06/21/2025
This is a true statement! I have copied, pasted and tweeked our thoughts. We are a small breeding operation that is fighting each day to strive for our bloodlines to be proven in the Quarter Horse Industry.
🌪THE BREEDING BARN🌪
📌A common misconception that I would like to address is that breeding horses is cheap. Breeding horses is not cheap, in fact it can sometimes cost more than buying a young prospect. Everyone has this idea that they can breed a mare at half the cost. You get lucky sometimes ☘️ but in most cases you cannot. You have to figure in the stallion fee and costs - - including semen shipments, mare care if they are kept on site, the price of the mare, the veterinarian bill, costs of ultrasounds, repro drugs, etc. In that case, most people are barely breaking even and that's why nicely bred weanlings, yearlings and two year old's have significantly increased in price.
📌Another misconception is that breeding mares is easy. Sometimes it is but 50% of the time it is not and people that have been breeding horses for years will tell you they have good and bad years. You can do everything right and your mare can still abort. You can do everything right and your mare does not get pregnant. You can do everything right and the foal can still die or you can lose the mare & the foal. If you're getting into the breeding business do your research, ask questions, and know what you're taking on before you jump in. It can be very rewarding. But, it can also be very heartbreaking at the same time.
📌 Another misconception is that owning a stallion is a way to get rich. Talk to any stallion owner and you will find the costs that go along with that. The care and upkeep to have a stallion perform at his best in an out of the arena. The advertising and the nominations, OMG the nominations! I love our stallion and what he sires plus it does make it easier to have the stallion and mares at the same site, no real planning on collections and making sure the shipment arrives on the day it is supposed to.
📌Let's talk about heat cycles. 🤯 We've been doing this for a fairly long time and one thing I can tell you so far is that you read all the books regarding foal heats & counting days to when you think they should cycle their first 'true' heat cycle of the season you can completely throw out the window. Not to self "Mares does not read the books" We've had mares not cycle at all after foaling - as in had to give them Lutylase to make them come around, have had mares come in heat 16-19 days post foaling which is technically too late to be a foal heat & too early to be a first true heat cycle. We've had mares show they are in heat via ultrasound & be within hours of rupturing a follicle but not stand for the stallion to be bred!😵💫
❤️I say all of this but do want to close with something positive - - those of us who do it, do it out of passion for the industry. We love these four-legged creatures & aren't in it to get 'rich'. We do our best to work with all of our clients, past, present and future. We will do anything in our power to help a client or future client get a foal that we have raised or sired by our stallion or even just to help if we can from our experiences - Quarter Horses. I also love networking & finding great homes for the horses that we sell.
I borrowed most of this from a FB friend & added some to it as I was standing in the barn late last night saying to a mare "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!...😁
**sidenote ** what we thought was bred last yr wasn’t and the cycle continues, and you keep trying your best as you cant ever give up! So remember it isn’t easy and it’s a daily occurrence of learning!!
RR Horses. “Always next year” and this yr is hopeful ❤️.
