Cypress Creek's Steeplechasing Shetlands

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Why steeplechasing?
My official answer to this is "just 'cuz". I felt like doing a racing discipline but didn't want to go into conventional racing (and have no interest in either sprint or harness racing).

Why shetlands?
Because I like to suffer
Because there's this thing called Shetland Pony Grand Nationals and they're hilarious and adorable to watch.
Also, there are very few Shetlands that actually compete in Steeplechasing, and I don't think any are recent, probably because this project is a horrible idea and will be nightmarish to complete which means I'm creating a new niche for myself!

Goals:
The end goal for this project is to have a purebred Shetland pony line bred entirely by me (no crossing out, only horses I can add to the line are AC stock) that is competitive in steeplechasing.
I will count this a success when I have a horse that runs 10:08 or better in steeplechasing. (5 seconds behind the RH)
Height of racing stock will not exceed 12hh. The American Shetland (which I'm basing this off of, even though I'm using conventional shetlands) limit is 11.2hh, but I'll round up a bit for this. This particular restriction will no longer be in play; it would make breeding too annoying.
I will be using a Skyros Pony eval book for this, because it best suits my needs.
This project will likely not be released to the public (at least until gelding comes out), but I may set aside some foals for friends/players I trust.

Individual goals:
-No reds, in any of the breeding stock
-Green speed finally, omg
-Gold speed
-Green agility
-Gold agility
-Green stamina
-Gold stamina
-50 speed
-60 speed
-Horse-type (any weight)
-Horse-type light
-50K GP
-60K GP
-63K GP
-65K GP
-10:15 ob
-10:10 ob
-10:08 ob

Testing Competition Links:
Shetland Yearling High Stakes
Foal Testing (1-5Y): 1 2 3
Horse Testing (4-15Y): 1
Claiming Races: None

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Progress Thus Far:
At this point, I'm just trying to breed out the reds in speed because hopefully everything else will resolve itself over time speed is most important and also the weakest point of Shetlands why am I doing this
I've gotten my hands on a couple of cheap AC shetlands in sales and also decided to try to handpick some from the AC, which was a mess because apparently I'm not as good at judging size and type as I thought so I ended up with a few REALLY CHONKY ones that are going to be an absolute pain in the behind to slim down (plus I have lots of reds. Reds everywhere. But I can't be picky)
Please, if you have a shetland AC horse that you do not need (especially ones without reds, and even more especially mares) I WILL TAKE THEM. GIMME.

[Cypress Creek Elites]

More Progress

For the most part, reds have been eliminated from incoming breeding stock. I've been getting some slightly better comments (several "he/she is no Flash Gordon!") which is an improvement over the snails.
I've also popped a few greens (ag and int, though I don't think I've kept any of the green int). I've gotten some 2* and 3* evals, which means that size and type are heading in the right direction.
My most promising foal to date is a smol bean by the name of Brave to Numbers. He's got some of the best comments I've gotten so far (and has a whopping 35.5K GP):


He's also heckin cute as heck, which doesn't hurt in the slightest

And then there's this girl:


Who is also adorable and has the best speed comment to date, which is about average running speed, which is about 13 comments from green (oh dear)

[AUstalia]

Wow, this is an adorable and interesting idea, similar to my Racing Falabellas, l love it, keep up the hard work you'll have the perfect horse soon enough.

[Cypress Creek Elites]

We're finally getting into the Medium-Heavy with Hazel Harp!

I still have a ways to go before Light- and her speed comment isn't as good as some of the ones I've bred- but we're finally making progress in that direction!

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Hazel Harp's first foal turned out amazing!
Good comments (including gold agility), and broke 40K GP- as well as being Medium Heavy- so we can finally work on getting size and type down!
Hazel Tomb

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Hazel Harp's stellar producer record continues with our highest speed comment to date on her daughter Hazel Melody.

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Progress report:
Still stuck on "renowned" speed comments, around 70 size/type, and 42K GP.
I have popped two colts that have slightly worse comments than my top stud but are much lighter in build (to play around with), so we'll see if they can get me unstuck.

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Proudly introducing:
41K GP Renowned comment filly!
Bittersweet

She's a tad heavier in type than I'd like (and she's chestnut, which I'm not super thrilled with), but I am so HAPPY to have finally broken 41K with the gals.

[Cypress Creek Elites]

Welcoming our first (technically second, but I accidentally rehomed the first one) Medium filly!
Wicked Nymph