Horse Breeding’s Get Rich Quick Scheme - Recips&Mare Flipping

Picture this. Brick signage with immaculately kept flowers, pristine (and flat!) asphalt drive with trailer parking next to gorgeous pipe fencing built around a pipe round pen (that was freshly drug), next to Barn “C” of who knows how many. This was my entrance to a well known equine reproduction facility, picking up a recip mare for a (Facebook) friend. Uhg, and it had a roundabout, no awkward backing up while staff watch and judge from the clinic.

Clinton Anderson made a comment about wanting clients to drive up the driveway and say to themselves “this is going to cost a lot,” I said that exact thing driving into this facility.

Now maybe it’s naive of me to have thought that at a facility like this, this mare will be so well handled and cared for. I have my own collection of mares (broodmares/recips) that have come from all over the country, from all types of facilities. In my experience, the less the mare cost me, the better it was cared for BEFORE it came to my property.

I was GIVEN a mare, AQHA transfer and all, who is easy to catch, easy to handle, great to vet, took on the first (and only) try, and stands quietly for our farrier.

I bought a $500 recip mare who got a fresh trim two days before, came in a newer halter and lead rope, and all previous vetting/deworming was well documented and communicated.

I bought another $1,500 recip who came with her Jockey Club papers, coggins, health certificate, and the previous owner delivered her himself. She was easy as can be to handle and a freaking dream for our farrier.

I bought 3 bred/exposed mares from one mass breeder for $9,500 (EACH!) who came matted up, covered in mud, hadn’t seen a farrier in 6+ months, and had never had dental work in the past 2+ years… one poor girl had her tail hacked off.

So color me shocked when this thick bodied, probably a Hancock-bred mare, is being led to my trailer by a tiny stable hand (I mean she couldn’t have weighed 100lbs!) and is CAKED in mud. Feet overgrown by at least 6 months and deep cracks running up all 4 hooves. Skiddish, scared, confused about why she was pulled from her friends and flinching anytime we tried to pet and reassure her. I followed up one week after dropping this recip off, wanting to check in. I have zero ties or obligation to do so, but this mare has been on my mind. She reminds me of a mare I currently own, so I’m probably just associating emotionally, but I truly do care about her well being. Apparently, she declined fairly rapidly in her first few days at her new home, why? She was approximately 7 years old and had never had her teeth done.

This is what a $5,000+ dollar RENTED recip mare gets you. Carrying some seriously precious, and expensive, cargo (hint, hint daddy is Mr. Pantalones). Apparently, breeding can be a lucrative business. Especially if you’re a mass breeder or recip facility, where quantity is more important than quality.

How this is acceptable year after year, to treat these mares like they are only a uterus and basic handling, grooming, vetting and farrier work means nothing while they’re consistently popping out foals valued $10k+ is disgusting. THESE MARES DESERVE BETTER. Being drugged, poked, prodded and impregnated year after year, passed around and brought back, only to be relocated again and again and again.

Now I’m not saying that we all need to keep our own hoard of recip mares, I tried to hoard mares this past spring and I’m still overwhelmed and (only) have 12 mares. It’s not feasible, for myself or many of the small breeders, but we can as a collective DO better. Groom these mares, braid their hair, trim their feet at least every 12 weeks and handle their hooves between farrier appointments so your farrier doesn’t dump you.

Unfortunately, I’m just a small fish in a big pond of horse breeders, where most have given the entire “horse breeding population” a bad reputation. I can’t change how everyone treats their horses, I can’t even call people out without being attacked by mass-breeder cult followers who have no idea what they’re defending, BUT I can actively choose to be better, do better, and give my horses a better chance than anyone else has, would, or could. I hope you choose to do the same.