Re: [RC] Arabian Numbers+SUPPLY & DEMAND - Mary Ann Spencer
"But the rank and file endurance CANDIDATE should not be a
$500 weanling or an $800 two year old."
This is not in the spirit of this sport. Sounds like we all
should be paying megabucks. Not the American way. Just why the
snobery??? Cost vs effective use are not necessarily
equivalent.
Mary Ann, who has done endurance on such horses but not extensively due to
personal problems and not the fault of such horse!!!!
In a message dated 4/6/2005 1:04:40 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Pasang@xxxxxxx writes:
Perhaps for years we endurance folk have had a "free ride" in the
horse acquisition aspect of our sport due to market forces driving down the
prices of Arabians. But when availability of good Arabian horses
gets very low, the prices will naturally go up, way up.
Oh no it isn't a free ride, sifting through prospect after
prospect, to find the right combination of ability and heart, The availability
is already very low when compared to the availability of average to poor ones
being bred at a breath-taking rate up until recently, with the "rejects"
finding their way into cheap auctions and often on to the endurance trail,
where they may or may not be particularly suitable, either. At the same time,
a $10,000 endurance horse is already out there, and some probably rightly
deserve such esteem. Most do not - but when the front runners in the pricing
market continue to be horses who demonstrate signs of ADD at the end of
a lead and/or mince about a ring for a full 5 minutes before they are dripping
with sweat, i cannot help wondering where breeding quality for its own sake
went, rather than breeding what is popular this year.
We will not likely be paying $10,000 for a "good" one but
probably for a REALLY good one or top notch one - probably more. But the rank
and file endurance CANDIDATE should not be a $500 weanling or an $800 two year
old.
