Cool Performance Horses

Wendy's Breeding Rant

What it costs to produce a good quality 4 year old horse

    These are the actual costs to produce Joker (Karahty's Trueheart) to the age of 4. As he gets older of course the costs will increase.

    Many people want to know why young or greenbroke horses cost so much money. If you will read thru this from top to bottom you'll see that breeding horses is a huge loss to the breeder. We obviously do this because we love it. Please do not translate that into meaning we love losing money. If you want to have a horse with this kind of breeding, care and attention throughout his life you will have to pay us at least a good portion of the money we have spent to produce it. In return you will get a sound, healthy, mentally stable horse that has been well-cared for all his life. We breed for extreme athletes that have good minds and the conformation and health they need to perform.

    Joker is third generation for us and he has two full brothers that are just magnificent - Joker has a rich heritage and will be the horse of a lifetime for the person he gives his heart to.

    This is what it cost to produce Joker at the age of 4, beginning at breeding his dam to Karahty. (more later on what it costs before that point!)

• Stud fee to Karahty $1,000.00
• Initial bloodwork, exam and ultrasound $280.00
• 5 months mare care while kept at Karahty's barn for breeding $90.00 X 5 = $450.00
• 6 ultrasounds, 6 ranch calls and exams at $145.00 each = $870.00
• Board and care of pregnant mare for 10 months including worming, trimming and daily exercise $6.00 a day (BARE minimum) $1,800.00
• Video cameras and monitor for foaling stall $455.00
• Delivery supplies $89.00
• Vet exam after delivery, foal checked for immunity $268.00
• Foal possible colic on day 6, spends 3 days in vet hospital under observation and on iv, he's ok but can't take a chance at that age. $857.00
NOTE: We have been VERY lucky that this is the only vet bill that Joker has had for injury or sickness in his life. You can expect much more as the norm when raising a foal unless you just get lucky. For example, Sport was born with low immunity and his mom needed help with the placenta so the vet bill at his birth was over $1,400.00 by the time he was 3 days old. Many people do not blood test their newborn foals and that is a huge mistake, we know of several foals lost their first week.
• Blood test and registration for AHA registry (before hair test you had to have the vet out to pull blood) vet $85.00
+ AHA $140.00 = $225.00
• Gelding at one year $240.00
• 45 months of board and care at ridiculous price of $200.00 per month = $9,000.00
• Trims every 8 weeks for 4 years at $25 per trim = $600.00
• Wormed every 8 weeks for 4 years (avg cost of $9.00) = $216.00
• Vaccinations yearly, average cost of $400.00
• Training: 3 months of ground driving, 2 months under saddle at $500.00 per month = $2,500.00

TOTAL of just some of the money spent to get Joker to the age of 4 = $19,250.00

    Now, if all went well, and the horse did not get injured or have some other traumatic event happen, we have a sound intelligent, greenbroke horse at the age of 4 that we have spent MUCH MORE THAN $19,250.00 on. Remember, these numbers are the bare minimum costs for breeding a good mare to a good stallion and producing a foal you can be proud of.

However, having a Karahty son or daughter = PRICELESS!

NOT ACCOUNTED FOR:

THE MARE - where did she come from? Was she free? Definitely not. We bred the best mares we could find or breed.. Add 5-10k for the mare.

HAULING - having a newer diesel truck and the safest trailer on the market costs about $40,000.00 and $15,000.00 for a total of $55,000.00 PLUS insurance, plus gas.

OUR TIME - all those hours we spend with the horses individually every day, the holidays we have to squeeze in dinner between chores, weekends spent working on fences, hauling hay, taking horses to vets or paying vets a ton of money to drive to the ranch. Time spent shopping for the right blankets, putting those blankets on in driving rain, moving the horses in and out of stalls and pastures. Entire days spent holding horses for the farrier.

Barns, fencing, wash rack, mats. Maintenance on fencing = $$ and time!!

Horse Equipment: Blankets, halters, lead ropes, to start with. Add saddles, bridles, bits, saddle pads. Fly spray, show sheen, soaps, medications, etc, etc, endlessly.

    Wendy
    Please email us at wendy@cooldownunder.com

Local or international calls 910-458-0962

We will be happy to return your calls. Please be patient or call again. We will call you back as soon as we are able. Email is preferred, if possible, that way we can write you back at midnight when we usually return email.