Brinley (an old astonishing barn) said she gave each mare 3 breeding chances then sold/free ranged or used for showing only. So that is what I do.

For stallions it is quicker to decide as they breed more times per year. They do normally breed well in their first year. But it is hard to decide if this co-insides with a year when your own mares produce ppp after ppp!

But after 10 breedings with OK mares you know if the stallion will ever be going to give what you want. You can sell or geld for showing only.

If find it very hard to cull. But even harder to deal with a large barn. No getting away from it.

I know there used to be some posts on how to cull but I did a search and don’t see them so I may be thinking of something from the old forums (long ago!).

Culling can be difficult and I don’t cull often enough but when I do I usually follow the general guidelines that were given to me by some of the stables older than mine (many of whom no longer play). If mares have been bred to good stallions and failed to produce their own rating or better (for me that would be EEE+) by the age of 5 or 6, then they need to go. I usually sell or free range.

I have a soft spot for Stallions and tend to hold on to them whether or not they have bred well. They are tested using 10 decent mares or more. If they don’t breed well, I tend to keep them anyway and will only use them for breeding if they have something I need to add to the herd (for me that would be color). All my stallions show so I don’t generally worry about gelding them unless they have aged out or I am doing a hard cull.

A lot of it also boils down to what your goals are for your stable. Cull based on what will help you meet that goal.

When I started a year ago I found a very good beginners' guide from years ago (2017) when EEE was the highest rating a horse could have. The stable name was Hyrim Canyon and his guide had been quoted in the forums. There were some very good guidelines about culling which you can find here.

Thank you! I mainly want to focus on training and when to stop breeding a horse based on their stats. Ill look into Hyrims guide! Thanks!