KEE November
Moderators: Roguelet, WaveMaster, madelyn
Tappiano wrote:Is the refusal of the stallion farms to lower fees an indication that they do not care about their customers or just that they don't want to admit there is a problem in the market?
Neither.
Up until 2 years ago they were buying stallion prospects at hugely inflated prices. Now they're being squeezed just as hard as the mare owners are.
(That applies to most of them. The remainder are just greedy. )
They are only as high as people are willing to go and since people are willing to pay those prices, why should the stallion farms drop their fees? Sure, they are high but the books are getting filled. The problem is that the stallions that are priced for small breeders are not stallions that are marketable at the sales. You are much better off having one high quality mare and going to a good stallion if you are in the breed to sale business. Most of the horses we've bred have hit the track and are making money (albiet some more than others), however, buyers are not buying for plain racers - they are buying for the hope of getting a G1 winner and they think their chances are better with a mare that has already produced a graded stakes winner or her dam had better had produced numerous sakes winners. AND the stallion has to be the right stallion (well, the right one for that sale ).
As much as I "resented" my husband for retiring and "resent" my health problems that required us to sell - it was for the best. You have to stop the bleeding at some point and unfortunately no one wanted the foals from those mares regardless of who the stallion was - and no matter how nicely conformed they were (or in one case was not) I am going to miss having them around that is for sure! We still have Tallulah and Vader and Damien as of now though so I'm not horseless yet at least.
As much as I "resented" my husband for retiring and "resent" my health problems that required us to sell - it was for the best. You have to stop the bleeding at some point and unfortunately no one wanted the foals from those mares regardless of who the stallion was - and no matter how nicely conformed they were (or in one case was not) I am going to miss having them around that is for sure! We still have Tallulah and Vader and Damien as of now though so I'm not horseless yet at least.
"We are the people our parents warned us about" - Jimmy Buffett
"My occupational hazard is that my occupation is just not around" - Jimmy Buffett
"My occupational hazard is that my occupation is just not around" - Jimmy Buffett