Breeding a model toy horse sounds impossible: after all, how can a toy horse breed? The answer is simple. Breeding model horses is not about creating a new model horse, but instead it is about learning the intricacies of equine pedigrees and breeding.
To begin breeding, you first need to get a pedigree for your horse. You can get this pedigree in one of two ways. The most common method of getting a pedigree is to select “parents” for your horse from a list of model sires (mothers) and darns (fathers). There may be a fee associated with selecting these model horses as the parents and listing them on your horse‘s pedigree; this fee will be explained in the list. It is usually about .10 per parent horse, and is almost always under $1.00. If you select a horse from a list and pay the breeding fee, you get a pedigree certificate for your horse.
You can also select parents from stallion ads in real breeding magazines. If you choose the second option, you will not actually contact or notify the real owners of the horse, since after all you don’t really want the live horse showing up at your house; it’s just pretend.
Whether you chose the first option or the second option to find parents for your toy horse, you will need to select appropriate parents for your model horse, considering factors such as the age of the horse and whether the horse could have been your horse‘s parent in the year your horse was born. Your horse can be any age you want it to be, and is either non-aging (its age never changes) or aging (if you decide the horse is 10, then next year the horse will turn 11 and so on). Since horses often are not bred until they are at least 2 and then they carry the baby for approximately a year, your horses parents should be at least three years older than whatever age you decide your horse is.
You also want to consider the horses breed. In order to have the best pedigree and be listed on a registry of model toy horses, a purebred horse usually comes from parents of the same breed. There are some exceptions to this rule if you have a warmblood horse and only want your horse to be listed on warmblood pedigree registries. Different breeds have different characteristics, like color, size and health needs. Color is especially important, because coloration patterns vary dramatically from breed to breed. Make sure you do your research to find out what breed your horse is before selecting parents of that breed.
After you have decided on the parents and given your horse lineage you can add your horse to the registry lists and your horse can then be the sire or foal of other young horses. Usually, female horses (mares) are only able to have one foal (baby horse) each year, so you may want to limit your model horses breeding to once yearly as well.
By selecting a pedigree for your horse, and choosing parents, you can learn a lot about real horse breeding. Your toy horse will become more lifelike, and you will experience what it is like to register and breed purebred horses, without actually having to buy a real horse.