POV Marion agrees. “If you’re in it for the money only, just geld them,
because you’ll never be able to make the math work,” she advises. “They take up space and resources, and most stallion owners will spend more than they’ll ever save in stud fees, especially if you only have a few broodmares of your own to breed to him.” Buying a proven, approved breeding stallion is typically so
Seigi Belz-Fry’s BardotS.E. by Florencio out of Natuur ridden by James Houston.
internet presence. You never know where a lead or a sale may come from! Siegi cautions that social media can hurt you too. “Your conduct
on the internet is important. Anything you say can make an impression,” she warns. “It can be a great tool for marketing and there are people who know who I am because of the internet, but I’ve also had to learn not to get emotionally involved.” Anissa agrees. “You have to be cognizant of what you are
writing and remember that the internet is forever,” she adds. “Stay professional. Don’t get too personal and be careful of how you portray yourself.”
Know When to Hold and When to Fold On a positive note, Siegi reminds breeders to do something good for your breeding program when the going is good. “Every now and then I will put a really talented youngster in training and then try to show them,” she says. She did this with her homebred Waterloo S.E., who went on to become the 4-year-old FEI Young Horse Champion in Lexington, Kentucky in 2007. “I sold him after that and it turned out to be a good investment of time and money. It’s something that gives you a lot of joy and satisfaction and ends up being good advertising for your business.” But she cautions it is equally important to know when to quit
throwing good money after bad. “I bred a filly once that just didn’t fulfill any of my expectations conformation and temperament-wise and then managed to fracture some little bone in her elbow that required surgery to the tune of over $4,000. It was something I would always have to reveal even though she was completely sound. I ended up giving her away before I spent any more money on her.”
Stallion or Stud Fees? Anissa owns and stands her own stallion, the Trakehner Taten- drang. She laughs however at the idea that anyone would keep a stallion just to save money on stud fees. “With the cost of training and showing, I feel lucky to break even with him,” she admits.
expensive a person would have to breed quite a few of their own mares plus sell a lot of breedings to ever recoup even a percentage of their investment. And buying an unproven, unapproved mediocre stallion may be cheaper, but the resulting foals will be difficult to sell. However, this is not to say stallion ownership is always a losing proposition. If you’re able to select a nice young stallion prospect and do your own training, campaigning, showing and advertising, stallion ownership can be very rewarding, especially when you watch his offspring develop into nice sport horses.
Insurance Considerations If a serious injury or death to a foal or broodmare could make or break your breeding program, you may want to consider some form of equine insurance. Insurance coverage can range from basic mortality coverage to mortality with surgical endorsements (to cover colic surgery, for example), or to full mortality and major medical coverage. Rates are determined based on the insured value of the horse, and in some cases foals must be thirty days old before some companies will fully cover them. Breeder Judy DeBoer of Saucony Creek Sporthorses in
Kutztown, Pennsylvania faced two nightmares this year. First, one of her foals was most likely stepped on by her mother and suffered a broken pastern. Shortly afterward the foal’s dam had to undergo colic surgery. “Thankfully the mare had mortality insurance with a surgical endorsement which paid $10,000 toward the colic surgery,” remarks Judy, “but I had no insurance on her filly.” The two ordeals left Judy with a five-figure vet bill even after the $10,000 deduction, and she has now insured all of her foals for major medical.
Judy De Boer’s mare Magic of FGF with her 2010 Friesian Sporthorse colt Cobain SCS (by Cor Noir).
Warmbloods Today 99
Judy DeBoer
Seigi Belz-Fry
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108