Survey Results 2014
Warmblood Stallions of North America
created a survey of breeders in July/August 2014. The primary purpose was to find out how mare owners find stallions to breed to. There were also a couple of questions about WSNA
specifically, to find out if, and how, breeders used our print magazine. Below is a synopsis of some of the most interesting survey results.
294 people took the survey, of whom 96% were mare owners and 35% own at least one stallion.
Respondents learned about the survey primarily through an email announcement; Facebook announcement on the WarmbloodStallionsNA page, the Warmblood Breeders Group page, or the USSHBA Group page; or through a forum discussion.
Registry participation
All but 6.76% responded that they belonged to at least one registry; 55% belong to multiple registries.
We asked how many of the breeder's own mares they bred in each of the last three years.
The percentage of breeders who bred none of their mares was between 28 and 29% each year. The average number of mares bred per breeder in 2012 was 2.18, in 2013 it was 2.25, and in 2014 it was 2.46.
When do you start choosing stallions for the next breeding season?
By far the greatest number of breeders checked "I'm always looking at stallions I might breed to." 87.23%
How important are the following criteria to you when choosing a stallion?
We asked about the criteria breeders are using to select stallions, and the bottom line is that breeders are considering everything. The most popular response was that the stallion be a good fit for a specific mare, but everything from bloodlines to quality of offspring was considered - including the reputation of the owner. 65.70% said that if the stallion was not a good fit for a specific mare, that would be a deal breaker. A stallion's show results, while "Fairly important" to 57.35%, was a deal breaker for only 10.66%. Conformation flaws, however, would be a deal breaker for 58.18%. Here are the full results:
| Criterion |
Unimportant |
Somewhat
important |
Neutral |
Fairly important |
Deal breaker |
Average Rating |
| Evaluation results from inspections, stallion testing, registry ranking or awards, etc. |
2.54% |
10.14% |
10.87% |
59.06% |
17.39% |
3.79 |
| Show results |
1.10% |
9.56% |
21.32% |
57.35% |
10.66% |
3.67 |
| Talent for specific discipline (for example, jumping ability or dressage talent) |
0.36% |
2.53% |
3.25% |
48.01% |
45.85% |
4.36 |
| Bloodlines |
0.36% |
3.61% |
5.78% |
53.07% |
37.18% |
4.23 |
| Conformation |
0.73% |
0.36% |
2.18% |
38.55% |
58.18% |
4.53 |
| Personality |
0.73% |
2.55% |
9.12% |
41.24% |
46.35% |
4.30 |
| Specific physical characteristics (height, type, age, color, etc) |
3.27% |
6.55% |
17.82% |
52.73% |
19.64% |
3.79 |
| Good fit for specific mare |
0.00% |
0.72% |
2.17% |
31.41% |
65.70% |
4.62 |
| Quality of offspring |
0.37% |
1.10% |
2.20% |
43.59% |
52.75% |
4.47 |
| Owner reputation |
2.57% |
3.31% |
26.47% |
37.13% |
30.51% |
3.90 |
How often have you become interested in a stallion as a result of seeing him in one of the following?
A number of the questions were asked to find out what resources breeders used to find stallions. Overall, breeders use a wide variety of resources. Surprisingly to me, the single biggest response (12.96%) said that "Saw the stallion's offspring in person" was "How I usually find stallions." Finding a stallion through the stallion's or farm's own website ranked highest, far higher than Facebook.
Resources, in order of importance by overall average rating:
| Stallion's own (or farm) website | 3.33 |
| Saw stallion's offspring in person | 3.26 |
| Registry stallion roster (printed) | 3.09 |
| Referral from another breeder you know personally | 3.09 |
| Registry website | 3.06 |
| Saw stallion in person | 2.99 |
| Ad in print magazine | 2.78 |
| Stallion or breeding news website | 2.66 |
| Article about a stallion in a print magazine | 2.63 |
| Facebook | 2.25 |
| Forum website | 2.20 |
| Referral from someone online you don't know personally | 1.82 |
In 2015, how likely are you to breed to a stallion... ?
Below is the full table of responses. Interestingly, breeders are more likely to breed to a proven sire than a proven competitor. 40.68% said they definitely plan to breed to a stallion standing in North America, compared with 22.05% who said they definitely plan to breed to a stallion standing in Europe. 51.33% said they definitely planned to breed to a stallion approved by their primary breed registry.
|
Highly unlikely |
I'm not very likely to |
I don't plan to
but I'm not opposed |
It's likely that I will |
I definitely plan to |
N/A |
Average Rating |
| ...you've bred to before |
8.49% |
6.56% |
19.31% |
30.89% |
30.50% |
4.25% |
3.71 |
| ...you have not bred to before |
5.36% |
6.13% |
15.33% |
40.61% |
28.74% |
3.83% |
3.84 |
| ...that is a proven competitor |
2.67% |
1.91% |
15.65% |
33.21% |
41.98% |
4.58% |
4.15 |
| ...that is a proven sire |
2.68% |
0.77% |
8.43% |
31.80% |
53.64% |
2.68% |
4.37 |
| ...that is 6 years old or under |
17.18% |
21.76% |
37.79% |
12.21% |
6.49% |
4.58% |
2.68 |
| ...standing in North America |
6.08% |
4.18% |
18.63% |
26.24% |
40.68% |
4.18% |
3.95 |
| ...standing in Europe |
28.90% |
7.98% |
16.73% |
19.77% |
22.05% |
4.56% |
2.98 |
| ...that is approved by your primary breed registry |
3.42% |
1.52% |
12.55% |
23.19% |
51.33% |
7.98% |
4.28 |
| ...that is not approved by your primary breed registry |
33.46% |
15.00% |
27.69% |
11.54% |
5.38% |
6.92% |
2.36 |
| ...that you've seen in person |
14.18% |
10.34% |
27.59% |
24.90% |
16.86% |
6.13% |
3.21 |
| ...whose ad you saw in a print magazine |
16.79% |
13.74% |
32.44% |
23.28% |
6.49% |
7.25% |
2.88 |
| ...that you saw online |
6.13% |
7.66% |
24.14% |
36.40% |
20.31% |
5.36% |
3.60 |
| ...whose offspring you have seen in person |
5.73% |
9.54% |
20.23% |
31.30% |
26.34% |
6.87% |
3.68 |
About
Warmblood Stallions of North America
The response I was most pleased with is that, of the breeders who had received
Warmblood Stallions of North America
(79%),
almost all (97%) keep the magazine more than a week; 90% of them said they still had their copy after six months. Only one-half a percent said they tossed it immediately. 88% at least skim the magazine. 40% "read
Warmblood Stallions of North America
for the stallions and mark the pages I like," and 40% "usually or always read
WSNA
articles."
About half said they use
Warmblood Stallions of North America
by making a list of stallions they like, then doing more research online or elsewhere.
Is the
WSNA
print magazine worthwhile?
77% of respondents felt that it was important for
WSNA
to continue, including 37% who checked "It would be great for the industry if
WSNA
grew to include every stallion standing in North America," and 40% who said that it was "Important" or "Very important" that
Warmblood Stallions of North America
continue as a print directory. Only 7% of respondents said that they don't think a print directory is of much value.
Summary
For stallion owners: Keep your website up to date. Breeders report the individual stallion/farm website to be the place they most often go for information about a stallion.
Encourage your mare owners to take your stallion's best foals to inspections. Seeing a stallion's offspring in person is very important to breeders, and inspections are a great way to get them out there.
For Warmblood Stallions of North America
: Creating a print magazine is like breeding, in that it sometimes feels like a thankless job. Especially with the importance of the internet, do people really use
WSNA
and want it to continue? It appears that they both want it and use it.
In the olden days, print magazines were all we had. If you had a mare and you liked a stallion, you'd wait for the
Chronicle's stallion issue to come out. If you liked a stallion, you'd call the owner and ask them to send you a video tape. Sometimes you had to pay a deposit for it. No one calls a stallion owner directly from a print ad these days, which sometimes makes it seem like breeders are not using print magazines. Magazine publishers in all fields are asking themselves, "Why are we still doing this?" Many are quitting.
From this survey, it's clear that print ads in
WSNA
are still seen and used by most breeders, but they are used differently. The majority of our respondents note the stallions they like and then do further research online. Today, a print ad is a jumping-off point. It's also a long-term record. Websites can disappear, but breeders keep
Warmblood Stallions of North America
around for months and even years.
Thank you to all the breeders who took this survey. Thanks to all the wonderful people who wrote in special comments about how much
Warmblood Stallions of North America
means to them.
Here are a few comments submitted through the survey:
I think it is very important that we start appreciating our American-bred horses and the amazing stallions we have right here in the US.
WSNA
helps to promote that.
Very happy with it as a resource and would love to see it get even better and bigger.
This directory is a great resource. I find that sometimes I narrow myself too closely within the breed that I like the most and in doing so I have limited myself to not even knowing what else is out there. This year I ended up breeding my mare outside of my primary registry because I liked the stallion so much. It is nice to see stallions from all registries in the pages of the same resource. It makes it really easy to compare based on not only registry but also bloodlines.
