 |
[RC] The only way to afford... - k s swigartTracey said: We're about to get a young TB filly, full sister to Roderick's horse, who has ALL the good TB lines for jumping. They're lines which are slowly dying out, and I plan to put her to an imported WB to produce a good jumper for Rod. ... Part of me is doing this cos it's the only way to afford a WB for Rod to jump. ... ... And this is why I shall NEVER make money from breeding J Well, the other reason she will never make money from breeding is that she thinks it is more affordable to buy a mare, breed her to a stallion, feed her while she is pregnant (and probably after as well) and raise and train the resultant foal to jumping age, than it is to buy a good one that is already of jumping age and a proven jumper. Take the you would spend on the mare and put it in the bank, then take the money you would spend on stud fee and put it in the bank, then take the money you would spend on feeding and caring for the mare during her pregnancy and for foaling out, and put it in the bank, then take the money you would spend feeding and caring for the foal while you wait YEARS for it to grow up (to even know if your breeding decision and all your care and handling decisions were right) and put it in the bank. I guarantee you, by the time all the years have passed (and you have collected interest on your money that you have been adding to every month) you will have more than enough money in the bank to buy any A grade jumper out there. What you won't have is the pleasure and experience of making a breeding decision and all the other decisions along the way to have done everything to have produced the quality (hopefully) horse that you now get to compete on. I don't know this for sure about South Africa because I don't know the relative prices of feed, vets, farriers, and the horses themselves; however, here in the States it is ALWAYS cheaper to buy the feed, care and training already in the horse. So assuming that you have the discipline to put ALL the money from the checks that you would have written in paying for the horse you are raising into the bank, and to forego the pleasure of working with the horse along the way, you will be financially better off buying a made horse (and you can get it in the color, sex, markings, disposition, etc. that you choose). The reason for breeding a horse and raising it yourself is that you want to pay for the privalege of making breeding decisions and having the experience of raising a horse (and owning a horse that you raised) yourself. Don't think you can get a better horse for less money. It will be the most expensive horse you have ever owned. You just pay for it on the installment plan. kat Orange County, Calif. p.s. I also heartily disagree with the idea that only 1 in 100,000 male horses is stallion quality. _I_ am of the opinion that far too many good stallions are gelded (or not bred) and far to many bad mares are bred, and that the overall gene pool of horses would be MUCH better if "top" stallions were not so overused and the best mares were used for broodmares (instead of being too busy as performance horses) instead of the other way around. Believe it or not, I was at a warmblood stud farm looking at horses for a client, and when I asked about what types of foals this one mare that I liked had thrown, the response I got was, "Oh, this mare is too good of a dressage horse to be used for a brood mare." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|