During "Gray Gate 2023" (a social media sh*tstorm) I was called out for being a bad breeder by a carefully worded poem shared on social media. The reason I was a bad breeder - because one of our mares is GRAY. GASP. OMG. Bring the torches! Never mind that said gray mare is a daughter of the leading sire of Congress champions in POA AND has produced a Congress champion herself. She's GRAY! Get rid of her!
It actually is still quite hilarious to me because that person is probably going to lose their mind when they find out I'm breeding TWO gray ponies this year. Fi, the original broodmare that I was told I needed to CULL, and her daughter - the Congress champion herself, Pepper. Do I think this makes me a bad breeder? Yeah, I'm gonna go with no on that one. There are a few things though that would make me stop breeding ponies. A few hard set rules I have for myself that - if I can't meet these expectations - I will be done breeding.
If I can't sell our foals, I will be done breeding. I get that we may have a market crash some day and then babies will be a hard sell again. But in this economy and market, I want to have people willing to buy our babies. A dream would be a waiting list or people knocking down my door. Maybe some day?
If I can't catch and handle my broodmares, I will be done breeding. It is hard enough to balance work and horses, I can't imagine if I had mares that were buttheads to deal with trying to get bred and/or foal out. There is a lot of handling that goes with these mares and foals from checking for breeding preparation to preg checks to post foaling checkups. I don't want to have to deal with mares that can't be caught and handled. We don't really even have the ability to chase one into a barn or such to halter. They have to able to be caught and haltered out and about.
If I can't spend time every day checking the mares and foals for health issues. I'm not talking about catching and checking them all over from head to toe. We do feed our horses every day, twice a day, so we are able to check them over each day for injuries and behavior. I think every member of our family has a pretty good handle on normal behavior for each of the ponies. They all know that if someone is acting differently we should communicate that and maybe get the pony checked out. As our vet said two years ago, "horses are born to die. It's a project to get them to adulthood." Part of that project means watching them and knowing each of their normal behaviors.
If I can't afford to feed the herd and keep them looking their best, I need to be done breeding. I'm not talking about a nursing mare who gets pulled down a little towards the end of having her foal at the side. Even China was getting a little pulled down by the time we weaned last year. Her babies are good eaters and she is not the easiest keeper on the farm. However, if I have skinny, underfed, wormy or otherwise unhealthy looking horses because I can't afford to have the farrier, vet or hay supplier out - then I'm done breeding.
If I can't halter break and spend some time with the babies before they head to their new homes, I will be done breeding. Sometimes we have a baby that isn't cuddly and we don't force the issue. I let them grow up and be babies with their mommas. Once it is weaning time however, it is game on. I become their best friend (in my mind at least) and they get more loving and squeezing and petting then they know what to do with. They get a crash course in manners and halter breaking. Even the most feral of our babies came around in a matter of a couple of days when it was weaning time. If I ever get to the point that I can't spend that kind of time with the babies - I don't want to breed any more. The babies bring me so much joy - I can't imagine not getting to spend that time with them.
Those are my own personal qualifications for being a breeder. Others have very different standards that they require of themselves and that works for them. I get that a lot of my personal qualifications are just that - personal reasons as a small breeder. Big breeders of lots of foals are not going to be able to meet those criteria. However, as far as buying a foal from someone.... I have some red flags of breeders I would avoid.
Red Flag: Breeders who don't know the bloodlines of their baby, mare or sire or if the foal is grade.
Red Flag: Breeders who bred for color - blacks, palominos, grullas, etc... Yes, I know they sell first. No, I do not care. My goal isn't to sell babies quickly or for boatloads of money. My goals include things like producing a Congress or Futurity champion or creating babies with the kinds of dispositions that encourage people to become more involved in POA and buy more babies from us. I want to buy from people who are breeding for the same reasons or similar goals - not a pretty color.
Red Flag: Breeders who breed mares or stallions because their disposition wasn't the type that could be trained so they became broodstock instead. Hard pass. Like I have said many times in the past, disposition is important to old folks like me who go splat. Guess where babies get a lot of their disposition from? Their mommas. Crazy, feral, angry mommas are a hard no for me. If the parents couldn't be trained to ride because of crappy dispositions, they are not future broodstock material.
Red Flag: Breeders who post/share pics of their stallions mounting mares, just being done mounting mares or the dirty deed in any way shape or form. I mean I guess I posted a pic of tubes of semen... but that left a little to the imagination at least. Doesn't make you a bad breeder but it just makes me go.... ewww.
Red Flag: Dead or scarred up babies. Lots of them anyway, or let's say - more than average. As I said earlier, "horses are born to die." Accidents happen and rambunctious babies that are curious about everything find a way to hurt themselves. That's if they make it into the world okay. Delivery is extremely hard on mommas and babies. There are going to be losses. Sadly it is just a fact of life. Due to sheer numbers, the larger breeders are going to have more of them as well. However, if a breeder regularly loses babies/mares or has many catastrophic injuries in their herd... it's a red flag.
Red Flag: No genetic testing and/or breeding ponies that carry copies of disease that are not recessive. Example: Breeding critters that have PSSM, IMM or HYPP. I've been on the end of finding out that a future broodmare prospect had a copy of PSSM. It sucked. She hadn't had any symptoms at that time but she was only 2. I had to sell her and lost my BUTT in that sale. No one wanted to buy her because of her PSSM status even though she had a nice start on her and was a quiet 2 year old. We also boarded at a barn where a young stallion dropped dead of a heart attack in his stall. You will not talk me out of the fact that his HYPP status (positive) didn't have something to do with that. I don't know a lot about IMM, but I am learning. I do think it will be a hard sell in the future if you have a pony with a positive test. Those three are all a hard pass for me as a buyer and a breeder.
I am sure that there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't buy a pony from me. I hope that our ponies speak for themselves and some day we can be counted as breeders who worked to improve the breed and bring the breed to more people. I hope that someday the Berry Sweet name will be synonymous with champions. Until then we will just keep breeding the best we can to the best we can and finding the best homes we can.
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