05/27/2026
AI. I’m not going to say I’ve never used it. I used it to figure out how to re-wire the horse trailer that wasn’t wired to the diagrams I found on Google. I used it to translate a vellum book that I have that is written in French dated from the 1300’s, and to translate a letter my grandfather wrote in Czech in the 1930’s. I’ve used it to find the match for some curtain rods that I bought thirteen years ago, and to find out the average price of farmland in my county in 2014. I even used it to tell me how to change my checking account type online, since the website and call center were completely unhelpful.
But I haven’t used it to write my articles. I haven’t used it to design or write my ads. And I haven’t used it to add feather to my horses.
More and more I’ve been seeing people using AI to generate their horse sales ads. When this is done, it modifies the horses and makes them look cartoonish. Worse still, people are using it to generate their stallion ads, and asking AI to add feather to their stallions.
The effect looks very fake, and it’s obvious when feather has been added. The added feather is nearly always combed out ringlets (I don’t know why), and looks like someone put a bunch of gel in it. People are adding it to their foals, which is completely unnecessary because many foals have naked legs and it means nothing about how they will turn out. People are adding it to their mares for sale and their stallions at stud.
And I don’t usually get this blunt, but if you feel that your stallion needs AI to have acceptable feather for a stallion, why is he a stallion? If he isn’t something you’d pay a stud fee for in your own program, why isn’t he a gelding?
Now, I don’t pay your bills and I’m NEVER going to say that some high performing dressage stallion, who is earning his keep performing at a higher level than most horses can ever achieve, should be gelded on account of his feather alone. I’m 100% on board with breeding horses with purpose. If that purpose is dressage horses, I’m okay with that. Talented horses are needed and feather doesn’t create talent. Seabiscuit reportedly had crooked legs but he was the fastest horse alive during his time. Dan Patch was butt high and he broke records. Jus de Pom was rejected from the KWPN inspections to enter their stud book and it wasn’t until fifteen years after he won TWO Olympic Golds that he was approved. The best horses out there don’t need to meet the breed standard to prove they’re the best.
But this is the exception with gypsy breeders and the majority seem to be trying to breed to the breed standard, rather than for competitive sport, and the breed standard dictates that feather starts at the knee and extends to completely cover the hoof.
And yes, I agree that feather isn’t the only important thing, but it’s what I see most often accentuated with AI. Temperament is the number one deal breaker for me. A good 60% of gypsy stallions act like geldings. Since the breed standard dictates that this is a family horse, that other 40% that are difficult to manage at shows or scaring their owners at home should be gelded no matter what they look like. It’s too easy to find a gypsy stallion with a nice temperament that’s easy to handle in public to keep the ones in tact that don’t have that. But temperament doesn’t show up on AI.
Don’t use AI for your backgrounds, either. Unlike photo editing tools, which keep the original picture in tact, AI re-imagines its own ideal of every single pixel. It will change the horse even when you ask it to keep the horse the same. If you overlay them, you’ll find differences. So all your stallion and sales ads where you used a picture with a bad background? It changed your horse also and now you’re being deceptive to your intended audience, whether or not that was your intention. Use photo editing tools, make your own stallion/sale fliers, or hire someone to do it.
So if you’re using AI to add feather to your c**ts and stallions, or are thinking of it, this post is for you. You don’t need to do that. He would make someone a WONDERFUL gelding.
And if you use AI to generate your sales and stallion ads, this post is for you also. Hire a professional if you can’t do it yourself.
One last thing —- if you don’t want a data center in your community, resist the urge to use AI for things that can be done another way. I know it’s free and easy, but fresh water is only free until we run out of it. And if we use AI, they WILL build more data centers to support its use.
📸 : HP Rodeo Queen, 2 year old filly (looking for her next adventures!) No AI (or even photo editing) was done with this photo.
Here is a list of things I DID use to improve my photo:
-a sunny day
-an uncluttered background
-electrical tape
-dawn dish soap
-suave conditioner
-water from the hose
-good genetics
