1 guinea for a pony's life!!

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nativetyponies

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It has to be at least 25 years since the Pony market has been this dire..

I have just returned from Brecon Horse Fair where little weaned foals, both colts and fillies, of decent quality, and some registered, were being sold for the princely sum (sic) of £1.05

A sad day indeed..............
 
Blimey! It makes you wonder how on earth people can A) make a living and B) keep breeding.
Admittedly my little one is in foal, but Im breeding for me rather than sale.
How can the sellers let their weanlings go for so little? Surely the commission is more than that, and where on earth are they going?
 
My friend has just paid £10 for a 16.2 ex eventer, 11 yrs old pefect health just owner did not want him anymore, she would never have afforded her own unless!!!
She works on a yard so can afford to keep him there . It is a sad sign of the times, I had a text the other day did I want 2 x shetland ponies free!!! No thanks, !
 
I'm not sure simply 'decent' is good enough in the current climate. Real quality will always sell, but the showing people know exactly what they want and I can't see many of them pony shopping in Brecon market.

Why people breed so many pony foals I don't know - after all there is only a limited market for them. There are only so many children needing ponies, and not many people are going to buy a foal for this purpose.
 
Well, wherever and whatever you sell, markets are governed by supply and demand.

Clearly here the supply is much greater than the demand!

I just wish people would stop breeding ponies that there is currently no market for. It is not nice as a professional when faced with a sick foal, to be told "just put it down, it's a colt foal and it's not worth treating." Hard enough to swallow with cattle and sheep, but even worse with ponies. Said colt foal was on the yard of a high level producer.
 
I agree.

Fillies always held their own in the past as no-one has ever wanted colts..but even the fillies are finding it hard to get bids.

there are far too many ponies bred each year..hopefully, the penny might just be dropping??
 
Awful.
Re the colts, I find it bizzare given you ask a group of people and the majority are "gelding" people. Sadly the cost of gelding a colt puts many off (though how people can begrudge paying £200 to geld when having only paid peanuts for the pony is beyond me!)
 
I have one from Talgarth last week, sec c colt very well bred, halter broken, his only downfall is thats hes a late foal(June). His breeders where placed at HOYs this year.
He cost me a guinea.
 
As a sweeping generalisation....

a lot of these low-value ponies are bought by existing breeders of low-value ponies, therefore they want fillies, as they can use them as broodmares. No one wants colts, as they don't need many stallions and will generally already have stock stallions at home.
 
There is a group on facebook about these foals at the sales called "welsh mountain foals in need of saving" or something like that, they were saying at one sale, the most expensive horse that sold was 20 guineas. Disgusting.

I need my own land.
 
*jams fingers in ears*

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I am going to upset quite a few people now.

Indiscreminate (?) breeding needs to stop. There are farrrrr too many substandard foals out there and in some cases i think it is better for these foals to be sent straight for meat than to be pushed though some of the worst markets. People that see a cheap cute foal but neither have the means or experience to look after it properly to and for it to end up as a rescue case. Then the rescue centres are left to deal with them and most of them are full to the brim and unable to accept any more. In some cases these foals are brought and its the better horses that people think that others will buy that end up as meat.

However, there are some good foals there that have real potential. I brought a sec C colt foal 6 wks ago for £50. He has very good conformation, good breeding, up to height and a fantastic mover. In fact, some say he is better than my 3yr which i paid £1k for unhandled and is tipped for big things undersaddle. We are going to run him on to be our foundation stallion. If however the foal he produces isn't very good, he'll be gelded and go on to do something else.

At the end of the day, all breeders aim to breed the perfect pony and sadly most of what is bred is far from it.

That is just my opinion (runs and hides for cover, ready for the barrage of stones to be hurled my way)
 
Agree with Mrogers. Things are going to get worse next couple of years. Those that keep breeding, don't care where their youngstock go anyway or their broodmares, so perhaps it's a good thing and those that put their old or lame mare thinking they will make a profit may see their foal trotting off to the Slaughterhouse.
 
I think most of those ponies and foals are straight off the mountain and the owners just let the stallion run with the mares all the time. Sad as those poor foals do not stand a chance,as they obviously were bought by the meat man.Cruel.
Should protect the welsh ponies.
 
MurphysMinder said:
Very sad. Not sure things like that fb site are a good idea though, can lead to people with no idea "rescuing" the foals and keeping them in garden sheds!
Click to expand...


It's already happened by looks of it from reading all the wall. A few of them go and get 10 at a time and then find a home for them.

I honestly don't know how some breeders make a profit, looking at some of the studs, weanlings are going for £400, I'm sure after vet fee's and everything they don't make much.
 
mrogers said:
I am going to upset quite a few people now.

Indiscreminate (?) breeding needs to stop. There are farrrrr too many substandard foals out there and in some cases i think it is better for these foals to be sent straight for meat than to be pushed though some of the worst markets. People that see a cheap cute foal but neither have the means or experience to look after it properly to and for it to end up as a rescue case. Then the rescue centres are left to deal with them and most of them are full to the brim and unable to accept any more. In some cases these foals are brought and its the better horses that people think that others will buy that end up as meat.

However, there are some good foals there that have real potential. I brought a sec C colt foal 6 wks ago for £50. He has very good conformation, good breeding, up to height and a fantastic mover. In fact, some say he is better than my 3yr which i paid £1k for unhandled and is tipped for big things undersaddle. We are going to run him on to be our foundation stallion. If however the foal he produces isn't very good, he'll be gelded and go on to do something else.

At the end of the day, all breeders aim to breed the perfect pony and sadly most of what is bred is far from it.

That is just my opinion (runs and hides for cover, ready for the barrage of stones to be hurled my way)
Click to expand...

I don't see how you will offend anyone, sounds like common sense to me!

Last October I got given an ID Filly, lovely temperement, god awful conformation. I sold her for admittedly not much, but I found her a fantastic home for life, and made a small profit as well as gaining experience.
Didn't go to Wigton horse sales this, horses selling for £50, and BOGOF offers!

I would quite like to do it again, so kind of keeping my eye out for a nice little pony/cob thing if I can get it for under £100.
 
A sign of the times:mad: Some people won't stop breeding amongst themselves, producing kids they can't afford to keep. RE ponies, dogs, cats etc it's just sheer ignorance. They are devoid of the concept of basic economics. Supply has sped way past the demand & hence these poor animals are being sold for next to nothing. What a waste.:mad:

Best of luck with the two you bought, lets hope that they at least, will have a decent opportunity at life.
 
( but some people are still making money and it will still carry on such a shame im too soft for auctions and sales id def come back with the lot
 
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