Question re: Contracts

[Bohemia]

Have any of you signed a contract to breed to a stallion and then decided, for whatever reason, that you were not going to breed your mare? If so, was it fairly easy to have the contract voided? A friend has asked me this question and I thought I'd post it here. She has a contract but is now in a bad financial situation and has decided not to breed her mare. Thanks!

[Dave C]

I would think if your friend talks to the farm and explains the situation they will be very flexible. I really doubt that farm is looking to breed a mare knowing that the owner can't pay the stud fee.

[LB]

I think it's a very bad idea to change your mind after a contract is signed. Farms have the option to be flexible, obviously, but especially in this poor economy, I don't necessarily see them wanting to take a loss to help your friend out. If the stallion is a very popular one and the season can easily be resold by the farm, then perhaps. But otherwise, your friend may be out of luck.

[Vindicated]

I would agree with Dave
While not something people want to engage in when possible (breaking contracts)
I would think that the farm would much rather let the mare owner out of the contract then have them not pay....
A good stallion owner should be mindful of this...if the owner cannot pay a stud fee, then feeding/raising another horse is not in this persons best intrest-

Have your friend call the farm and talk to the stallion manager or GM-not a peon (no offense intended)
Keep us posted...

[Crystal]

speaking on behalf of the office peon...

If car companies are working contracts that let you return a brand new car if you become financially unable to pay for it, a stud farm would/should let you out of the contract. There is always a way to work with the stud farm. I would rather someone call, and tell me they just cant do it then be a no show. A stud farm may also extend that contract to the next season, let you switch to a different mare, or just re sell it.

[Vindicated]

Crystal-
I honestly meant no offense by the peon comment-
But I know in my line of work (day job)
going to the top for a something like that is the way too go, not talking to someone that cannot truly make the decision....and often the info does not get passed on to the people that need it....

The only time I ever had too deal with a "BIG" stud farm on a money issue-I trusted that the office person I faxed the info too would get it too the right person-they did not...and it was not until I got a rather upsetting letter that I found out the issue was not taken care of....

[madelyn]

Seems a moot point if the contract is for a live foal guarantee. If the mare is not bred, there will be no live foal. The "gotcha" would be if the stud fee contract states the mare can ONLY go to that stallion, and the fee is payable if she produces a foal by another stallion. I have seen a few of those, and tore them up without signing them. In the heat of the battle, so to speak, when a mare has been covered once or twice, did not get in foal, and it's getting late (May or so) and she is ready to breed, chances are that stallion might not be available at that moment. I've had to switch off to a different stallion, even at a different farm, at that last moment.

In my opinion, I think the stud farm might be more interested in knowing that mare is NOT coming to be bred, making room for them to have another mare.

[CS]

It really should not be a problem - especially if she really does not breed the mare this year. Just have her call the farm and explain the situation.

[Crystal]

hey Vin,
Just pulling your lead chain...LOL I try not to give the office peon a bad name ;0)

[Vindicated]

Hey Crystal...
Just asking...
Are you an office peon at a farm?
or do you have a "normal" job

[Crystal]

yep, I'm the friendly voice who wishes to send you hypomatings, truenicks, fields your questions about the stallions, answers questions about your mares and foals, orders supplies, books breedings, and prepares all sorts of paperwork.

My previous peon job was working in call centers. The first an animal groomers supply catalog company. I did order entry, customer service, and because I bought and played with almost everything in the catalog I was moved up to Tech support. That job definetly developed my CSR skills and patience for people. I'm also a lot nicer to the folks I call now as well.
2nd peon job was order entry/CS for a wholesale promo gift company. That one wasnt as much fun as the "it's ok to bring you dog to work job" at the pet company.

I broke out of the office a few years ago and got back with the horses. I didnt want to go back to just another mucker job. So I found an admin position here, which is a great job. Stressful but fun.

[Vindicated]

That is really awesome-which farm do you work for?

I have a boring (its not really boring, its just not horsey) day job...after the economy took a dump and NO one in this area was really "doing" horses enough to keep the huge number of H/J trainers in the area employed...and I never really got the hang of lying to my clients

[IcouldbeU]

My daughter worked at a farm a few years ago, one owner booked, signed contracts for 3 mares and then instead of being upfront and stating that they just plain changed their mind about breeding to the stallion at the farm made up a million excuses. The owner finally said that that all 3 mares had been found not to be breeding sound. No problem, contracts were cancelled. A few months later all 3 mares turned up in a sale all in foal. My daughter and the farm manager would not have minded if the truth had been told that the mare owner had decided on another stallion but why all the lies? The owner wanted to breed the following year and was told that she was no longer welcome as a client. Why cant people in the horse business be upfront and honest?

[Vindicated]

So do we know how this one worked out?
I would be interested in knowing