1st October, 2010 Multiplication - everyone who breeds horses must take responsibility.

A really nice lady that I know sold a mare last year that she had rescued along with a colt at the sales. She believed the mare to be pregnant and all winter she waited patiently as the mare got fatter and fatter but in the end, no foal arrived. The mare went to her new home and after some time she did have a foal that was clearly attributable to the colt. The new owners are delighted and the foal is fine. All's well that ends well. Once they exist they matter, that's the point and whether people breed horses and ponies accidentally, indiscriminately or even completely deliberately, the main thing is that they should take responsibility for the foals that are produced; here the new owners are happy to take responsibility for this foal so that is that one cared for. The market fills up from two ends and the middle too and we should all think about whether she would be breeding anything at all. It's easy to have a go at the breeders of semi-feral foals and I wish everywhere would take steps to reduce the number that are produced as they have done on the New Forest, but we can't forget that many of the breeders are farmers with a very different attitude to livestock and whether they should be eaten .We shouldn't forget the important role that the wild ponies play in the conservation of our National Parks. Nevertheless, no-one want to see mass culls of foals because there is absolutely nowhere for them to go. At the other end of the market people are still aiming to produce a dream horse and there are too many big, athletic horses ending up in the hands of people who are not experienced enough to start them and ride them and who would actually be much better off with a plain cob or a nice native pony cross Thoroughbred or Arab.


Before anyone shouts hypocrite, I accept that I have two in foal mares this year and I will do everything within my power to make sure that the foals get fabulous homes just as the last two did; after that, the mares will not be breeding again.