Talking about the Embryo Transfer got me thinking.  How much does a broodmare lease for?  How do you even determine the price?  What happens if the mare dies during foaling?  Who is responsible?

I have leased broodmares for my own use and leased out broodmares to other people.  If I am sending one to someone to use then they have to keep insurance on her at an agreed upon value, keep her and feed her, do all routine maintenence as well as breed her back for me.  If I am leasing one it usually works the same way.  Can get a little complicated but generally leasing is not worth it.  You can buy old grade mares (or sometimes registered ones) to be embryo receipients cheap enough.  All you really need is a mare that milks well and is roomy enough for a foal and in good health.  I have seen them selling the mare carrying the embryo at a lot of the cutting and race sales out west lately.  Think this is not going to be good for the industry overall.  Talk about diluting the gene pool.  Runs down the value of your horse and other things.  Don't get me started about the embryo thing, only has one real purpose but has been changed from even that. 

 

I just want a foal out of Vic and don't wanna risk hurting her!   

I didin't want to do the embryo thing.  I was just asking for general breeding.

i do have to agree, it has decimated the industry, and just think now that they {scientists} are cloning champion horses...wonder what is going to happen to an already damaged industry? wonder how small breeders are going to survive when larger farms are producing numerous foals in one season?

The Jockey Club has the right idea, no artifical, no embryos or anything like that. 

I think it is okay to transfer a mare that can no longer carry a foal but can still produce a good egg but they are now able to register as many as they can get every year.  What a crock, talk about taking care of the wealthy. 

The price of cutting horses is falling off already because of this and those are the people that complained about wanting more than one foal.  Sheesh

very true, prices will fall even more as times goes on, market will be flooded with big name horses , from big name wealthy farms... unfortunately losing the small breeders and farms in the mix..

I just was wanting to know about the leasing of a broodmare.  Not for embryo, or anything like that!

I can see how that will make the prices fall!  I don't agree with being able to have more than one foal, thats going over board!

Reading over this I can see advantages and disadvanteges to both sides. I do not think it is good to be able to have more then one baby a year (maybe twins but that is very rare) out of the same mare. Doing that will over flood the market (with the same type horses with the same bloodlines) and it will make possible only the people who can afford all this will be the ones getting anything out of it. I also think when you start to bottle neck your genetics you start to run into problems being seen like HYPP and HERDA. I do see an advantage if you have a mare that is doing very well in her show career you don't have to lay her off for foaling. You have a mare that is excelling in her field (barrels, pleasure or what ever) if she is maintained well, she could continue to do well way into her upper teens. If she has not had a foal by then you may run into problems getting her into foal or carring the foal full term not to mention, you cut down the number of foals you are going to get from her. I do think there should be a limit to how many you can get and register. I can not remember the name of the mare but I think she won Fort Smith a few years back and the announced that they were going to havest some of her eggs and transfer them to other mares. I think one was going to be crossed with a paint and one with a quarter horse. Both the resulting foals would be for the same year. I do not like that idea. Transfer the eggs ok but only one reg (what ever breed) foal a year.

I believe that mother nature tries to tell you something if you can't get a mare in foal.  I do not like embryo transfer under any conditions.  JMHO


As to the cost of leasing a broodmare, I thought I had answered that one.  Most people I know do not charge a $$$ figure, they do an every other year foal or something like that.  I would never pay to lease a mare, would just buy one.  I have been offered many mares on a foal share or every other year but I haven't done one in years.   

Yeah you did!  I was just re-stating myself!

  OHHHHHH

There are pleasure horse and halter horse people around where I am from that are now starting on this.  The trainer where I board at just thinks it is unnatural and so do I.  I think like you have said before, ET is just wierd.  I could undestand one foal a year, but two!  I was just looking through my paint horse journal and I noticed that Ford Farms or one of the halter powerhouses had TWO fillies that looked almost identical by the SAME mare and I thought... Embryo Transfer... interesting.  Where I am at, there are two types of people - people who will show anything and do anything to that show horse and the people that care.  Generally, those who care show barrel horses or performance horses (reining and cutting).  I used to show pleasure horses very seriously,  but recently I have gotten very sick of it.  I feel that you guys are way different.  That's maybe why I am considering doing more speed event.

Okay... I just went way off-topic.  Sorry!

  That is EXACTLY why I stopped showing!  It got to be too political!  I'm not loaded with cash there fore I could no longer compete the way I wanted too!!  I have taken a break from doing any sort of event, just have been enjoying trail riding, but now I'm getting the itch to get back out there and do some barrels!

You are allowed to go off topic here!  We do that all the time- as you soon will find out!

I think we should start to call this place "The ex-pleasure horse" board. Seems like the majority of folks here use to show pleasure but now run barrels when they want to have fun!!! I have pretty much been runnin since I could show. I have shown halter but not to beat anybody. Just to get my youngsters use to traveling and get them some ring time.
As far as the ET thing. I think most of us agree that just because they can does not mean they should. I can see where the ability to ET could serve a porpouse, but just like anything else, taken to the extrem it can really mess things up. Just like anything else that is new, you have to have someone go beyond the boundries before you really know where the boundries should be set. We humans tend to be a greedy bunch. Once we cross that line, mother nature comes in and says "ok, quit screwing around with me.  you ain't gonna like it if I get mad ."  Then someone comes in and sets some new rules down and tries to bring things back to where they should have been to start with. Too bad it takes us so long to figure out that mother nature does things for a reason and greed is not it.