Is it just me and I'm missing something? Following recent threads about the lack of mature QHs in the UK and why some are even looking abroad to import fully trained horses, I note there are so many QH youngsters for sale, this years crop, weanlings, yearlings, two year olds and so on. Many are advertised as 'bargains' as there is a need to make way for 'this year's foals'.
In the current economic climate horses are difficult to sell, unless you have the much sought-after, fully trained QH with the right temperament, so why add it to by keeping on breeding? There is clearly demand for mature QHs but not for youngsters. Some breeders have yearlings and two year olds unsold so if you are struggling to sell why not give broodmares a break for a year or so and leave them open?

One could well ask - of course mares are being rested, even sold on or bought back into work and less foals are being bred - just that horses from last year, the year before that and so on have not sold therefore more are now still available.

You then get to the price - what is a baby, yearling, two year old worth vs what is has cost to produce them vs what a.n.other is prepared to pay = the numbers never quite meet - just ask Lita, or Lou, or David.

QH's are increasing in popularity hence the increased demand for older, trained up horses - which is what these 'excess' youngsters will be in a few years. Why do you think they are available in Europe and the USA and not here - not enough of them have been produced to begin with - the market wasn't there. You can't single out breeders for offering their stock at what they may see as below market value just because they have new ones arriving - I think many will find/have found market value is a lot less than it used to be. If we cut back too harshly now, when we do come out the other side of this - o.k. I'm gonna use the R word now - recession we are in/going into then we will have a shortage of good young horses again and find them demanding huge money.

I have youngsters for sale, and broodmares in foal too - I worked and planned long and hard for those breedings and now, through no fault of their own, I am having to sell up. It's heart breaking but necessary - but if they don't sell, then the babies will be handled and trained and shown and the mares will come back into work and be loaned out or sold as riding horses. It is the youngsters available now, and those that you don't see available that are keeping our trainers in business.

It isn't about careless or negligent breeding for the sake of it - this is a growing industry in this country - what you are seeing is that growth. The breeders that come out of the recession still in business are the ones that will have bred the talented, versatile horses that those new to the breed will be riding this year, and in years to come....

Hi
I have been breeding Quarter Horses, on and off for the last twenty five years and the main market has always been for trained "mature" horses. I have, however, always advertised my youngstock for sale just in case there was a buyer looking to raise a horse for themselves. I ensure that when a mare is bred that I have enough grazing to take the resultant foal through to a three year-old when I either break it myself or send it to a Western Trainer (the expensive option).
When I ran the Stud as a Limited Company, the annual accounts showed that breeding, even using my own stallion, wasn't the best investment for the capital employed. The answer to the obvious question of "why do you continue to breed" is simply, I enjoy breeding horses.
Of the four broken horses I have sold in the last 18 months three have more than covered their costs but the fourth, which sold for the highest amount didn't!
A 7 year-old stallion out of one of my broodmares is for sale in Germany at 21,000 Euros and this years foal is for sale at £3,000. Is the foal a bargain or just a reasonable price?

Post edited by: RichardA, at: 2008/07/07 22:42

Two years ago I bought a yearling to bring on myself and it has possibly been the most rewarding thing I have ever done!
I am grateful to the breeders who will let their youngsters go, it was a way for someone like me, who doesnt have an abundance of cash to buy a "done" quarter horse, to have a quarter horse at all!
Without these affordable quarter horses, people who are knowledgeable enough to do it themselves but dont have 6k plus to outlay on a finished horse would not have an opportunity to own one at all! Then there are those who will buy a youngster and pay for it to be trained - where would the career trainers be without those people?
I appreciate what you are saying with us heading towards a recession, but I also think, as with any popular breed, there is a market for all stages of development of an animal, to suit all types of owners.
I am sure breeders are now thinking about resting mares and bringing some into work, but the excess youngsters we see this year were planned and actioned two or more years ago - before the credit crunch was even a twinkle in the oil barrens eyes!!
Thats about as arsey as I get! Apologies!!

There are too many horses being bred period. and even in English circuit's there are no really quality horses for sale within the reach of an armature.

personally i like briging up yongsters its fun, rewarding and you elarn a lot as well as being able to know exactly what that horse is thinking, if there is something wrong with it, its you that messed it up rather than worrying about what has happend in the past.
but i am having to sell my three year old becasue i have no time, she is too small and i have ended up with two horses under the age of five and a very demanding job with horses.

with a young horse there is always risks, it might not reach maturity, it might injury its self be too small or never reach the level you were told it might, i dont think a lot of people have the confidence or skill to deal with a young horse themsleves or the money to give a professional to train it for them.

Post edited by: Gem, at: 2008/07/08 19:36

Without people willing to take a risk on a youngster, even if they need help from someone more experienced, to realise the horse's potential - there would be no quality horses at all!

I do however agree that if we are exporting horses for meat, and the rescue centres are overrun with animals, we must be breeding too many. The trouble is, if you have given your life to a breeding plan and invested everything you have in a good stalllion, its easier said than done to just say, oh well, and stop dead! Most breeders wouldnt let their horse go to an owner who obviously didnt know what they are doing, and I am sure would rather send a foal to a trainer and only break even at the end.

What needs to stop is the shadier of the dealers who bring truckloads of average or poor quality horses into the country and sell them on as being all singing all dancing riding horses, who inevitably go lame or are too much for the owner to handle..