Why breed then sell mare and foal ?

I knew a YO who had a really troubled mare. She broke her in herself but couldn't do anything with her, she was unrideable. Instead of all the usual checks or sending her away to a someone who specialises in such problems, she decided to sell her. Of course noone was interested, I watched a friend of mine try and school her for an hour while she just ran backwards with her head in the air. Poor horse and poor girl.

So the YO put her in foal. Then, even worse, put her in-foal AGAIN and sold her 'in foal with a foal at foot.' Appalling!!!!
 
jemmia- too - i hear what you are saying..... but what would happen if the mare and or foal were injured... keeping a mare and foal over winter is probably the equivlent of some vets bills - they only seam to come with 3 zeros now adays lol - so if the persons circumstances have changed that much in a short space of time then they could not have afforded them in the first place..... dont folks see the true cost - or is it just to have a cute little foal and then the enormity of the responsiblity kicks in?
 
Certainly some are people with surprise BOGOF situations who don't have the facilities or experience to work with them. If they don't have the skills and capacity to do them justice, why not make them available to someone who can? Also owner's pregnancies, they suddenly realise they aren't going to be able to manage being prego/having young kids and horses in their circumstance.
Most situations I think it'd be better to wean the foal at 6 months, bring the mare into work if at all possible, and sell them separately.
 
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Gingerwitch said:
Can someone tell me why? - what is the point - why breed something you dont want, from something you dont want?
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Because a lot of people like to buy a mare already in foal. They don't have the hassle and cost of having her sent to stud, covered, etc, that's all done for them.
They don't like to buy a broodmare empty, it's a lot of wasted time (unless they buy in the spring so quickly off to stud, )
It's sometime easier to sell a mare in foal than not in foal.

Because people's circumstances change for whatever reason and it seems the most sensible thing to do let alone the fact you might have sweated blood over which stallion to use, paid a fair stud fee and had all the associated costs of her at stud, you possibly won't see those back again - it sometimes seems the right thing to do, sadly.

Not everyone selling a mare in foal is doing it lightly, believe me.
 
Maesfen said:
Because people's circumstances change for whatever reason and it seems the most sensible thing to do let alone the fact you might have sweated blood over which stallion to use, paid a fair stud fee and had all the associated costs of her at stud, you possibly won't see those back again - it sometimes seems the right thing to do, sadly.

Not everyone selling a mare in foal is doing it lightly, believe me.
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I agree and at the time you may have the money and the facilities but they can be snapped away from you within a moment.
 
Gingerwitch said:
jemmia- too - i hear what you are saying..... but what would happen if the mare and or foal were injured... keeping a mare and foal over winter is probably the equivlent of some vets bills - they only seam to come with 3 zeros now adays lol - so if the persons circumstances have changed that much in a short space of time then they could not have afforded them in the first place..... dont folks see the true cost - or is it just to have a cute little foal and then the enormity of the responsiblity kicks in?
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OK so assuming you have a job, mortgage, possibly a loan for a car and your horse(s) are at livery. If you and your OH lost your job tomorrow for how long would you survive?

I became ill and retired myself, the same week I finished work my husband was made redundant. We went from an annual income of around £70K to an income of around £9K in a very short space of time. Are you telling me I couldn't have afforded horses when we were both working?

Don't knock the people selling up until you know what the story is behind it. There are several people on this board who have had cataclysmic unforeseen events in their lives and had to make very tough decisions regarding their animals.
 
Far too many foals being bred as it is, but unfortunately there's money in it, especially when the mare can't be used for anything else. A total glut of babies up here, with no homes to go to. atm. sm x
 
perfect11s said:
because people are stupid irisponsible selfish turds....some do the same with kids except they get the state
to pick up the pieces instead...
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Nice... and you know this about everyone how?

If a buyer wants a mare and she happens to be pregnant then yes, I sell pregnant mares.

I am not offended at being called a "stupid irisponsible selfish turd" by someone I don't know because I couldn't give a toss what you think about me or what I do.

I breed, selectively. I buy too- in foal, with foal, without foal, whatever, if I want a mare I don't care that she comes with baggage - and then I sell, in foal, with foal, without foal whatever, always healthy, mannerly and with prospects of a reasonable future. I sell a better horse than I buy. It is my business what I do, and that's what it is, a business.:)
 
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Gingerwitch,

some breed for fun(?!) and that's us, whilst others will breed from a commercial stand point (also ?!), and there will be a market for the mare with a foal at foot.

In-foal mares, with or without a foal at foot, would be a more attractive proposition for many, than barren mares.

Horses will be for sale for a myriad of reasons, and to say that selling a mare with a foal at foot is wrong, is in itself, wrong. We have a delightful race winning mare who has a foal at foot, by Medoc, and is back in foal to the same horse. She is for sale. She was taken in as company for another horse, and when she arrived she was in a very poor state. This mare is still young, she has a very smart foal at foot, and she now has a possible future. What was the alternative? Sell her on for peanuts, and have her end up with an idiot, or put her down. Those were the only choices, and as she was of no real value, I wouldn't have offered her for sale.

Think again.

Alec.

ETS, I hadn't intended that the above response should be quite so blunt. That wasn't my intention, I apologise!

Enfys, "I sell a better horse than I buy". That should be the aim of all. Well said. a.
 
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I dont mind people selling mares and foals. I do mind people breeding and not handling the foals though- they start life disadvantaged and many have a tough enough life as it is. When breeding anything people should look at what they want to breed and what future it has, rather than just breeding because they have a mare. OP- or is that your point? that people are breeding uneccessarily with no thought of the future?
 
teddyt said:
I do mind people breeding and not handling the foals though- they start life disadvantaged and many have a tough enough life as it is. When breeding anything people should look at what they want to breed and what future it has, rather than just breeding because they have a mare. QUOTE]

Spot on comments there. :)
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enfys said:
Nice... and you know this about everyone how?

If a buyer wants a mare and she happens to be pregnant then yes, I sell pregnant mares.

I am not offended at being called a "stupid irisponsible selfish turd" by someone I don't know because I couldn't give a toss what you think about me or what I do.

I breed, selectively. I buy too- in foal, with foal, without foal, whatever, if I want a mare I don't care that she comes with baggage - and then I sell, in foal, with foal, without foal whatever, always healthy, mannerly and with prospects of a reasonable future. I sell a better horse than I buy. It is my business what I do, and that's what it is, a business.:)
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um sorry Im not attaking a well considered breeding or a sale of mare in foal..
maybe people over there dont, put a unsaleable, unsound or mare of questionble temrament
in foal in the vain hope that some miricle will happen rather than realiseing it would be better for the horse to be pts or be a companion.. they are the turds!!! and are adding to a mountain of unwanted horses and the welfare problems horses are faceing ...
 
perfect11s said:
um sorry Im not attaking a well considered breeding or a sale of mare in foal.. We do buy a lot of horses from the saleyards, many have been seized in lieu of debts and they are often good mares, bred with thought, but there because of unfortunate circumstances, we buy them before they go through the ring
maybe people over there dont, put a unsaleable, unsound or mare of questionble temrament in foal in the vain hope that some miricle will happen rather than realiseing it would be better for the horse to be pts or be a companion.. Oh they do! It is exactly the same here, people make bad decisions, or don't have the guts to make the right one and pass the buck at the expense of a horse that would be better off pts, you are right about that - just take a look at FHotD:(
they are the turds!!! Some are, some aren'tand are adding to a mountain of unwanted horses and the welfare problems horses are faceing ...as above, the situation is actually worse here as there are so few abbatoirs and horses are often shipped huge distances to Mexico or Canada since the bleeding hearts had the US houses closed
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Sorry maybe i should have made myself clear at the time - but to see a mare with foal at foot on a website for £800 - makes me think that neither the mare or the foal is of any quality at all - no i am not "slagging off" breeders or those whom have a genuine circumstance change but to hear conversations like "she has navicular so we are going to put her in foal, i always wanted a foalie" where are you going to keep her - ohh we wont keep her - she will be worth more with a foal????? So why oh why do it?
 
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