The Appendix Horse and Breeding:

An aging appendix mare in the wild

There’s a multitude of reasons why crossing a Quarter Horse and a Thoroughbred would be beneficial to the industry:

1. Athletic Versatility. Speed from TB side and power from the QH side, creating a great performance prospect for:

   -Barrel Racing

   -Roping

   -Eventing

   -Hunter Under Saddle

2. Ideal Hybrid of Traits.

   -QH side: muscular build, cow sense, and speed.

   -TB side: height, stamina, and speed.

3. Value and Market Appeal.

   If well bred and trained, they have a strong resale potential due to their versatility and athletic ability.

Now this will absolutely ruffle feathers so please let me preface by saying I have been waiting for the perfect time to share this entry but do remember: this is my blog, my page, and my opinion. You do not have to agree but you won’t change my opinion.

In 2023 I was eager to find a stallion for our breeding program. Why continue to find the perfect stallions at stud for your mares when you could just own one? Knowing much less than I do now about the breeding world, we bought a younger (4yo) appendix stallion. We learned A LOT thanks to him.

I believe it is our duty to breed in the name of bettering and benefiting the breed. We breed Quarter Horses for barrels and roping specifically, so when we bought this appendix stallion he was helping add run to our current herd of mares. He is VERY race built himself, replicating more of his TB side and it got me thinking, why am I breeding him to better the Quarter Horse breed when he isn’t a true QH himself? Though he did produce some incredible foals, we went on to castrate him and give him a riding career.

Owning an appendix stallion is a very challenging endeavor. There are quite a few appendix stallions out there who are not advertising as such. As I was registering our 2025 fillies this season, one of them IS appendix and I didn’t even know her sire was an appendix, the stallion owner never once mentioned it. This was the sole reason I decided to sell this filly, one who I had initially thought would be a keeper and would be one of our broodmares in the future. Imagine how frustrating that would be had my mare also been an appendix… I’d have a grade foal and a busy attorney. Though not everyone sees an issue with these alternative registries available for a situation like this, ADNAR, AAHA (American Appendix Horse Association.), AqHR, etc. I prefer my foals have AQHA or APHA papers only.

I have NO issues with an appendix horse, I have had a few throughout the years, they can be great horses as I detailed above, but anyone who has ever owned an OTTB knows there’s no hoof to a TB.. so why would I intentionally breed poor feet back into the breed when most race bred QHs (and 80% of my broodmare herd is some variation of a race bred QH) have already had the bone and hoof bred out of them? I shouldn’t and I won’t.

I realize my opinion on breeding isn’t how everyone else feels - I have three appendix mares in my broodmare pasture currently so does that make me a hypocrite? No, only one is bred and though it’s a keeper foal, it is not a foal that will ever be in our breeding program in the future but is a selfish decision to duplicate a rather special mare before we lose her to old age.

I have one off the track QH mare (with true AQHA papers, has never been labeled as an appendix mare) who though she has incredible papers, brings very little to the table when you look at her physically and ask “how is she bettering the breed?” because she has less hoof than an OTTB and someone absolutely bred all the bone out of her. It may seem like a good idea on paper to breed this “well bred mare” with all the trendy names still on her papers to the latest and greatest fad stallion, but in reality the only way she will produce something that could be a benefit to the QH breed is if she’s crossed with a foundation bred QH, preferably with some Hancock *gasp.* How dare I, I know… but I also have an incredible appendix daughter of Ivory James, who again in theory and on paper should be my top choice for my ASNY or Adios contracts, but in reality should only ever be crossed on cow and foundation stallions to bring more bone and mass… sounds like a job for a Hancock stud *gasp, again.* *que eye roll*

Don’t worry, I don’t have any intentions of breeding her anytime soon, if at all. I have over 10 broodmares currently and with as over saturated as the sale market is, I don’t want to add another horse (or 10) to the market that unfortunately didn’t cut it for me as a performer in 2-3 years, because lets be real - NOBODY competing can successfully haul 10+ horses to an event, nor can anyone truly afford to these days. Plus who needs to breed 10+ horses for their future self each year!? I don’t and I don’t breed to sell foals, there’s enough mass breeders these days that I prefer to breed with intention (and a little selfishness) and my opinion of bettering the breed, especially for my own performance goals, is to actively chose to breed in the name of bettering and benefiting the Quarter Horse breed and not just to breed to a stallion who can “correct” a beloved mare’s (or a cheap broodmare sound only mare picked up from the sale barn’s) flaws.