How's the economy affecting you?

[Michelle Clarke]

With so much up in the air and the horse market in the tank, I was hoping maybe we could share ideas to help with costs, etc. Are some changing directions with businesses? What about feed...hard to find...prices?? Is everyone going down to the bare neccessities, cutting out the luxury items for their horses?

What about horse sales? anyone selling? taking prices down to move them or just sitting tight? It seems as if alot of small breeders are going under - which I guess in the long run it will be kind of a cleansing so to speak. I have heard it will be worse than in the 80s' with the horse market...

We have secured enough hay for the year - not an easy task with 80 horses here! I have told everyone to stock up now because in our area it will be scarce and pricey. It is amazing though that we are paying so much for hay (I pay $8/bale delivered) and the quality has really gone down. Our square bales are really good, but we got a load of round bales that is so nice and green, but the horses are not eating it at all - maybe too much fertilzer on it. I have to up the concentrates to keep their weight up (no grass left - we had NO rain this summer!). The pasture with the broodmares is doing fine (14 horses on 75 acres), but I am hoping we get the rain to get the winter grasses up soon!

I am not actively selling any horses right now, just sitting tight and putting lots of training into everyone. The broodmares I left off this year are getting training - Sage, Leza and Picasa being started under saddle! Should be fun !!

[desperatehorsewife]

I pay $15 per square bale...and I have to drive to get it. That's orchard or timothy. Alfalfa is more. Our local grass isn't the best quality, but you can pick it up in the field for $5-7...well, you could.

I haven't got enough storage here to stock up for the winter. Plus, my horses decided they knew how to escape from the pasture that my neighbor's provided and so far I haven't gotten dh to to over and help fix the problem, so I've been feeding everyone the past two months.

I've got two horses here that I can't seem to move. Just put up new ads for Quiet Storm and got two hits tonight, so we'll see. Hard to know if I should ask a low price or just give her away. Joe, the BLM mustang, still sits with no bites.

I don't know that there's really anywhere that can be cut back at this point. I don't overspend with my horses as a general rule. They get the bare necessities and that's it.

[nrly]

we are cutting back on ourselves and not on the horse's..hay here is 10.50 a 3 string bale we buy a squeeze that has 80 bales. stratagey, and red wheat bran is all mine get other then their shots, and wormer's.so i do not see where else we can cut back,,but we are not selling either, we will just hang tight.
We will not breed this year or the next, I hope we can by 2011...time will tell...
nola

[DianneC]

We've sold a few this year, and Santana sold last weekend. But everyone is holding their breath I think. Boeing is on strike with no talks going on so the area is pretty quiet. I'd sure like to find a good home for Smoke.

[Leesa]

Here in FL. prices have shot up this past year. At our feed store T&A is $12.95 a bale, Alfalfa is over $15.00. Feed is up over 25% a bag. The only good thing is our feed store owns a hay farm in Canada so we have never had a problem getting nice green hay for the last 3 years while I understand other states have had water/hay shortages. With the cost of diesel going up so much the transporting of the hay from Canada to FL. has caused the price to skyrocket. We had been getting some good rain prior to Sept. so I have had to cut back on how much grain I feed (horses putting on too much weight from the nice green grass) which will make the grain last a little longer but come the winter months the grass will be dormant and we will need to supplement with hay and probably add more grain back in. We shall see.

We have two 1/2 Kiger & 1/2 Andalusians for sale. We have only started advertising them within the last two months. I have had a number of responses but no serious buyers yet. Like you Michelle I will most likely keep them and continue to work with them until they grow a little more and/or the economy picks back up. I'm in no rush to sell them.

Leesa

[angelsdream]

Here in GA the hay has not been as bad this year as the past. We've gotten enough rain to where the hay farmers were able to cut more times. We thankfully were able to get our own hay up this year out of the neighbors fields - so I won't have to buy any hay this year for the first time. But if I had to, price is $4.50/square bale out of the barn, $3.50 out of field.

Ive actually been spending more on my horses than ever. Bought Lakota and Bella. But its stopped now. I finally got everything paid off and done (new filly, hauling fee, etc.) I'm saving everything now, I just don't know what's going to happen with the economy, its very scary. Now is a great time to buy a horse if you're looking though, I can't say that I wouldnt buy another kiger if I ran up on a good deal. My boyfriend really wants a silver grullo, so I've been looking for that.

Horses around here are like everywhere else - people are giving them away - and the horse sales are completely heart breaking. Alot of them come in starved to death. Good broke horses are only going for $150 to $250.

[fantasykiger]

As far as the horses go I don't feed willy nilly no more, just throw out a bunch of grass. I am measuring the amount of hay and to be honest my horses are better for it, I no longer live on the fat horse farm. I have actually upped the amount of supplements but not by alot. I just make sure they get that Horse Guard every day. My 26 yr old mare (I ride her 3 days a week) is fed Ultium every day a beet pulp based pellet feed to maintian her weight and muscle. Other horses that require other special needs or supplements still recieve them. I won't cut back on that. The chickens are money eaters, corn is so expensive, so I have been told to switch them over to cheap dog food it is basicly corn anyway.

As far as selling, no one is selling. I will sit on them like everyone else, they are great horses. I know I have said no more horses, but we just brought in one more horse to our farm when the opportunity came up to have an Arabian once again came along. My daughter now owns a 11 yr old chestnut Arabian.

[stlkigers]

Well, here in St. Louis we were fortunate to have a great year in hay.....Grass hay or a grass mix bale of hay (2 string, about 50-70lbs. avg) are running around $3.50 in the field, $4 in the barn....1000lb round bales about $40 each....Grain (no matter what brand) is up....We live in the Nestle/Purina animal feed headquarters shadow and thus Purina's grain is just as cheap (if not more so) than any other name brand....I think Strategy is about $12.00/bag.....At least the last time I was in the feed store a week ago and looked at grain price board that's what it said....

Auction prices are just similar to what others have mentioned....Heck, a good saddle is bringing more than a decently broke grade horse around here....even some of those papered paints and QH that abound....About $150-300 apiece.....However some of those niche market horse markets are faring better; kids hunter ponies that are colored (like the ones my daughter's old instructor/judge breeds) are still faring well and fetching anywhere from $5k to 20k depending on how seasoned they are

And Angel, I so agree with you; NOW is the time to buy if you want another one and are doing decently....Hehehe...Kind of like the stock market...You get more bang for your buck so to speak.....I am at my personal limit though!

Angela

[sbutter]

For the California Thoroughbred market it is taking a pretty big toll. The last sale we were at was horrible! Most horses didn't even bring a bid and the ones that did sold cheap. This was not a high end sale, so a lot of breeders just try to sell their "junk" horses. We are so sad to see this happening on such a large scale and the breeders don't really seem to be learning from it. They think if they have a Thoroughbred mare they should breed her. We have been cutting our own throats the past couple of years with our own clients who want to go and breed mares that have no pedigree. We our honest with them and tell them that they are only going to lose money with boarding fees and everything if they try to do it. We try to tell them gently that their horse is not worth anything in the racing industry and to give the horse away and cut their losses. If they agree to give their horse away, we look around for some nice responsible people that will go and take the horse and make a hunter jumper horse out of it or something similar. We have found some great families that absolutely love these horses and we thank God daily for these perfect homes.

[Michelle Clarke]

What I have come to understand about alot of Thoroughbred folks is that they are gamblers through and through...so they are always looking for the quick win and not really putting alot of thought into what they are doing. We have a client that has race horses and he has a pasture of 5 geldings - some lame to some extent, none are trained to be useful for anything other than the track. With his job being in another luxury business (boats), he is hurting. He can't give these horses away, BUT, I just found out that he bred his mare.

We have a little paint mare that Eric took from a friend that was just going to take her to auction. She is nothing special, not registered, not very good conformation and really no horsonality at all. I had someone contact me to buy her and said they really wanted a mare (did not have to be registered) for riding but also breeding. I emailed her and told her this mare was NOT breeding quality - no way would I sell this mare to someone I knew was going to breed her!

Sometimes I just don't get people and the animals are the ones that take the hits.

[nrly]

we are only keeping shoes on a few horses, like stormy, and flashy because those are the two we ride the most..but one every other week get pulled out and trimmed...we no longer can do it all at once. floating teeth at least that is done every few years...Most tend to have hard enamel, and our vet says we can go 2 years between floats.but they tend to hit at once, so we do 1 horse a month for 5 month...

[sbutter]

We had a very nice consignment of yearlings at the Barretts Select Yearling Sale (for Thoroughbreds). A lot of people were worried about the economy and everyone was biting their nails hoping that the sale would be good. We have very realistic expectations so we put reserves (the point where the horse won't sell for less than what you want) on all of our horses. We talked to the owners ahead of time and told them what we thought their horse was worth and what we thought it would go for. We put conservative reserves on them and hoped for the best. We were dead on, on a couple of them.


We put a reserve of 3k on this filly and she sold for 3,5k. She didn't even have a live bid and someone raised their hand and bought her. Old Topper x Et Tois


This filly sold for 43k, which was about where we thought she'd sell. Benchmark x Eternal Legend


We had high hopes for this guy and everyone came to see him. We thought he would easily sell for 30k but he sold at 25k. We found out afterward that someone wanted to buy him and he told all of his friends not to bid against him....so they didn't. Then the guy fainted and had to be taken to the hospital. He was fine, but he and all of his buddies did not bid on the colt. So that was a big reason he didn't sell for what we thought he would. Yonaguska x Miracle On Ice



This was a filly that we owned a part of and she sold for 18k. Which was a little less than we hoped for. Benchmark x Malbay Slew


This filly sold for 32k which was a steal for that price. Her half brother sold in the same sale last year for 130k. Marino Marini x Ali's Dancer


Sold for 22K which was a good price for her. Marino Marini x Thermal Ablasion


This picture doesn't do this filly justice. She was a little light in her pedigree, but as an individual everyone kept coming back to see her. Everyone thought that she would be the sales topper if not the one of the top horses. Sadly she did not scope clean when she was scoped at the sale. So she sold for 16k. Marino Marini x Affordability


All these pictures were taken while they were being shown to people so I didn't want to get in the way, but I tried getting the best I could.

[Michelle Clarke]

Wow! Thanks for sharing the picts. I love nice horse flesh - they are fantastic! I really like the second and last filly. We have two thoroughbreds in for starting before they go to the track, both by Rare Brick. Big, stout horses - sprinters, I belive they run the 7/8 mile.

Does it take alot to condition them before the sale? Any special things you do to keep weight on them for travel?

[sbutter]

This is taken from our website. For taking them to a sale, we may have them(depending on the horse) a little on the fatter side knowing that they will lose some weight at the sale due to nervousness. We try to ease them into new situations so it isn't so scary. We also let them eat as much as they ask for at a sale, since they burn it off fast.



Sales Prep

We take conditioning and preparing your horse for sale very seriously. Good nutrition and proper exercise are the keystones of our program, along with the most important element of all... elbow grease! A sparkling coat comes from excellent feed with the right ingredients and a lot of currying. To start, all broodmares, weanlings and yearlings here at West 12 are on a supplement called Platinum Performance. For more information on Platinum, you may go to www.platinumperformance.com/. We have found that mares on this exceptional product foal easier, look better and feel younger than they are!

YEARLING SALES:

If you have a foal that will be sold as a yearling, rest easy knowing that from before he is born until he leaves for the sale, he will receive everything he needs to grow strong and healthy. Besides the Platinum they share with their dams when young, each foal is started on two key products when they are weaned. Northwest is a pelleted feed supplement that helps horses fully digest and use everything they get, and also helps prevent epyphysitis. We also feed a powdered probiotic yeast that keeps the horse's digestive system happy and running right. At weaning, each baby will be started on their own Platinum, which will continue throughout their yearling year. I sincerely believe that the sooner we start on Platinum and the longer the babies are on it, the better they will look at sales time. In January, when your weanlings turn to yearlings, each baby will be evaluated. We look at conformation, feet and body condition. We will also set up a short survey of x-rays to see if your sales horse needs any additional help to be his best for the sales. At this time, an individualized program will be set up for your horse, taking care of any special needs he may have. If he has foot problems, for example, we may shoe him at this time, setting up a schedule to help make his feet look their best.

60 days out from sale, your yearling will be brought in to a covered pen to protect his coat from the sun. He will have an intensive preparation for his sales ring debut. If he hasn't received shoes yet, he will get his first pair up front. Daily activities will include intensive grooming, exercise on the eurocizer, bathing and walking in hand to have that sales horse "strut." After he has settled into his routine, your yearling will be turned out at night to buck and play, sometimes with a friend. If he is too rambunctious though, he will have to settle for solitary play. As we draw closer to the sale, your yearling will begin spending more time in to prepare for more extensive confinement. We also get him used to being in a stall and having a sheet on at night, as they all wear "pajamas" at the sale to keep them cleaner. Work with the trailer is a constant, so that loading is smooth and trauma free by sale time. The week before the sale, all final shoeing is done, as well as getting the manes pulled and ears, nose and bridle path clipped. A well sales-prepped yearling should gleam, with just enough weight on his frame.

[sbutter]

These are some of the sales horses about a month out from the sale.


Benchmark x Malbay Slew


Benchmark x Eternal Legend


other side


Then the Yonaguska colt


Yonaguska x Miracle On Ice


Then one of our clients weanlings out in pasture Bellamy Road x Chatty