AMHA National Meeting

[Ashley]

By the looks of raiseing prices I am glad I only have a few AMHA horses, and by the time I get them to the point I wonder how much I will have to pay. Registury will make you go broke.

 

[shalamara minis]

The meeting was great. I met a lot of new people, and learned alot about how things were done. I was even able to add some in some of the committee meetings that I went to. It was a great time and I will go again. :aktion033: :saludando:

 

[Neil]

I can see that I made a terrific impression. I was on the Show Rules Committee, the Computer Committee and the Marketing Committee. But, alas, not on the Performance Committee.

I was sitting behind you in the Computer Committee.

By the looks of raiseing prices I am glad I only have a few AMHA horses, and by the time I get them to the point I wonder how much I will have to pay. Registury will make you go broke.

Ashley, I would be interested in what price increases are concerning you and why?

 

[honeycomb max]

What I would like to know is how the gelding program is going to benefit people you do not show? I do not have a problem with gelding but it is expensive when you count the vet and the process of registering the horse from stallion to gelding (taking pictures, filling out the forms, sending all the paperwork and waiting for it to come back, etc.).

If everyone is so positive on gelding have they taken the time to realize that they are creating an arena that over time there will be only a few stallions and that their stud fees will be a sellers market?

If AMHA is so gelding prone then they need to have a program that helps the small farms recover their money back for gelding.

I think then more people would be more inclined to geld - especially those of us that do not show on a full time basis.

 

[kaykay]

If everyone is so positive on gelding have they taken the time to realize that they are creating an arena that over time there will be only a few stallions and that their stud fees will be a sellers market?

That really is the goal!! that is a good thing! Unfortunately I dont think it will happen anytime soon. But I would love to see it more like the big horse market where the majority are gelded and a breeding stallion brings big dollars. I have watched just in the years I have been in miniatures the prices of a breeding stallion steadily drop. When I first got in no way could you buy a awesome breeding prospect for less then 5000.00. that was the going rate 6 years ago.

And even if you dont show its to your benefit to geld. What incentive do buyers have to buy foals from you if they can buy an intact colt from you and get the same breeding?? And if you sell a colt as intact that should be gelded then you harm your own reputation as a breeder. And if you geld one that is breeding material your reputation just goes up!! To me its a win win situation.

Every colt with my name on it (and several i owned with someone elses name) have all been gelded

: Im hoping this is the year I have a colt that I will call a stallion. But if not i will just geld

 

[Minimor]

If everyone is so positive on gelding have they taken the time to realize that they are creating an arena that over time there will be only a few stallions and that their stud fees will be a sellers market?
If AMHA is so gelding prone then they need to have a program that helps the small farms recover their money back for gelding.

I think then more people would be more inclined to geld - especially those of us that do not show on a full time basis.

I am just a small breeder who does not show full time, and I see this as all being good. The breed would be better off if there was just a small number of stallions in relation to the overall number of horses. Not such small numbers that we run out of a variety of lines, but certainly a much smaller number than there are now in both registries. No breed needs to have the number of stallions being roughly equal to the number of mares...I don't know the exact breakdown of numbers of stallions, geldings and mares but I'm quite sure there are far too many stallions out there.

If you are a small farm raising quality horses, the gelding incentive program benefits you in that there will be more people wanting geldings to show; you can geld your colts, nominate them to the gelding incentive, and have a better market for them.

I believe gelding incentives are good for everyone.

 

[honeycomb max]

I am not opposed to gelding - I have three stallions now that I would love to geld - but this year has been one of emergency vet visits and other minor vet visits - and all that adds up.

One of the stallions is a AMHR National Top Ten only after a three shows and a Central Region Champion and AMHA Top Ten. One is a Black Velvet Son and a Sids Rebel Grandson. One could be a national champion cart horse.

And I do geld the ones that I do think are breeding material and try to sell them as pets (with no luck mine you).

If there was a program that helped us recover some of the costs then gelding would be a viable option and not a financial burden.

 

[Ashley]

My thing is, if they really want to support gelding why no lower the fees for them, not raise the fees of everything else to support them.

I have a stallion, just a two year old this year. What the heck are the prices going to be like in 3 years when it comes to perm registureing him. Will the price of DNA be next? I think some of the prices are rediculus as they are.

I for one also dont like the they way they do the prices on the foals. Why can it be $20 all around as long as they are done before they hit 1. Instead of so many months before it cost more.

I myself only have 2 AMHA horses but I do all the paper work for my mom and my aunt. Between the 3 of us there is probably 20-30 horses. Of which only 4 are AMHR only the rest double. Hard enough in the summer to keep up with the R stuff(since that is what we show) let alone getting all the A stuff in before they hit 4 months or what ever it is.

I am all for gelding dont get me wrong. Most boys I have are or will be geldings. That said why should I be forced to pay more to support those who show? If you show its your choice. I dont show AMHA, pretty much only registure in it for selling purposes. Now your saying I have to support all them who show BECAUSE THEY WANT TO FOR THE ENJOYMENT! Showing has always been more about the fun of it, not makeing money.

I think they are trying to bring in money in ways they should. If there cost keep going up there going to lose more people I think. Cause for me personally, I am a full time student, not working. You think I am going to have the extra money to throw around like that? NO my extra money goes to feed and care for my horses before anything else.

 

[wpsellwood]

Im glad they raised the fee of the stallions to be registered if it was even doubled or tripled maybe many of the stallions that are out there will be gelded due to the incredible price of bringing them permanent. Add that money to the gelding incentive waaalaaaa, then smaller farms will be able to sell their geldings as people will be wanting good geldings to show. What concept go AMHA

 

[Millstone Farm]

"I for one also dont like the they way they do the prices on the foals. Why can it be $20 all around as long as they are done before they hit 1. Instead of so many months before it cost more."

The reason the registration fees are scaled is to give people the incentive to register the foals early. If they didn't do it that way, everyone would send their paperwork in on 12/31. Registering the high volume of foals that the AMHA does every year -- well, that would be disasterous for the registry's work load. Think about how long you'd be waiting for papers if the AMHA received the bulk of ther applications at the end of the year!

It used to be that way many years ago. The wait was horrendous and if you wanted any kind of paperwork done (transfers, etc.) you were caught up in that huge backlog.

This method works so much better!

What about other decisions at the meeting??

Who was elected to the Officer positions???

 

[sfmini]

Wspellwood, you got the idea that was used to justify the fee increase. Basically, if the horse isn't worth the $10 dollars extra to take perm, then maybe it should be a gelding. I like the idea of the stallions supporting the geldings at the shows. I believe the committee also hopes to make the gelding incentive money available at other shows as well, but to do that they have to grow the pot of money.

The idea is to encourage gelding the nice stallions to make nice geldings and to show them. It should also help build the market for nice show quality geldings.

The goal of any registry is to promote the breeding of animals that meet a certain agreed upon standard of perfection and the shows are used to prove to you and others that you are working successfully towards those goals.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

The last time I brought up the subject of temp to perm prices I got flamed and everyone kept sayng well this will make sure that only the top stallions get brought perm.

I am still a bit confused over that statement and would wonder where it is they get that idea? Does that mean that since everyone is paying the fees that means that there are only top quality stallions out there being bred?

I just don't see the proof in pudding so to speak when it comes to that logic..

Now .. before anyone gets there panties in a bunch I realize that in BOTH registries there are tons of stallions that are not top quality this is more a question on the fees equaling quality which is the reasoning or argument I have always heard to justify these fees.

I mean really I have said this about a million times and I am sure I have been guilty of this as well the one reason there are so many stallions well all one has to do is look at the sale board on any given day and see how over 95 percent if not more of the adds all say breeding quality, herd sire material ect..

We as breeders sell the majority of our colts this way (and lets be honest no breed has the majority of colts it produces be top quality so we are no different ) and then we in turn get upset that everyone and there brother is breeding and pushing the market down.. it somewhere along the line really has to come back to us

 

[whimsical]

I am sure there is no easy way to promote geldings. I commend AMHA for at least trying.

Having increased $$$$ incentive will certainly help. And the higher stallion fees might encourage more stallions to be gelded. Only time will tell.

 

[honeycomb max]

All I have to add is that the big rich farms get richer because they are the ones showing and winning the incentives and the small family owned farms get poorer having to pay the price.

So to the big rich farms - go for it - but in the long run you are destroying AMHA.

 

[Millstone Farm]

Not to contradict you BUT the gelding incentive money is awarded to the Youth & Amateurs who place in the Top 10 at the World Show. I'm an amateur and am far, far, far from being a big rich farm.

Especially in the AOTE classes, the majority of us showing are small breeders and people who own a few horses.

 

[Ashley]

Im glad they raised the fee of the stallions to be registered if it was even doubled or tripled maybe many of the stallions that are out there will be gelded due to the incredible price of bringing them permanent. Add that money to the gelding incentive waaalaaaa, then smaller farms will be able to sell their geldings as people will be wanting good geldings to show. What concept go AMHA

But who is to decide what is quality? I have gone through several stallion pages and picked several on that that I wouldnt even let in my barn as a gelding let alone a stallion. So my point being everybody opinon of what is quality is different based on what they are breeding for.

Personally, I still dont like the raiseing fees to support those who show. We should HAVE to do that.

And as for the weanling fee..........AMHR doesnt have that and well, most of the time my papers are back with in a month in the summer time.

I think there are far more horses being registured in to AMHR then AMHA so if R could do it there shouldnt be a reason A cant.

 

[minimomNC]

My goodness, we went from raising one fee $10 to AMHA is a rich man's game only. That was the only fee raised with anything that pertains to registration and I am sorry, but if you think $10 more to take your stallion permanent is to much, maybe you should look at your stallion again. If he is that good, then his foals will more than recoup that $10. If not then maybe he shouldn't be breeding at all. We had other suggestions for encouraging more owners to geld but I am truly sure you wouldn't have liked those as they would have cost you more than $10. And if you want to compare apples to apples, AMHA doesn't charge anything to take a stallion to gelding status but it cost you $10 to do the same in AMHR. Also no one can tell you if they think your stallion is breeding quality, only you can do that, BUT if everyone was honest about their stallions they wouldn't have to think twice about $10. I truly hate that some of you think this is only for the show horses, its truly not. It is just one more step to getting the industry to understand how important geldings can be.

And just so everyone knows, I don't own a stallion. I have 5 geldings and all have been shown with two placing top three as weanling stallions at the World Show. They are wonderful geldings that would have made very good stallions. We did show a stallion last year to mulitple grands and reserves and as soon as his show season was over, he was gelded too. I am not one to just talk the talk. I practice what I preach. If the number of foals every year was decreased by every breeder then the ones that are born would be worth more. The industry is so over run with foals that just don't need to be here. The Gelding Incentive is just one small way to help in that direction in getting more people to geld more stallions and colts. And just so everyone also understands that its not just for halter horses, we are paying back some to the performance division as well this year. Its going to start out small but the more we have to participate the bigger the checks will get.

If anyone would like to know more about the program please feel free to get in touch with me. I will answer anything and everything that I am able to.

Karen Hunter

 

[honeycomb max]

Again I do not have a problem with gelding. My point to all this is that the only incentive that is being paid is if you show and go to World.

If you truly want people to geld - then have an incentive to have their horses gelded regardless whether they show or not.

I still plan on gelding the stallions that I have and hope to be able to sell them. But when you have a market that you cannot sell pet quality geldings - then what kind of market are you going to have for show quality geldings?

And for the record - I only have 4 mares in foal for this year.

Millie

 

[wpsellwood]

My goodness, we went from raising one fee $10 to AMHA is a rich man's game only. That was the only fee raised with anything that pertains to registration and I am sorry, but if you think $10 more to take your stallion permanent is to much, maybe you should look at your stallion again.

Im with you, what other fees with registration were raised?? There could of been but I didnt see them???

I feel that anytime you are trying to promote geldings I like to see it. How many stallions are you bringing permanent thousands?? I just got a bigger increase in grain at the feed store.

 

[minimomNC]

I am a member of the Gelding Incentive Committee, If anyone has any good suggestions for getting people to geld all of their pet quality colts I will be happy to hear them and take them to the committee.

The one suggestion we did get was to raise the cost to register a colt period. Unless a colt is gelded before its registered it will cost a good bit more. But that would mean leaving a colt unregistered until you can decide if he is good enough to be a stallion or not. Most don't want to do that as they show their weanling colts. So give me some feedback, not just complaints, give me ways to fix it. We are here to listen but you have to understand that not everyone cares if they breed crappy horses as long as they make a few bucks. Its going to take some work to make gelding the American Miniature Horse a common occurance instead of one in a million.

We started with paying back in the show ring because we had to start somewhere, we have gone from just paying at the world show to now paying for honor roll points at the end of the year. We are making progress but unless people particpate its hard to go farther. And nothing is obtained for free. It all cost money.

But again if anyone has constructive ideas, please let me know. I will take them to the entire committee and work toward the good ideas at the June meeting.