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RE: [RC] questions for breeders (real ones) - heidiwill you take back a horse you've bred that has fallen on hard times? Yes, if at all possible. And in one case, I practically had to get into a fight with a rescue outfit in order to get one of ours back that had come into their hands! are you choosy about the mares that come to be bred to your stallions? (Conformation/lineage/etc.) Yep, definitely. Do you allow grade mares to be bred to your stallions? Depends on the circumstances. For ranching neighbors or endurance riders who I know will raise the foal to use, yes. This one I've ALWAYS wondered about: why are stud fees lower for mares of a different breed? Shouldn't it be the other way around? To discourage 1/2 breeds and more grade horses? Usually the resulting partbred foal has far less economic value, and is being raised solely as a using horse for someone with a specific cross in mind. For us, stud fees are not a major source of income anyway--so although we have an advertised fee, it is negotiable for good mares or for people that we really want to have foals by our stallions. Do you cut back on breeding in bad economic times or do you try to breed more often to get more stud fees out of your stallions because you need more money in the bad economic time? (I know, run on sentence!) That isn't up to the stallion owner--it's up to the mare owners who book breedings. My perception of hard times may not match someone else's perception. The mare owner is the one who has to make the judgment call as to whether or not they can afford to raise a foal. I'm not privy to the balances in their checkbooks or to their likelihood of continuing employment, or whatever. Do you encourage gelding of stud colts born from your breedings? We don't have to--that's what most people want when they breed to our stallions. The product of any good breeding program is riding geldings--and since we cater to endurance riders, the few who do choose to breed their own usually tend to want colts rather than fillies, and nearly all of our outside breeders who have gotten colts have gelded them without encouragement from us. (So in a sense, the fact that we strive to breed riding horses is an "encouragement" to geld...) Do you keep your broodmares even when they can no longer have babies? Do you give them lifetime homes for the lifetime of producing that they've done for you? Depends on their health. Muferra (RT Muffin's mother) had her last foal at 25, and lived quite happily to 30. Nothing makes me madder than seeing stove-up scrawny miserable horses kept alive year after year just because somebody has some sentimental attachment to them. We love our mares enough to put them down if life becomes a struggle for them. Are your broodmares broke out so that when they are no longer producing, they can have a life after kids? We used to be more rigorous about starting young mares, until we discovered that older ones are usually easier to start. And we're more apt to have them take a break after a few babies if we choose to have riding careers for them, and then put them back in the brood band. We don't breed back-to-back years anyway--every other year is plenty, and sometimes a longer lag time. So many of our mares lead a life of leisure in between foals that isn't really long enough to get a lot accomplished in terms of a riding career. Personally, I firmly believe that mares that produce top-notch foals should be the ones that stay in production, and mares that are borderline as breeders should become riding horses and not be bred, so it makes more sense to only breed your very best mares, and to keep breeding them, instead of breeding all of the mares and then having them all have riding careers. To cite Muferra once again, she raised 17 foals in her lifetime (only her last one for me)--one was RT Muffin (AERC Hall of Fame), one was Aurlani Farwa (show hack champion and sire of many topnotch endurance horses), one was very successful on the track, several more have produced top-notch performers, and her youngest is about to make her endurance debut with Patty Peck, after having some foals for us. Muferra was (to the best of my knowledge) never broke to ride--but she was exactly where she belonged, which was in the broodband. What do you personally do in these trying times to help the horse situation. Breed fewer of our own mares, since the market for riding horses is very limited in hard times. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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