn’t far off with one in four foals carrying markings despite solid-colored parents! 

1. Oke, Stacey, DVM.  “Understanding Epigenetics and Early Equine Fetal Development,” thehorse.com article #120762, 1/1/2012.

2. Chavatte-Palmer, Pascale, et al.  “Developmental programming in equine species:  relevance for the horse industry,” Animal Frontiers, July 2017, Vol. 7, No. 3.

3. Satterfield, M. Carey, et al.  “Review of Fetal Programming:  Implications to Horse Health,” AAEP Proceedings, Vol. 56, 2010, p. 207.

4. Color/markings reports from the author’s Fell Pony Pedigree Information Service software for 17 years between 1993 and 2018.

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2020

More articles like this one can be found in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.

A Conversation Between A Mare and A Stallion

Because I breed almost exclusively by live cover, I do a lot of teasing, watching for how the mare and stallion communicate with each other.  Is the mare interested in the stallion’s flirtations?  Does the stallion sense the mare will be receptive to his advances?  Or is the opposite the case?  I realize that I’ve considered teasing to have two possible messages – interest and no interest - but a mare recently showed me there could be a third.

As I watched this mare over the course of several weeks of teasing, she showed me the two messages I was expecting.   At first she was uninterested in the stallion.  If I were to put words to her communication, they would be, “Don’t even dare coming any closer to me, or I’ll turn and kick your brains out!”  Then she came into heat, and if I were to put words to her behavior, they would be, “Come here pretty boy and let’s see what we can do together.”  The third message came after her heat cycle had ended.  I realized when she expressed disinterest in the stallion, it had a different character.  If I had to put words to her message, they would be, “Thank you for our interactions.  I’m no longer interested, but I appreciate your cooperation.”  The mare’s disinterest was less intense, and she tolerated the stallion’s company seemingly because she appreciates being in foal. 

Not all mares enjoy a stallion’s company after they’re bred.  I suspect that’s why I’ve never previously realized my inaccurately narrow view of the conversations between mares and stallions during teasing.  Now though, I realize that one other mare had a similar threesome of teasing communications.  She too enjoyed a stallion’s company while she was in foal.

I was speaking to an acquaintance the other night and expressing my envy at his multiple generations of animal husbandry experience.  Because I’ve been doing this for just twenty years, his 60 plus seems eons longer.  I was surprised by his response.  He said even though he has more years of experience than I do, nothing’s really ever the same, and he’s always learning how to steward his animals better.  Good to know!

© Jenifer Morrissey, 2019

More thoughts about breeding Fell Ponies can be found in my book Fell Ponies: Observations on the Breed, the Breed Standard, and Breeding, available internationally by clicking here or on the book cover.