Unknown Farms

[Shortpig]

Now is the time to say thank you to the one who chose to buy a horse from an unknown farm who does not show. However, loves their horses very very much and they all get individual attention and lots of pats and hugs. Glad there are those who will take a chance on the unknowns.

Lucky me!

 

[SHANA]

As a unknown breeder myself yes I would. It doesn't matter if you show as long as you have quality horses with the potential to show. I do show at local fairs and my name is now known in Quebec. I actually had a guy come Sunday who had heard about me from a friend and needless to say he bought two of my sale horses, a buckeroo bred mare and a 2010 stud colt. He lives about 1 1/2 hours from me. I have bought some cheap horses over the years but in the last few years I have looked long and hard for some awesome stallions and mares to complement my herd and some of those farms that I have bought from or have horses bred by them but bought from someone else have shown.

 

[Mominis]

I suppose I am the minority. I would not buy from a small farm, at this point. I am new to the AMHR scene and I am just learning about the breeding and what they are looking for in the ring. At this point in my AMHR experience, I am sticking with proven horses from notable farms. With that said, after a few more years under my belt and an opportunity to learn the breeding that I like and how that breeding crosses on other lines, etc, I would definately look at a quality horse from a small breeder.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

Of course I would! I buy the horse, not the farm

 

[Allure Ranch]

Honestly, I've learned (the hard way in a couple of cases) that farm names mean NOTHING! It's the quaility of the specific horse. Before I knew what I was doing (well, still have a lot to learn there) and before I felt I could pick out a quality horse on my own, I bought from "big name" farms hoping that if they were well known and had a reputation to protect, I could trust them to point me in the right direction. WRONG! If you aren't ready to pick out the horse for yourself, get someone you trust and have them help you. Farm name alone really means nothing. The size of the farm means nothing. All farms have crap (yes, they do) and most farms have better crap. And then a few farms (regardless of size) have great stock! You have to look at the horse, not at the farm it's coming from.

I understand completely where your coming from and it was said very well....

 

[Mini Gaits Farm]

Not every horse born is going to be a show horse, thats just the way it is (just look around at your family members LOL).

OK....still laughing here over the above quote......thanks "Simple Life"....I needed this laugh today....!!!!

In answer to the original post.....I certainly would by from a small unknown farm. I've also been on a buying freeze...but just yesterday added a double bred UNO filly from a very small farm....that is super nice....they only have five minis...four mares and an UNO son....but all are "quality".

 

[JWC sr.]

For us the approach is always the individual horse first and then the other things such as bloodlines and how those specific bloodlines have produced for us in the past. The process we go thru is pretty in depth when it comes to a new purchase of a breeding horse.

As far as the farm name is concerned, it does make a difference for future sales and/or purchases.

A lot of good horses come from small, med. & large farms. No one produces just national caliber horses all the time, no matter the size of the farm.

With that said the folks that spend the time/effort to prove out their breeding programs by success in the show ring do deserve special consideration from us. They have put their money where their mouth is so to speak.

Further, if a farm of whatever size has a great horse and you do not know about it,then it would be impossible to know you wanted to purchase it. Advertising and promotion do account for something.

That is not to say that can't be a small farm though. We just bred a mare to an outside stallion that is owned by a small farm up in Oklahoma for the first time in a long time. We had watched them over the years consistently produce and show extremely nice horses out of this stallion. So we purchased a breeding to him for one of our prized proven mares. Hopefully it will produce the results we desire.

But to finally answer the direct question, yes we have and will in the future purchase from a small farm. Good horses are hard to find and to pass up one for that reason would be silly to us anyway.

 

[Sanny]

We've always bought the horse NOT the "farm name" and not the "pedigree". We are never really in the market to buy a horse but we are always looking and keeping our eyes open so that when we come across a horse that is right for our family we don't miss out on something special. We've bought some pretty awesome one-of-a-kind horses that way. We do also pay attention to the big farms and big trainers and look at what they are showing and winning with in the ring and what they are breeding for because we want to keep up with the changes happening in the industry. I will say there are people/farms out there that I absolutely trust and have purchased a horse from sight unseen -- not even a picture -- and there are other people/farms I would be very cautious about purchasing horses from and would want a lot more background and information about the horse. It has nothing to do with whether they are big or small, well-known or not. It has to do with my observations of the seller, my personal experiences or interactions I've had with them and the reputation they made for themselves in the industry. If someone is trying to sell me a horse don't bother talking up it's pedigree and telling me what national champions are in it. Show me the horse and let me see it in action to see how it moves and let me play around with it and get to know it's personality and attitude.

I've found it interesting that we've had people visit with us at shows and they mention that they've noticed we show horses from a lot of different farms and they ask us about the pedigrees of some of our performance and driving horses and though some of the horses have well-known names in their pedigree but most of them would be considered "nothing special" if you only looked at their papers and didn't look at their athletic talent/ability. Some of our best moving and jumping performance horses definitely wouldn't be considered "breeding quality" but they are extremely talented and have terrific personalities and huge hearts.

 

[Marty]

I'm going to use my farm for an example. The beauty of my small farm is that I know my horses inside and out and I know I have developed a good eye at what is popular and what is not so popular. I have the quality time to care for each and every one as an individual every single day. When someone calls and tells me what they are looking for, I have no problem whatsoever in telling them exactly why or why not that would be the right horse for them. I'm not barn blind and know their faults better than anyone and have no problem disclosing them straight up. I could not imagine having to tell someone they have to go out and look through their herd to be able to see if they have what I am looking for. And that has happened to me on more than one occasion. I sold a horse that placed top ten at Nationals this year. He got a 6th in driving. I sold another one recently that will most likely do the same in time. I always say in my lb sales ads, "don't pass me up because I am small" as you never know what is really in my barn.

 

[REO]

To answer the question, YUP! I do buy from small farms! Almost all my horses come from unknown or nearly unknown farms. When I shop, I buy for the HORSE, not the farm name.

I'm a small pretty much unknown farm too!