How to prevent so many being slaughtered....

As many have said, those "big breeders" that pump out hundreds of horses a year are a big problem. (not the only problem, but a big part of it) But the thing is that those big breeders can afford to pay any fee that "standardizing" a stallion might be. And many of those stallions ARE breeding quality. The problem IMO is not just the quality of the stallion, but the QUANTITY of foals he has every year.

Which is the worse problem? My stallion who has 3-5 babies a year who might not be a national champion, but who's foals are sought after year after year? Or the "big name" stallion who has 50 foals a year hoping for that Kentucky Derby winner? (or breed show winner, or world halter winner, fill in the blank)

I think that breed associations need to stop allowing embryo transfers as well. I know that some don't allow it but it is weird to think that a mare can technically have more then one foal a year, you just have other mares that carry the embryo.

I don't fully agree with only "big time" horses being allowed to reproduce. My older mare is out of some no-name horses and she is the sweetest horse ever. I can pretty much do whatever I want with her, show, trail ride, she drives...etc... Basically if you only allowed big time horses I wouldnt have her right now. She is registered though but those are only papers in a sense. I don't plan on breeding her though either.

I do think that backyard breeders are a decent percent of the problem. Ever looked at adds on craigslist? It is really sad. The human race in general needs to step back and take a look at the problem they are creating. I wish people that starve their animals and make them live in manure up to their knees would get the same treatment back... "eye for an eye"...they would think twice about breeding, or not paying the vet to come geld their little stud.

I don't think anybody is suggesting that only big time horses should be bred. I think what's being suggested is that stallions should be judged conformationally, and on it's personality etc., not on how big it's owners wallet is, before it should be allowed to breed. The idea being to cut back on "fugly" stallions reproducing "fugly" offspring that nobody wants. I'm not talking about horses that just aren't pretty, I'm talking about horses who's conformational faults will negatively affect it's life/chances of being bought by someone and which will be passed on to it's foals. Or horses who are judged unfit for riding because of some fault that's more than likely going to be passed on, and using those horses to breed.

Kudos to him Its cool that he payed 28k for him not because he was a stallion with amazing bloodlines, but what he could be just as a "horse".