Breed Modification for New Breeds and Rankings

[Chortle]

Hello!
I've resolved to create the national horse breeds of Latvia, and I am in need of some advice.

For the Latvian Riding horse the requirements are:
15.1hh - 16.1hh
Medium Light to Medium
35% - 60% Body Size
65% Horse - 60% Pony type.

The parent breeds are Norfolk Trotter X Anglo-Arabian.
I'm starting on getting Anglo-Arabians, but they are a light breed and all available Norfolk Trotter studs are light to very light and at around 14% body size. I understand I am supposed to crossbreed my future Anglo-Arabians to Tarpans (do you have a better suggestion?) and then refine them to mostly Anglo-Arabians?

This seems like a strange thing to do, especially considering both of the parent breeds are very non-eastern-northern-european and instead very British breeds? I get the Anglo-Arabian, but Norfolk Trotter seems inappropriate.

I also don't understand the rankings with the traditionally warmblood disciplines. How come the horses leading in warmblood disciplines are generally ponies, quarter horses and drafts?

[Aela]

You could do as you suggest, and breed your horses to a heavier studs (horse-type rather than pony type I would suggest) There are plenty of interesting stud prospects out there you could choose. If I was in your situation, I would select horses in the heavier end on my way to making my own Anglo Arabians and Norfolks.

I don't get the Norfolk part either, after looking a bit into it. Perhaps it's because both the Latvian Riding Horse and Norfolks are influenced by TBs IRL? Meh, I'm shooting out random guesses.

I think there are a few reasons as to why the "untraditional" horses are good at the disciplines warmbloods normally compete in.
1. Horses might have been crossbred and bred back to full blood and thus have good body type
2. Horses might have a good Breeding Report/Conformation or body type anyway
3. Horses might have been around for a long time because the breeder didn't age them and therefore have a lot of point but not many wins
4. There are not as many warmbloods around as drafts (crosses), ponies and

My Medium-Pony type Aegidienbergers do really well in both dressage, show jumping, saddleseat and cross country, becuase they have very good movement and tempo, despite that they may not look like the classic warmblood horse

It all really depends on a lot of stuff :)

[Qim]

: )

Like Aela suggests, I'd also sneak in heavier horses into the mix, like finding a heavier mare in the sales that is either a 50% mix of two breeds or a grade horse, and breed her to a Norfolk or Anglo-Arab stallion. The foal will be half Norfolk or half Anglo-Arab, and you can use it as if it was purebred.

To illustrate, this Norfolk colt is the result of crossing a heavy grade mare with a purebred Norfolk stallion, and I believe he would rate 5* for the Latvian Riding horse (he might grow taller, though):

Tujici

If you'd like to breed him to an Anglo-Arab mare in your possession, I'd be happy to put him up on stud for you

[Chortle]

: )

Like Aela suggests, I'd also sneak in heavier horses into the mix, like finding a heavier mare in the sales that is either a 50% mix of two breeds or a grade horse, and breed her to a Norfolk or Anglo-Arab stallion. The foal will be half Norfolk or half Anglo-Arab, and you can use it as if it was purebred.

To illustrate, this Norfolk colt is the result of crossing a heavy grade mare with a purebred Norfolk stallion, and I believe he would rate 5* for the Latvian Riding horse (he might grow taller, though):

If you'd like to breed him to an Anglo-Arab mare in your possession, I'd be happy to put him up on stud for you

Tujici manages to be 4* for LRH. He'll be a tad too tall, but I should keep him in mind. Thank you very much for offering (I have no Anglo-Arabians yet).
Is the success rate of creating new breeds from half-breds approximately the same?

[Argent II]

The game views all horses equally, regardless of how much of a breed they are, so you could use a 5% Anglo or a 95% Anglo and still produce the breed you want.

[Scythian]

The game views all horses equally, regardless of how much of a breed they are, so you could use a 5% Anglo or a 95% Anglo and still produce the breed you want.

... provided that the foal rates 5/5 for the new breed. If the stallion is a little too tall, choose a mare who is a little short, and hope the computer splits the difference. Similarly for body size, horse/pony type, and build.

Best wishes on the project. The computer doesn't always quite give us what we want or expect, but that just keeps the game interesting.

[Qim]

Exactly, 1-100% Norfolk x 1-100% Anglo-Arab could result in a LRH. Just make sure your horses have only one breed's name in their descriptions.

And yeah, two 5* parents do not guarantee success, so, as mentioned above, a smaller mare could counter the height of Tujici

[reyn]

I breed heavier Norfolk Trotters to use for my Welsh Cobs. I haven't offered them for stud as I didn't think there was much desire for them, but next time I produce some I'll let you know . I use a Belgium x Forest Horse mix to produce heavy half Norfolk Trotters with feathering.