Re: RC: RE: Need information, please

[Bette Lamore <woa@stormnet.com>]

Hi Angie
Obviously you don't live in CA where there are at least 20 well broke
horses for every would-be rider. Too bad we have so many mass breeding
farms. One farm in Santa Ynez is still breeding 250 mares/year in the
hopes of picking out 20 first string and 10-20 second string for the
race track. We heard stories that the rest went for "cat food" at the
San Diego Zoo but after the uproar now many are sold for "peanuts" ---
all with decent pedigrees. The big halter breeders also overproduce and
discard the ones who do not have the "right eye or tipped ears"--- just
ask Sylvia who got a beautiful colt for very little because the breeder
felt he would not be of national halter quality--- the judges whims
change from year to year.
Because we have the biggest purses for Arabians out here too (bigger
handles than Delaware) many ex-race horses are flooding the market.
People here look more for bargains, with so many Arabians around. Kid
goes to college; parents sell her wonderful show horse for next to
nothing. This is the Wal-Mart of Arabian horses here. I refuse to breed
horses only to sell them for less than their cost. The Halynov get I
have left (2, not even on my sales list) are going to Arabian Sporthorse
homes, I hope. That seems to be the fastest growing market in CA and has
a dressage flavor--- very little politics. People are willing to pay for
horses with athletic ability to do dressage moves. My experience in CA
is that they are unwilling to pay much for endurance prospects due to
the glut of horses on the market. Everyone is going to find that horse
like Cash, just like Val did for $500. That's why most of my buyers are
outside CA. The other side of the coin, Angie, is that something must
make that horse special to that buyer for them to go to such lengths to
have them transported from out of state. This no longer is a "bargain"
horse.<BG>
Michael Byatt once advised me to move to Florida; with the quality of
horses I have he said the first 2 months would make up for the moving
costs. Short of an old-fashioned "cattle drive" across the US, I don't
know how I'd get them out East. You breeders outside of CA are lucky.
Your prices are much better and people look for quality. There is not
that "bargain basement" type of mentality that we see a lot of here due
to overpopulation. And yet, there are not many horses around here that
are bred for the qualities needed in endurance. As people discover that
these bargain ex-show horses and race horses might not be bred for
distance, things might change. Or maybe not. And then, I love the ocean
and it has been in the 70s and 80s here!<VBG>
Bette
Bette Lamore
Whispering Oaks Arabians, Home of 16.2hh TLA Halynov
(yes, REALLY!)
http://www.arabiansporthorse.com

Rides 2 Far wrote:
> 
> > have always given the advice that the Horse of Your Dreams is in > your
> back
> > yard.
> 
> I'll take that a little farther and say, the really wonderful horses
> already have a waiting list in their own neighborhoods.  I've found that
> a a well broke riding horse is so hard to come by that when I've parted
> with one someone close by snatches it up.  My old endurance horse only
> made it 2 houses down the road.  When I go with someone to check out a
> horse for them and the seller brags, "This horse came out of Oklahoma" I
> usually comment, "sure had to go a long way to outrun his reputation".
> 
> Angie
> ________________________________________________________________
> YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
> Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
> Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
> 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
> Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

--