It must be the horse selling season --

[Marnie]

I will start by admitting I was way out of control, 18 months ago, I started counting and OMG, I had 48 mares! I'm wondering, how did this happen but then I thought about it, one friend divorced and moved to TX so I took her 5 back, I always took mares back plus added here and there and oh, just one more and then a mercy case and then a good deal and then a beautiful one and on and on. I knew I had to start selling, some were ok to let go but some have been very painful to let go, but I am so relieved, I just want to share this with everyone. In the last two wks, I don't know if folks are getting tax refunds or anxious for the foaling season, I have sold 7 mares, even two unbred ones and a jack and a gelding donkey. Now, Thank Heavens, I am down to my 14 keeper mares. It'll be the end of the month before all the sold ones are gone but it's still such a good feeling to know that I Don't Have To Sell These Mares, They Are Mine To Keep. I just wanted to get down to 12, just seemed like a good number but now I did stretch it to the 14. I just can't tell you the pain of selling these mares, now it's done and I can relax and just love my keepers, I will never be out of control again. I know alot of new people go overboard but I'm here to tell you that I am proof positive, it's not a good thing to get to many horses ever. I learned my lesson the painful way! If one person learns from my mistake, it's worth putting this thread on here. I just left my heart overrule my head!

 

[just2minis]

I am done buying and selling and now I have 2 horses whom I love very much and they are it for me.

I have learned my lesson, and after a bad experience selling my last 4 horses to someone I trusted and they totally betrayed me, I do not want have to go through that ever again.

 

[Marty]

I know how it feels to be over-horsed Marnie and I don't plan on letting it happen here. It's not the way to go, for me anyhow, but isn't it so hard to draw the line and say "NO MORE" ???.

:

I've turned down some lucious deals also because I am full up and simply do not need anymore horses no matter who or what they are. (Oh that kills me to say that)........

Yes it must be selling season too. I think it's just a buyers market. I've been lucky selling my consignment horses for a friend. I sold 4 mares for her since Dec. in some very nice homes too. No takers for her geldings at all. I had some out of state people here this week too looking around. I could have sold every mare in my barn if they had a price tag on them (which none do). They are my keepers. Most of the buyers seemed to want only mares. One family had the cutest little boy try to kidnap Chrissy & Knight Star on me and wouldn't leave them alone, but they wanted a solid black colt only. Little kid left all sad; he was too precious, so he got extra candy canes when he left.

 

[eagles ring farm]

Marnie

Glad your relieved to have a smaller amount of mares. I can't imagine having that many to be responsible for and foaling season you must have lived on 10 minutes sleep some nights, it sounded very hard

We thank you for our purchase of Squires Montana Foxy Illusion (Montana) We love her, and she fits in well with our plans for the future.

I will take your warning about too many I think we are at our limit with 6 mares in foal this year

I'm nervous already.

Thanks again for being so easy to work with for our purchase of Montana, and so much help when we had hauling problems.

Lori

 

[RockRiverTiff]

We had to reduce too, so I feel your pain, but now that you're down to keepers just think of all the extra time you have to really enjoy them! I'm a big lurker on your sales page though, so I can't help but ask...You are going to have foals for sale again this year right? :bgrin

 

[ChrystalPaths]

OMG 48! :new_shocked: I so miss having 12 but 2 is much easier to manage for now..I so wish it could have worked out with Magic but I am so tickled you got down to your goal (well almost)! Life will be easier :aktion033: and you so deserve easier Marnie, you are one of the best.

:

 

[Tami]

Oh boy, do I hear you. My plan is under 20. I have over 30. So I have been selling some trying to get down to my goal, but boy is it hard. I have been tweeking and adjusting my brood stock for years and have a group I really like. So one by one I am working towards that goal. I was doing good until I kept most of my 06 foals....lol.

: And there are several of the 07's that I would like to keep......

: Anybody have room for me when my husband has enough....lol. Except he is almost as bad as I am, thank goodness for that or I would be wandering the road with a string of horses behind me......

:

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

It can happen so easily and really before you even know it. In Ca I had over 25 horses I am down to 13 minis now but would like to sell 3 more to keep it to a managable level for me.

It is hard

 

[Songcatcher]

I don't think you can ever have too many horses, just not enough land. :risa_suelos:

Seriously, I know what you mean.

I just left my heart overrule my head!

That is so easy to do. I have 9 breeding age mares, 2 stallions, 2 two-year-old fillies, 2 yearling fillies, and a total of 7-8 foals due in 07 (last one due in Fall). One of the two-year-olds and one of the yearling fillies have sales pending. If those sales go through and I sell 3 mares, I would be at about the right number for my 5 acres. Then if I keep just one adorable filly per year, I will soon be overloaded again.

:

 

[angelheart]

I'm fairly new to mini's and have learned so much from reading the postings on this forum and just had to reply to this one. Marnie I certainly feel for you and know how easy it is to take on little too much. I was doing just fine with my small little herd of mini's when I ran across a situation where some mini's where in a bad situation and I made it my mission to give them a new home and ended up buying 11. Going from 5 to 16 was a big change ... had to add pastures, stalls, paddocks, shelters, water lines and the lsit goes on. I don't regret it for a moment though as it has been heatwarming to watch these horses blossom ... though some still have a way to go. I do plan to sell at least four of them this spring as I feel that my set up is better suited to 12 and I am also expecting 7 foals as the mares were bred when I bought them. I don't know much about selling and am not sure when would be the best time. Any suggestions would be helpfull. I want them to be happy and healthy before I try to sell them and was thinking I should also wait until it is warm enough to clip them. I have grown very attached to theses horses and it will be hard to see them go so good homes are imperative... all I want is to recapture a bit on my investment. These horse all have very nice pedigrees. Tami , I believe you have the only one that I have let go to date ... a grulla mare who I had let go to my friend Cindy. This little mare along with her little filly was just the saddest site I had ever seen.... I didn't know if they would even make the 15 -20 minute drive back to our litttle farm. She was still very very thin when you got her but had put on a hundred pounds since I had brought her home and had seen the farrier a couple times for the first time in years was brought up to date on shots and put on a very stringent worming regiment so she had come a long way even though she might not have quite looked it. I'd love to hear how this little mare is doing and am thrilled that she has gone to such a nice home where I know she is comfortable and loved. I also want to thank all the folks who gave me advice and guidance in helping these mini's recover... Bob and Barb at Moonwind ( Bob also took on the challange of trimming their hoofs which wasn't easy), Cindy at Dunpainted, Donna at Qtrae and all my friends at 38" and Under.

Maryann

Angelheart Farm

 

[ThreeCFarm]

I understand completely!!! We suddenly had too many horses this year after getting a phone call from friend that had a stroke. She asked us to pick up as many of her horses as we could take, as she couldn't care for them and her husband wasn't doing as good of a job as she was hoping for. So, with less than 48 hours notice, we put up some cattle panels behind my mother's house and then picked up 6 of my friend's mares. We were at our limit (hence needing to make a pen for the new ones), so adding 6 more just really did us in. However, my friend eventually asked me to help her sell some of her horses, which I have been doing--the bad thing is I've put more effort into selling her horses than mine, and as a result, I didn't sell much of our own in 2006. It was our worst year, but my friend did pretty good, LOL!

I do have to say though, that no sooner do I sell one for my friend, than I go over and pick up another one to take it's place. Sigh... One of these days we'll be back down where we need to be--maybe.

:

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

i hear that too, we were supposed to top out (in minis) at 6 mares, 6 jennets and a jack for each... currently at 6 mares, 7 jennets and 3 jacks... plus my daughter's mini horse stallion on the property though he's not "mine" (not to mention the 5 big horses, 1 mule and 1 pony)... and the two older jennets are expecting, if those babies are girls they will probably stay here, as they are NOT from our jacks so no worries about accidental in-breeding... once both parents are on my property i do plan to sell all the babies, we are not big enough to keep them absolutely unfailingly separate (we try our best but if one gets out... :new_shocked: and they do have their ways!)

we just re-did the jack pens so they have 3 nice new ones of good size and no common fenceline... and added a row of panels to the mare pens across the yard so they are all 12 feet longer now. always something to be fixing or changing or re-vamping!! automatic water done for big horses and mares, hoping to get that all set up for the jacks this year...

we have not had much experience with selling (one foal a couple years ago but he was sold to friends before he was even born...) so hoping to find nice homes for our babies

:

so we really need the baby donkeys to be boys so they get sold... but despite it all, i am hoping for girls so they can stay

: they will be the only baby donkeys born that CAN stay under our plan, so it would be nice to have them from day one... and of course we are hoping for one gorgeous mini mule that can stay with us so that when we do our nursing home visits and people ask, what's the difference between a horse and a donkey and a mule, we can SHOW them...

 

[PrestigeMiniHorses]

Goodness gracious....At the farm I work at we hav e 38 minis including my 2 horses.. Most of them are breeding mares, we have 3 stallions, one gelding, like 7-8 2-3 year olds and a bunch of weanlings....So yes in deed are trying to sell some horses on this end...

 

[Jill]

Oh, I can imagine how you felt and feel now!

When I decided I need to get some mares that would be better matches for breeding, I didn't want to turn loose of the ones that weren't really right for my stallions and goals. DECIDING to do it was actually the hardest part. Once I made up my mind to sell the ones I really was not going to do "anything" with, the rest was easy and thankfully fast as well.

If I had more room, I can imagine I would have talked myself into hanging on to them -- and really that's not fair to the horses. They were not the really special ones in my herd, but they are now the special ones in other people's lives and that's the way it should be.

 

[Margaret]

I am happy for you Marnie.. I used to also worry alot abt my minis when I was had over 4....Always checking on them- to make sure all was ok.. It was no fun when I worried so much about them, so I started to cut back, and found out that its alot of fun to have just three, or even two, and easier to monitor and manage them with out cutting into family time.

:

 

[Suzie]

Congrats Marnie-That had to be SOOO hard. We have a limit of 15 to 18 including the donkeys. We have 30+ acres and feel like each animal deserves at least 2 acres to graze and play on. So far we have only "kept" one foal- a filly. We had 4 mares bred for last year and lost 2 of the foals, so no real addition there.

:no:

We actually sold one mare to a friend - that was hard to do. We prefer to keep our core mares and try not to add too many. We are trying to be able to "retire" one mare and bring a breeding age filly on line the same year so we can keep our numbers the same. It is sooo hard to pass up a gorgeous horse though. Maybe they should start Minis anonymous???? I would be a charter member for sure. :aktion033:

 

[Marnie]

Now that I look back, I wonder how in the world I could even have afforded to buy that many but like any other addiction, you find the money. We're just poor old farmers, we don't have alot of cash but I would sell a foal, buy a mare or however or whatever it took. It didn't help that my husband kept wanting more too. I had plenty of vet bills and paid alot out to my farrier, it took years to even find a decent farrier. It's all the other things too, a Kalglo heater, all my camera's and the Equipage System, worming them, buying feed and hay (made some of our hay) but there was alot of expense just to keep them. I did make money, it was a business for me, it was alot of work too. I started not liking the selling part, so afraid the horses weren't going to good homes, not all buyers are what they seem, even if you screen them closely. So after counting the 48, I decided to downsize and go back to work, get a real job so I had to start selling. It took a long time but six months ago, I did get that job and still kept selling, needed to be down by foaling time. And I did it, of the 14 I'm keeping, only about 9 are bred for 07 and I can handle this. I do have donkeys too but the herd is staying small and any new comers are going to be well bred individuals and very limited.

It didn't take away from family time, it's only Nate and I and he is right there with me, helping me with anything, I couldn't have done this if I had small kids. I still plan to have about ten foals to sell a year, I do love the babys, who wouldn't! I do remember Marty always harping on people, not to over due it, oh Marty, how I wish I'd have listened to you then. Wise words back then but went unheeded.

 

[royalview]

Marnie, you deserve a great big (((((HUG))))) I know it is hard to let some go but if carful enough and with Gods will Im sure you found them great homes. I fell into the same problem this year, Bought two mares that ended up being a 11 mini rescue. I couldnt say no!! But unfortunatly my well managed herd of 10 ended up being 21 minis with a total of 4 being stallions. It was not a peaceful barnyard scene anymore. My senior stallion lost weight just knowing that there were other men on his property!! I was very lucky to find good homes for those that I didnt plan on keeping and it has warmed my soul to see some new happy 4-Hers with a dream come true. I also justified being able to let some go knowing that I was allowing myself the option of being able to help other minis again if I needed too. Big (((((HUGS))) to you! :aktion033:

 

[maplegum]

Well now i'm scared! I'm picking up my very 1st mini 'Bailey' (i have left a couple of posts recently regarding my little guy) at the end of February.

I only have a one acre property, which will be divided in half for Bailey. From everything i've been reading here, he really needs a friend! This one friend sounds as if it could end up being a herd!!! I guess only having a small property will make my decision to keep things small, easier.

I can completly understand how everyone started with one mini, then end up with so many.

 

[speckles]

Hi all, happy new year! I really loved reading those posts although i did shed a tear or two. A bit of a softy I am.

It is easy to see how they add up. When i started in miniatures, I was only going to have two. We have 20 acres of land in the South Island of New Zealand. I think my husband has given counting my horses out in the paddock. He just made me add up our horses. I have managed to get to 32, with one foal still to come. I am not selling any of the 10 foals from this season, but will have to sell some next season, as am expecting 16. Guess that is what happens when you breed foals you consider too good to sell. Also hard when you have a three year old who claims all the foals for herself!!

Still, nice to have a big herd running together, and to watch the foals playing chasing across the paddock in the evening light.

Sandra Spekreijse

Serenity Park Miniatures

New Zealand