Rollin
Well-Known Member
Dear Editor,
I am pleased to see your article highlighting the continued plight of the Cleveland Bay and exhorting mare owners to put their mares in foal. However, other rare breeds have seen a dramatic drop in new registrations, Shagya Arab registrations in France have dropped from 75 to 45 foals per annum over five years.
The message we fail to get across is to buy a Cleveland Bay because they are really talented all rounders not just because they are rare. It is also very important that owners of Cleveland Bay mares, who may not be members of CBHS understand the implications of in-breeding. CBHS has a selected mating system, conceived by Dr. Andy Dell in which they can see at a glance which stallions would be good mates, in order to avoid in breeding and which matings would be inadvisable. At RaceRare we only breed from complaint matings and will continue to so do.
It is important to know WHY mare owners do not breed from their mares, then it might be possible to offer a solution.
I have owned 7 pure and 2 part-bred mares and fillies over the past decade but have not bred a Cleveland Bay foal for two years, even though we own a pure-bred stallion. We do not breed foals if we do not have the space to run them on for three years and MOST important the time and money to offer for sale a really useful horse, one which will give pleasure to a new owner. This is a big commitment in time and money. The value of a backed or ready to back pure bred Cleveland Bay, in no way covers the cost of producing the young horse. We are retired and not dependent on the income.
We have produced three pure bred and two part-bred fillies in France, two fillies have been sold to the UK in the past year which means we will breed one of our mares next spring. Fillies are more saleable than colts, currently there are a number of quality colts for sale in the UK. For mare owners with limited land, or with mares at livery, this is a tough choice, what is the solution for these mare owners if they find themselves with a colt they cannot sell? Tom Blunt RBST says exactly this in your article. This is about responsible breeding.
Yours faithfully,
RaceRare Cleveland Bay and Shagya Arabian Horses
Pays de la Loire, France
I am pleased to see your article highlighting the continued plight of the Cleveland Bay and exhorting mare owners to put their mares in foal. However, other rare breeds have seen a dramatic drop in new registrations, Shagya Arab registrations in France have dropped from 75 to 45 foals per annum over five years.
The message we fail to get across is to buy a Cleveland Bay because they are really talented all rounders not just because they are rare. It is also very important that owners of Cleveland Bay mares, who may not be members of CBHS understand the implications of in-breeding. CBHS has a selected mating system, conceived by Dr. Andy Dell in which they can see at a glance which stallions would be good mates, in order to avoid in breeding and which matings would be inadvisable. At RaceRare we only breed from complaint matings and will continue to so do.
It is important to know WHY mare owners do not breed from their mares, then it might be possible to offer a solution.
I have owned 7 pure and 2 part-bred mares and fillies over the past decade but have not bred a Cleveland Bay foal for two years, even though we own a pure-bred stallion. We do not breed foals if we do not have the space to run them on for three years and MOST important the time and money to offer for sale a really useful horse, one which will give pleasure to a new owner. This is a big commitment in time and money. The value of a backed or ready to back pure bred Cleveland Bay, in no way covers the cost of producing the young horse. We are retired and not dependent on the income.
We have produced three pure bred and two part-bred fillies in France, two fillies have been sold to the UK in the past year which means we will breed one of our mares next spring. Fillies are more saleable than colts, currently there are a number of quality colts for sale in the UK. For mare owners with limited land, or with mares at livery, this is a tough choice, what is the solution for these mare owners if they find themselves with a colt they cannot sell? Tom Blunt RBST says exactly this in your article. This is about responsible breeding.
Yours faithfully,
RaceRare Cleveland Bay and Shagya Arabian Horses
Pays de la Loire, France