Advice about pedigree assignments

Wasn’t sure where to put this so I figured I’d put it here.

Has anyone got any advice about pedigree assignments? I want to assign pedigrees to the horses in my collection since I’m very interested in horse genetics but I don’t know much about it and I never see anyone talking about pedigrees. Is there a Facebook group I can join for advice? And how do I go around finding horses to make my models’ sires and dams? Do I join a specific Facebook group then ask if anyone has breeding horses?

thanks in advance for the help :)

Hi! Welcome to the pedigree side of the hobby! It's an absolutely amazing rabbit hole, LOL!

Definitely main group and website you should check out is IPABRA - International Pedigree Assignment and Bloodline Research Association, links below:

Website: https://ipabra.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/269720043096759

For choosing the parents, always start with the model you want to pedigree. Think through it's breed, research the types/lines in the breed itself. Identify the colour of your model and check if it's allowed/present in the breed you have chosen. If everything checks out, you can then look for the parents within that breed!

You can go three ways - either have it's parents as two real horses, two models, or one of each. The models can be yours or someone else's, BUT! Remember to always ask for permission if you want to use other collector's model/s. Most of PA folks have their own rules for breeding requests so always check it out first if available.
If you want to use real horses - you don't have to ask permission in 99,9% cases. Our community is so small that basically noone outside of it even knows about it, it doesn't hurt or falsly influence anyone, so there's no need to bother real horse owners/breeders.

For both cases, it's important to make sure the years are making sense - as in, if mare and stallion are old/young enough to breed, if mare had any foals and if yes, when (cause most of the time you can get only one foal from one mare per year, unless the breed registry allows embryo transfer or you settle for rare case of twins). If you want to go even more in depth, you can make sure that the horses you've chosen are in realistic areas to breed (especially important for Thoroughbreds!)

Another important decision at that point is to decide if you want to go aging or non-aging system. As the names suggest, it's either your models age every year, or they stay one age forever. I started as non-aging, but it's much harder to interact with other breeders or enter contests, so I swapped to aging. Aging is most common option in the PA community, so I would suggest going through with this one. Some people for example do not allow non-aging offspring for their aging models, so it could limit your potential parent group.

You can search for model parents in IPABRA group for example, where most people post links to their websites (more below). For real horses, you can search through breed websites, registries, show results, breeders, stables. One of useful websites is All Breed Pedigree, where you can search for any horse's pedigree - but be careful, as the website can be edited by basically anyone. Always double check the findings if you can.

Many people create websites for their "stables" - one of popular host sites is Weebly, as it's free, pretty customizable and good looking. On the IPABRA website there is a page listing some of the member websites, you can check them out for inspiration. Below is link to mine :)
https://equinenorthdelight.weebly.com/

For the website itself, what you put there is up to you. There's no specific standard, everyone does it how they like. I like to make a separate page for every single one of my models, and on such page I'm putting:
- name, breed, age, gender, origin country, color w/ genotype
- sire, dam, bred by (if using someone else's mare), amount of progeny with links to each foal, info if available for breeding (and restrictions if any)
- live & photo show achievements count with list of all placings below
- mold, sculptor and painter name
For my racing Thoroughbreds, I also put their NAMTOBA registration #, racing record, sire line, female family and BMS (broodmare sire)

I've been into pedigrees since 2020, and here are a few of tips that come to my mind if you'd like to start:

• take your time and don't rush it or start too much at once. I know it might be new and exciting, but pedigrees are pretty complicated and can involve a lot. Do your research well, check everything twice, so you don't have to repair or redo it later on. I have started with over 50 models at once and I've been adding lots more, and to this day only 25% have finished pedigrees (which most of I've done in past month). Keep going one by one, so it doesn't overwhelm you. You can for example start with horses of one breed - so you're fresh and remember all the standards well.
• don't hesitate to ask questions! We're really friendly bunch in the IPABRA group and always happy to help! There are no stupid or too basic questions.
• if you want to start offering your models for breeding, keep a list of all their foals somewhere, especially for the mares, as their breeding possibilities are more limited! It will save you from mixing things up or accidental double foals.

If you have any other questions or would like me to write more about any of the pedigree aspects, let me know and I'll be happy to help :)

Thank you so much! This is really helpful!

No problem! If you have any other questions in the future you can always PM me and I'll be glad to help :) Good luck with the pedigrees!

Please see my Sire Dam list, breedings are free and there is a wide variety of breeds available. Horseshoe Crest Ranch Sire/Dam List

Reach out to me if you have any questions.