SHGB Grading - is it worth it?

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SillyMare

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Debating putting India forward for SHGB grading in September but have just found out it is really quite expensive (by the time I add in cost of joining SHGB myself and getting India vetted prior to the grading).

India is 8 years old. Conformation and paces are correct but not special. She evented up to Novice but picked up a minor tendon injury - we decided to play safe and give her a long break (hence baby). She has a foal at foot by Weston Justice.

I don't expect her to grade as anything above the basic level. On that basis, is it worth the effort / cost of taking her at all?

She already has a green passport from the ISH society (both parents fully graded in Ireland).
 
One of my major gripes about gradings is that it is far too expensive for little people and it seems the same whichever society you wish to grade with so that you get the bigger names coming through time and time again - if they have the right stock, great, no problem, but many times, faces talk. Why can't they be a lot cheaper but with stricter controls so that only the very very best get through anyway? That way, societies would still make the same or more amount of money because they would have far more seeking the grades.
I'm all for graded stock, it might give a buyer slightly more confidence if they know the parents have been graded and passed the various criteria although it's not a guarantee that the youngster will be anywhere as good as the parents, but tbh, I don't know whether it actually helps with selling your stock or even if they can demand a higher price either.
I don't know whether the SHB still award Premiums to brood mare winners at affiliated shows or whether they have changed the rules now but at one stage if you were awarded one, the mare was granted automatic right to be on the Grade ll register, no vetting required - I know cos I won one, many moons ago! If they do still award Premiums like that, is it worth showing the mare and foal to see if you can do it that way? Incidentally, you didn't have to win the class (we weren't even placed!) to get a Premium, the judges had to think that your mare would be worthy of one going by the mare herself and the foal she had produced. AS I say, it all might have changed by now. Although when I came to sell the foal, people didn't have a clue about the premiums, what they meant or meant you had achieved at all, so it was almost worthless anyway.
 
Thanks for the advice.

India has never won anything significant - few rosettes at PN. She could probably show as a hunter brood mare but wouldn't be flashy enough to win anything. She is just a smart all-rounder really.

We aren't planning to breed any more foals from her at the moment (she is coming back into work). Thinking about grading because at the moment she is young and attractive with a quality foal at foot.

Sort of an insurance policy for her future - this foal is smart. We may breed more in a few years time (or sell her as a broodmare).

This foal is not for sale (unless someone comes up with a big pile of cash at the grading of course....). The plan is to keep him to event myself in a few years.
 
When we won our first HIS premium back in 1993 i had my mare put on the old Grade II register but she did have to have a vetting certificate before they would do it.As it turned out we took both of our foundation mares and had them Graded I .In those days they were vetted on the day at the venue.
 
That takes me back, our mare was graded 1 at the Ford sponsored Malvern HIS show. I would seriously think about getting her graded especially as she has a foal at foot. In the old days that counted for something if they liked the foal. It is a harder decision for me, though I am a member so I dont have that cost to deal with, my mare is not reg, & I have never found her breeding. I am not sure that in this day & age that would not be a big black mark against us. I am waiting for a visit from a friend who has yet to see the mare in the flesh to give me an assessment. It does depend if you want to breed again as if you are keeping the foal it wont make a lot of difference to you.
 
[ QUOTE ]
When we won our first HIS premium back in 1993 i had my mare put on the old Grade II register but she did have to have a vetting certificate before they would do it.As it turned out we took both of our foundation mares and had them Graded I .In those days they were vetted on the day at the venue.

[/ QUOTE ]

Our Premium was so long ago I had forgotten completely about the vetting you're meant to go through!
blush.gif

We got ours at Nantwich Show and were able to forego the vetting because the judge that gave it to us was a vet! We had to wait at the edge of the ring while he did the championship then he came back over, gave her heart a listen to, checked her eyes and that was it cos he had already seen how well and sound she was from in the class!
 
LOL!
I'm definitely showing it tonight, we've been moving mares and foals all day from their old yard to here, plus a colt and the stallion; it's been like a conveyor belt; load up, travel, unload, sort into fields then back to old yard and repeat four times! I'm pooped to put it politely!
 
We are having the exact same dilemma at the moment! We are thinking of putting one of our mares forward for grading as she has a very smart foal at foot, but we just aren't sure it is worth the effort or expense.

Our mare is a full time broodmare, she has just returned from stud having been covered again for '08. The stud owners told me to grade her, but what is the benefit? It's not cheap and is quite a bit of work to get them ready and to get them there - can I be bothered?
 
The smart foal at foot thing is only valid if you have no prior relationship with one of the judges! B's grading would have been better had a certain judge that I knew at one point in my career had not been on the pannel! Without that persons input, her grades were very good, but as they take the average, her grades were merely good. Also the only comment about Hector was "done foal well - smart animal". But that is only my take on the whole thing, one persons experience - but it was more recent (last year) than some of the things that have been recounted here.
 
So difficult isn't it - when I add up the cost of the vetting, joining SHGB, entering the grading, diesel etc. etc. it comes to quite a big number!!

Not to mention the hassle factor on top!!

Think we are going to get them out showing this summer and see how we get on.
 
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