What I detest about mini auctions.

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whitney

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The unloading of elderly broodmares!

SHAME on "a" big breeder for doing this!

In my book if a mare has been productive for you, you OWE her something, maybe taking extra care in placing her in a retirement home or better yet keeping her until she passes.

I can tell you, those breeders that practice the unloading, I WILL NEVER buy from. They are no better than "Mini Mills".

Edited to add:

There are ways to insure a good home even for big breeders, auctioning them off to ANYONE is NOT a way, not to mention the hours in a hot trailer, the tremendous noise and confusion of an auction, the possiblity of sickness etc, etc, etc.

Just one way is to "lease" the mare to a farm of their choosing, thus the horse could not be sold with papers without their consent.

I'm not saying the mare should not be bred if she is physically able, but to open the door for an over 18 yr old mare to be "passed around" is UNCONSCIONABLE!
 
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I can understand your anger. I agree that if a farm is known for doing this that it may be wise to not buy from them. I also think that there is more than one side to every situation and sometimes it may be best for the mare if she is sold to a family that can take care of her in her older age. Offer her a warm stall at night and lots of loving hands to pet her.
 
RebelsHope said:
it may be best for the mare if she is sold to a family that can take care of her in her older age. Offer her a warm stall at night and lots of loving hands to pet her.
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Or she could go to slaughter... or another farm who will keep breeding her!!
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But I really don't know much about this topic
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as a very general rule i agree with you.

If you were caring about them going to a loving home with kids and a nice barn a auction isnt the place to ensure that.
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I personally have a very hard time letting go of my broodmares after being with them thru such a (for lack of a better term) intimate thing such as foaling and sharing that with them. I just feel i owe them
 
I guess when she said auction I was thinking more of our little auction here on LB.
 
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I had a "buyer/looker" here last week who had many questions, as any newbies....and they want to know the age of each animal, as if they change size over extended periods
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But, a discussion ensued as to "how old" they'd live and "how long" they'd produce and "why" did I have the older ones, etc.

My horses can retire and live out their lives here as long as I have a farm, feed and shelter. I agree that I owe that to them and I WANT to provide that. But, I also feel that if it comes to their being better off with another loving family (should I fall ill, etc) then I will place them in selected homes with the agreement that they MUST return to me if they can no longer provide for them (to help place them again)....hand picked, not auctioned.

On another forum I jokingly said that I'd need to add "retirement acres" to my farm sign
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as several here are late teens and early twenties. But we are all in good health, active and taking life in stride. I've kept a few fillies to use as replacement broodmares when the older girls decide to stop producing. Ok, it's a few more head to provide for but, I've tried to plan for these things. Besides, these girls and I have been through a lot together and I don't want them to leave. I hope good times continue.
 
Whitney, I did not know this was common practice BUT those who do it ARE 'mini millers', once the animal cease to bring in money for them they dump it with NO consideration for the animals wellbeing.

This is horrible to put it bluntly!

Placing an older broodmare in a good retirement home or keeping her until she passes on should be the only option for a decent person who has any care or compassion for there animals.
 
I plan on keeping my old girls but another side of this discussion is that a lot of the bigger farms can not give the older mares the care they need in a big herd so i see no problem with them offering them for sale. Not all auction sales are "bad" and many get some great buyers for these mares. Providing them with loving homes and places where they are given more one on one attention. Just my thoughts. And of course what is considered old to 1 person may not be what is considered old to another person.
 
If for some reason you cannot keep your oldies you have them put down, quietly and with you there to hold them. If you cannot do that, and you cannot keep them, and you cannot find them a home you truly trust then, quite simply, you do not breed in the first place. I did actually stop our Shetland Society from allowing a) Bred yearlings and B) ponies over twenty from going through the auction- I do not think twenty is young enough, I think the cut off for a Public auction should be eighteen, for a mare, at least.
 
Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis said:
as a very general rule i agree with you. If you were caring about them going to a  loving home with kids and a nice barn a auction isnt the place to ensure that.
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I personally have a very hard time letting go of my broodmares after being with them thru such a (for lack of a better term) intimate thing such as foaling and sharing that with them. I just feel i owe them

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Lisa, I feel the same way! We put "Booty" (Hidden Meadows Black Beauty) down last year at 36 after an eye injury that would have required surgery...that she likely would not have survived. Her best buddy is still going strong at 37. MMR Ariana (Chianti daughter) is fat & very, very happy at 25. My former riding mare Chica is healthy & hale (if grey) at 28.

These mares have given their LIVES to us and for our use, we do owe them! If I can't care for them properly, I'll foster them out or put them down. I will NOT let them be passed on in the name of profit or cost-efficency.
 
I hate auctions unless it is a farm production auction.Last week I went to an auction in PA to buy used carts.None there.I ended up buying a 4 month old filly that an Amish man had bought for his 2 kids to RIDE NOW!!He had no idea that it was a baby and couldn't be ridden or driven for almost 2 years or more. luckily I talked him into buying something else older&broke for his kids and I got the filly.I didn't really want her, but I couldn't see her go to that home.She had been weaned on Sun or Monday body clipped &brought 3 hours to the sale on Sat. Talk about stress for her.That Amish guy had no clue how to take care of her.It was sad to see some really fine looking horses from Sweetwater in SC(I think) go through the sale with no papers(they looked at teeth to guess age).That farm at 1 time had some really beautiful well bred mares with great pedigrees. Those lines are now lost since most were bought by the Amish(all were breeding age mares)It is no secret I'm not a big Amish fan when it comes to animals.They don't have any old non productive ones on their farms. I think the old girls deserve a nice life of retirement.I have several older ones here&have given some away to live out their lives in beautiful green pastures.
 
Sorry BUT no one in good consciense can bring an old broodmare to an auction in the 'hope' that a good caring home will be the highest bidder, what if it is not???

When you have had a mare give you her best years, you then owe her a good end, either by placement in a good home or a peaceful retirement on your farm. I know this is a business for many and that is fine BUT when a business involves live animals good ethics is KEY to be considered a Good breeder.

I know there are tons of wonderful breeders out there and hopefully just a few of the 'others'.
 
Last year I heard of a 20 year old mare that would be going to auction if not sold, and she is the dam to my AMayZing. There is NO WAY that I could let that happen.
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This mare deserves a good life, just for the fact that she gave birth to such a wonderful horse, IMO.
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So, this old mare is now home with me, for the rest of her days. I plan to have a "retirement pasture" someday when my other mares get older, and they will enjoy a much-deserved rest.

I can see it would be fine to find good homes for some older mares, but to just ship them off to auction? That is unbelieveably cold.
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While so many of us treat our minis like members of the family we are the ones doing it as a hobby or various other reasons. There are a number of breeders for whom this is a business. While they might have feelings for an animal or a particular animal when the decisions are made on the basis of dollars and cents it is simply not feasable for them to retain these older no productive animals. Being right or wrong dependes on which side of the checkbook you are on. When dealing with cattle and or hogs if an animal is no longer productive there are no qualms about shipping them. I assume for these breeders there is no difference be it cattle, hog, or mini horse. That being said I know of several breeders who have a fair number of horses but still retain their older brood mares just because the feel an obligation to. These are the ones I would be dealing with if I was in the market for another horse. Each of us has to make our own decisions on this subject.
 
Definitely agree here!

Older horses and weanlings under 5-6 months shouldn't be allowed through public auctions, but that is my opinion. Unfortunately if you're going to look at the bottom line, the non-productive should be moved out.

I can't do that, even though we are a business.

We are a business, but our horses that are older (7 over the age of 17) that are still productive we still breed, the ones that have stopped will live out there life here and/or be placed on a long term lease to a pet home should the perfect one come along (I'm not looking!).

It definitely is something to keep in mind when looking at farms/ranches to buy from is there long term planning for their older horses.
 
I agree with you in theory, but I know that in practice not everyone can afford to keep the mares as they age. The other side of the coin is that I have been able to get a couple of nice older mares that I could not have afforded in their younger years. They do sometimes go to good homes with smaller breeders who are able to afford more quality in an older, less expensive mare. That said, I have a habit of keeping my old girls way beyond their productive years. I have a 29 yr old qh mare and several mini mares well into their teens.

Jan
 
I'm sorry , Jan, but there is NO excuse for sending these older mares to an open market. The mares that landed with you were lucky, that is all. They could have ended up being trucked all over the country, from one auction to another for God alone knows how long. Remember this is a scary situation at any time, but a lot of these animals are not even used to being handled, have lived in a herd environment all their lives and are now shoved in willy nilly with big horses, cattle- you name it. If I cannot place, I cannot keep (for whatever reason) I live up to my responsibilities and I humanely end their lives. I do NOT wash my hands of them!!! As I keep saying, and will continue to say, no animal was ever hurt by dying in the arms of someone who cares for it!!
 
I agree and some other things I hate about those auctions is the practice of running a mare and foal through and selling them seperately.....ripped apart right then, even if the foal will need a bottle
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and the dwarves that go through.....that's such a shame.
 
This thread makes me so sad...on another thread that was "who would you keep if you could keep only one" and for me it had to be my 24 year old Falabella that hasn't produced a foal since we bought her at 17 years old with her foal at her side...her sire Napoleon lived to be in his 40's and I'm sure that wasn't because he had been moved around...I find it just as sad to have a stallion until he's in his 20's and then send him on his way to "retire fully intact" or to someone else to breed at will..I recently made decisions on my "for sale" horses based on how can I keep these horses for breeding purposes when they should outlive my horse breeding lifetime...I've only been to one auction...I've never been able to go to another one...it was way toooooo emotional for me.
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I'm sorry , Jan, but there is NO excuse for sending these older mares to an open market. The mares that landed with you were lucky, that is all. They could have ended up being trucked all over the country, from one auction to another for God alone knows how long. Remember this is a scary situation at any time, but a lot of these animals are not even used to being handled, have lived in a herd environment all their lives and are now shoved in willy nilly with big horses, cattle- you name it. If I cannot place, I cannot keep (for whatever reason) I live up to my responsibilities and I humanely end their lives. I do NOT wash my hands of them!!! As I keep saying, and will continue to say, no animal was ever hurt by dying in the arms of someone who cares for it!!
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You have my admiration and total respect with the above. I feel the same "If I cannot place, I cannot keep (for whatever reason) I live up to my responsibilities and I humanely end their lives". To some this may seem a cruel thing to do, to me it is the most loving and humane thing to do.
 

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