Flashy mare

[pfrsue]

I noticed this mare on the website that Reedhill recommended in her rescue thread in General Topics.

http://www.leightonfarm.com/OnTrack.htm

Scroll down to "Ritzy" Registered name Biarritz.

Three stockings, including white up to the stifle on the left hind. And either a really weird blaze outcropping or a funky scar that extends over her eye.

I thought she was pretty anyway.

[reedhill]

She sure is, if only a bit taller. Kimberlee had a very good looking 16.2h chestnut mare on the giveaway page one day last week, had just won a race, but the owners were getting out of racing, needless to say, she was given away by the end of the next day. Kim says she will take any offer to the different trainers she gets these horses from, if they aren't hers.

[Skipitgirl]

It is a shame people get so hung up on size. My mare was 15.2 and had 13 foals. All matured over 16.2 including 3 over 17 hands 2 of them fillies. Her 7 yr old son by a 16.1 hand stallion is 17.3 and is owned by my 5'11 trainer. She was definatly a freak producer LOL!

[reedhill]

I do understand what your saying. We have a 16H WB mare that produces 16.3 and 17h. But we also have had 16 hands produce smaller. Our short babies just don't sell for sporthorses. Even 5' riders want 16.1 to 16.2h.

[mehile]

Even 5' riders want 16.1 to 16.2h.

I never will understand that. I'm 5'2" and am perfectly comfortable on my 15.2h mare. If I had anything much bigger I'd need a step ladder for grooming.

[reedhill]

I know. But you are secure within yourself, and probablly don't care about what the Jones's think, me either We just try and breed a little above 16.1 to keep "in" with what sells.

[madelyn]

Whoa. I thought that TB breeding for color was a cool, interesting, but rare phenomon.. and then I ran a search of colored horses for sale and came up with a BOATLOAD of colored tb's. I guess it begs the question, doesn't a bigger supply reduce the potential reward? I mean, it sure does in stallion progeny - ie: the massive stallion books virtually guarantee the market will be flooded with offspring and the resulting sale prices will be negatively affected...

[reedhill]

Whoa. I thought that TB breeding for color was a cool, interesting, but rare phenomon.. and then I ran a search of colored horses for sale and came up with a BOATLOAD of colored tb's. I guess it begs the question, doesn't a bigger supply reduce the potential reward? I mean, it sure does in stallion progeny - ie: the massive stallion books virtually guarantee the market will be flooded with offspring and the resulting sale prices will be negatively affected...

Very good question, I'm glad you actually noticed, and care to ask that!
The bigger supply can reduce the potential reward, but in the current market at least for myself, the market is soft in every breed, not just TB's.

I think the closure of slaughter houses is leaving a big burden on owners who need to cull their herds, or sell the show horse that has been badly injured, not that they would go directly to a slaughter house, but all poorer horses, injured, and getting old horses have no where to go, so several folks can't move into a new horse or prospect because they are having to pay out money to retire or rescue the unwanted. In my opinion until government gets back out of the horse industry, and lets the slaughter houses reopen, the USA as a whole is going to continue to see sale prices fall in every breed.

I don't think colored TB breeders will ever have to worry about flooding the US or International markets. It is simply too hard and expensive to produce enough high quality colored foals that are desired by buyers that demand the highest quality conformation, height, and pedigree possible, before they would even consider a flamboyantly colored equine. Colored TB breeders don't always get color, with breeding for sabino or white, in my short experience with breeding them, it's a 1 out of 3 or 4 before you get a white or sabino. Luckily the solids that come out, are tall, good movers, that are pleasing to the eye, so they can be sold inexpensively to
amateurs wanting to bring them up for showing without all the upfront expense.

On a personal note, I can't think of any better breed to raise that offers so much fun and excitement. Honestly there needs to be as many diverse bloodlines and serious colored breeders as possible that can find new blood that create these beautys. It's hard and not many breeders want the job as the odds of getting a solid/non-colored foal is high. It will be an impossibilty to mass produce colored TB's like it is being done worldwide in racing. It sure would be nice to raise one that does well on the track, that time will come someday.

Hopefully breeding for palomino and buckskin and much later cremello and perlino TB's will offer some great potential for buyers to have even more fun and enjoyment out of the breed!

[mehile]

I think the closure of slaughter houses is leaving a big burden on owners who need to cull their herds, or sell the show horse that has been badly injured, not that they would go directly to a slaughter house, but all poorer horses, injured, and getting old horses have no where to go

I think the horse industry as a whole needs to start taking responsibility and stop being so deathafobic(not sure if that's a word but you get the drift). Everyone wants to get this pretty image in there head of there old plodder ending up in a nice big field with someone to love him/her for the rest of there days but the harsh reality is, if we're not willing to give that to them, then not many other people will be. We need to stop trying to squeeze every dollar out and step up and do what's right for the breed and the industry. If you have a horse that is injured to the point of being useless or too old or just a poor specimen then take the bight for what you've(you as a whole not anyone in particular) bred and either keep it for the rest of it's life or euthanize it. There is an older gelding on our farm that we got many years ago as a pasture mate for my first tb mare. He is no longer ridable but is pasture sound and will remain here for the rest of his life. If he ever became such a burden that I could no longer take care of him, he would be euthanized here where he is comfortable not sold off to God knows where....

[reedhill]

"If he ever became such a burden that I could no longer take care of him, he would be euthanized here where he is comfortable not sold off to God knows where...."[/quote]


I completely agree with you. Euthanasia is the top choice, out of love and respect for the horse. But I think the US has always done a better job than Canada and Mexico slaughtering horses. Now ours have to starve, dehydrate, and get kicked all to hell going across the boarders.

I would much rather see poor and mislead people that can't feed their animals through winter, or do better than weeds and puddles in the summer............and the horse breeders that mass produce them for say racing, and get rid of them hours after they loose their last race............. sell them to US slaughter where its close and overwith quickly..........rather than driving by seeing them starving throughout the year, or being abadoned on farms all together, because they don't have or didn't plan to hold money back to euthanize them.

I think private owners do pretty well putting their own down on their farms, but when it comes to misfortune and big business, there needs to be a close resolution open back up.

[mehile]

I do see your point it just makes me feel sad that people have the mindset if nothing else I can get "X" amount for him/her at slaughter instead of like you put it respect for the horse and just give them a humane death. I know it's a business but if a business rests on what you can get from the kill buyer then it's not on very solid ground to begin with. I can't be totally against slaughter because I am no vegetarian and I know cattle go through the same system but the procedure and required facilities for horses are suppose to be different but it's rarely followed or enforced. It's just a shame because the horses really do get the short end of the stick all the way around.

Sorry to the original poster for totally shanghaiing the thread.

[reedhill]

I do see your point it just makes me feel sad that people have the mindset if nothing else I can get "X" amount for him/her at slaughter instead of like you put it respect for the horse and just give them a humane death. I know it's a business but if a business rests on what you can get from the kill buyer then it's not on very solid ground to begin with. I can't be totally against slaughter because I am no vegetarian and I know cattle go through the same system but the procedure and required facilities for horses are suppose to be different but it's rarely followed or enforced. It's just a shame because the horses really do get the short end of the stick all the way around.

Sorry to the original poster for totally shanghaiing the thread.

I guess that's one of the beauties of owning/buying a special horse, one can make sure their life ends with dignity. I want buyers like you, that care. We sell foals, and try and get them homes where the owner thinks like you, "caring". I will never be involved in mass production where my sales grow up, work hard, show, breed, run, and end up head to tail with other poor horses, knowing the end has come. I pray ours will have long lives showing their beautiful colors as long as they are healthy enough to. We hope our buyers will do the right thing if they become ill or crippled, and not throw a fit and say "take them away, I've got 20 more that can use that stall"

[pfrsue]

Sorry to the original poster for totally shanghaiing the thread.

As the OP, I don't mind at all. It's certainly a thought provoking topic, with no easy answers, unfortunately.

[Sunday Silence]

What is her registered name/sire/dam? She is stunning to look at.

[pfrsue]

Sunday Silence, her registered name seems to be Biarritz. According to PQ, her sire is Western Border (Gone West) and her Dam is Basquing In Sunshine (Bounding Basque).