Free Rein Should I Performance-Test My Mare? Yes, says our sport-horse columnist By Maurine “Mo” Swanson
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f you own an eligible mare or three-year-old filly, you might be wondering whether you should do a mare performance test (MPT) with her. Let me explain the purpose of the MPT and offer some insights you can use in deciding whether it’s right for your mare.
What Is an MPT? Several European and US-based warmblood breed registries offer performance testing for registered mares or those of a breed eligible to be placed into the registry’s studbook (e.g., Thoroughbred, Arabian, or Anglo-Arabian). The registries can tabulate the results, which aid in their evaluation of horses’ genetic traits and heritability. Some European and US registries publish the results. An MPT usually consists of an under-saddle evaluation of the
mare’s walk, trot, and canter. Free walk, medium walk, lengthened trot and canter, halts, circles, and serpentines may also be required. Some registries use a predetermined pattern, while others have the judges call out the desired gait and pattern. Each gait receives a numeric score between 1 and 10, but the pattern or any required figures are not scored as they are in a dressage test. Some registries award a separate score for the mare’s ridability. In Europe, the registries that score ridability do so by employing guest test-riders. A test-rider rides each mare for five to 10 minutes, then dismounts and gives the score for ridability. Guest test-riders are usually not used in the US because of the logistics and cost of hiring and transporting a test-rider to all the sites that offer MPTs. There-
fore, most of the time in the US the judges give the ridability score. Free-jumping is part of some MPTs. Some registries require any mare with a jumping pedigree whose owner has declared her “jumper oriented” to jump a course under saddle. Dressage-bred mares typically are asked only to free-jump obstacles of moderate height, and some registries don’t require freejumping at all if a mare is declared as dressage-oriented. If a ridden course of jumps is required, then the course and the obstacle heights are specified and age-appropriate. Each score that a mare receives during the MPT—for the three gaits, for her ridability, for free-jumping, or for any other component—is weighted as a percentage of the total. For example, the canter and jumping scores may be weighted more heavily in a jumper-oriented mare than in a dressage-oriented mare. The three gaits and ridability may be more heavily weighted in a dressage-oriented mare. Each registry has its own formula.
HIGH PERFORMANCE: Rolling Stone Farm’s Fherrari (Foundation – EM Rheporter, Royal Prince) received the highest-ever scores given in the US by the German Oldenburg Verband: 8.75 at her inspection and 9.2 in her mare performance test. In 2021, Fherrari (pictured during her MPT at age three) was the USDF Breeders Championship Northeast Series Final grand champion and the Dressage at Devon (PA) breed division reserve grand champion.
26 January/February 2022 | USDF CONNECTION
If a filly or mare has not previously been inspected in order to be placed in the breed registry’s studbook, then the inspection usually takes place at the same time as the MPT. A previously inspected mare may complete the MPT at any time. In a studbook inspection, the mares are evaluated in hand only. The inspector scores each mare’s conformation, correctness of gaits, type, and overall impression, and evaluates her walk and trot. Some registries also assess the mares at liberty in the trot and canter. Each
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What Happens at an MPT?
