Studding out a Stallion

[minimomNC]

My first suggestion is get better pictures. If your that proud of him, don't post pictures in his winter coat with a big halter on him. Get him cleaned up and clipped, put him in a show halter and get better pictures. I would never look at your horse twice as a breeding stallion based on your website. Second, prove he should be a stallion before you start trying to get people to pay to breed to him. You should be planning on getting him to the World or National shows before you start advertising him for breeding.

So my advice to you would be slow down. Get your ducks in a row, wait until your 18 and can write and sign your own contracts. Make sure your parents are able to handle an upset owner if a mare is injured or heaven forbid, dies on their property. If you do this with yourself being a minor, they will be responsible for everything that goes wrong.

And learn how to take whatever is said without getting upset. This is a forum open to the world. When you ask for advice, your going to get way more than that, so be prepared and conduct yourself in an adult manner. Accept all that is given, use what will help and forget the rest.

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

I see on your webpage that you only have two mares, a two year old and a yearling, and I also see in a post of yours that you were planning to breed. I may have misunderstood, but you I think you said when you come back in foaling season asking for advice. I really hope your not talking about foaling season 2011. Both of your mares are too young to breed, so if you are dead set on breeding and wont listen to what anyone is telling you, please at least wait until they are a bit older, they are still babies themselves.

I also noticed that you have pictures of your two year old jumping in hand over the water tank, bitted up in an english bridle. While I dont see anything wrong with introducing a bridle at two, thats also very young to be having her jump, especially with a bit. Also, if you are going to jump her, please do it over something safer. Jumps are made to knock down if the horse bumps them, thats not the case with a rubbermade water tank. Also, if shes in an accident while jumping that tank, your really going to hurt her mouth since your using a bit not just a halter and lead.

she cant get hurt because the water tank is barely 2 feet high and the bit is a smooth snaffle. by the time she has the baby she'll be four, and i'm not sure yet if i'll breed her next year or not. as for the jumping, no one around my area cares when i jump her or not and she loves to jump. she jumps over the tank by herself in the pasture all the time.

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

My first suggestion is get better pictures. If your that proud of him, don't post pictures in his winter coat with a big halter on him. Get him cleaned up and clipped, put him in a show halter and get better pictures. I would never look at your horse twice as a breeding stallion based on your website. Second, prove he should be a stallion before you start trying to get people to pay to breed to him. You should be planning on getting him to the World or National shows before you start advertising him for breeding.

So my advice to you would be slow down. Get your ducks in a row, wait until your 18 and can write and sign your own contracts. Make sure your parents are able to handle an upset owner if a mare is injured or heaven forbid, dies on their property. If you do this with yourself being a minor, they will be responsible for everything that goes wrong.

And learn how to take whatever is said without getting upset. This is a forum open to the world. When you ask for advice, your going to get way more than that, so be prepared and conduct yourself in an adult manner. Accept all that is given, use what will help and forget the rest.

the show halter is in the mail, and neither i or my parents have the money to go to nationals. thats my dream, though. to go there one day

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

OKAY THATS IT! I CANT TAKE IT ANY LONGER.........................

First off, have you tried the youth forum????

"you have scars from studs? your lucky, i got a concussion from a 2yr old colt i had! he nearly killed me, i was 5 or 6! i'm not stupid ok! I KNOW WHAT STUDS CAN DO!!!"

Well someone is stupid. I dont even take my eyes off of my 8 year old when she is messing with he minis and they are NEVER WITH the stallions at this age. Let alone let my 3 year old handle one. They are just as unpredictable as any animal. You never know what is going to happen. Especially when you are handling a breeding age stallion.

Really............ IF YOU CANT TAKE THE HEAT, GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!

You have come on here asking for ADULTS OPINIONS who have been doing this for umpteen years, and they give you their EXCELLENT answers and you cry about every little single thing they are telling you. So if you want to go and cry to your mommy and daddy please do so because I know I am just about sick of hearing you WHINE!

you dont like it, then dont look at my posts! fyi, i got messaged some advice on this topic by a person who didnt want to be bashed by anyone on here, so i guess i'm not the only one who feels they get bashed at every turn! and i agree with her, many of you are just a bunch of grumpy old hags who want to put everything down!!

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

OMG amen.... High five.... Kudos.... I concur....

and you!!! why is it that every post i ever make YOU always put me down one way or another?!? do you hate me or something?

 

[Sue_C.]

many of you are just a bunch of grumpy old hags who want to put everything down!!

And by this ONE Oh-so-eloquent statement, you have very likeley turned away any help you might of been offered from here on this Forum. You have also, BTW, shown your total immaturity and inexperience.

I suggest you sit back, read ALL these posts, breathe deeply, give your head a shake, and come back with an apology.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I AM SO HAPPY THAT YOU ARE NOT MY CHILD. YOU WOULD NOT HAVE A BUTT TO SIT DOWN ON... YOU HAVE CAME ON HERE AND ASKED A QUESTION...

I WOULD NOT BREED TO A STUD THAT IS NOT PROVEN.

IF YOU CAN NOT TAKE THE HEAT THEN YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN.

AND YOU ARE 15 WELL YOU ARE ACTING LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD THAT HAS NOT GOTTEN THEIR WAY.

AS A MOTHER OF A 5 YEAR OLD HE ACTS BETTER THEN YOU. AND IF I WOULD OF TALK THE WAY YOU DO I WOULD STILL BE PICKING MY TEETH UP.

I THINK YOUR PARENTS NEED TO TAN YOUR HIDE. AT THE AGE OF 15 I HAD MORE REPEST FOR SOMEONE THAT WAS TWICE MY AGE THEN YOU DO..

 

[Minimor]

And by this ONE Oh-so-eloquent statement, you have very likeley turned away any help you might of been offered from here on this Forum. You have also, BTW, shown your total immaturity and inexperience.

I suggest you sit back, read ALL these posts, breathe deeply, give your head a shake, and come back with an apology.

Sue is exactly right.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Folks you should be able to see the writing on the wall with this one - I have intentionally refrained from becoming involved with this thread because of what went down on the last one. This little gal needs to grow up - I do feel sorry for her horses - not because she doesn't care about them, but because she i pushing things a bit too fast, has answers for anything and will probably not pay attention to much of what all us "hags" have had to offer in the way of 100's of years of cumulative advice. Investing emotion into hitting your head against the wall would probably be more rewarding at this point.

Just my opinion for what little that is worth!

Stacy

 

[valshingle]

I am about to give you some unsolicited advice. First of all I am very impressed by your professional looking website. Good job! If you did it yourself, you might have found a way to earn some extra money. Now, here's where I may upset you. There are several photos of your mares on a lunge line. In several of them the line is going between the horse's legs and is very loose. When lunging a horse, the line should be kept off the ground at all times. It should never be allowed to go between a horse's legs. While miniatures are small, things can happen and a lunge line between the legs can get tangled and endanger the horse. If this is something you already know, I apologize and recommend that you remove those photos from your site. They don't inspire confidence.

Are there any riding stables in your area? My 40 years of experience started out a a local riding stable. I spent hours observing trainers giving lessons. My knowledge of lunging came from my years in the hunter/jumper world. You might want to look into being a working student at a riding stable, local breeding farm, etc. The local feed store and vets may have some ideas. I was born in the suburbs with non-horsey parents. I convinced them to let me take one riding lesson a week. I spent all my free time at that barn watching and learning. You are lucky; you already have horses on your property and your parents are 'horsey'. But it doesn't mean that you don't have more to learn - we all do. Read books (not just on miniatures), watch trainers, ask to shadow people at shows.

I am sorry that your parents aren't more supportive of your interest in miniatures - I am not saying that they are against you. Just that their priorities are with draft horses.

At your age, and there is nothing wrong with your age, you have a lot of enthusiasm. Us 'old hags' have learned to temper the enthusiasm with caution. Lots of caution. Why? Because we have learned the hard way. We are giving you the benefit of all our mistakes and just plain bad luck. We DON'T want you to experience any of the bad things that we have. We are trying to spare you bad experiences and some embarrassment. If the people on this forum didn't care about you and your horses, they would simply ignore your questions.

If I didn't care about you and your horses, I wouldn't have responded. Please remember that.

 

[Annabellarose]

I have to say that I agree with everything that has been said here. And even though I agree, I actually do stand my stallion to outside mares.

Why? Well, believe me, I ask myself that all the time!!

It's HARD work, not really worth the effort in most cases and I swear I turn down more than 90% of the mares that are submitted for approval...maybe even more. The reason I do it? Because I know that although I love my broodmares and they have been carefully selected, there are still better ones out there. So I keep looking around for one of those that is better than what I have that may be interested.

To hi-jack this thread...

LOL I just wanted to say thank you for posting this and thank you for feeling/being this way. You are a true breeder and it is an attitude like this that will truly improve a breed. Also, I would like to thank you as a mare owner that has been frustrated at the lack of quality Miniature Horse owners/breeders willing to stand their stallions to the public. It seems like there is no shortage of owners of "pet quality" (to be nice) stallions that are willing to accept/breed to outside mares, but that owners of quality stallions (most often with show records) often aren't interested in accepting/breeding to outside mares (and I often don't agree with their choice of mares for their stallion and then I am not interested in their stallion's offspring for sale).

 

[fancyappy]

many of you are just a bunch of grumpy old hags who want to put everything down!!

I knew there was a name for what ails me!.."grumpy old hag syndrome"...

maybe you should step away from the computer for awhile and cool off..it is really not necessary to be rude ..take a break from posting and instead completely read some of the great advice shared here from these very helpful and knowledgeable posters. There is some great words of wisdom for you here that would be very helpful if you really want to learn.

 

[Allure Ranch]

and you!!! why is it that every post i ever make YOU always put me down one way or another?!? do you hate me or something?

No by far.... I just think that your disrespectful and I would suggest that you be more open to the sound advice that's been given you.

 

[wingnut]

I'm going to jump into the fray from a different perspective.

Molly, what you need to do is step back. Understand that when you ask for information on a subject on an internet board, you're going to get a lot of different answers and MANY will not be what you want to hear. Accept that and move on. Getting defensive, over and over again, will NOT help you. Calling people names is completely disrespectful and would not be tolerated from an 80 yr old, so why do you think anyone would tolerate it from a 15 yr old? Age has nothing to do with it. It will only serve to put you in a defensive position in every subsequent post you write on that same board. You will develop a reputation that will be very hard to overcome, if you choose to try and do so. You want to be treated as a mature, sensible person? You want to be given/shown respect? Then stop acting like a foolish teenager. I live with one myself...she's 16. I know foolish teenage behavior when I see it.

This board has *thousands* of posts. It's not the easiest thing to do but using the search feature and finding older questions that fall into the same vein as yours is a great way to learn what you need to know and avoid putting yourself out there. You will quickly learn that certain topics are "hot buttons". Learn from these old messages how to avoid asking questions that push these "hot buttons". It can be done! When I started with my first mini last year, I worked hard not to sound like a clueless fool when posting to these boards. I also realized that no matter how I approached it, I was very likely to get responses that I didn't like. Thankfully, I'm an old pro at message boards and how they work, so I was prepared for that.

You say your parents don't support you? How is that possible? Do you own the property that your horses are on? Do you own the structure that your horses are housed in? Are you boarding your now 3 minis? If so, are you paying for that board all by yourself? Do you pay for the vet, feed, hay, farrier bills all by yourself? Please, if your parents are paying for any part of these expenses, they are supporting you a great deal. Just because they don't "get" minis doesn't mean they don't support you and you do them a disservice by portraying them as unsupportive.

There are NO easy or quick answers to most questions when it comes to the care of our beloved minis. Slow down for Pete's sake. You now have 3 minis who are terribly young and need YOU to learn some patience in order to best serve THEIR needs. This is about THEM and not you. When you come to that realization, you'll finally understand why some of the people on this board are so frustrated by your behavior here.

 

[Tab]

Here's some more unsolicited advice for you.

1 Timothy 4:12

12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

I don't know if you are a believer, but I believe this verse can apply to anyone. You have such power to lead by example and through kindness! People will say, "Yeah, she's a kid, but I didn't realize she was so young because she's respectful, wise, teachable, and kind!"

I am not far off from where you are. The desire of my heart was to eventually breed horses. I loved riding but I enjoyed the depth of equine personality and I had just as much fun grooming them, working them, and training them on the ground! Minis were a perfect choice for me.

My goal was eventually to breed, but at 14 my mom said no. She said save up for a gelding first so you are sure you want own and breed minis. Then I bathed dogs, mowed lawns, and babysat. Foaling and foals are a huge responsibility she said. I agree! I was blessed to be there and hands on for births eventually, but I was also blessed to have a few extra sets of hands and eyes in the foaling stall with me.

Here's Checkers my first mini, a 33.5" gelding:

I purchased a yearling filly and then a yearling colt a year later. They were both the best I could afford, and in fact I had help purchasing the colt and our friends allowed us to make payments! Finally by 2001 (when my mare was 4) I was able to cross the two, and the blessing that arrived in '02 was far greater than I could have imagined!

Most of my life was spent out in the barn, but finally by the time I was 19 I was able to see the result of my very first breeding. Boy was I glad I read blessed are the broodmares, and researching on the internet, and learning from experienced breeders! I'm still learning from others, even those who have wronged me

I had gifts at 14, and you probably have a lot of gifts at 15. I could recognize what I liked already. I knew what good movement looked like from my experience riding and working with large horses. I was homeschooled and my mom and sister worked at a boarding barn where I met up with an older lady (who was a perfectionist) on the proper way to do everything horse related. I learned so much from her, and her parting gift to me was a horse book!

If a horse can move well he is usually built well. I also gleaned experience and AN EYE for conformation from my grandmother, mother, and sister who bred and showed dogs to many championships. My mother had also raised lambs and calves, had 3 children of her own, and had delivered many baby animals, so she was very wise in the art of birth.

So my advice is to keep asking questions and use your powers for good! I am still learning. My horses and breeding are improving. They are not perfect but they came from the best I could possibly afford. Keep asking and keep learning. At this point if someone is disrespectful or condescending to me unprovoked I learn to ignore them!

I have learned something from everyone who has come into my life, even from the "mean" people. Most people on here are really trying to give you solid advice. Good luck!

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

I knew there was a name for what ails me!.."grumpy old hag syndrome"...

maybe you should step away from the computer for awhile and cool off..it is really not necessary to be rude ..take a break from posting and instead completely read some of the great advice shared here from these very helpful and knowledgeable posters. There is some great words of wisdom for you here that would be very helpful if you really want to learn.

thanks

i went outside and cooled off and i came back here and read everything

i have to say i'm soooo sorry to EVERYONE!! i've been very stressed lately and i can see i've been taking it out on you guys, and i'm soo sorry for that! i hope you guys can forgive my rudeness and stupidity and continue to answer my questions and help me learn. even though i dont deserve it. i wont be rude ever again, if i am then tell me because sometimes i dont realize it. i'm sooo sorry!

 

[SampleMM]

Apology accepted.

Everyone makes mistakes and anyone who asks for forgiveness, deserves it.

We have a newspaper in Maine and if you would like I could put an ad in and try to find you a mentor. PM me if you like that idea.

 

[ohmt]

Some of the best words of wisdom I have ever received:

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting their own battle"

I am 20 years old with a herd of 35 minis and I have been managing my grandparents farm since I was 12. I have run a business and acted as such-nobody has ever questioned my age and I have several sales and breeding references. I just purchased a reserve national grand champion stallion and have a plan for every move that I make with my breeding program, always to strive for better. I have found that the only way to do so is to soak up all of the knowledge you can get from people who are doing exactly what you are trying to do, the people who have your same goals.

Your apology was very grown up-it takes a lot to realize ones mistakes and it takes even more to admit them and to try to make things right. Here's the part where you're not going to like me....

BUT, if you really want to start a breeding program and stand your stallion at stud, you can never lose your cool. First off, it is a sign of immaturity and you will have a very hard time trying to find anyone willing to deal with you because of it no matter how many times you apologize. Second, because you are young trying to start a business on your own, people will be weary and less forgiving when you do show that immaturity. I say you only show for now and love those horses. Learn as much as you can and do a little growing up, THEN rethink a breeding program.

Once again, I wish you lots of luck. Please feel free to e-mail or message me privately if you ever have questions.

 

[SampleMM]

Apology accepted.

Everyone makes mistakes and anyone who asks for forgiveness, deserves it.

We have a newspaper and a few weeklys in Maine so if you would like I could put an ad in and try to find you a mentor. PM me if you like that idea.

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

Some of the best words of wisdom I have ever received:

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone is fighting their own battle"

I am 20 years old with a herd of 35 minis and I have been managing my grandparents farm since I was 12. I have run a business and acted as such-nobody has ever questioned my age and I have several sales and breeding references. I just purchased a reserve national grand champion stallion and have a plan for every move that I make with my breeding program, always to strive for better. I have found that the only way to do so is to soak up all of the knowledge you can get from people who are doing exactly what you are trying to do, the people who have your same goals.

Your apology was very grown up-it takes a lot to realize ones mistakes and it takes even more to admit them and to try to make things right. Here's the part where you're not going to like me....

BUT, if you really want to start a breeding program and stand your stallion at stud, you can never lose your cool. First off, it is a sign of immaturity and you will have a very hard time trying to find anyone willing to deal with you because of it no matter how many times you apologize. Second, because you are young trying to start a business on your own, people will be weary and less forgiving when you do show that immaturity. I say you only show for now and love those horses. Learn as much as you can and do a little growing up, THEN rethink a breeding program.

Once again, I wish you lots of luck. Please feel free to e-mail or message me privately if you ever have questions.

thanks. and i've decided not to stand my stud, i dont want him to get hurt.