[Little Red Dun]

I honestly don't understand why stallion owners aren't more picky about the mares that their stallion covers. I know some are, but it seems that the vast majority will let their stallion cover any mare the owner pays the fee for, regardless of it she's poorly conformed, ancient, grade, or in poor condition. And I do not mean just backyard unregistered breeders either. I see countless ads for mares in-foal that are just not breeding quality, but are actually bred to nice stallions.

Why in the world would you want your stallion to have a ton of foals out of badly made mares? I know some stallions improve mares a great deal, but the poor stallion can only do so much!

I'm not saying that stallions should refuse mares that aren't Champions or don't have popular bloodlines, but if the mare makes you go why would you let your stallion breed her anyway? He might be perfection, but 50% of the is going to be in there. Wouldn't it be better for your stallion and your operation's reputation if he produced good-looking, sound, usable foals each year? As opposed to a few good ones out of many?

Why do so few stallion owners refuse mares? How come more of them don't have "standing to approved mares" instead of just breeding to whoever gives them the cash. Even if it is AI and the mare is far away, you can at least ask for some decent pictures and maybe a video so you can get an idea of if she compliments your stallion.

That goes along with having grade mares bred for a lower stud fee? Why in the world? Why would you make it the most expensive to breed a proven, high-quality registered mare of the same breed than a simple grade mare? But time and time again, I see cheap fees for grade mares (and not just Arabians and breeds that have a "Half-" section in their registry) and higher fees for proven mares of the same breed? That makes no sense to me.

If it was me, I would have a huge discount for a proven, registered mare of the same breed, then a slightly higher fee for a registered mare of the same breed, followed by proven registered mare of a different breed, then registered mare of a different breed, and then a proven grade mare. At the "bottom" of the list and most expensive would be a unproven grade mare to me. I would rather make it easy to use my stallion to improve on his same breed by covering high quality mares than make it easier to have more grade horses around.

Honestly, if stallion owners were more discriminating and made it more expensive to breed random grades, I think there would be less grade horses and the market would improve a lot.

[[And sorry for the little rant/grumble. I'm looking through some local sites and the amount of grade mares in-foal, etc. is just staggering]]

[ryu2832]

There are premium mare discounts, they just usually don't advertise.

I don't understand it either. Esp. discounts for grade or cross mares. The only thing I can think of that makes sense is $$$$$.

[PeggySue]

Alot of stallions onwers are looking at the bottom line... cold hard cash.. is it right NO but that is the bottom line

It is also cheaper on the stallion owner to breed grade mares because they don't have to pay the breeding report on that mare..

I know most stallion owners offer a proven mare discount..

alot of them are starting to charge more for mares of other breeds is: APHA X AQHA becasue they have to do more paperwork.. not only do they have to type their stud for AQHA but for each outside "breed" also...

The bottom line with 90% of breeders is not bettering the breed but MONEY so therefore whatever is cheaper for them is gonna be cheaper for the mare owner...

[Little Red Dun]

Originally Posted by PeggySue

Alot of stallions onwers are looking at the bottom line... cold hard cash.. is it right NO but that is the bottom line

It is also cheaper on the stallion owner to breed grade mares because they don't have to pay the breeding report on that mare..

I know most stallion owners offer a proven mare discount..

alot of them are starting to charge more for mares of other breeds is: APHA X AQHA becasue they have to do more paperwork.. not only do they have to type their stud for AQHA but for each outside "breed" also...

The bottom line with 90% of breeders is not bettering the breed but MONEY so therefore whatever is cheaper for them is gonna be cheaper for the mare owner...

But isn't the paperwork free? I know they have to fill it out and mail it, but I can't remember a registry that doesn't have the breeding reports as a free download from their site.

I've never owned a stallion so I admit I've never really looked into it. Does it cost some kind of money to file the reports? Outside of the cost of mailing it I mean?

[PeggySue]

Yes you pay so much for your stallion report to be filed then so much per mare

http://www.aqha.com/forms/pdf/stallionbreedingreport.pdf

[Little Red Dun]

Originally Posted by PeggySue

Yes you pay so much for your stallion report to be filed then so much per mare

http://www.aqha.com/forms/pdf/stallionbreedingreport.pdf

I did not know that. Still, it doesn't seem like very much. Just $10 for the report and $3 per mare, at least for AQHA members.

[remaani]

Great post & a great topic to chat about!

Its my Pinto, pt Arabian stallions 1st time at stud.
I have close closed the stud book for him & guess what?

He's only serving 2 outside mares (& 3 of my own).... now i had at least 7 enquiries to use him & i chose to only use 2 outside mares this season & the 2 i chose are good examples of their breed.
the others were registered, but my stallion wasnt cheap, he has not only his reputation, but my stud's as well, hence why no other outside mares were accepted.

The fact his Introductory Stud Fee was on the cheap side ($500, as he's not proven) was a big factor in getting some crappy substandard mares, wanting a dash of Arab & a dash of broken colour.
I could of made some good $$ if i accepted those 7 outside mares, but no thanks, my stallions reputation is more important than $$ anyday!

Oh & next year, his Stud fee will increase & i'll still only accept a handful of outside mares, no more than 4, i dont want to flood the market.


I forgot... AHSA charge $15 as a Notification to stand at stud then each service certificate per mare is $20, so in all fairness, with those costs, i only want to pay that, knowing its quality mares my stallion serves!

[luvmymare]

APHA charges $25 for the stallion report, no per mare charge. Many stallion owners do offer discounts to people who will show, or who have a proven mare. I have also seen where they will nominate their stallion for futurities at your request. I know the stallion I bred to only offered discounts to show homes and I do know that they have refused to breed sub par mares before. There are many stallions out there that should not be breeding, I'm sure those are the ones that aren't picky about who they breed and are only in it thinking $$$

[Acme Acres]

Originally Posted by luvmymare

APHA charges $25 for the stallion report, no per mare charge. Many stallion owners do offer discounts to people who will show, or who have a proven mare. I have also seen where they will nominate their stallion for futurities at your request. I know the stallion I bred to only offered discounts to show homes and I do know that they have refused to breed sub par mares before. There are many stallions out there that should not be breeding, I'm sure those are the ones that aren't picky about who they breed and are only in it thinking $$$

yes you do pay a per mare fee Plus you have to list your stallion as a breeding stud (that alone is $75)

[ryu2832]

OK, so maybe $100 less on paperwork for grade of cross breed mares, I'll even throw in $100 for the stallion onwers saved time.

That still doesn't justify cutting a $2000-1500 stud fee in half for non-purebred mares. Unless they aren't offering papers at all...

That says to me that the stallion owner would rather have hybrid progeny rather than purebred progeny, which makes me wonder about the stallion....