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Re: [RC] "pound dog" mentality for horses? - Chris PausI love rags to riches stories. I'm not the least bit sorry I "saved" Starman. He's been a terrific horse. I'm not sorry I saved my broodmares or my stallion. They are evidence that well bred horses can fall on hard times and sometimes just need a chance to show what they can do. My only caution to bargain shoppers is that you pay on one end or the other. I got Star for a song, but have paid dearly for training and coaching and just in the time and sweat I've put into him, not to mention trips to the ER when he and I parted company 11 times in our first year together. I don't expect big bucks for the horses I breed. I think I set reasonable prices, so people can think about getting a nice prospect without getting sticker shock. T-man, you or I probably could go to an auction and pick up a bargain horse and find it an appropriate job and have a happy ever after story. I have a big concern for the people who are very new to horses and they look only at price and look at off track horses or auction horses or very young horses to save money. They are clueless that these generally are not horses you can just hop on and ride away. They or the horse or both end up getting frustrated and hurt. I see it all too often in the people who come call me for help when they get the wrong horse and are in over their heads. It's not just and endurance thing. However, back to the original thread, there is weird notion out there amongst non distance riders that any horse without a good whoa is for some reason an endurance prospect! chris --- Truman Prevatt <tprevatt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: But I can find a lot of these "type" of horses for sale in the paper or even at <shudder> the auctions - at least in FL. So if a person can go get a great deal on a horse from these sources - then why go spend prime dollar from a breeder? That's the question. From the piece on NPR - the horse didn't do that well on the track and clearly must not have done that well as a pack horse. He was bought by a smart rider who saw the potential - independent of the fact he was for sell in the paper for a thousand bucks. I do feel sorry for "endurance breeders." We riders are cheap. There are a lot of good horses out there so we don't have to spend a lot of money. Many riders don't have the money to spend but want to participate in the sport and thank goodness there are good horses out there for them at a reasonable price. That is why this sport is growing in popularity. It doesn't cost an arm and leg to get into and you don't have to have a $25,000 horse or get looked down on by everyone else involved. Not to even mention that while a lot of people ride Arabs - they don't have to. Hell they can even ride <shudder> mules:-). ===== "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot Chris and Star BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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