[Beau Baby]

I wasn't quite sure if I should put this in here or in horse critique so forgive me.

My second cousin has decided he'd give me some cash to buy an amazing sporthorse foal. There's a farm i've been looking at for the past 2-3 years hoping every spring to get one of their babies. So finally I might get one if all goes well. The foals aren't born yet and I was wondering which breeding you guys think would be best, which horse should I decide on? Personally I'm a little partial to the MosaicxXanadu baby because Xanadu seems nice.

What do you guys think? Link to farm and foals below.

FOALS FOR SALE

 

[Spyder]

I would look around a lot more.

 

[Beau Baby]

How come? I've been looking at these horses for years and I know I want one.

 

[Spyder]

How come? I've been looking at these horses for years and I know I want one.

Well it is your decision to buy what you wish but you asked what I thought. I simply found nothing of quality on that site.

 

[Beau Baby]

what would you say is quality then? could you point me in the direction of a sporthorse foal that is of one in Alberta or even just Canada. and i can't pay for than $1000.

 

[Spyder]

You biggest problem is the amount of money you have to spend. Even in this economy $1,000 is a little low.

There are draft crosses that can be bought at that price but you will have to do a lot of looking.

Just what are you looking for and at what age are you prepared to view?

Maybe if you listed your requirements here the people that are in your area that are members here can direct you to something better. I don't live in Alberta so while I could post lots of pictures they would be useless if they are unattainable.

I know the good people here would be more than willing to help.

 

[Lis]

I agree with Spyder. I had a look at the other photos of Mosaic and personally don't see why he's still a stallion, I can't see anything really special about him other than he's a pretty colour. Couldn't see any better pictures of Xanadu and from that one again I don't see a horse that I think wow about, she looks very average. I couldn't find anything about what either of them have done so do you know if they competed or shown and done well? I'd keep looking around if I were and look for a better quality foal.

 

[Beau Baby]

I am looking for a young young horse. like weanling -1 year. maybe a 2 year old. I'm 15 and i want a bit more confidence before I start another horse so I don't want it to be old enough to start. Me and my mom considered getting another horse because our ridable horse is being sent to a stable this summer so I can train and show. We need a horse at home because if we have no horses for too long the county{government} will decide we no longer get one. trouble.

So i want a young horse, for under $1000. My second cousin only wants to pay like $500.

 

[mayfieldk]

Have to agree with Spyder... Some of those horses made me shudder.

Sometimes what is close and available to you is very limited. I live in New Jersey, and got my Sporthorse colt shipped to me from Florida. You obviously don't have to go that far, but remember that this is something you're theoretically going to have for a long time--you want the absolute best you can find.

You also might want to take your time, wait for spring, and work on saving more money. If you are okay with a 1000 dollar foal, that's fine. But if you want something 'amazing'--1000 is not going to accomplish that.

Good luck

 

[Beau Baby]

okay i see.

but you see the thing about foals and weanlings and the young horses is I think it is stupid and unintelligent to pay over $1000-1500 for a foal. The horse hasn't fully developed so you don't know what they'll end up being like. They haven't done anything great because they're so young. When you buy a foal your just paying for pedigree and looks and they could end up nothing like they're parents, they could have "no talent" or they could be amazing. you just don't know and personally I wouldn't pay $5000 for a foal because I don't know if it will end up having good ability and quality as an adult.

 

[kevinshorses]

That's a good reason not to buy a foal but a poor reason to buy a cheap foal.

 

[mayfieldk]

Your reasoning is very very flawed.

When you buy a weanling/young horse, it is very hard to look at that baby and determine what it will look like exactly. However. Looking at both parents gives you an excellent idea on what the baby will look like. You are wrong in thinking that a baby will grow up 'nothing like it's parents'. Perhaps in color, but not in conformation.

Why?

Because conformation is genetics. The stallion Mosaic has one of the WORST hind end conformations I've ever seen. His croup is terrible. The other stallions have other faults--most of the mares are pretty terrible conformation wise. None of them are APPROVED (I'm not talking about registered) with a warmblood registry. And NONE of them would pass. They breed stock horses (APHA Paint horse) to a draft--and these horses make TERRIBLE sporthorses. Not to say they're not good at other things, but if you want a sporthorse, those are not what you want.

Conformation--GENETICS--are VITAL to a foals chances of becoming an amazing horse. If he is built correctly, he will not break down due to crappy conformation, he will have an easy time transferring the energy created from the hind to lift the forehand, he will jump better, he will have talent (movement and jumping come from the parents--you can't train movement and you can only minimally train a jump), and he will even sell for much, much more if you end up wanting to sell him. Weanlings bred from parents with odd breeding (Paint/Draft) and BAD conformation ONLY produce more of the same. Why would you think otherwise? This is simple biology--not an opinion.

When you pay more for a weanling, typically you pay for 1.) Bloodlines. Bloodlines usually equate to natural talent and athleticism. These horses can also be REGISTERED and APPROVED in warmblood registrys--MOST warmblood registrys will NOT accept Stock horse blood (APHA paint or AQHA blood). 2.) CONFORMATION. When you buy a baby from good parents with good basic movement and GOOD conformation, you will not get burned (provided of course he doesn't get hurt).

You are attempting to make something out of nothing. These are the horses that get frustrated with their jobs, get injuries frequently, have ulcers, and hate work--because it is very hard for them--if not downright painful or impossible--for them to do what you want.

 

[Spyder]

Outside of my first horse every horse I have bought have been under 2 and in some cases weanlings. My stallion I actually bred myself from an unproven mare to a unproven (at least in the breeding shed) stallion.

I went entirely by conformation and pedigree.

I even have clients that will get me to look at 3-6 month old babies to pick out a good one. Haven't failed yet.

I would take an experienced person (breeder if possible) and take a look at a weanling. Right now people may want to get rid of them as new foals are being born and most weanlings now are almost yearlings.

They could easily have one that looked awkward as a youngster and is startiung to show better now with a little growth.

Breeders just don't want to keep babies around and selling a weanling...coming yearling is more profitable than keeping them around for another year and feeding them.

 

[Lis]

Isn't that the point of breeding though? To go off the pedigrees of the parents or am I missing something? Yes you're buying the names of the parent and yes you may get a dud but if you don't want to risk that then don't get a foal. Why would the people who own the top horses lower the prices of their foals when they can get the initial price they ask for? Their stud fees alone are so expensive. Although he's not a sport horse there is a racer that is going to stand stud for probably £125000. I don't think any of his foals will be going $1500 or under.

 

[mayfieldk]

None of his foals will go £125000 or under. It's a business--no breeder would want to sell a baby for less then the stud fee. Not profitable!

 

[Lis]

They do sports horse sales quite regularly over here. Look around for one near you, don't rush into getting a foal if you want something that is going to excell.

I know, he is a good looking stallion. They had a big feature on him in Horse and Hound, I think his name is Sea to Stars or something like that and he's won some big races.

 

[ShutUpJoe]

I agree with what everyone says. The stallions on that page don't look stud quality. Nothing special. But I'll add that that Magic mare sure is pretty.

 

[lacyloo]

To tell you the truth...
I couldn't get past this mare- Eclipse x Mosaic
My first impression on the website was "foal mill".

 

[AQHA13]

I agree with the other posters, in that I do not see quality there. Often you can look for a horse that is around $500 dollars more than you want to spend and if you are completely serious work out a lower price. Especially if you are polite and show that you are offering a good home with good fences, shelter, feed, and care. You could maybe also work out payments with the seller.

With that said, here is one horse I found in Alberta:
DreamHorse.com Horse ID: 1499493 - Kaimaro

Here is a list of Paint horse breeders in Alberta that might be worth looking through:
Open Directory - Sports: Equestrian: Breeds: Paint: Breeders: North America: Canada

 

[FeatheredFeet]

Beau Baby said..

My second cousin has decided he'd give me some cash to buy an amazing sporthorse foal.

I can sense your excitement, but at 15, I'd have been excited about getting a horse of any quality.
Pay very careful attention to what others have told you here. I'm tending to think these people are just large scale, backyard breeders, trying to cash in on the current trend toward many liking Draft breeds or crosses.
They might also be in an area where there really are not many other breeders around and possibly have a ready market for their horses - good or bad. I see no good reason for the majority of their horses to be considered breeding material at all unfortunately. Also why such crosses? With so many different breeds in the background of most, one would hardly know what to expect in a foal.
Heck, they don't even seem to know the difference between "out of" and "by" in their ads.
If I were you, I'd start looking around and not focus on one particular breeder. You could probably find a quite wonderful rescue for the money you have. You'd be giving a horse a nice home and not putting money into the hands of people who seem to be breeding poor quality horses en masse.