What do you look for in QHs

What are you looking for in quarter horses? Low nss, high overall stats, high confo, or specific colors? Comment what you specifically look for in these horses when buying or searching for a stud! This will help me figure out exactly what to go for, for future generations. Also other players may want to know aswell. 

-Sorry if this has been done before -

Last edited on 2019-10-17 at 17:18:56 by Voodoo21416

Personally, the nss are the first thing I check. I'm after western, but won't pass up a decent horse if the nss are low, regardless of discipline. Ideally it's under 55, but the lower the better obviously.

After that I check conformation, but I'm pretty relaxed on that for now since it has no contribution to the game. Above 57 is a plus.
Then color; I avoid paint patterns and tend to go for roans and duns or cream based colors. I don't really care for silver or white. Gray doesn't bother me.
Stats can always be built up, so I'm also relaxed about those.

If it's not a foundation, I check out the pedigree, mostly for giggles. I'm not worried about overbreeding or inbreeding; but I do like to see if a pairing had some thought behind it. ;)

Exactly what Cascabel said.. To a T ! lol.. I look for lowest possible nss first.. not too concerned about confo , unless halter classes should be introduced.. Im not too concerned about discipline. Ill buy any quarter horse regardless of discipline.. if they have low nss.  

In terms of colour.. I adore my dunalinos.. and cream dilutes..Prefer solids over patterns. Love bald face and 4 white stockings.. I actually created a custom herd.. with every horse having a bald face and stockings..lolz.. I love flaxen.. not keen on silver ( just looks wierd). Im fond of roans too..!

Like, Cascabel, Im also not concerned about overbreeding or inbreeding. I myself, breed my Appaloosas 'real world style'.. so there is line breeding in my horses and yaaaa,  a stud can have more than a couple foals.. Geeeeez.. Secretariat had over 600 foals.. pffft! lol.. But thats just me.. 

I guess mine is similar to what’s been said above^ NSS is the biggest thing for me too. I rarely buy horses with over 60 NSS regardless of breed, color, etc.
Color is secondary, dun is my favorite and champagne and cream after that. Flaxen, silver, and rabicano are bonuses, but I agree on silver looking a bit off. I prefer chestnut and black based horses and tend to avoid bays and seal browns that have cream. When it comes to patterns I love roan, tobiano, and overo the most, sabino is neutral, and I avoid splash as much as possible (weird since I love splash in real life). I try to avoid graying and white in my foals since they have trouble selling but I don’t mind keeping them for myself.
Pedigree is next, I don’t mind inbreeding that much here since EV isn’t real life but clean lines do sell better. Overused lines are also something I have to consider, I probably wouldn’t buy a foal with a sire who had over 10 foals unless I really had no choice. The reason being that for me it becomes hard to avoid buying another relative by mistake (something I may have done already a few times including last week and now my 2nd gen herd is messed up >_<). It also may turn away potential buyers who feel overused lines reduce the quality of my foals.
Confo is the last thing I consider, I really don’t have a limit on how low it can be, but I’ll always go for the higher confo option if NSS, color, and pedigree are pretty much the same.
Overall stats aren’t something I really think about. I kind of prefer lower grades (N1-L5) since showing is easier, but it’s not really a big factor to me.


Other things I just have a weakness for are dunalinos, perlinos/cremellos, brown duns, flaxen red duns, all the champagne duns, blazes, double roans, lots of white socks and stockings... completely solid with no patterns or leg/facial markings is also pretty eye-catching.

Exactly the same as whats been said above ^.^  Low NNS is first on my list when looking at a new horse. then conformation but im very relaxed on that, color is just a cherry on top. 

Low nss will be the one thing I look for. I do try and keep conformation at least at 55.00 average. 

Mainly high confirmation and color :)

It’s all been said above ^^! The most important thing for me when I am looking to get another horse in my barns, is low NNS. Since I try to breed for low NNS that’s the most important thing for me when it comes to getting another horse. Second would be the conformation and well color I love anything so that doesn’t really matter to me! 

Same as above lol ^_^

Whenever I look at a horse, there are 2 main deciding factors. I look for low nss, which is not always the easiest to find lol "-.- Preferably under 60 nss. And also, lines that aren't overbred or bred too young, but that's just personal preference (nothing against breeders who breed their horses young or many times, it's just me). That's also a large part of why I prefer breeding my lined stock to foundations/1st gens/2nd gens every so often.

Trying to find outside studs and broods to breed my stock to is usually quite the chore because of this lol.

After that I look at conformation, usually won't buy or breed to a horse with less that 55 conformation, unless there is something truly special about that horse, in which case I might make an exception but even then I don't go too far under 55. 

Last on the list is color. I absolutely LOVE dunalino's, grullo, flaxen and seal brown/moreno horses. Palomino and buckskins too. Champagne isn't too bad. Love bald faces with stocking. I don't specifically breed for the paint markings, but if they are present and the base coat is something I like, I don't mind. If the horse has flaxen, dun, seal brown or cream, then I don't mind white and grey, I can always breed those out. 

Since QHs are so diverse and there's so many great ones out there I actually focus on color first to narrow down my search. Horses I buy must have the Dun gene, after that it's the usual western discipline, low non-specs and decent stats. I'm not one to much care about lines, as long as it's not my horses in up to grandparents I'll consider it. I only watch slightly for excessive foals, I consider that over about 20 though, and it's even more lax with Quarters because of the diversity already in the breed. I don't particularly care about conformation. I like to improve it wherever possible but will take a 60 horse over the 99 if the stats and color or breeding are better.