:aktion033:
Awesome article!
I find it interesting indeed that the farms that I admire (personally) and tend to have the highest quality horses are the ones that are JUST FINE with gelding colts, even ones that would probably be quite nice as stallions (i.e., good, correct parentage and nice horses to begin with, even themselves often national champs).
It seems to be the ones that sell the horses for the really low prices or medium low prices that really have the problem with it, also the ones that tend to "romanticize" and anthropomorphize more than is necessary.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for giving the horses their emotions, their feelings, etc., but when they are treated like sentimental objects and that is used as an excuse for breeding more poorly conformed/badly proportioned animals, it's wrong.
The world does not need more mediocre. ALL of us should be striving for higher quality.
I wish it were easier to spay mares, and I do hope that eventuality is near.
I find another aspect interesting, that people don't realize that times change and we are "moving on" so they wish to take that stallion who was so "cool" 20 years ago, and either get him reproducing again or reproduce him. He may have been National champion then, but he couldn't cut the mustard, now...and his babies are likely not to be what they were (with some rare exceptions).
We DO tend to experiment a little bit when we breed even the best to the best. What frustrates me is to see the "ok" bred to the "ok" and then we have generations of "so so" to look forward to. At least take the "ok" and find an oustanding/superior stallion....?
Now that I see the "bigger" thing on the article, though, makes me a little nervous about gelding some of my colts so young, I guess they may go over, but I'd rather do that than breed fugly horses and/or have them breeding when they shouldn't be.
Thanks, mininik, for this....guessing that I could show it around, myself, but the ones that really need to get the msg won't.
BTW, my vet charges $95 for a gelding procedure that is with the farm call. He raised it from $65 when I had it done two years ago.
My policy is that EVERY colt here will be gelded as soon as he's ready (descended) and before he leaves here to his new home UNLESS he is that nice, and he better be darned nice. It's been that way for years, now. It ONLY MAKES SENSE if you truly have an outstanding stallion, to control his male offspring that way, and want to protect your stallion's worth as well as his future generations. YOu have no control over what mare is bred by your stallion's sons and so on and so on....
Liz M.