[RC] To breed or not to breed. - SuzanneBeen following this thread with great interest. Here's my story....... I had(and still have) a mare that I love dearly. At the same time that I was going back to school I received an offer to breed her to a friend's stud. Since she was going to be basically idle for a couple years anyway, and I liked the stallion(Crabbet/polish, very sturdy and a great disposition) I went ahead and had her bred, thinking I would raise my own endurance horse. I had my own land to raise the foal on. I have a good bit of experience with babies from working in the Standardbred industry, so that wasn't an issue. I was there when Ruby was born. It was a great experience. BUT..........8 yrs. later, I still haven't gotten her to an endurance race. I've had a lot of training issues with her. Basically, she hates trailriding. Not good for an endurance prospect. I certainly haven't given up hope on her, but if I were to add up all the $$$$(make that $$$$$$$) spent on her care, (not to mention all the blood, sweat and tears) I'm sure I could have purchased a top endurance horse by now. Instead of having fun actually riding at some rides, I'm still at home working on basics with my homebred endurance horse. Don't get me wrong, I love her and will never sell her, because I brought her into this world, she's my responsibility for life. That's just how I look at it. But if I had it to do over , knowing what I know now, I don't think I would do it again. Physically, my homebred mare should be an excellent endurance horse. Everything about her breeding also suggests that. But the fact is, she's standing around in my pasture eating a lot of food, and not doing much else. A horse's potential doesn't mean much if it ends up not panning out. Just my very humble .02 worth. Suzanne(really, I haven't given up on her) Ruby(well, I wish you would quit bugging me already) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|