Ashley Giles, Matt Boyd, and 3-year-old Rose. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld
We recently met breeders Matt Boyd and Ashley Giles of Peregrine Farm and learned about their decision-making process when selecting stallions to breed to their mares. Their goal as breeders is not to stand popular stallions but to have a variety of high-quality, performance proven mares that produce offspring with the ability to compete at the four-star level.
Having each brought their own experiences with breeding to the table, and Matt with his data analysis and Ashley with her eventing experience, the two are working together to build a long-lasting program which foretells the needs of the sport and the type of horse required.
PF St. Elizabeth Rose (Grafenstolz x Speedy Dee) and Chloe Halimeda (Halimey Go x Catch the Bouquet) are the first two foals their program has produced, and they will eventually be bred with the expectation of producing the next higher quality of offspring to carry on the best bloodlines.
The Next Generation
“I am of the camp that the mare brings more than half of the package to the equation. You’ve got to get it right on a mare,” Matt said.
The matriarchs of the Peregrine Farm program are a 15-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred mare called Speedy Dee (“Beatrix”) and Catch the Bouquet (“Georgia”), a Trakehner-approved off-the-track Thoroughbred mare owned by Kathryn Krische.
Rose, now 3, will replace her mother Beatrix in the program and will be bred this year. “The challenge is finding a stallion that is not going to reduce her blood percentage, which means it’s either a full Thoroughbred, a European Anglo-Arabian, or a handful of stallions who are ‘warmbloods’ who have a blood percentage of 60-80%,” Matt said.
Speedy Dee (Pleasant Line x Speedy Susan). Photo courtesy of Matt Boyd
Little Chloe, now a yearling, has a lot of growing still to do, but she shows promise with a Premium status at her Trakehner inspection and the impressive performances of her sire, Halimey, who just completed his first Advanced horse trials. It is likely that in 2-3 years, Matt and Ashley will also be considering stallions for her as well.
“What I’m really excited about is what they as fillies and mares are going to be able to produce in the second generation,” Matt said. “At that point in time we’re not combining essentially a racehorse with a performance horse, we’re combining two performances horses that hopefully can still have the same stamina, galloping ability, and bravery that the Thoroughbred brings.”
The idea is to breed these two fillies at three, then begin their eventing training. At some point in their careers, they will let their owners know whether they have the desire to continue climbing the levels or if it’s time to return to motherhood.
“We’re breeding them at three for two reasons,” Ashley said. “We get a baby on the ground before they start their competition year. Also, with the Young Event Horse series, if you breed them they get a bi-year, so they can do the 4-year-olds as a 5-year-old and 5-year-olds as a 6-year-old.”
Matt and Ashley feel lucky to have gotten fillies, which they wanted, with their first two foals. They see strong characteristics of the dams in their offspring, which further supports their opinion that the mare is so significant, and therein lies the reasoning behind the careful calculations using Matt’s book of stallions and the development of the program’s mare base.
“When you’re a small breeding operation, a small farm with limited resources and limited space, you’re really playing odds. You’ve got to be kind of conservative about it to stack the odds to get a quality offspring,” Matt said.
Chloe, now a yearling, has a bright future ahead. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld
“We have to be very careful about the decisions we make, how many horses we have on the property, make sure they’re the ones moving us forward in what we want to do…that’s why so much effort has gone into information gathering and evaluation.”
Georgia is in foal again, this time to Tatendrang, and is due this June. They’ve bred a “big horse to a big horse,” which may result in a foal taller than their ideal range (16.0-16.2 hands), but if they get a large filly, they will be well on their way to having the variety of broodmares they desire.
“If we get a mare out of that match that’s quality and has the best attributes of both her parents, that would be the third horse in our trio,” Matt said. They expect Rose to mature to 16 hands and Chloe closer to 16.2 or taller. “If we get a larger filly out of the Tate and Georgia cross we can basically take any stallion that we like and match it with one of the mares that we have.”
Breed with a Purpose
“If there is a point I would want to make, it’s for people to actually put the effort into understanding what they’re doing before they do it. Don’t do it haphazardly,” Matt said. “Know what you’re breeding for. Not everybody wants to breed a four-star horse. If you’re going to breed, don’t just do it to do it, understand what you want to produce.”
“And be prepared for the long-term commitment,” Ashley added. “Know what you’re going to put into it. If you’re trying to breed a four-star horse and you’re not an event rider that’s capable of bringing that horse on, understand the amount of money you’re going to have to put into that for training.”
3-year-old Chloe will be bred this year. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld
The horses foaled at Peregrine Farm will have been bred with the hopes of having four-star abilities, but even if they fall short, the horses they produce will still have value.
“Even if it’s a terrific two-star horse,” Matt said. “We’re putting the right kind of thinking and effort into this that we’re not going to end up with something worthless.”
They also have a specific intent to keep their horses in eventing. Being that they are eventers themselves with experience starting young horses, they have the advantage of being able to do the ground work, backing and provide correct, positive beginnings to these horses’ careers. Then, with their connections in the eventing world, they hope to pass along the horses with great potential to riders who will continue their progression in eventing.
Matt and Ashley are in this for the long haul. They are fully aware that their first foals are not going to be there best foals – but they’re going to be good, because they started with good mares and stallions. Fifteen years from now, they will be in the third or fourth generation of there program, and that is when they believe they will really have a feel for what they’re producing.
“The two things that really hit home were, this is going to take a long time, and this is probably something where the best horses will be three or four generations out,” Matt said. “And that’s okay. You don’t do this unless you love it, but you need that much time to see if you’ve done it right.”
