My one and only filly, out of my first show mare Stacy is truly everything I hoped for. Her half brother Dockit is doing well and is going to be entered in the Open and the NCHA Futurity. Her full brother Oakco has not been shown a lot. When they have time to show him, he brings home a check. I did leave Stacy open this year so that she could heal up. She is doing well. Since I have my filly, I don't care if she ever settles again. I bred my show mare Anna and my Buffy mare to Spider, they should cross really well with him. I haven't had a Spider baby in 4 years. I didn't have anything that I really could bred to him. I'm going to leave my Kansas mare open and go back to riding her. We are going to have 2 babies a year so that Gerald and I both have a horse to go on with to the show pen. Gerald wants to take Catsolena to the futurity next year. He has to catch up on his training to get him there. We are so busy getting my farm ready to sell. He is buying the house next to his and I am going to move in there. We have to get his farm ready for our horses. He has 40 acres so it will be better to keep his place. We have had to make a lot of adjustments due to this economy. We have proven mares that we had to decide whether to sell or just feed them and leave them open. We did place 2 of the mares with a breeder that needed broodmares for his Stallion. We mostly end up trading, no one has the money to pay what they are worth. I would not let them go to an auction just so they could end up in the killer pen. They are the only people buying around here. Out of the 6 broodmares that Gerald and I have only one that is riding sound. Out of the six only 2 were broke to begin with. All the babies are really good. We are keeping 4 out of 5 of them. The one I named Murry will not fit into our program. His parents are 15 hands and under and he will hit 16 hands. He dwarfs the rest of the babies and he is only 2 months old. He is really a smooth mover, very slow legged. I think he will make a roper or western pleasure. All the mares are cutting horse bred, it doesn't guarantee that you will get that in the foal. We have friends that are leaving all their mares open for the next year or so to see what will happen to the market. Every time I pick up a horse magazine I find pages of dispersal sales. What really scares me is the big name breeders are cutting back for the first time in years. At least they recognize that the market is not there. Hopefully things will turn around.Saturday, June 27, 2009
Aimee Oak
My one and only filly, out of my first show mare Stacy is truly everything I hoped for. Her half brother Dockit is doing well and is going to be entered in the Open and the NCHA Futurity. Her full brother Oakco has not been shown a lot. When they have time to show him, he brings home a check. I did leave Stacy open this year so that she could heal up. She is doing well. Since I have my filly, I don't care if she ever settles again. I bred my show mare Anna and my Buffy mare to Spider, they should cross really well with him. I haven't had a Spider baby in 4 years. I didn't have anything that I really could bred to him. I'm going to leave my Kansas mare open and go back to riding her. We are going to have 2 babies a year so that Gerald and I both have a horse to go on with to the show pen. Gerald wants to take Catsolena to the futurity next year. He has to catch up on his training to get him there. We are so busy getting my farm ready to sell. He is buying the house next to his and I am going to move in there. We have to get his farm ready for our horses. He has 40 acres so it will be better to keep his place. We have had to make a lot of adjustments due to this economy. We have proven mares that we had to decide whether to sell or just feed them and leave them open. We did place 2 of the mares with a breeder that needed broodmares for his Stallion. We mostly end up trading, no one has the money to pay what they are worth. I would not let them go to an auction just so they could end up in the killer pen. They are the only people buying around here. Out of the 6 broodmares that Gerald and I have only one that is riding sound. Out of the six only 2 were broke to begin with. All the babies are really good. We are keeping 4 out of 5 of them. The one I named Murry will not fit into our program. His parents are 15 hands and under and he will hit 16 hands. He dwarfs the rest of the babies and he is only 2 months old. He is really a smooth mover, very slow legged. I think he will make a roper or western pleasure. All the mares are cutting horse bred, it doesn't guarantee that you will get that in the foal. We have friends that are leaving all their mares open for the next year or so to see what will happen to the market. Every time I pick up a horse magazine I find pages of dispersal sales. What really scares me is the big name breeders are cutting back for the first time in years. At least they recognize that the market is not there. Hopefully things will turn around.
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5 comments:
Sure looks great!
It sickens me to know what is happening to a lot of horses around here now. Lots of people just can't afford them any more and there is no one to buy them except the killers. Hopefully things will turn around in the horse industry soon. Beautiful filly!!!!!
I'm jealous! I soooo wanted a filly out of my good old mare. She was one in a million and outproduced herself. She did produce one filly in her life, but the guy who owns her will not part with her.
On the breeding end, we aren't going to get anything bred this year either. Time just got away from us and now it's really too late in the year. I really wanted to breed my other maiden mare and my mom's black mare this year. Two foals a year is just right for us too.
The thing is, people who raise horses for themselves or keep their babies until they are using horses, are still raising. They may have culled one or two mares or started alternating who they breed each year, but they are still going to breed mares and have babies because they have a goal, a purpose and a pretty good idea of the end result.
The production sale breeders and baby brokers are up a creek. They raise babies for joe public and often have no idea of what those foals grow up to be. They breed popular bloodlines and color.
But I have to tell you...good saddle horses are at a premium right now. I had a guy try to buy Megan's blue roan gelding out of my trailer. I have turned down offers on all 4 of the horses we have fitted up and are hauling this year. I tried to tell my mom, she needs to let me start hauling one of the horses we have for sale with me and showing/rodeoing on them and they would sell. A good using horse "is" the market right now and will continue to be the market for several years.
And while I am not an advocate for or against the slaughter issue, I'll tell you what I heard someone put very eloquently, "The problem right now is, that people used to pick up prospects and give them a shot. If it didn't work out, at least you stood a chance of recouping your initial investment and giving another one a chance. Now if you pick something up and it doesn't work out, you are stuck trying to figure out how to get rid of it and you are guaranteed to lose money."
And of course, the economy is not very helpful to the whole situation either.:(
Your filly is darling! I look forward to hearing more about her!
B.E.C. I know how you feel about tring to get the mare's only filly bought. I do not want to let this one go. The stallion owner tried to buy the foal before it was born and wouldn't take the chance. I was so sure that I would finally get a filly. It's funny how people want to buy your horse when you're out using them. Thanks to everyone. I hope she is as gifted as I think she will be.
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