Black Oak Farms

[BlackOak2]

I'll take both and still look at more (:

LOVELY colt just born, had to share immediately since I see you're still connected. And although his coat color looks odd to me (that baby pangare, you know), he does appear as a palomino. With stamina stat over 40. Medium-light. He'll be transferred to holding in a minute or two.

[Caveria]

He'll do nicely! I think one more light in bay, chestnut, or palomino will be perfect for my project. Thank you for your help!

[BlackOak2]

He'll do nicely! I think one more light in bay, chestnut, or palomino will be perfect for my project. Thank you for your help!

He is up. And I have another three for you to look over. And, of course, you're very welcome! These horses are popping much more consistently recently, so that's certainly a relief, after all the trouble I had before with them!

This first one is light build, the other two are medium light. First isn't quite at 40 stamina, the other two are.







Take your pick, all, none, let me know if they don't suit, I'll pop and save some more then.

[BlackOak2]

...

Just wanted to shoot you a note.
Those two foals you gave for the christmas giveaway to me, they both made excellent and gorgeous grinders! Both decent PT and day earners.
And pretty too. Kept my eyes entertained as I churned the turns.

You could open up those and related bloodlines as confirmed, strong grinder stock as well. If you have any of them left.

[FantasyRanch1]

...

Just wanted to shoot you a note.
Those two foals you gave for the christmas giveaway to me, they both made excellent and gorgeous grinders! Both decent PT and day earners.
And pretty too. Kept my eyes entertained as I churned the turns.

You could open up those and related bloodlines as confirmed, strong grinder stock as well. If you have any of them left.

Wow! I'm glad they did you good! Could you re link them for me? I sell, breed, age out, and rehome sooooooo meany foals it's hard to remember what ones go where. And I may need a foal from those mares and stallions again to train for myself, I need to earn so PT or find someone to buy them for me. Preferably earn them

[BlackOak2]

Just wanted to shoot you a note.
Those two foals you gave for the christmas giveaway to me, they both made excellent and gorgeous grinders! Both decent PT and day earners.
And pretty too. Kept my eyes entertained as I churned the turns.

You could open up those and related bloodlines as confirmed, strong grinder stock as well. If you have any of them left.

Wow! I'm glad they did you good! Could you re link them for me? I sell, breed, age out, and rehome sooooooo meany foals it's hard to remember what ones go where. And I may need a foal from those mares and stallions again to train for myself, I need to earn so PT or find someone to buy them for me. Preferably earn them

https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/3374956
https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/3374963

[FantasyRanch1]

Wow! I'm glad they did you good! Could you re link them for me? I sell, breed, age out, and rehome sooooooo meany foals it's hard to remember what ones go where. And I may need a foal from those mares and stallions again to train for myself, I need to earn so PT or find someone to buy them for me. Preferably earn them

https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/3374956
https://www.horseworldonline.net/horse/profile/3374963

Cool! Thx!

[BlackOak2]

Dauntless Project

Resurrected end of January, 2022.

So I've decided to give this another go, instead of opening up a new project that I've been kicking around for the past four months. I'm just not willing to dedicate myself to a work-intensive project right now. This one, even though it appears to be a lot of work, really is not much at all. It has a high cull rate and I don't even need to look at foals until they reach five years. At that point, they tell me quite readily if they make the cut or not.

So I can fly through turns and earn PT at a pace that I don't match from any of my other projects. Plus, I have suspicions that this time around will likely end up the same way as last time. Perhaps, perhaps with a little more watching and diagnosing of exactly what happens and when, I will be able to catch where and when the bug manifests itself. For those of you unsure or unaware of my previous works, the feeding bug that I encountered is located here.

I've decided to restart this project with only AC belgian stock, to help limit the unknown genes and restrict the genes available to a very limited and known (at least by admin) set. Whether this 'bug' will be or can be duplicated in all of the AC horses, I don't know. As a note, I am NOT resurrecting this project to hunt down the bug. The original project was entirely derailed BY the bug. I'm resurrecting this project to once again create a line of big eaters and easy keepers. I just have my doubts that I'll be able to make such a project a success until the feeding issue has been located and fixed. And my suspicion also suggests that this project could be the key that highlights where the bug happens and what's going on.

So, without further ado.

Please meet the two stallions I had frozen, awaiting the resurrection of this project. Both of these boys were used in other aspects of breeding projects but had the earmarks of what this project requires. Both of them are huge eaters, able to consume more than 75 kg apiece and they both also show lower than expected feeding requirements. So when I noticed that, I did put them in board for later use.
Destiny

Height: 20.2 hh
Max feed: 78.5 kg
Grazing: 205% (on 100% quality pasture, will always be noted on 100% quality pasture)

Jagged

Height: 21.0 hh
Max feed: 81 kg
Grazing: 239%

I've been looking through the market for a couple days and have found almost no available Belgians for this project. Most of them are offers only and with accounts that haven't been on in most cases, for well over a year. I do have a couple sent out for purchase, but who knows if they'll ever get back on to see. So I turned to the AC to fulfill the rest of my breeding stock.
Now, since we can't see the stats of a horse before purchase, it really doesn't matter which horses I actually pick from the market. So after debating a bit with myself, I decided to stick with strictly black stock. After all, I want to eventually make this line black. And, since I found no mares available for purchase with at least a seed of the big eating, low food requirement that I want in a breeder, I chose to pull only mares from the AC. I'm sure that'll change eventually, but for now, that's my aim.
Because of the two stallions ages, I'll be putting them back into board to preserve their life while I work through the first generation or two and maybe longer if I find that these stallions throw around the genetics I'm looking for.
Here's the mares I pulled from the AC market:
Shallow Viper

Height: 15.3 hh
Max feed: 26.8 kg
Grazing: 95%
Notes: This one is rather poor for the project. It's difficult to work with any under 16 hands and as for the genes I'm looking for, she appears to have none. I don't expect her to throw me anything I can keep, but who knows, maybe the cross with the studs may prove they have it in spades, or maybe she's hiding something.

Eternal Smuggler

Height: 16.0 hh
Max feed: 29.3 kg
Grazing: 91%
Notes: This mare is rather average. Not any better than the first mare, it seems this one may be no better that she. Regardless, I am limited in what I have and I'm not going to waste 25 PT just because I think she has nothing. Hidden genes are just that, hidden.

Custom Desperado

Height: 18.3 hh
Max feed: 45.3 kg
Grazing: 88%
Notes: This mare is a better prospect. Still on the lowest end of max feed for her height, she's still almost doubling the other two mares. She may have something that's usable, IF she can pass it on.

Rustic Haven

Height: 17.3 hh
Max feed: 37.4 kg
Grazing: 87%
Notes: Another that appears to mirror the first two mares.

Overall, I'm not happy with the mares that will be starting this project. But, my first time around with the mares was a real struggle anyway, so I had already resigned myself to that prospect. It'll be up to the stallions to pass on the necessary genes and produce a new generation of mares that can carry the project forward.

I'll still be looking for more breeding horses, both stallions and mares. So if anybody has an AC belgian that they want to get rid of, I'll be interested in taking a look over them. $5000 for one with no offspring that is 'adequate'. $10,000 for one with no offspring that is 'perfect'. I may be willing to pay more for donation's sake or for one that's also black and displays information like the stallions. Or is a mare that grazes above 100%. For the mares that hit that mark, I'll pay $20,000. Additional monies can be offered for being black with no roan. Or chestnut with no pangare.
Offspring can be negotiated as well. I like the option of rehoming a horse if they don't work out. So I'm willing to purchase any offspring the horse has as well, to allow me the ability to rehome.

*****************
Added Information.
*****************
This is my first official day restarting this project, i.e. churning turns. Only the second day I've been searching for more stock. So soon after, I've decided to just add to this post, rather than making a new one.

I have found a mare that matches what I'm looking for! Purchased for sale, I was able to snatch her up. A little disappointed she has a foal, but that doesn't bother me much because of her other options. Because of the name she came with (CHONK), I am choosing to change it.

Expressionless Heart

Height: 20.1 hh
Max Feed: 66.8 kg
Grazing: 124%
Notes: It's so, [Just Impossible] difficult to find a mare, an AC mare with such statistics. So I'm hoping (rather demanding) that she gives me offspring, mostly fillies, that display what I'm looking for... and so many that I have to pick and choose which ones to keep.

[BlackOak2]

Dauntless Project

First & second foal crops were a mix of expected foals. I decided to size up my two chosen foundation studs to see if they're on par with each other and what to expect from them. They are... nearly equal, in what they're producing and so far, it appears only one mare didn't give me something worth using for the first generation breeding. She may never produce something acceptable.
Since both sires appear to be producing nearly the same, I decided to take corresponding foal crops and match them up against each other and, unless an unexpected outcome arises, generally keep one or the other.
Mostly, this is for my own notes, not so much to share. As I progress, I'll likely only be sharing deviations and surprising outcomes as well as unique facts about a particular stallion or mare (if anything comes up).

Mare	Stallion	Gender	Data	Keep/Cull
Shallow Viper	Destiny	Colt	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.0 hh Max feed: 62.4 kg Grazing: 110%	Cull
Shallow Viper	Jagged	Colt	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.3 hh Max feed: 67.5 kg Grazing: 118%	Keep
Eternal Smuggler	Destiny	Filly	Does Not Class Height: 18.2 hh Max feed: 56.8 kg Grazing: 94%	Cull
Eternal Smuggler	Jagged	Filly	Does Not Class Height: 18.3 hh Max feed: 57.3 kg Grazing: 93%	Cull
Custom Desperado	Destiny	Filly	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.2 hh Max feed: 65.8 kg Grazing: 113%	Keep
Custom Desperado	Jagged	Filly	Does Not Class Height: 18.2 hh Max feed: 56.9 kg Grazing: 94%	Cull
Rustic Haven	Destiny	Colt	BE 2/EK 1 Height: 20.0 hh Max feed: 73.2 kg Grazing: 152%	Keep
Rustic Haven	Jagged	Filly	Does Not Class Height: 18.2 hh Max feed: 55.4 kg Grazing: 90%	Cull

So this first set is ready for breeding. Since I have a mix of two stallions and a mare, I'll be breeding the mare to the non-related foundation stallion as well as the non-related first gen and the first gen stallions will be crossed to the foundation mares for a test crop apiece. I suspect I won't have any keeper foals from the first gen to foundation mares, they'll probably start producing possible keepers with other first gen foals when they grow up.

****************

Here's the third and fourth foal crops.

Mare	Stallion	Colt	Data	Keep/Cull
Eternal Smuggler	Jagged	Colt	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.1 hh Max feed: 63 kg Grazing: 107%	Keep
Eternal Smuggler	Destiny	Colt	Does Not Class Height: 18.2 hh Max feed: 56.9 kg Grazing: 96%	Cull
Shallow Viper	Jagged	Colt	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.0hh Max feed: 62 kg Grazing: 106%	Keep
Shallow Viper	Destiny	Filly	Does Not Class Height: 18.1 hh Max feed: 54.9 kg Grazing: 94%	Cull
Rustic Haven	Jagged	Colt	Does Not Class Height: 19.1 hh Max feed: 61.6 kg Grazing: 99%	Cull
Rustic Haven	Destiny	Colt	BE 3/EK 1 Height: 20.1 hh Max feed: 75.9 kg Grazing: 175%	Keep
Custom Desperado	Jagged	Colt	BE 5/EK 2 Height: 21.0 hh Max feed: 82.3 kg Grazing: 271%	Keep
Custom Desperado	Destiny	Filly	EK 1/BE 1 Height: 19.3 hh Max feed: 69 kg Grazing: 127%	Keep

I have one more mare to post from both foundation studs. I want to keep a record of at least this first and second batch of this other foundation mare for study, should I need it. So that will be forthcoming.

*************************

Expressionless Heart	Jagged	Filly	BE 2/EK 1 Height: 20.1 hh Max feed: 74.2 kg Grazing: 157%	Keep
Expressionless Heart	Jagged	Colt	BE 3/EK 1 Height: 20.1hh Max feed: 76 kg Grazing: 173%	Keep
Expressionless Heart	Destiny	Colt	BE 3/EK 1 Height: 20.1 hh Max feed: 77.2 kg Grazing: 188%	Keep
Expressionless Heart	Destiny	Filly	BE 1/EK 1 Height: 19.3 hh Max feed: 69.9 kg Grazing: 131%	Keep

[BlackOak2]

Dauntless Project

Okay, so a brief note why I listed the data I just did.

For me to determine what the first generation and succeeding three or four generations are going to look like, and [what I can keep or cull], I needed to make note of what these foundation horses are actually producing.

Luckily, I have mares that will actually give me a class, although none of them are even close to making the cutoff (that's BE3/EK3), and I suspect will be out three generations until the colts do and up to five generations for the fillies.
Why is this? I really don't know. I didn't know before and couldn't figure it out. It could be the slight differences that admin has programmed in for the different genders, it could be the different stock I started with, or it could be an entirely different reason unrelated to both of these. Maybe the bug starts with the males in the AC and is 'bred-into' every other horse down the line. Yeah, that last line is highly unlikely. Bugs aren't 'breedable' in that way.
However, one can exponentially compound a problem that highlights a bug.

Well, I'm talking about stuff that's certainly out of my area of expertise.

My point is, I now know what my minimum keep and cull requirements are for this first generation and can use that to build second, third and continuing requirements from.

**********
I also need to make a short note that weight can vastly affect how much a horse can graze. Why does this make a difference? Because a horse that doesn't class (graze enough %) on very poor weight, could eat upwards of 170% on very fat weight.
But I'm not going to make too big a deal about this (catch them all on moderate, etc.) because I'll still be moving in the correct direction.