Why Do You Breed or Why Have You Stopped?

[MountainWoman]

I'm just wondering why people are breeding these days or why they have chosen to stop breeding. Just like to hear some stories if anyone cares to share.

 

[targetsmom]

I got into breeding minis back in 2004, starting with weanlings and didn't actually breed anyone until 2006. Our goal was to improve the breed, specializing in versatile AMHA/AMHR and Pinto registered minis. We had a business plan that showed - with luck - we could break even, which was all we hoped for. We were paying $5,000 or more for each of our breeding stock.

Meanwhile, many, many dead foals later and only 4 survivors (3 from our 2012 foal crop) to show for it, and no one interested in our horses, we are giving up. Ironically, photos of several of our minis were shared on Facebook just a few minutes ago and there are wildly popular there. People love to look at them, admire what we do with our minis, but don't want to pay anything for them. We figured out that just to immunize each pregnant mare during her pregnancy costs us $500 and people expect they can buy a mini for that?????? We will keep what we bred, use them for the 4-H Club, continue to show, drive, and enjoy them as long as we can, and hopefully we will find someone (or more than one) to leave them to when we are gone.

Just have to wonder though, where are the people that were like us 9 years ago???? I know the market tanked, but really, people can't lose their love of horses that easily.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

For me too it was the selling that convinced me to quit. The prices we could get were so low that it really didn't cover the cost of care let alone the time we put into each and every one. Then there was the fact that every time I sold one my heart broke a little and it was like selling my own child (thats the problem with being there from before the first breath I guess). I never stopped worrying (never will) about those that I have sold and to really seal the deal I hear so many horror stories and have met so many crazies that I know my worry is not unfounded. I just don't have the stomach to be a seller so I had to stop breeding too.

 

[MountainWoman]

Thanks to both of you for sharing your stories. I think I feel the way you both do.

 

[Cajonat]

I would love to breed miniature horses, love to. But there are so many to rescue out there...I just can't. So I'm focusing on giving the ones I have a job and promote the breed that way

My heart goes out to you that have lost the foals...I can't imagine. It's hard enough to lose the big ones, much less those wee tiny ones.

 

[mel]

I am a breeder, I choose to only breed a few mares every year, some years I may not breed any. When I decided to breed it was because there is a certain look that I am looking for in my show horses. I was having a horrible time finding exactly what I wanted, so I decided to do the research and find what crosses had what I was looking for then put those crosses together to try and create the horse with "the look". The look that makes your heart speed up and you forget to breath just for a moment. This year (after 7 years of putting my breeding program together) will be the first year for me to have a trailer load of "home breds" to compete with. Now I have many times considered not breeding and just buying what I wanted to show, but again it went back to not being able to find the look. Yes there is heart ache in each foaling as there is joy, a beautiful healthy foal is wonderful and a joy, selling is heartbreaking as I put my heart and soul into each mare, stallion, and foal on my farm, but the pride of having one of your foals win in the showring and fighting back tears of happiness stops those thoughts of not continuing to try and breed the perfect foal.

 

[dannigirl]

My father in law wanted to breed and sell quality miniatures. He bought a herd in 1996, but I don't think they were our best choice. We had several nice mares that crossed very nicely with the stallion that we had, but the market took a turn about 2000 and what we had for breeding wasn't really what was doing well in the show ring. We sold some of those mares and bought other mares and a new stallion. We gelded the old stallions.

We bred for several years and then chose to breed only 5 or 6 a year for several years. Our main problem is that we like to show horses that we have bred and raised. We like the style that we now breed, but since the market is so bad, we chose to not breed for a couple of years and just show what we now have in the barn. We love our babies, so are planning to pasture breed 4 or 5 this year. Since we just put them with a stallion for 30 days, we usually will get 2 maybe 3 foals when we pasture breed 5 or 6. We are in the position to be able to keep what we raise if we don't find homes for them.

 

[Hosscrazy]

I had a partnership with someone for many years, and not only did I disagree with their breeding practices, but we then ended up with a dwarf. After seeing what I saw from breeding miniature horses, I had enough and got out completely. There are too many unwanted horses tossed aside that need homes, too many uncared for horses (not just minis). I currently have Quarter horses and 2 minis - both minis I got from bad situations and would never, ever breed them. They are spoiled companion animals and I like it that way!

Liz N.

 

[Margo_C-T]

I began breeding in '85...and sold for decent prices for a number of years...though only one to 3 or maybe 4 per year. Changes in 'type' that wins in the show ring, heartrending losses of foals, drop in the market, and mostly, my increasing feeling that I really 'hated' selling--'promoting'(afraid I am one who feels like potential buyers have eyes and should be able to see quality for themselves, don't need me to 'talk them up'....sadly not really so, in most cases), and most of all, not being able to be absolutely SURE that a horse would have a permanent good home, is what ended my breeding days. I kept my favorites that I'd bred because they were what I like, trained and showed those until I became weary of the show ring and much of what now goes on in training/showing. I now have only two of my 'core' group(a 19 YO gelding and his 30 1/2 YO dam : ) - plus my 'over', unregistered (except for Pinto--if they ever send out his papers; they sure cashed my sizeable check quickly enough....)gelding that I got to drive for pleasure.

Although I think lots of serious breeders of horses(all kinds) have been sensible enough to quit/cut back on breeding, at least until the market improves,IMO, too many still are 'cranking 'em out' in wholesale quantities...: (

I have recently been looking at a lot of equine classified sites with a specific reason; have been distressed to see how much cheap young stock is being touted from individual breeders, and how many 'standing at stud' at cheap fee, ads are still everywhere, especially at this time of year.

Margo

 

[Carolyn R]

Collected some nice fillies and mares, researched out the wazoo, found a nice boy or two. All A&R all with nice looks and great bloodlines, raised the fillies to see what they would become, in hopes they would mature into beautiful horses like their dams and sires, had a lovely starter herd, only bred for a foal or two a year, knew I put a fortune into them and I knew I would never even break even, knew I would have bills and heartbreaks to go with the happiness of foaling. What I never realized is that. For every great home. Excellent owner and wonderful sale there are freaks that are 100 fold over the good experiences. Well you can't fix stupid, I got tired of trying, it wears you down.

My aim was high, produce nice well balanced minis, do it right, vaccinations, dental, hoof care, handling, love able and socialized, I have seen a nice horses go to crap because the way they were kept, overcrowded, poorly maintained, forced to share close quarters, it happens to low grade minis as well as high end, well pedigreed ones. Even well manored horses change their dispositions over time.

After several deaths in the family, I decided I was through with it. I just realized I did not have enough time to change the world, crazy horse people will always be out there, so will the good homes, but they are much farther and fewer in between.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

I stopped breeding for a few years now and altho I have been tempted I am not ready to get into it again. Last year I got a mare, haven't had mares on the place for a couple of years, now I have 2, both show. I enjoy showing more then I do breeding. If I ever breed again its for me, and if I happen to decide the sell the foal I will keep that foal until it sells, I will not sell it for rock bottom prices. I would send my mare off to a nice stallion of my choice, much better then keeping stallions on the farm.

 

[Gone_Riding]

I bred my mare knowing that the market is tanked. The foal is to show, drive, and love to death. I have no intentions of ever selling it. Momma was well on her way to being a wonderful driver until she got into a bad situation with a UPS truck. Since then, she just panics. Instead, she is now my pet and her baby will be the driver, since it will be trained from the get-go instead of when it's 13.

 

[LindaL]

Last year, we decided to stop breeding and geld our National Champion stallion! Several factors came into play on that decision...we lost a foal, we enjoyed showing more than breeding, the place we are renting really is not set up for stallions/breeding/foaling and the fact that there are so many horses out there that people just can't afford/take care of and we did not want to contribute to that with more "unwanted" horses being born. The decision to geld our stallion was a hard one, but there are SO many nice/nicer stallions out there that if/when we decide to ever breed again we can always breed to a stallion of our choice.

I would like to breed again in the future...1-2 foals a year maybe...but time will tell if that happens. The above circumstances would need to change first.

Khan is sooo much happier being a gelding, too...He is well-socialized and LOVES to play with the other geldings!

 

[Riverrose28]

We love to show, and that is why we got into breeding in the first place. For the Glory and that wonderful feeling of hearing your farm name announced. We bred for ourselves and thought it would be a good idea to breed a couple each year to sell to help cover expenses. We paid thousands for our breeding stock and then thousands more having our stallion shown professionally to earn his championships. Then we had a pro show one of his get. We stopped breeding as our farm is in the red, and should be in the black, the cost of caring for our horses here in the east is crazy. Hay grain, vet fees, everything is rising and no one wants to pay a fair price for quality horses. We were so happy to take four to the Champions sale last May, but no one was paying a fair price there either and we lost money yet again. I'm done! Also I'm getting older and I'm tired, not to mention my pocketbook is empty last year we couldn't even afford to attend one show. Sorry I'm rambling, at this point I don't really think the mini market will ever be what it was in the past as there are just too many out there, the good, the great and the bad. I too wonder were are all the new horse people? I alos have a pet peeve about the new ones that do try to get it right and because they don't know sellers take advantage and then they get discouraged.

 

[anoki]

I got out of breeding for many reasons. After owning minis since '89, I just do not like where they tend to be going. I never bred on a large scale, 2 a year if that, and many years I never bred. The market is the pits right now, and as I know from the dogs, if you aren't out there showing and promoting yourself, no one knows you exist. I bred a few nice horses, but I never liked the showing end of it, so never got into it. After losing my last foal (at 2 years old) to an injury, and my stallion (who I LOVED) in a freak accident last year at this time (3 months after losing the other one), I decided to pack it in permanently. I have been too busy to devote the time to them anyway, so I had already been looking for homes for some of the herd. I sold one young mare last fall, because it seems a waste for them to be just sitting out in the pasture...but if my others never sell, I won't be sad. There are a couple who will never go anywhere-my first mini who turned 30 this year, and my gelding who was my first foal. I'll probably always have a little one here, but I'm done with the breeding end of it.

~kathryn

 

[Field-of-Dreams]

We had no foals last year at all. This year we may be having 3-5. Two mares are hard to tell if pregnant. One looks it but was in heat last week, the other looks iffy- somedays she does, some days she doesn't! One foal on the ground and two definite preggies. We have eight mares total.

I only own two of the mares. One I want to teach to drive, so she won't be bred, at least for a while. The other is one of the "iffy" mares. If she's open, that's OK with me.

I probably won't breed her back this year.

 

[Reble]

Have been breeding horses since 1986 was into paso finos than..
than had a fall and lost my courage ride like many others..
So these tiny ones was just what I and my grand daughter needed to keep what I always wanted a home with horses.
Started off 2001 with unregistered and than in 2003 got into double registered
My husband loves the driving and I love the obstacle, jumping etc...
and for us went up to 18 minis with babies and back down to what is good for us 6 minis
Have thought of selling but would miss those babies.. so will keep breeding until we are not

enjoying the new life that comes out and shows so much joy and love
Yes, can be hard when something goes wrong but we learn from that and move on,

the next one can be fine and put a smile on your face..

The foals is such an amazing gift, to see them stand in minutes ! eyes open as they are born.
and run in a few hours.. what a gift to watch and learn from.. and when sold the joy on the

new owners face to know these little guys are what we have helped give them a chance to live on earth.
So much a mini horse can do...
show, drive, or just be your friend for many years, we have been blessed and have always sold

our foals at a realistic price..

Always wanted to be a vet, and must admit is the closing thing to being one with breeding
minis and dogs.. and I love it..

One more thing I forgot.. if it was not for my minis and breeding would not of found this wonderful site..
To share and learn from...

Will not stop or give excusses for raising minis this is what keeps us getting up in the

morning and was always my dream.. until my next dream I will be breeding minis...

 

[MountainWoman]

Just wanted to say I'm enjoying this thread and reading everyone's responses. Thank you for sharing.

 

[ckmini]

We got into minis in 2001, showing and breeding 1-3 foals a year. We made the decision in 2007 to not breed anymore and gelded our stud and sold the broodmares. We love showing in the performance classes, and with the market the way it is (heck even before it tanked), it is so much cheaper to buy EXACTLY the horse you want, so why take the chance. We had well bred and show-ring proven breeding horses, but it's hard to justify the work and cost for a chance at what you want out of a foal (let alone sale price). There are no guarantees in breeding and murphy's law is especially true for anything involving horses.

So we now enjoy our small herd of talented show horses, 2 of whom are home-bred and winning ribbons in the show ring.

 

[TMR]

We started breeding minis in 1992 and shipped foals all over the country including 15 to China. I have always enjoyed driving and bred for driving horses mainly, but put my own driving on the back burner to the breeding operation. 7 years ago, I bought a store that I worked at and knew that I wouldn't have the time anymore to do the full time breeding and started to downsize. I think partly I was burning out on foaling.

It is a mental and physical strain to run a breeding operation and do it properly. You start with planning breedings, vaccinating, doing hooves, halter breaking, more vaccines, worming and throw in some advertising and showing to keep your name out there to sell the foals, then you are talking to buyers taking pictures, videos, paperwork and raise your own two legged family and wonder why you are exhausted all the time. Then the market begins to plummet and if you haven't been paying attention then you are loosing money on every sale. I was lucky and had downsized before the market really went down. I have found that I love training and competing my driving ponies way more than I ever did the foaling. So in short I would rather be harnessing than halter breaking any day.