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It all starts with a good mare. We are big believers in the strength of the mare line. A stallion can produce multiple offspring in one year of his life, resulting in hundreds in a lifetime. A mare can only naturally produce one foal a year. A mare also genetically contributes to a foal. She is not just a uterus! Too many breeders just expect the stallion to improve their mare for an exceptional foal without looking at what she has to offer. If a mare can consistently produce show winners, performance stars, approved stallions etc. her breeding value as a producer should be considered exceptional. When you visit our Mare Page, you will be able to see the dam line influence in our own selective mare herd.
Consistency in a stallion is a sign we look for in breeding excellence. If a stallion can consistently throw the same standard of greatness with a variety of quality of mares, and improve substandard mares, we consider that the sign of breeding superiority. A stallion should stamp his stock. Our own stallion Glenlara has consistently stamps his stock and has thrown show winners who are making an impact on not only the RID gene pool, but also IDSH’s in competition in Europe and the US.
Conformation. The RID is historically known for being a versatile, athletic breed of horse used in many different disciplines. The conformation Bridon Irish Draughts seeks to produce is a horse with a good neck set- not too high, a big front end, correct limbs with flat bone, short cannon bones, strong gaskins, and well proportioned pasterns, stallions should have a shorter back, while it is acceptable for mares to have a longer body to carry a foal, strong, powerful hind quarters to generate impulsion from behind under saddle, overreaching, light movement with minimal knee action and exceptional use of the shoulder and stifles. All of these conformation qualities are true to RID breed standards.
Conformation is important to look at in the RID because of the way the breed has evolved over the years. While many are critical of the significant influence of TB blood, it is also documented that there were other breeds introduced to the RID that could have influenced conformation to show undiserable qualities.
Modern vs Traditional. There are a lot of different types of RID, most commonly referred to as ‘modern’ or ‘traditional’. Modern generally means lighter, and traditional means heavier. Through extensive research of the breed, it is apparent that the foundation horses of the breed are just as diverse in type as the modern day RID. What is rarely explained is that the four recorded RID foundation sires were all were heavily influenced by TB blood. Traditional RID’s have a lot of TB blood. What is often considered ‘traditional’ today appears far heavier than the breed’s origin.
Pedigree. The four foundation sires of the RID are Comet, Prince Henry, Young Arthur (9) and Young JP. Other influential historic RID bloodlines are Sir Henry, who is considered to be a rare and valuable outcross. Woodranger is a very influential RID stallion who was know for producing mares and is in the pedigree of most upper level performance horses derived from the RID. The RID Stallion Tara is double bred to Woodranger and is most certainly known for his influence in producing performance horses, having produced both Clover Hill and the RID stallion Seacrest who sired the internationally successful sport horse Cruising, both going back to Woodranger through the dam line.
The four most influential modern RID stallions are Clover Hill, King of Diamonds, Pride of Shaunlara and Ben Purple. They ALL consistently produced horses that put the RID on the world’s stage for performance horses as well as true to breed standard show winners.
The RID is a rare breed. Are rare bloodlines within the breed rare for a reason? This is a question often considered when researching RID pedigrees. With such a limited gene pool for the RID worldwide, having an outcross stallion is desired for genetic diversity and breed preservation, but there is no denying the influential horses that have produced the internationally recognized animals.
It doesn’t take a sport horse! The RID is recognized as the winning ingredient in performance horse pedigrees. Though the RID crossed with the TB or other breeds can produce spectacular individuals, the non-RID blood is not necessary to make a performance horse. There have been many successful RID’s that have competed at the top levels of many disciplines.
