Minimomnc, Anne, and targetsmom have all stated it very well. I threw in the towel spring of 2011. It wasn't the horses, it was the crazy horse people that did me in and weighing out the fact that life is too short to deal with such things.It takes real money to take care of them right, feed them, vaccinate them, worm them, trim them, time to handle them, time to teach them to be traffic safe and not spooky, not to mention the thought, insight, and effort put into purchasing nice mares and a stallion or two as well as keeping the paperwork current and processing the paperwork for foals. I sold all but two, gelded my very senior stallion and kept a company for him. I still got decent prices for them, maybe not what I paid for them, but fair prices for the current market. I did geld the colts I had here, sold them as geldings and they did sell for fair prices, never had one advertised as a gelding for sale that didn't sell within six months, which for many is too long to let them sit, but once again, it is the responability thing to do as breeder (keep them until a good suitable home comes along). I did learn to say no when selling my small herd. I had people looking at horses that were thousands and people would ask if I would sell them for a few hundred, or those that would say well I can get one at auction around here for x amount of dollars. My response would be " I am in no rush to send them down the river, they are top quality animals that have a lot of handling and care into them, there is plenty of food and water for them and I am not dealing with any hardship that would force me to get rid of them. They will not end up dumped at a local auction while in my care, short term payments are Available while they stay in my care and I will offer free board, but I can not let them go for that low of a price. As already stated, there is nothing wrong with looking at a $2500 horse and asking would you consider $2000, but there is something wrong with looking at at $3500 horse and saying will you take $600 for it? There is also something wrong with saying "well, shipping is so high, can you transport it for me, and it is 700 miles one way?" I would always advertise if I was headed somewhere that I would be happy to transport along the route while traveling that direction, but when it came to shipping, I paid my dues when I purchased a horse, I bit the bullet and paid for transport, if I couldn't wing it, I wouldn't purchase, I would never expect the seller to foot the bill. As someone else stated, a big issue for me was potential buyers that would low ball me, like insult low ball me, and they were selling their horses for $3000 and offering me $500 on a horse that I was selling for $3000 ( and I am not talking about well established big farms that you are paying for the name, I am talking about smaller scale operations looking to do a flip). As I said, between weighing the pros and cons, realizing life is too short, I decided that while my family has learned irreplaceable life lessons, weeding out the crazies and worrying where the mini would end up was not worth it, so I threw in the towel.
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