Re: RC: KILLER HORSES

["B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>]

>Haley was $650 can trot good batteries. but will have me a super nice baby
>when I can find the cash for a nice stallion. We bought her for my husband
>because of her gears pokey and slow.

Carla, don't take this the wrong way, but it's something I've noticed in 
general throughout the horse industry. Why do people breed their cheap 
horses? If one wants to create/sustain overall value in a breed, one should 
only breed the best to the best. It's a mistake to think a "nice stallion" 
will make up for the mare's lackings.  If—as you yourself compare her to 
your others—the mare can't cut it as an endurance mount and that's what you 
do with your horses, what do you plan to do with her "pokey and slow" 
offspring? I'm always challenging myself with the same questions, as I too 
have a mare in my barn. But just because she has a uterus and I emotionally 
want a youngster frisking around, doesn't mean it would be an ethical choice 
for me to breed her without a "plan."

On cheap horses:
I have bought/traded for/adopted probably a lion's share of cheap horses in 
my life. I looked upon it variously as "giving them a  good home," "defying 
the hoity-toity horse breeders," "making silk purses out of sows ears"(risky 
at best), and "being fiscally responsible" (egged on by my husband for this 
one). At one time, I looked at the five horses in my barn and realized their 
purchase prices averaged out to around $700 (sounds high because I paid the 
heftiest for my Andalusian/Arab; the others were virtually "free"). However, 
cheap horses often come with expensive "problems" and there came a time more 
than once when I couldn't financially justify the veterinary costs of 
keeping them alive (colics needing surgery). So, you start off with a cheap 
horse that you didn't have vetchecked properly because heck he was a rescue 
or a giveaway, and then you find out he's got a congenital heart problem, or 
her guts are badly scarred from parasite infestation, or a huge enterolith 
is lodged in his bowel and though the $5000 surgery is out of the question, 
you do opt for the autopsy, out of some insane curiosity.... I don't buy 
them cheap anymore, don't take in any more rescues and I'd advise anyone 
wanting a horse (especially for a physically demanding sport like endurance) 
who doesn't think they can affort a good purchase price to put themselves on 
a budget; stash the amount you'd be spending on monthly and yearly upkeep 
(vet, farrier, lodging, feed, tack for a year or 18 months, and then go out 
and use that money to purchase your horse. (Besides, it's good practice for 
the financial hell you'll be facing when you do own a horse!) If you don't 
have the full amount in a year, then see if you cant put something down and 
make payments if you must, but don't settle on an animal just because the 
price (or lack of it) is right. Of course, this is all IMHO.
Okay, I'm off the box and making a trash run so there's plenty of time to 
compose flaming responses.

Bonnie in AZ (not saying where ;->)

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