>What if the only reason they're breeding
is so they can turn a buck and produce 150-200 foals each year? But then
can't sell them? We end up with an Edwards Arabians situation up in Canada
in 1999 -- over 300 horses going to auction and most going for under $1,000 --
tons for under $600.
Well, folks who don't even bother to register their
horses can't apparently be out to make a buck--more like they have some sort of
"acquisition illness." The numbers at the Registry don't support the
concept that such a thing is going on to such a scale among people who avail
themselves of registration. On the Datasource site, one can look up the
"top breeders" (by number) both for lifetime registration and for the time
period of 2000-2002. The latter's "top" breeder is Godolphin Racing--an
outfit with Middle Eastern money behind it, that sends a lot of its stock to the
UAE. They only started breeding with the 1995 foal crop, and for the
period from 2000 to 2002 registered 126 horses--that averages 42 per year.
Second on the list is Bazy Tankersley, with 105 over that three-year period for
an average of 35 per year. Third and fourth are Ventura Farms and Varian
Arabians, with 74 and 72 respectively (24-25 per year). The numbers drop quickly
from there, to where the majority of us "big" breeders are down there with 25 or
less foals for a three-year period. (Yep, I'm on there with a grand total
of 10, which will jump to 15 once I get hair samples sent in on my 2002 babies,
whose applications are still pending.)
From the viewpoint of an inspection process--one
cannot regulate folks who don't even play in the sandbox to begin with.
And economics tend to regulate the rest. Most of us do not make money as
breeders. We hope to simply recoup part of what it costs us. The
best breeders are those who have a long-term vision and the knowledge and
continuation of learning to carry it out. The good thing about freedom is
that while it has the downside of the freedom to be a failure, it also has the
upside of the freedom to excel. Strict regulation seems to do more to
fetter the latter than it does to curb the former.
