I don't think I'll be breeding next year

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mshasta88

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I wish I would have decided this for this year but it’s too late for that. I’ll be expecting 3-4 foals for 2013. I keep hoping that the market will come back but I don’t have to breed to enjoy my minis so 2013 will most likely be my last foal crop until we see a change in the market.

I know that many of you are already doing this, but I wanted to see just how many of you are.
 
Sold my last stallion this summer and haven't had a foal born here in 4 years. Its partly the market and partly that I have discovered I don't enjoy selling horses (a bit of an understatement actually) Since I can only care for so many horses properly and still have time to enjoy them I sold all but 2 mares, these 2 are my driving mare and my orphan both will be staying with me as long as I am able to care for them,and gelded or sold the stallions. I now have only 6 horses and have no intention of adding more any time soon, altho I admit to browsing the sale ads regularly and am sometimes painfully tempted ;).
 
My daughter bred her last mare, three years ago and will probably not breed again. Sad really, to know that after four generations of horse owning and breeding, we will likely not see a fifth. Sad also, to see the once full barn, now standing almost empty. The last two Minis will be sold and all the Gypsy Horses, except one are gone. My daughter will probably keep (at least for a while) her last Gypsy Mare, who is nine and has never yet had a foal. We also, can no longer do rescue as we have done in the past. For us, it was not just the current dismal horse market, but the extremely high prices of everything in S. California. We've been paying close to $20 a bale for hay, for years now. Producing a carefully planned foal, training it and bringing to sales age, one could never even come close to covering the cost. My daughter also has her lovely little farm up for sale.

The sad thing is, that many long-time and responsible small breeders, are breeding no more. This leaves the door open for many who breed anything to everything, to put their poor quality horses on the market. That, or only those with plenty of money, to be able to breed at all.

Lizzie
 
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Oh wow bales here are $2.50 at the most and 1100 pound round bales are $28! Both of those are the most you pay here and are too quality!
 
We bred no mares for 2011

and only 1 mare for 2012 - who had a gorgeous Perlino filly
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but we are getting back in hopes 2013 is better we bred 5 mares for 2013

We just have to see our Buzz's1st foals so anxious for 2013

we have 3 mares bred to Buzz

and 2 mares bred to Bow

We have invested alot like many others into the horses we selected for our herd especially this

past 3 years between purchase and showing

and they are all current on paperwork as needed and our foals are all registered most amhr/amha

they are not sold on application feet trimmed and shots

and stallion reports are always done.

We will never contribute to the horror stories of people not being able to register their purchases.

Here's praying for us all that 2013 brings a better economy
 
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This economy/market is so depressing, I am tempted to geld our stallion this fall when we geld his 2012 colt. I had sworn we wouldn't breed for next year, but after getting three gorgeous LIVE foals after so many years of trying, we ended up breeding 2 mares for next year. There is no way we can ever make any money at this, although when we started a few years ago we had a business plan that SHOULD have given us a small profit. Someone asked me yesterday about how we could break even and I told her we would have to sell a foal for $100,000 to cover our costs and I don't think that will happen! When you factor in hospital and vet costs for foaling issues, plus feed, normal vet and farrier costs, I don't see how anyone can make money, especially when I see nice foals offered at $250 or $500.

I am not getting out of minis though, as long as I am physically and financially able to care for them. The best thing we ever did with the minis was start a 4-H Club, free leasing our minis as project animals. We only started the Club in February 2012 and already have done a community service project taking 2 of the minis to a local nursing home and 2 of the minis were shown very successfully at our recent county 4-H Fair. Plenty of info and photos on our website. Gelding Buckshot would mean we could use him for a 4-H project (no stallions allowed in CT 4-H) and he is already trained for trail and jumping, and is green broke to drive. It will be sad though, because his foals are outstanding.
 
I didnt breed any mares for 2013 (One might have snuck through the fence and gotten bred.) The result will be a 13HH Curly/Pinto foal. The pony mare took the fence down and visited the paint stallion. I did have the vet check her and he doesnt think she could catch since it didnt look like she ovulated yet but he said to treat her like she was in foal until he can get a chance to preg check her. We just bought the mare and was told she respected fences. (They didnt tell us she doesnt respect them when shes in heat) She went through 4 fence lines to get to him (INCLUDING Hotwire) Needless to say Her pasture is now panels and hotwire.

No minis were bred this year. And well look at the market ect next year closely before breeding again.

We do have a high demand for the curlies due to them being hypoallergenic but even those mares we didn't breed this year. So it will be a very quiet year for foaling next year if at all.

Well find out in another month or so if the breakthrough mare caught.
 
I have bred three gorgeous foals...and I've kept my last colt from 2011 (now a stunning gelding
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. The market in Canada sucks! I'm happy with my 2 mares and my boy
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I only put one mare with a stallion this year. Too busy playing with this year's foals to hand breed the mares, so may try next year and try the two mares that weren't bred for this foaling season. Time will tell.
 
I think a lot of people are doing the same thing. Good breeders are selling out and you can by crap all day long for $200 from people who put no money in except to buy cheap mares and a stallion. They don't invest in quality foals but people wanting cheap will buy these all the time. Then they really have the expense of foals that are sick, haven't been dewormed, mares never vaccinated, feet never done. Just bad care but you can sure buy it for under $500. Oh and not to forget the foals that you can never register because that breeder never did stallion reports, never took horses permanent, never bothered to register their foals. So when you get done with the final bill on that $200 bargin, you could have bought a well bred, well taken care of, registered miniature horse. Just sayin'
 
We are not breeding ANY for next year.

We had 4 wonderful fillies this year but I think we are done breeding for a while.

Seriously buyers do not seem to want to invest more than a couple hundred dollars in a nice foal.

I have lost sympathy for those that buy cheap and then "can't get the paper work" and are upset.

We only sell with paperwork complete and up to date, never on application.

Vacc, feet and worming dates current. Well handled foals, no "wild ones" which people also complain about when they buy cheap.

It's ok for them if that's what they want to do but I am less than sympathetic when they make those choices, they are just perpetuating the problem.

If cheap is best I need to be done. The investment I make in quality feed and care is not cheap.

I just can't be as neglectful as I would need to be to make things work in this atmosphere right now.

And I have seen to many times what happens to $300 and under horses when they need care. New owners

just won't spend the money, makes more sense to them to just buy another cheap horse.

Too many cheap, poorly bred, unhandled, horsex with a lack of care out there.

I won't sell that way.
 
I totally agree with MinimomNC and this really scares me. Plus reading this thread, it sounds like a lot of small, GOOD breeders are quitting, which will leave the big name farms and the ones with $250 foals. And the more $250 foals are sold, the more that will be the expectation. I already see people wanting $250 minis to show and I shake my head thinking "Don't they realize the fees for the first show may be more than they paid for the mini?"

Here is my philosophy about "bargains": You look for bargains in all the commodities you buy, like sugar, gas for your car, utilities,etc. But when the purchase is a "one-of-a- kind" like a house or a horse, if it is just what you want, and you can afford it, then you buy it. It doesn't have to be a "bargain". This philosophy has served me well for decades.
 
Minimomnc, Anne, and targetsmom have all stated it very well. I threw in the towel spring of 2011. It wasn't the horses, it was the crazy horse people that did me in and weighing out the fact that life is too short to deal with such things.It takes real money to take care of them right, feed them, vaccinate them, worm them, trim them, time to handle them, time to teach them to be traffic safe and not spooky, not to mention the thought, insight, and effort put into purchasing nice mares and a stallion or two as well as keeping the paperwork current and processing the paperwork for foals. I sold all but two, gelded my very senior stallion and kept a company for him. I still got decent prices for them, maybe not what I paid for them, but fair prices for the current market. I did geld the colts I had here, sold them as geldings and they did sell for fair prices, never had one advertised as a gelding for sale that didn't sell within six months, which for many is too long to let them sit, but once again, it is the responability thing to do as breeder (keep them until a good suitable home comes along). I did learn to say no when selling my small herd. I had people looking at horses that were thousands and people would ask if I would sell them for a few hundred, or those that would say well I can get one at auction around here for x amount of dollars. My response would be " I am in no rush to send them down the river, they are top quality animals that have a lot of handling and care into them, there is plenty of food and water for them and I am not dealing with any hardship that would force me to get rid of them. They will not end up dumped at a local auction while in my care, short term payments are Available while they stay in my care and I will offer free board, but I can not let them go for that low of a price. As already stated, there is nothing wrong with looking at a $2500 horse and asking would you consider $2000, but there is something wrong with looking at at $3500 horse and saying will you take $600 for it? There is also something wrong with saying "well, shipping is so high, can you transport it for me, and it is 700 miles one way?" I would always advertise if I was headed somewhere that I would be happy to transport along the route while traveling that direction, but when it came to shipping, I paid my dues when I purchased a horse, I bit the bullet and paid for transport, if I couldn't wing it, I wouldn't purchase, I would never expect the seller to foot the bill. As someone else stated, a big issue for me was potential buyers that would low ball me, like insult low ball me, and they were selling their horses for $3000 and offering me $500 on a horse that I was selling for $3000 ( and I am not talking about well established big farms that you are paying for the name, I am talking about smaller scale operations looking to do a flip). As I said, between weighing the pros and cons, realizing life is too short, I decided that while my family has learned irreplaceable life lessons, weeding out the crazies and worrying where the mini would end up was not worth it, so I threw in the towel.
 
I think a lot of people are doing the same thing. Good breeders are selling out and you can by crap all day long for $200 from people who put no money in except to buy cheap mares and a stallion. They don't invest in quality foals but people wanting cheap will buy these all the time. Then they really have the expense of foals that are sick, haven't been dewormed, mares never vaccinated, feet never done. Just bad care but you can sure buy it for under $500. Oh and not to forget the foals that you can never register because that breeder never did stallion reports, never took horses permanent, never bothered to register their foals. So when you get done with the final bill on that $200 bargin, you could have bought a well bred, well taken care of, registered miniature horse. Just sayin'
Of course these are the very same people who then wonder "how do you get your mini to look so nice, mine is ..fill in the description; pot bellied, club footed, dull coated, big headed, short legged etc etc. If you don't pay for quality you shouldn't be too surprised if it doesn't look like quality either. Not to say some of these 'bargain' horses can't be fed well, brought to health and look lovely but in general they will likely never be what the buyer hoped for.
 
I got out of breeding about 5 years ago; there are far too many nice horses that need homes already.
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Liz N.
 
It’s just so sad because I have invested so much time and money into quality animals, plus all my horses are UTD on everything including papers. My foals get daily attention by me, my partner, and visiting children but people have totally lost interest in it. It’s a good thing that I’ve decided to try and keep half my foals for next year or I would really be in it deep. I really want to show next year so hopefully this will free up some time for me to do that more.
 

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