Hil's Hooplah and Hullabaloo

[Hilayla]

Chinese Pony Conservation Project

Breeding Cycle Two is complete. This season I got 3 fillies and another colt.

A1


5* Chinese Pony
Pony, Medium
Green Balance
HGP: 38.831
COI: 21.19%

1B


4* Chinese Pony
Horse, Medium
Calm
HGP: 34.840
COI: 18.32%

C1


2* Chinese Pony
Pony, Medium
Bombproof
HGP: 37.055
COI: 28.83%

D1


4* Chinese Pony
Pony, Medium
Bombproof
HGP: 35.184
COI: 34.06%

As no colts are old enough to replace their father I repeated all the breedings a third time.

[Hilayla]

Results of Breeding Cycle Three

I'm too lazy to put all their info unless someone is curious. I rebred the mares to the foundation stallion one more time. Since some of the mares aren't dropping until summer now I might not rebreed next spring and just start the next stage of the project in my 200th year.

Other Breeds

I've decided to phase out the Tarpans and Przewalskis by merging them into stock for Mongolians and Chinese Ponies. I'm kind of in maintenance mode with everything else although I have switched them to Western Trail and Working Ranch as disciplines. I'm hoping to have better plans in place by the time I hit my bicentennial.

Low GP Project

I've been working on this one for a while. I just can't seem to get below 12. I've been culling everything that hits 13, keeping only the lowest HGP boy and keeping 1 other boy as a backup in case his colts are all flops. We'll see where I am by year 200.

[Hilayla]

Things are stalling out a little as I am waiting over a week now to upgrade my skills to own more horses. In honor of my bicentennial I'm having a sale. I've set up sales pastures, properly labeled as such and easy to find on my farm. I think I have around 8 sales pastures. I'm really going through my herds with a fine-toothed comb. I'm at limit on horse ownership so I have nothing else to do while I wait to sell horses and increase capacity. my lines are all very jacked up. Their COI and HGP aren't too bad for where I am at but horses repeat all over pedigrees. I want to fix that. I have plenty of time to search for outside studs and such, what with not taking turns. I want every mare bred or gone when I take my next turn. This is where I am at overall. Individually some herds are doing better than others.

Tarpans

Tarpans are being phased out. I'll be mixing them Przewalskis in order to make more Mongolians until they are done.

Przewalskis

Przewalskis are being phased into Mongols and Chinese Ponies.

Mongolians

I'm a little on the fence about whether I am going to keep my Mongolians. I am going to keep trying to improve my lines but I might just breed my existing ones into more Manipuris.

Chinese Ponies

Chinese Ponies are still in two herds. One for the conservation project and the other herd is made up of the horses left over from the project. The leftover herd is mostly crosses in the process of being bred back up to pure. I"m also still finalizing my "breed standards"

Conservation Project.
I bred the foundations 3 times. This breeding cycle I will I will cull the foundation stallion and divide the herd into two small breeding groups I will take the two best colts from the first breeding cycle and place them into herds with two unrelated foundation mares and their daughters. (There were actually no fillies born in the first cycle so they will be bred to foundation mares only.)

I will cull the stallions used in this breeding after their offspring are born, including any colts born to the daughters of the foundation mares in this group. I'm not sure if I want to keep my culls just in case but I will probably put them up for sale. Note: this is all colts from the first breeding cycle only. The next steps will incorporate the foals from the second and third cycles. I know the boys are being bred to half-sisters but this plan is supposed to reduce the amount of inbreeding one has to do with limited stock. I might should have started with AC horses to see how high the COI might get and how long it takes to reduce but AC breeds aren't exactly rare and it is rare to come across a less populated breed that has none at all.

Tibetan Ponies

I don't really know what's up with these. I've just been kinda breeding them to keep them around to make more Manipuris. One part of me wants to focus only on my Manipuris but my heart just won't let me stop with the other breeds. I wub dem. I'll use some of this down time to come up with a "breed standard".

Manipuris

My Manipuri bloodlines are a complete disaster. They trace back to every breed I have and lines are so convoluted that I have divided them by generation to try to straighten out their pedigrees. They are mostly all the same color too. Once I am sorting my lines and figure out a better "maintenance" breeding program I'll try adding some color back into the lines.

[Hilayla]

I felt I needed a clearer view of what I have done and am doing. I am curious about what to do when a breeding cycle gives you only only one colt (I have that coming up). Getting none would be an opportunity to just repeat a cycle. I'll have to give it some thought.

I've been assigning numbers to boys and letters to girls for this project. Since horses need around 4 years to reach adulthood I am doing 4 breeding cycles each generation. For the purposes of this project a generation is all the foals born of a set of parents regardless of breeding cycle. Bold cycle is my current status. I might need a better way to catagorize which foals go with which cycle. I'm separating each cycle in different pastures right now.

Gen 1
Cycle 1: Stallion 1 x Mares (A, B, C, D)
Cycle 2: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 3: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 4: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cull Stallion 1.

Gen 2
Cycle 5: 1A x C, D + daughters (if any); 1C x A, B + daughters (if any).
Note these are foals from the first breeding cycle only. Cull 1A and 1C when offspring are born. Cull any colts born from daughters of the founding mares. (Our stud lines are coming from the foundation mares only.)
Cycle 5a: Repeat 5 with the other two colts (1B, 1D)
Cycle 6: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 2 foals
Cycle 7: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 3 foals
Cycle 8: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 4 foals.

Gen 3
Info to come. Right now real life is calling.

[Hilayla]

I'm still phasing out Tarpans and Przewalskis. Still trying to come up with a decent breeding game plan for Tibetans, Mongolians and Manipuris. The Chinese Pony project is still underway, summarized below. I"m considering changing the Chinese Ponies from Trail to Working ranch just to make creating shows easier.

Speaking of competitions, I think I need to do a little research into that area. Right now I am just creating one show for each breed at level 10, but I'm not sure if I should just keep showing all of them together like that or not. I have the ability to run more shows for each breed but don't know if it would be better to separate them by age/gender or perhaps make lower level shows and save the upper level ones for the horses who champion. I'm not sure if it even matters. Like I said, gotta look into things.

Manipuri

Manipuri bloodlines are a mess as they literally come from every other breed on my ranch and so are related to everyone. I have enough of them to start sorting out pedigrees and come up with a better plan. I need to figure out how they are related. Heck I might just semi-randomly start pairing them up as if they were all foundations and basically start from scratch kinda.

Tibetan Ponies

I'm basically just trying to keep this breed alive. I've done the least planning for these of all my breeds.

Mongolians

My Mongolians are getting fresh-ish blood as I am breeding all my Tarpans and Przewalskis into that breed and phasing them out. I can't keep up this many horses and I have to give to somewhere.

Chinese Ponies

This breed is getting the most attention right now. I have a small herd left over from the ones I originally chose for the CPCP (Chinese Pony Conservation Project) that I've been breeding a bit to keep an extra line going. The Project is summarized below. I have a conundrum coming up in that one season I had only 1 colt born so I'm not sure how to work that. The project itself is summarized below. The bold cycle is my current status in the project.

Gen 1
Cycle 1: Stallion 1 x Mares (A, B, C, D)
Cycle 2: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 3: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 4: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cull Stallion 1.

Gen 2
Cycle 5: 1A x C, D + daughters (if any); 1C x A, B + daughters (if any).
Cycle 5a: 1B x A, D; 1D x B, C
Cycle 6: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 2 foals
Cycle 7: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 3 foals
Cycle 8: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 4 foals.

Gen 3
Info to come.

Finally I still have several horses for sale in named pens. I also accidentally bred an Exmoor. He's up for offers if anyone wants him. Last thing I need is another breed.

[Hilayla]

In the past game year I have expanded my farm, added some more pastures and changed up my barns. I'm trying to train more horses but time. I'm still doing breed specific shows. Oh, I accidentally bred a Burma. Didn't even know the recipe. Now I'm debating breeding more and starting another project because there are only 34 of them. I'm working on getting all my stallions into barns so I can at least sometimes, kinda sorta train them. Before taking turns again, I need to rebreed the CPCP ponies and finish sorting the other breeds. Only the CPCP ponies will be bred this year, along with continuing to phase out the Tarpans and Przewalski horses.

Manipuri

I've divided all my Manipuris into named Sire and Dam lines. I will be treating most as foundation horses from here on out and trying to breed the COI back down more carefully. I'm hoping all the studying I have been doing on conservation breeding will help me keep things straight as my herd grows. No breedings this year. Next task: Concrete goals.

Tibetans

Like the Manipuris, my Tibetans have been divided up into lines and I need to work out concrete goals. No breedings this year.

Mongolians

Mongolians have not been receiving much love, however I did breed a new Mongol colt from my Prz x tarpan downsizing so he's going to be a start of his own line. I only have 8 purebreds (not counting non-showing babies). Still sorting. Might breed a few.

Chinese Ponies

I've bred a couple of Chinese Ponies in the overflow herd and I need to sort through those as well this year.

Chinese Pony Conservation Project

I'm still working on this, but one thing is certain. It is really getting my numbers up fast. I might have more Chinese Ponies than any other breed now. I'm ready to breed the Cycle 6 foals now. I only have 1 colt for this cycle so I will breed him to the two mares he would be bred with if I had more colts. I suppose I will have to skip the other mares this season. I'm really not sure how this will affect things later but we shall see. I feel I may be a bit confused by some of this. I thought writing it all out would help but I keep finding myself with more questions.

Gen 1
Cycle 1: Stallion 1 x Mares (A, B, C, D)
Cycle 2: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 3: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 4: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cull Stallion 1.

Gen 2
Cycle 5: 1A x C, D + daughters (if any); 1C x A, B + daughters (if any).
Cycle 5a: 1B x A, D; 1D x B, C
Cycle 6: 1B x A, C + daughters, Cull used Stallions
Cycle 7: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 3 foals
Cycle 8: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 4 foals.

[Hilayla]

I've reached the seventh cycle now. The COI has not gone above the 30s yet, although that red movement is back. Gonna have to work on that when this project is over.

Gen 1
Cycle 1: Stallion 1 x Mares (A, B, C, D)
Cycle 2: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 3: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 4: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cull Stallion 1.

Gen 2
Cycle 5: 1A x C, D + daughters (if any); 1C x A, B + daughters (if any).
Cycle 5a: 1B x A, D; 1D x B, C
Cycle 6: 1B x A, C + daughters, Cull used Stallions
Cycle 7: 1B x D, C; 1D x A, B + daughters. Cull used Stallions
Cycle 8: Repeat cycle 5 with cycle 4 foals.

[Hilayla]

I've reached the final stage of the second generation. Now I will repeat all this one more time in order to get a third generation.

Gen 1
Cycle 1: Stallion 1 x Mares (A, B, C, D)
Cycle 2: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 3: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cycle 4: 1 x A, B, C, D
Cull Stallion 1.

Gen 2
Cycle 5: 1A x C, D + daughters (if any); 1C x A, B + daughters (if any).
Cycle 5a: 1B x A, D; 1D x B, C
Cycle 6: 1B x A, C + daughters, Cull used Stallions
Cycle 7: 1B x D, C; 1D x A, B + daughters. Cull used Stallions
Cycle 8: 1A x B, D; 1D x A, C

Gen 3
Cycle 1: Gather a colt from each Dam Line: 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D. Once those colts are chosen I will breed them to Damline not already used by them (ie: 1AB/C x D). I'll only need one cycle ( I may repeat the breedings for a larger final colt selection as I wait for the gen 3 foals to start aging up. I think from here I will be moving on to Conservation as opposed to a Rescue Breeding Plan. As of now I have about 32 Chinese Ponies entering shows. I will be separating the competitions by gender once my current show run and I can make new shows.

[Hilayla]

This is a pretty long update. I've been hard at work, organizing and phasing out breeds. I'm down to my last two Tarpan mares who will be put up for sale once they drop their foals. I have a full pasture of PRZ x Tarpan crosses to attempt to breed into Mongolians. They, too, will probably get one foal and be sold. I bred a Burma filly and decided to pick up that breed as well so I have a new project.

I am going to start making sure I offer up my GCh stallions for stud and I am going to try to keep them updated on the first post. I mean with nine days between herd size increases I guess I have the time.

Everything is slow going because it is now taking 9+ days to increase my Herd Management and I can't rehome bred horses. Pretty much everything is bred. I've just been putting up horses for 10K buyout with offers and accepting pretty much any offer as well to help move stock. I'm too lazy to keep up with a sales thread though. I might go through the forums for one of those people who just take horses to retire them and give them all away.

I am still running breed only shows for Mongolians, Chinese Ponies, Tibetan Ponies, and Manipuris. Links to these show are in the first post. I have enough Manipuris and Chinese Ponies to split their shows into stallion and mares only. I am thinking of switching all breeds to Working Ranch so I don't have to remember which breeds are needing which shows. I can add the other disciplines in as my number of shows hosted skill increases. All shows are currently level 10. I might decide to split up the levels later on but I'm not sure if I can keep enough horses of each breed to make this feasible for while.

Mongolians

I'm hoping to get some new(ish) lines from crosses and in the meantime I preparing to repeat the Rescue Breeding Program I did with the Chinese Ponies. I currently have only 1 stallion and 8 mares. One of those mares is 23 already. I will be changing things up slightly this time around in regards to the way I organize the project.

Burma Pony

I got an accidental Burma Pony Filly. Since her parents died without giving me another, I will cross her out to high movement stallions in order to stave off the red movement that keeps coming back to haunt my lines. I'm just going to ignore COI until I can get my numbers up.

Chinese Ponies

My CPCP mares are not going to be fully done foaling until winter this year. I'll update the project in another post.

My other Chinese Pony herd is small. One of them is currently the top ranked Chinese Pony in points but since no one show against me I'm not really sure if that means anything. I''ll be put him up for stud at 1K and he will be linked in my first post.

Tibetan Ponies

I now have enough Tibetans to divide up in to a stallion barn and 4 damlines. I will most likely concentrate on improving movement and overall HGP. As with the other breeds I will start putting Gch and higher stallions at stud.

Manipuri Ponies

Ah, my Manipuris. I finally have them organized but red movement has popped back up so I will need to improve that as well as trying to continue improving overall HGP. While I don't have as many of these as I do the Chinese ponies due to the breeding experiment but the numbers are pretty close and I think I have things figured out enough to start reducing the COI.

[Hilayla]

I got the last seasons foals all born and realized I had made a mistake in my breeding. I should have been culling all the sons of the daughters of the original mares and only using studs from the founding females. While that is a kind of important step the only thing I can do is roll with it and try to fix it with the conservation part of the breeding plan. In fact, I have so many now that I think I can move to the conservation part of the program which involve, splitting all the damlines into different herds and rotating the stud lines each season. I think I am going to call this project finished and try again with my mongolians in the year 210. This will give me time to sort out all the Chinese Ponies (I have over 50 of them now) and come up with a plan to prevent myself making the same mistake with the mongols. Perhaps I should just rehome all colts out of the daughters. It will certainly help keep my breeding straight.

I probably won't have anymore updates until I reach year 210, well, unless I manage to breed something that breaks my own records or reach a particular goal. I'm going to working heavily on improving movement because the reds popping up in every single breed is getting a little heartbreaking.