Thoughts on this youngster

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magic104

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www.jc-countryside.co.uk
I will explain later but he is called Storm Blade by Needwood Blade ex of Classic Storm. The photo is maybe not clear enough but I am interested in thoughts especially limbs.

http://www.hallfarmracing.co.uk/OurHorses.htm

Him a few month younger 1st photo
http://www.hallfarmracing.co.uk/ForSale.htm

I would have just pasted up the photo's but someone would be bound to shout copy rights
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As I said I will explain why the interest later, many thanks.
 
Hmm - is interesting but would like to see better pictures before passing judgement. From the distance away from the photo he looks to have nice straight limbs, possibly a bit upright in the hind leg but nothing glaringly obvious straight off.

Interested to see that they have Louella's new Primitive Rising son listed.....at least that is one more photo of him we have seen as there are only 2 on the Louella site.
 
Lovely looking horse but it is a bit strange that neither pic is particularly good (first one he doesn't seem to be standing truly side-on to the camera and the second one he is standing down hill) which makes me think perhaps they are trying to conceal something? Nothing seems too glaringly obvious in terms of poor confirmation etc but I would want to see better pics before making a firm decision
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He is only 2 so I think he is more bum high then it being a problem with the ground level. This question is being asked as it relates to the dam. When I post photo's of her & explain it will hopefully make a bit more sense.
 
Not sure what your after excactly, but from a TB conformation point of view would say that both pictures are bad and probably dont do him justice, but he looks slightly over at the knee, mainly in the first one and slack/long in his pasterns. This is pretty harsh sounding but with so many youngsters out their you have to be tough. Also possibly slightly long through the back, but I am pretty biased towards a more sprinty looking horse.
 
This is the mare's form according to Racing Post
Flat placings 1213111131509 She was born 19 Jan 1990 & ran & won her 1st race 20 Mar 92 wgt 8.9 1st ex 14 runners by 3lenghts 5 furlongs gd ground. She ran another 9 races until Aug 92 winning another 6, 1 x 2nd 2 x 3rd. She raced twice in 93, 24 Sept & 28 Oct not placed. She was then sent to France where she ran 27 Mar 94 unplaced, she then had 2 5ths & her final race 2 Jun 94 she finished 10th.
http://www2.france-galop.com/fgweb/Domaines/Chevaux/cheval_perf.aspx

She was trained by Jack Berry, Lancs, who was considered a good trainer of 2yos. She is ex of a decent mare, who herself won races incl a 2nd in a GR 1 race, & produced winners. Storm's offspring have been disapointing to say the least.

We dont know what her other offspring look like, but the trainers assured my friend that they had perfectly good legs. Therefore is it fair to say that her legs are down to racing at 2yrs, (will get close up of her legs), as she is not passing them on? Would you have bred from her & if so what stallion would you have chosen.

I think she represents what I hate about the race horse industry & humans only interested in £'s. This mare performed better then 1000's of horses bred for racing, yet she was put in-foal & put through the sale at the very time of her life she should of been looked after, or shot. She is lame in walk, she has suffered an injury to her eye which looks to have been left & she has not had her teeth looked at for years. I may well be doing her previous owner an injustice, but to me it looks like the minimum of money has been spent on her care & when she got too old she was off loaded. Yet perfectly sound horses are being shot for meat every week! Now my friend has to decide retire her or try breeding from her again. The vet check gave her the all clear, & where she came from would have put her back in-foal. So what do others think? And yes I do have owner permission;

StormMay068.jpg
 
Those legs look like they've done an awful lot of milleage Magic.

If she's lame in walk, and this looks to be permanent, then I wouldn't put her in foal. And at 19 she deserves retiring.
 
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AmyMay while she is fertile she was not going to have that luxury. I walked away as sentiment was taking over (not helped by her dam having the same name as my daughter), but my friend just could not leave her to god knows what! They had paid £600 for her last year in-foal, they wanted to see a return especially as they failed to get her back in-foal (she lost the foal at birth). That was money they had paid out along with a years keep. All we got told was she needs to have a job, she likes being a mum & if she is not sold we will put her in-foal to so & so's coloured cob. All I can say is she is one expensive lawn mower!!
 
I know Jack Berry and his son sam.

personally I would retire the mare and let her live her days out. Maybe and expensive lawnmower but I have a few of those. I got a mare last year that I rescued and tempting as it is to put her in foal I wont. Shes done her bit had lots of foals and had a generally crap life and been abused. Least I owe her is to let her have some her time and fun. shes cost me a lot of money too!! but i dont see it as getting any of my money back.
 
Are they looking to put her in foal to a TB to get a racehorse, or to breed something else ? I would have to say that breeding for the TB market would be pointless as she has not produced anything of note so re sale value would be minimum. The market is so weak now I think they would be throwing good money away. She is nice loooking mare and the knees will most certainly be cartlidge build up from racing so much as a youngster, but i have to say i have seen many broodmares with knees much worse than that.
 
No, she was bought out of sentiment. We both agreed that she owed no one anything. It was stupid really but we were both worrying about what would happen to her. If she was bred again it would be in the view of eventing. One of the reasons for looking at Jendali as he has proven distance & NH runners. Neither of us are a fan of the race horse industry so the last thing we would do is add to it. I am sorry for those that are involved, but she is an example of a horse that should of been PTS, not put through the sales again. What were the chances of her finding a good home, a one eyed, lame, run into the ground old mare. If her foal had survived & they had got her back in-foal then yes they would have had profit out of her. As it was it died & they failed leaving them with a barren mare & vet bills to pay. This year her old owner went back to the sales bought another mare now in-foal to Delta Dancer, so Storm was just a drain on his money. Funny because a previous connection said retire her & I just wondered why her owner from a year before did not take that stance. It was only 2yrs ago they put her in-foal to foal at 18. Why didn't they keep her & retire her or put her to sleep when the foal was weaned! I am not sure what Storm's future will be, but this will be her last home that I do know.
 
I agree she should have been pts rather than sold on but so many people wont do that they dont realise what could come of their horse. She is lucky she found someone to look after her their are plenty who are not so lucky.
 
poor girl, sounds like she has had a rubbish time,i too dislike the lack of respect many racers recieve you would think they would get the best of care but with many of them its far from it!!!!
 
Those knees look sore and if she is struggling to get around carrying only herself she will really struggle at the end of her gestation.
I have an expensive lawnmower (14yr old gelding 16.3hh TB) so there's no such choice with him but sentiment and his survival instinct meant we gave him a chance to stay 3 years ago after injuries and operations and he actually makes a great nanny to our youngsters - are there other retirement options for her such as this?
 
I think it will be a case of taking each day as it comes. Storm will get the care she deserves & she wont be passed on. She is an easy horse to deal with & is good with the youngsters. Storm was sold as a brood mare, just it does not feel right even though that is what my friend was looking for. According to her last owner their vet had said there was plenty of foals left in her yet. I think that was just sales talk. And though I understand mares that are happily foaling in their 20's, I dont think they have had such a tough time.
 
I have to say that if she lost her last foal, then the chances of her ever retaining a pregnancy at her age are probably zero.
 
I have to say that if she lost her last foal, then the chances of her ever retaining a pregnancy at her age are probably zero.

The foal died because no one was there to help. It was a large foal & Storm struggled to deliver it. The vet can see no reason for a repeat, as the studs have said there were no problems with the earlier 9 she had. The loss was not due to to age etc, just rather large for her to manage on her own. The issue is more ethical, she was worked hard as a baby then went of & produced near enough one foal after another. She lacks a little TLC, ie her feet need attention along with her teeth, otherwise apart from the toil of racing she is a fit well mare. One stud that was more then happy to take her has a mare that just foaled at 22yrs. They confirmed the vets view that some mares especially older mares can miss a season after loosing a foal. This is the thing, not one stud has turned the mare down. They know her background but are happy that she will be fine. Her owner is quiet happy to retire her, but she was looking for a brood mare. Storm has had a year out because they failed to get her in-foal. Because it was obvious her owner did not care about the mares future they bought her. It is getting late in the season now, so I doubt very much it will happen. As I said what ever happens she wont be going anywhere else. I know Storm will be looked after, & I shall be keeping her owner away from anymore cripples!!
 
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The foal died because no one was there to help

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Ah, my mistake - I thought she'd slipped it.

Just shows why these mares need to be monitored so closely up to foaling, doesn't it? I'm always amazed when I read posts on here from people intending to just let them get on with it.
 
A 19 year old TB mare who has raced hard IS an old horse! I've had two of these mares in the last two years. One I put down at 19 after weaning her last foal because she couldn't hold condition - her heart was not great. The other (at 20) didn't get back in foal despite reasonable efforts over 3 cycles - I decided she was telling me something! She is now happily retired as Nanny to youngsters.

I would give this one a summer at grass with a bit of TLC and probably PTS before winter - chances are those knees will give her hell if we have another bad winter.
 
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