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[RC] [RC] Breeding "No-Names"/CMKs for WSTR - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Nicole z_arabs@xxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== Excellent post, Beth! I am also strongly thinking of "stopping" my addictive subscription to the famous collectable Arabian horse pin-up magazine. I am sick of the repetitive ads, and watching particular stallions breed thousands of offspring because their owners are rich and can afford the big color ads that cost a mint. I actually did cancel my subscriptions to both the glossies. The magazines that I used to spend hours pouring over have become only a source of anger and frustration. It's much better for my mental state to avoid them and almost pretend that part of the Arabian scene doesn't exist. If you look at the performing horses, and study their lines for a while, some of the unknowns become very familiar. Good way of putting it. I look at an "unknown" pedigree and get excited, as I see the names that *I* do know and I get a mental picture of the horse. I look at a "big name" pedigree and get turned off. For instance...one of the horses on the Tevis winner list was bred by an elderly woman who lives in the middle of nowhere in Oregon. I contacted her by mailing her a letter, because she makes no ads, she has no computer. And unless there are others that fit that exact description, that is the breeder I bought my stallion from. She's retiring and he was the last horse she'd held onto other than a few geldings for the family to ride (at least one is sired by him). A huge attraction of my stallion for me was his direct relation to a (recent) Tevis winner, his owner & breeders' history with breeding horses that have done well in endurance, and his own handful of foals out in endurance. Sure, his sire *does* have a show history (including a National Top Ten), but he's still a "no name" to the show-ring croud since he wasn't a halter horse. I have no plans to get rich with this stallion. I bought him as a compliment for MY mares for my own little program. And with the hopes of getting him out on the trail himself -- he came to me as a green-as-grass 15 year old breeding-stallion-only, but he and I are having a lot of fun, and he's a JOY to ride (and oh, so comfortable; a horse designed to be ridden all day long). ~Nicole ============================================================ Just because someone tells you that your horse isn't "fit" for endurance...doesn't mean it isn't, it just means your horse isn't fit to be "their" endurance horse! Go for it, you never know what you'll accomplish with that "saddle horse" or "trail horse" of YOURS! ~ Darlene Anderson - DPD Endurance ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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