Horse Breeding Videos: Not What You Think
This writer has been studying horses as a hobby on and off for over thirty years. And I had to smack my forehead when I was asked to write an article on horse breeding videos. There are a lot of misconceptions about horses (pun intended), and one of those are about horse breeding videos. They usually never show horses actually in the act of breeding. Yes, you can get those kinds of videos, but not from a reputable horse breeder.
What Are They Then?
Horse breeding videos came out in the late 1980's, when the VCR became more and more affordable. They are long promotional advertisements featuring either the horses for sale or the merits of the stud's stallions that stand there. Arabian breeders are thought to have started this trend of making a half hour commercial for their stallions, but soon other breeds picked up the practice.
If you had, for example, a healthy champion Quarter Horse mare, you might wonder which stallion to send her to. Since a foal takes eleven months to gestate, you need to make this decision carefully. You not only need to make a decision as to what bloodlines would compliment hers, but what kind of temperament, breed and abilities should the stallion be.
Perhaps you've decided on breeding her to another Quarter Horse. There is a lot of demand for good purebred Quarter Horses, and sometimes financial incentives for breeding purebreds as opposed to crossbreds. But there are many stallions of the right bloodlines to choose from. Contacting Quarter Horse breeders and having them send you their current horse breeding videos will help you make your decision.
YouTube
The next generation of horse breeding videos are cropping up on YouTube and other video sharing web sites. This is a cost-effective way to reach a very large audience. Mare owners can do comparison shopping of studs right away. Good horse breeding videos on YouTube not only highlight the stallion winning a show or playing in his pasture, but also show his foals to show that he can pass on his good looks.
So, if you have that Quarter Horse mare, you can sort through YouTube looking for horse breeding videos of Quarter Horse stallions that are proficient in whatever horse sport you want your foal to go into. One quick tip - don't actually put "horse breeding videos" in YouTube's search engine if you don't want to be shocked.
