Conformation and the Breeder's Report

[CarouselCowgirl]

I'm a bit confused about these two things. The conformation report tells you how the horse is built and how his/her conformation affects their abilities. That's easy, but the Breeder's Report I don't fully understand, and how these two things are related to each other is a bit muddled in my mind.

I think I remember reading a comment someone made on the forum here, and it might have even been from larissar, that the Breeder's Report is only meant to be "an educated guess" about how the horse does as far as each specific ability. The only "definitive" reports are the red and green ones. Is that correct?

From there, I thought that conformation affects the breeders report. I am not sure about this though.... I mean, it would make sense for it to, but I am not really sure. For example, I've seen horses with a green trait, and then I look at their conformation, and it's, hypothetically say, a +6. But then I go and find another horse that is +13 for conformation in that area but the breeder's report isn't green.

So, this led me to wonder... maybe the conformation does play a part, but there are other things that we cannot see that also affect the breeders report. It makes sense in my mind that a horse doesn't necessarily have to have the best conformation to be great at something...

Am I on the right track with these thoughts? If so, what is the best way to select your breeding stock? Show scores?

[Argent II]

I think I remember reading a comment someone made on the forum here, and it might have even been from larissar, that the Breeder's Report is only meant to be "an educated guess" about how the horse does as far as each specific ability. The only "definitive" reports are the red and green ones. Is that correct?

Yes, the BR is just a guide, with some built in ambiguities for realism and my infinite frustration. Yes, only red and green are definitive.

From there, I thought that conformation affects the breeders report. I am not sure about this though.... I mean, it would make sense for it to, but I am not really sure. For example, I've seen horses with a green trait, and then I look at their conformation, and it's, hypothetically say, a +6. But then I go and find another horse that is +13 for conformation in that area but the breeder's report isn't green.

Yes, conformation is factored into the breeders' report.

So, this led me to wonder... maybe the conformation does play a part, but there are other things that we cannot see that also affect the breeders report. It makes sense in my mind that a horse doesn't necessarily have to have the best conformation to be great at something...

Yes, conformation does have a strong effect. Yes, there's more to the story.

Am I on the right track with these thoughts? If so, what is the best way to select your breeding stock? Show scores?

Show scores are the most definitive performance selection test.


I'm going to watch this thread to see if anyone else has figured it all out. It's interesting to see other players starting to get curious about how things work.

[Ms. Trouble Maker]

Will confirmation reports be available for non premium users at some point??

[Argent II]

No, conformation reports will most likely remain an upgrade feature.

[Ms. Trouble Maker]

ah ok! Thanks!

[Weaving]

To be honest I wholeheartedly agree with Argent. I bought this up a little while ago cause I'd been really going at the conformation and getting some stonking results, only to see the horses come out with a poor show record and a fairly average breeding report. So basically, the breeding report has *almost* become null and void for me. I base almost entirely on local shows, I go for a strong win at Level 3 and if they don't achieve that then I rehome.

I was really reluctant to trust the local shows because of the time factor but I have to admit defeat. Going purely on show scores I've been breeding some corkers!

[Ms. Trouble Maker]

To be honest I wholeheartedly agree with Argent. I bought this up a little while ago cause I'd been really going at the conformation and getting some stonking results, only to see the horses come out with a poor show record and a fairly average breeding report. So basically, the breeding report has *almost* become null and void for me. I base almost entirely on local shows, I go for a strong win at Level 3 and if they don't achieve that then I rehome.

I was really reluctant to trust the local shows because of the time factor but I have to admit defeat. Going purely on show scores I've been breeding some corkers!

Ya I don't pay attention to breeding reports! I train all my horses till they're about 4 years old and enter them in about 20 competitions each and some do extremely well and others get 0 points...I've had some horses with positive (green) agility suck at everything. lol and maybe it's because it had poor confirmation....since I'm not a premium user using the Breeding Report to me is completely useless because even if it's all positive the horse might just have a crappy build!!! where as I've had some horses that have had horrid breeding reports but they'll become champions and get 6,000 show points and stuff.

[Ms. Trouble Maker]

This is a great example of the Average Breeding report to a little below average...yet he has like 7 championship titles and a world record title and has earned a total of around $16,000....I try to only specialize in western events because to me if horses have to have a certain build to excel at different events then I should be golden as far as breeding horses outside of my barn.
http://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/196066

[CarouselCowgirl]

Thanks everyone.

During my first round of Percheron breeding, I was focusing solely on a few conformation traits and the breeder's report. I only bothered to show a few.

After noticing the +6 green horse and the +13 not green(hypothetical, but it was very similar), I began to doubt breeder's reports after I had thought I had heard that they weren't that reliable anyway. I will likely move to only trusting green and reds.

With showing to assess your horse, how is this best done? It seems like ya'll are talking about local shows. I'm not sure I fully understand what affects them either. I've had a horse do okay in level 3 local shows but then they got to level 8 in the same discipline in the other competitions... Should I bother training before showing to assess them, or have ya'll found that it is unnecessary? What about the level of the local show? It seems like level doesn't affect score... am I right?

[Argent II]

BRs are reliable, just vague.

LS are absolute, general shows are relative. Training is a must. Level does not affect score.