Max’s Grandmom winning the Kentucky Derby

After reading Ashlen’s blog about Pilot I went to youtube and found this video.  Love watching races!

Crummy Horse Traders

I have been reading some posts from other sites bashing horse traders and I wanted to voice my opinion on the subject considering that I know a bit about the business.

Horse trader, I am. 

I buy, sell, trade, swap around and try to make a profit.  I do not consider myself crummy because of it.  How does this pertain to Max?  Well in the process of trying to make a profit sometimes you have to take a big risk, financially and socially.  Max is the perfect example of that. 

Now that his spa day has ended you can see exactly how underweight he is.  Did I do this to him?  Of course not.

Horse rescuer I am not and do not claim to be.  I strongly disagree with most rescues’ stance about auctions and such but I do believe that you should take the very best care of your horse.  I think that on days that Max stood out in the cold with no hay and water he wished someone would have helped him but no one came and he was in plain sight of everyone.  This was a boarding barn.  I know this sounds incredibly harsh but the fact that some people have enough sense to take the horse to the sale when they cannot afford to feed it, is a good thing.  Why on Earth would we critize them?    Who knows, but in my book if you can’t afford it, give it or sell it to someone who can.  Don’t wait until the horse looks like this then cry and whine that no one wants him.  Then you are almost guaranteed that he will be headed to slaughter.  Give him a chance and take him to the sale.  This lack of knowledge or compassion makes me sick to my stomach.

While a horse is in our care we take top notch care of them.  We feed Ultium, Gro N’ Win, Senior, Weight Builder, MirraCoat, Strongid C2X and free choice orchard grass.  We have the dentist, farrier, and vet here constantly.  Whatever combinantion to make them look and feel 100%.  If the horse does well with us we do well financially.  Pretty simple concept.  It wouldn’t make much sense for you to go to work tomorrow and destroy the product that you are trying to sell so why do people think horse traders do that?  I am really not sure.  I bought my first horse from a trader.  No she didn’t have a fancy horses and yes some of them did look rough but I loved my mare until she passed.  You know, that lady is still selling horses and I still go over there to visit her. 

Now there are different types of traders and I can only tell you about the two that I am familiar with.   Those that only buy and sell at auctions including the well known killer buyers.  These guys, and I know a few, are the most easy to get along with people.  One that we sometimes buy horses from is always upfront about the horses ability and soundness.  If we are not happy he will trade us around.  He absolultely does not abuse his horses.  He does however sell for slaughter.  He is not cruel and vicious but offers a needed service.  Then you have the middle guy like myself.  I buy from traders, privately or the race track.  People like myself either turn the horse around quickly or invest time into it.  We normally keep the horses a minimum of four months before they are posted for sale.  Of course we have sold horses fresh off the track the day after they get here but most of the time that would be to someone who is nervous about buying from the track but is completely capable of re-training an OTTB.  We do mark the price tag up because we are taking all of the risk.  You could ask me to buy a horse at the track for you then it ends up having a chip in his knee.  I certainly can’t take him back to the trainer at the track and get my money back and if you don’t act quickly on the track while buying, the horse will be gone.  No time for a vet out and x-rays.  Sometimes people think that track horses are free, well the trainers at the track are no dummies and know that TBs make great Hunter, Jumper or Event horses so they do not just give them away.   They want the horse to do well in a discipline after racing and some even go to the extent of keeping track of the retired runners but they don’t just give them to you.

This all comes back to my original point that not all horse traders are scummy.  Of course there are bad apples in every industry but do not assume that because I sell horses that I am going to rip you off, lie to you or steal your money.  I plan on being in this business until I retire and I do this for a living because I love being around horses.  Of course, I have some people that are not happy with the sale but I try.  I will go the extra mile to try to make it right.  I want you and the horse to be happy.  Hopefully you will be so pleased with your new horse that you send your friends here to buy a horse from me too! 

 

Max’s Pedigree and Race Record

I love thoroughbed pedigrees and think it is really neat that you can get so much information quickly about them online.  I looked at Max’s pedigree and came up with some very interesting things!

This is Max’s Grandmother, Genuine Risk, she was the second filly to win the Kentucky Derby.  You GO Girl!  She then retired to the breeding shed where she miscarried serveral times before carrying two foals to term, Genuine Reward and Count Our Blessing.  Neither did well on the track and Count Our Blessing was gelded.  

Max’s father, Genuine Reward (above: foal) and his Mom Genuine Risk (above: mother)

With these racing lines you would think Max was going to be the next Triple Crown winner.  He is a black type horse but he eventually ended up as a claiming horse running 64 times winning a grand total of $79,576.00.

Hands down the coolest thing about his race record is that he ran against Eloquent Wager, you can see his blog here,  another TB we sold last year.  What are the chances of that?  Eloquent Wager, now called Logan, beat him.  Hmmm, maybe Max let Logan win to boost his confidence.  Just kidding, Kenzie.

 

 

Oh LaLa!

From living outside he certainly looks like a mountain man.  One thing I cannot stand it a dirty matted up horse so today Max received his spa treatment.   MTG, then warm bath in the heated wash stall, body clip and mane pulling were a few things that Max was treated to.  Goodbye to the 15 inch mane, rain rot and shaggy coat and voila we are starting to see a handsome boy.  He stood so patiently considering I am the slowest person on earth attempting a body clip and he was stuck in the wash stall like half the day.  The clippers need new blades to really finish his beautifying so I will stop at TSC tonight on my way home from dinner.  Poor boy is going to the spa again tomorrow.   

Maximum Reward

Getting there to see this guy was quite crunched, we had 3 people in a regular cab truck for two and a half hours.  It was nice and windy..perfect day to see a re-sale horse.  We ended up in a little town called Jonestown in Pennsylvania.  So small that the actual farm address did not show up in Mapquest.   We were met by a young girl who was in a big hurry, she had to be on the other side of town with little time to spare.  She left her car running during our appointment. I remember my heart sinking as she took us into the field that he lived in.  All of the horses were in great condition except for him, Maximum Reward.  He looked so stumped as to why someone would be visiting him.  Still very friendly but you could tell he had no zest for life.  He wasn’t a starvation case by any means but thin and scraggly, dull coat and feet that definately needed to be done.  I knew at that second I had to buy this horse and I shouldn’t even think of his condition..the price was right.  He deserved an upgrade and I needed a long term re-sale to add to my barn!  We haggled his price a bit and loaded him up.  I didn’t care if was sound, a good mover or anything there was something about him that told me he would make a really nice horse with some fixing up.