We wrote the below back in the early 2000’s and it still holds true for us today.
The present strategy at Dominion Equine is to assemble a strong band of both Paint and Quarter Horse mares and then to selectively replace some of our (very much-loved!) girls with their daughters if we believe the daughters offer a stronger contribution to the overall aim of our breeding program (and if we can find it in our hearts to part with them!). We prefer to credential our mares in the performance arena as this gives us some idea of what to expect from their foals. However, we will also incorporate mares based on the strength of their bloodlines and closely related siblings, again if they pose a positive contribution to our breeding aims.
The ideal ridden horse needs to be a combination of outstanding talent, type and athletic ability with a trainable mind and calm temperament. Of course breeders and competitors alike realise that it is very difficult to assemble the complete package in one horse – but that doesn’t stop us trying! To this end we select stallions to cross to our mares that we believe will capitilise on the mares strengths whilst improving their weaknesses. Although a secondary consideration, we do also take some note of the colour of Quarter Horse stallions and mares and if possible we prefer to use stallions/mares that have a greater chance of allowing the expression of white modifying genes, but it is only a minor consideration and the overall quality and genetic contribution to the type and performance ability of the resultant foal is the overriding factor.
Flat knees and strong, deep hocks are imperative for a pretty moving horse that is a pleasure to ride. Straight hocks that are conformationally unsound and unconducive to proper and comfortable movement are undesireable, and whilst currently trendy for some in the halter arena, have no place in our breeding program. The powerhouse of movement comes from the hindquarters and we prefer to aim for and select horses that posess the ability to pick up and skip their hocks together at the completion of each lope stride (which unfortunately many cannot – and this is not just restricted to western pleasure horses!).
We also like our horses to be multi-talented, capable of much more than Western Pleasure. Often in the western performance industry there is a pre-occupation with Western Pleasure as being the be-all and end-all of western horse breeding and training. We see many people get disheartened every year because they cannot do well in the western pleasure class and they forget about training or trying for all the other events which make up the western performance disciplines. This is particuarly so for Youth and Amateur competitors. It must be kept in perspective that the training required for Western Pleasure is foundation training upon which all other events are built and so we expect our horses to be competitive in Western Pleasure and also in other events including Trail, Western Horsemanship and eventually Western Riding. Our horses must also have a temperament that can be handled by Youth or Amateur competitors as they are the cornerstone and future of our industry. Horses that require excessive muscle from a trainer to show or lack athletic or mental ability to compete in more than one event are not desireable.
We do try and breed Western Pleasure horses as we love the aim of this class: horses that are a pleasure to ride. However we also expect our horses to do more than just follow the rail and they should be able to be willingly guided through whatever it is their rider requires of them. If you are new to the western performance scene and you haven’t ridden a western pleasure trained horse we strongly recommend you try one! There is just nothing better than being able to jog and lope along at a steady pace on a draped rein and just savour the experience of a purely enjoyable ride!