drop in breeding?

[stormyskies]

following on from a thread i was reading on another forum -

how have stallion owners found the numbers of outside mares this year? has there been a drop in numbers? are people trying to be more responsible in general about breeding and has money played a part in the drop?

i have only covered only 1 of my own this year and turned away outside mares as it didnt fit in with his riding and he only a baby still.

[drenrowstud]

we have noticed a lot of people have cut back on breeding , but doing ai work we have also found this year has been very bad for mares cycling properly , every one we have spoken to seems to have had mares not comming into season or not developing proper follicles ,
i reckon its worth investing in shares in regumate lol

we picked the wrong the year to open up an ai centre but hey ho
we have covered some of our own mares this time but have only covered one in the last 2 years . i noticed last year the good foals were fewer an far between as some good breeders had cut back being responsible but there still seemed to be an abundance in the bottom end of the market . .

peolpe seam less willing to pay a good price for anything that dosnt have the right prefix which is depressing surley a good horse is a good horse , the same foals then come back to the ring as youngstock and make a pitance , should it matter who is selling it or is it just they get the best slots .

perhaps its like people that by brand new porchse or ferrari they buy it because of the prefix so they can boast they have a ********, prefix pony then when they get beaten a few times in the ring they wise up and get shut of them .

i say buy the pony that wins , not the producer, prefix or face on the end of it
if jo blogs is showing the pony the judge wont know its a famous brand or value brand

i have never seen a pony with a well known prefix advertised for sale without it , ie barkway lead rein pony , friars bred , synod , menai etc yes they breed some really nice ponies but folks wise up they sell the ponies you buy for a reason , to make a proffit and to get rid of stock they do not want to keep themselves .

nobody that breeds over ten foals a year can be doing it because they want to keep them all
look at the ponies and trust your judgement its more fun winning with an unkown pony and you may even get a bargain .

sorry rant over , but this really gets my back up

[holiday]

To be honest the stud we use and work with are still very busy, but most owners are breeding for themselves. Some of the mares have been slow cycling but in general have averaged out across the board it does tend to be the same every year. We have a number of foals due in early March 2011.

We do breed to sell, however we do not sell as foals at present. Most of our youngstock will run on until minimum 3 or 4 years or longer until someone comes along. All of our youngstock is for sale but to be honest it is difficult for me to sell as each pony at the minute, has a "job" to do either to improve on the breeding programmes and move them forward before we sell or compete under saddle as an advert for our stud.

It has taken a number of years to breed the ponies I want to see in the fields with the bloodlines I need to progress so some of the fillies will be keepers for the time being and some of the colts will be left entire whilst I decide if they are good enough to use, none of which I am disappointed in, however anything I feel not good enough will be gelded before weaning.

It has been a long process so no we havent stopped or cut down on our breeding programme and are prepared to ride out the climate as it is until it sorts out and hopefully we will then move forward and have the ponies out into new homes.

We are not aiming for the showing market but more the competition market and are breeding ponies for dressage, show jumping and eventing. So a different market completely. However we have the odd few ponies purpose breed for the show classes.

I completely agree regarding prefixes and designer labels, however, we have ponies with the "label" prefixes amongst their breeding but this helps me decide what I can use with them as the lines are strong and tend to stamp their progeny, rather than guess work with mares who have no known breeding which for me is a gamble.

Our mares are all proven in either the show ring or/and are graded with the SPSS and most have very good old fashioned bloodlines which I find desirable for the above reasons. We have used proven stallions of different types and imported a lot of semen from Germany over the years, which of course much goes back to the designer labels as well!!!

We have not gone into breeding with our eyes shut and will not give the ponies away, they have cost too much to actually get on the ground and be at a point that we want. We now definately have two or three colts of good stallion potential who will cross fabulously to make the sports ponies we are striving to acheive!!! It has cost £1000's with no great gain to present but we strongly believe we will have some real quality competition ponies coming through at the end!!!

I have certainly not spent huge amounts of money obtaining the right mares as I have waited and bought certain mares at the right price that are good conformationally and have the right bloodlines!!!

Think ive gone a bit off topic now sorry!!!!!!!!!

[sarah00000]

I have been looking for a mare & foal, to turn Violet and her foalie out with, somewhere locally in Hampshire......

Loads of people I know, that I have asked, say they have NO FOALS this year. Their last year foals werent selliing, so they kept them and didnt breed from their mares.

Very resposible I think - but not helping me to find a play mate for ickle foalie ?

[vjc]

I think most responsible breeders are cutting back if not stopping for a while . I have bred just two foals in the last two years and am not putting anything in foal this year.

[kelliwic]

We have shetlands and we are stopping having foals for a few years as we think there are so many ponies needing homes now, we shouldnt add to the numbers for a while. The recession has hit quite badly with alot of the selling.

[larrysmum]

Jun 19, 2010 0:55:52 GMT drenrowstud said:

we have noticed a lot of people have cut back on breeding , but doing ai work we have also found this year has been very bad for mares cycling properly , every one we have spoken to seems to have had mares not comming into season or not developing proper follicles ,
i reckon its worth investing in shares in regumate lol

we picked the wrong the year to open up an ai centre but hey ho
we have covered some of our own mares this time but have only covered one in the last 2 years . i noticed last year the good foals were fewer an far between as some good breeders had cut back being responsible but there still seemed to be an abundance in the bottom end of the market . .

peolpe seam less willing to pay a good price for anything that dosnt have the right prefix which is depressing surley a good horse is a good horse , the same foals then come back to the ring as youngstock and make a pitance , should it matter who is selling it or is it just they get the best slots .

perhaps its like people that by brand new porchse or ferrari they buy it because of the prefix so they can boast they have a ********, prefix pony then when they get beaten a few times in the ring they wise up and get shut of them .

i say buy the pony that wins , not the producer, prefix or face on the end of it
if jo blogs is showing the pony the judge wont know its a famous brand or value brand

i have never seen a pony with a well known prefix advertised for sale without it , ie barkway lead rein pony , friars bred , synod , menai etc yes they breed some really nice ponies but folks wise up they sell the ponies you buy for a reason , to make a proffit and to get rid of stock they do not want to keep themselves .

nobody that breeds over ten foals a year can be doing it because they want to keep them all
look at the ponies and trust your judgement its more fun winning with an unkown pony and you may even get a bargain .

sorry rant over , but this really gets my back up

I agree whole heartedly, would give you a karma if we still had them! ;D

[stormyskies]

Interesting. I am slightly along the lines of you holiday but on a much smaller and cheaper scale! Lol! I looked for the right colt for ages and when found him I proved his worth in hand and then he is under saddle this year which is a whole different ball game! I have a long term view which at the minute costs a whole lot of money with no return. I have 2 fantastic fillies this year who I would love to keep and show to get his stock in the ring, but at the same time could do with selling to make come money. Its a catch 22.

I originally started off the year wanting him at public stud but sharp changed my mind when realised it was hard to combine new ridden demands and covering. I also turned 2 mares away as I thought they weren't quality enough. A decision that infuriated the owners and left me feeling very bad but their confirmation was appalling and I didn't feel they were right for him.

[bonnieheather]

Well done stormyskies, tough decision, but putting him to inferior mares won't get his stock noticed for the right reasons!

[holiday]

Totally agree, and also agree with the really should sell some to cover a few costs, however I really dont think from my point of view it is a viable income!!!! The bloodlines I have worked so hard to get and the money put in I do feel will pay off in the long run, we are aiming at a quite unique market so these ponies have got to be spot on with more athletic movement than the show horses, and a good temperament to go with it and some of the lines are not available again!!!

Of course it all takes time!!! It is difficult to work ridden and covering expecially in a younger stallion so I do think you have done right by not standing at public stud, they do obviously run up slightly in the covering season and of course from a dressage point of view it doesnt overly matter as they need to be fit and covered but from a showing point it really does make a difference to the overall picture.

So the climate at present actually suits me as by the time we have the country a little more sorted we should have some of the ponies up and running well and be ready to sell!!!