That is the question i encountered 16 years ago or something
like that. It was at the height of the Arabian Fall. There was all
these Tax Gimmicks that businessmen did to drive up the price of horses and get
tax breaks. One was to buy a horse from someone that they sold
one too. The first guy paid $275,000 for a 2 yo gelding and the second guy
paid $280,000 for this 3yo gelding. Well all they did was trade horses and
the first guy gave the second guy $5,000 more and they just traded checks.
It looked all good on paper and they were able to advertize how much their
breeding program sold a horse for. But it was all a scam and it soon
unraveled. While it was unraveling i was able to pick up a herd...at one
time i had 22 with 5 mares included. Pretty soon this was not fun because
all i ever did was work fixing fences or cleaning stalls or grooming or worming
or meeting the farrier or the vets etc...and spend money. I never made any
money BUT, it was a learning process that i was glad to have done. I'm
down to a gelding and a mare and i won't breed her even tho her son won the OD50
(and has done nothing since...a shooting star). Why? will i not breed this
mare. # 1 Its too much work, expense and risk. But if you want to
bond with a particular horse you have studied and impregnated and gone thru the
process of birth with its a very rewarding experience. Long ago i remember
Matthew MS saying that its cheaper for him to buy a 5-7 YO that he can look over
and know how its acting under saddle etc and spend 5K$. That would
probably be 1 in 5,000 births at least. Pay the people an honest price for
a horse if you like it (But you can't raise a horse to 5 and worm and do all the
right stuff and put it under saddle and do all the training for 1,000$ a
year)but from what i've seen its all a crap shoot to breed. I will not do
it but i would encourage anyone with the time and desire to try it, just
don't go overboard and think you're gonna hit the lotto or make a big bunch of
money. Go into it for fun and fun only and you will have fun and sometimes
heartache but a real good learing process. tom
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