QH Breeding Tips Appreciated :)

So I'm starting to get to the point in the game where I believe I understand it enough (played since early August) that I want to get a lot more serious with my horses and breeding.

At least with my Quarter Horses.

I currently have 12 first generation horses, and then since I got super excited with breeding I have 2 second generation horses. 

I've randomly gone to the EC to get new horses whenever I have the money for them. 

My main question is how do you get cool colors into your herd? 

Only interesting colors I get at the EC is Silver and Roan (have enough roan now). 

I want champagne, flaxen and would LOVE a Palomino QH.

But I don't seem to be finding any of these interesting genetics in the EC... And I wanted to only breed my own horses for the first 2-3 generations if possible. 

Any tips?

Do I just need to keep ECing it or are those genes even possible to pick up? 

Or do I need to give up and breed to a few outside studs? 

Any other breeding tips anybody would like to share? :D 

They are possible from the EC! I have 10 interestingly colored foundies as the base of my color project! Because I am not willing to pay the money to buy a hundred QHs from the EC and then dump the non-pretty ones, I have gotten all of mine second hand frim horse sales or the RC. I actually have some foundies in my generation lock (mostly duns) that I'd be willing to sell you! Otherwise if you would like to buy some second gens from a very responsible breeder, I will have some foals up for sale in a few weeks (will definitely have some Cr and Ch).

When I was buying horses from the EC to start lines I'd make ~200 horses and keep the ones with good coloring/confos as I went.  I've gotten pretty much every gene from the EC (including Ff flaxen) it just takes time, patience, and money.  I'll probably be going through my herd soon to slim it down, and it's full of foundations and second generations.

As for breeding tips - put everything you want to breed for in priority from highest to lowest.  For me, it's stats > color > confo.  A few I have confo > stats > color.  I work on all three at once, of course, but sometimes you have to prioritize.  Color is easy to change if you can afford the gene pickers, but otherwise it's luck of the draw.

But general tips:  
-- Don't overbreed - a lot of high end breeders don't like to see more than 2-3 foals per mare and 3-5 foals per stallion.  I aim for 1-3 for both mares and stallions (one for myself, 1-2 to sell or stud out).
-- Breed late in life, around 18-19 years old.  If you want to do three breedings, you want to do them the last day they're 18, last day they're 19, and last day they're 20 so you have the highest stat gains possible.
-- My personal preference:  Try to keep pedigrees even and rare.  Breed foundies to foundies, second gens to second gens.  It makes it a lot easier to follow generations, and keeps pedigrees neat.  Also prevents from accidentally breeding into a pedigree that is popular and overbred.