That said, my hat is off BIG TIME to you for the scruples you employ when contacted by the back yard breeders ( and yes a person that wants to breed a rescue mare for a foal with a big mane is a back yard breeder in my book regardless of the fact that they may have the moola to pay the studs fee) The thing is.... what I am seeing ( at least here where I live) is those types are the ONLY type of owners breeding much at all anymore.They are by far the majority still in the walking uterus business as the knowledgeable breeders have all but left the sinking ship in mass ( and I don't blame them one bit for it) as the writing is boldly on the wall.
So that leads us back to the original question as to what is going to happen to the quality of horses in the future. I will tell you what, its going to majorly decline, it already is. Now being a small breed the Haflinger will probably not suffer like the AQHA, APHA, ApHC and TB industry will, nor to the degree, but....when you see your little golden horses being offered for sale regularly for less than $1,000 for anything more than a foal, watch out because your fixing to get bit in the arse too.
I see only one of two solutions.( if anyone has more Id love to hear them) Either individual states re-open horse processing to deal with the unmanageable numbers of undesirable and unmarketable horses, or...the Govt starts restricting breeding by only issuing a breeding license to farms that show profits and thus are paying taxes on those profits.They might even have to impose a heavy fine on people that "back yard breed" and thereby contribute to the mess at hand. While a viable solution that would be the best solution for the horses themselves IMO In whats thought of as a "free" country that reality would go over about like a lead balloon.
In the meantime it would be wonderful if horse breeders would self police themselves as you obviously are doing. I myself have had the idea of only breeding my (1) quality broodmare to my champion ApHC stallion IF the foal is pre-purchased, and pre-paid for, on a "ordered" basis only by the buyer and then they themselves would have to be approved by me. Only then if the future foals price tag is agreeable to both parties for at least enough to feed, mom/dad/ and baby for 18 months. While I feel this is a responsible approach, you tell me how many buyers will be beating my door down for such an arrangement? Therefore... my last stallion and mare are currently for sale. Go figure.
In the meantime all we can do is try to educate people as to what is going on. I recently has just such a conversation with a middle aged man that had just purchased a low quality grade red dun 3 yr old stallion at the local sale to breed to his grade sorrel mares to ( drum roll & get this) to get "palominos" that according to him would sell well. He started the conversation by asking me what I paid for farrier services ( pronounced "furrier") and told me that "those guys are all crazy wanting $60 to shoe my $180 horse!" In a sad way the man had a valid point. Did he listen to anything I told him? I doubt it, but at least I tried.
Karen G www.princesscarriage.com
--- On Tue, 2/16/10, haflingerhorse@hotmail.com <haflingerhorse@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: haflingerhorse@hotmail.com <haflingerhorse@hotmail.com>
Subject: [haflingerfriends] Re: Haflinger Breeders???
To: haflingerfriends@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 7:23 AM
Excellent post Karen, There are so many factors affecting what is going on in the horse industry, I did believe 4 years ago it was a 'ride it out' and now know and have seen the horse industry isn't going to get better soon. That is what is disturbing to me. I wonder what everyone will do. Our farm has cut to bare bones, if we sell what is remaining, great, but we won't give them away, or sell them for meat prices, if we don't sell them, we can afford to keep them, train them, and use them for ourselves, our kids, and our program. But no room anymore for that 'project' horse to retrain, and resell, or for that 'issue' horse, which is sad, because they were my favorites to see what they could be turned into, and to pair them with a great new owner.
Breeding has come to a halt pretty much and I am still amazed by the emails that come asking me to cross my stallion on a 'rescue' horse or 'she has a pretty mane, will your stallion throw that?', or the 'I want my family to experience seeing a foal born' Are they kidding me???? We haven't accepted any breedings for the 2010 breeding season at this point, and the more it looks like it, we won't. If we aren't willing to rebreed our own proven mares, why would we do that for outside mares? Once again, interesting ideas all the way around.
Jacque in Ohio
www.hfbhaflingers. com
\
\   So no, this is not "just the economy" and anyone who thinks so is sadly under informed. This is not just a case of "ride it out" and things will get better when the economy does, there are too many other factors at play here for that\>
>
>
Karen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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