arwenplusone
Well-Known Member
Ok so please no-one shoot me down for this situation- just looking for thoughts to resolve.
I have a 12 yr old mare, Arwen - lovely stamp of a WB mare but has some issues (is very strong, weaves and can fret a lot if stabled for too long). Last year I bred from her with a view to her being my foundation mare for a small breeding venture. She has given me a stunning foal (Rags) and now she is in foal again to the same stallion.
My challenge is that the breeding venture is no longer feasible ( various personal reasons) and I have had various expenses recently that means I have lost my working capital.
Now, I have the mare who is in foal, the foalie, plus my competition mare who I want to concentrate on, to keep over winter (on DIY and I work full time).
Cost of keeping them is not a problem (time might be but can always get up earlier) but due to loss of capital I don't have the buffer of cash to support me if anything goes wrong.
Rags was v ill about a week after birth and really opened my eyes to the costs if anything goes wrong.
Basically I don't feel 'comfortable' enough to keep all three and I don't really want to get into debt.
So it comes to me to sell one of them. Question is, do I sell the mare as a broodmare in foal (this mare is v special, I worked so hard to get her trust and she helped me so much emotionally when my parents died suddenly) or do I sell the foal (who is special because it was a difficult delivery and shewas v poorly - also she is stunning and could go far in the future) and thus get my buffer of cash back...?
Horrible choice but I think realistically I have to face it. I don't want to be in a position where one of them is sick and I have to get into debt to pay for treatment.
Thanks - and well done if you got this far