Brood Mare Placement: Information Needed

[phippsie62]

I own a KWPN mare I may have to place in the near future, possibly as a broodmare, and I’m interested in getting some information about whether she’d be a desirable candidate and, if so, what reasonable price I might ask. Please understand that this posting is definitely not an advertisement. My mare and I live in hunter/jumper world and know next to nothing about the breeding of sport horses. I’m simply looking for some expert advice.

She is 8yo, coming 9, and has suffered a collateral ligament injury. I’m advised that she has a good chance to recover from that, but in the process of diagnosis, an MRI revealed arthritis in her front feet. I’m hopeful that with support, she’ll be able to continue as a derby/equitation horse. If I’d been better educated, I would have realized that hunters/derby was where she belonged from the beginning–not jumpers. Turn-and-burn is not a healthy use of her 17.2 body.

However, if recovery time and arthramid injections don’t work, I’m wondering if she has value as a broodmare/ pleasure and trail horse. At the KWPN keuring, she was rated IBOP (spr.) (riding and jumping test), prok. (the radiograph evaluation) and is a ster mare, having had one foal.

Her personal virtues include a natural carriage, rhythmic canter, excellent jumping form, and a brave and gentle temperament, which I think would be valuable to pass along to offspring. She has a successful USEF record.

Any thoughts?

[endlessclimb]

Early onset arthritis would nix her from my breeding program, regardless of any other accolades or credentials.

[JB]

I’d want to have a really good idea of the cause of the arthritis. What exactly does “arthritis” mean? Do you mean ringbone? Ringbone is usually a trimming issue, and can have a component of too much concussive work, like too much work on pavement or hard-packed ground.

Cost - even well-bred broodmares are cheap, especially if they’re not also a riding candidate. That’s the unfortunate reality of even sound, high performing, breeding-approved mares, and yours doesn’t have 2 of those, as I’m assuming at only 8, she doesn’t have (much of) a serious, high level performance record

What’s the deal with her 1 foal? By an approved stallion? Is the foal registered? Old enough to be under saddle or showing?

[fordtraktor]

She sounds lovely, but I agree it is difficult to get any money for a broodmare. No matter how nice. Maybe a few thousand.

Could she do the low hunters/puddle jumpers? Or dressage? I would think that might work for her if she can’t hold up to the big jumps…better than a broodmare value. There is always a market for that kind of horse, though obviously the price point is still very low especially compared to upper level jumpers or derby horses.

[phippsie62]

Thanks for your responses. No ringbone, but mild osteoarthritis on one side, moderate on the other. Her feet were pristine when I first checked her out as a possible purchase three years ago. The PPE included rads of the feet and just about everything else. I also had her feet eye-balled by a good barefoot trimmer. However, by the time the purchase was complete and I picked her up, the former owner had already had some disastrous farrier work done, resulting in very low heels.

I should have turned her out to grow heel and get good trims, but I was impatient to get her started…my foundational mistake. The farrier for our barn consistently left her toes too long, even though I waved farrier rads in his direction and said “negative palmar angles” more times than I can count.

So that’s the history behind her arthritis, along with a demanding jumper program and arena footing that was too deep and a terrible experiment with a three-degree wedge.

You can look at her and see her pedigree just by typing “Jeanine de Zietfort” into your browser. She’s standing with her foal Naomi, also a ster.

[JB]

@phippsie62

No ringbone, but mild osteoarthritis on one side, moderate on the other.

where exactly? Usually arthritis in P1/P2 is called ringbone.

It does sound like the hoof care issue is the cause, not something genetic

[phippsie62]

She has osteoarthritis in the joints of the coffins and fetlocks, with subchondral bony changes. I asked the sports vet whether it was high ringbone? Or low ringbone? He told me unequivocally that it wasn’t ringbone at all.

[triplethreat]

Assuming the arthritis is hoofcare caused I think you could expect a little cash, dependant on her breeding, her show history and the first foal’s success. Unfortunately if this mare is a nice quality mare that used to be worth a lot of money, she isn’t any more. People don’t pay a lot for broodmares and they have to be pretty spectacular to fetch a high number. I would guess somewhere in the $5-15k range, again, depending on pedigree and history. Breeding horses is labor of love, not a profitable business haha!