--- Anneliese Virro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > and stallion...and heaven knows, I'll NEVER recoup the cost of my > > barn, sheds, fences, etc! I've done it so far for the joy of the > foals, and > > for the love of the breed, and no way can I ever expect a penny > for the > > many, many hours I've invested. > > > > Hello, my name is Karen, and I'm an Icelandic Horse-aholic... > This is my > > passion, m addiction, but even I have my limits on how much money > I'll lose > > in the name of breeding horses...:) > > > Amen to that! > > However, I do feel that good foals should be priced to take the > cost for > mares, stallions and overhead into consideration. No one, not even > those of > us who can, will continue breeding if it involves continuous huge > losses of > money. That's just not being realistic. In the past, (with a few > exceptions) > I have charged $ 3000 for 8-month-old (that is normal weaning time > for me) - > 12-month-old colts and $ 4,000 for fillies of the same age. But > even then, I > don't break even most of the time. For me, the joy of watching > foals being > born and growing up (it's better than watching television) balances > a > reasonable loss. > > My other excuse is the sharing part. I know that happiness will > come to > those who buy Icelandics - most of the time. I have seen time and > again how > Icelandics have caused life style changes in families, pulling > families > closer together, going out into nature more and also perpetuating > and > spreading of Icelandics making people happy. > > Anneliese
Thank you Anneliese, as I obviously could not say that as well as you just did. Talking about breeding Sally and I have decided to sell our Stallion Foss, with a lot of sadness,. One of the reasons is the cost of keeping a Stallion, the fences, management is a big one....not having a space where he can always be with other horses..he is most of the time, but not always... Our friends are buying him back, and they are bringing in 2 other Stallions for the breeding program here that will compliment what we have....we all have had long talks about it, picking out another Stallion that will be good for Icelandics here...So Foss will be living with the Boys club on a farm with no mares, and mares to visit for breeding, and we will have the mares to breed with the Stallions, and both farms will have much easier management issues. I will still get to see him and ride him anytime, but I will miss the nickers and calls in the middle of the night when he goes. He is such an amazing horse. Breeding and the decisions around breeding can be emotionally difficult and costly. S. Lee
