Nailed it.
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I feel like this is really just backyard breeding on a large scale. Not barbed wire and chickens and a lame Craigslist pony with an ungelded grade yearling backyard level. But the ammie back yard level where you have a nice enough mare you showed a bit, and you go shopping for some semen from a Big Name Stallion to get your Dream Foal. Which is perfectly fine if you are going to enjoy and keep the result.
Of course the other way backyard breeding can go is to turn into a puppy mill. The argument can be made that the breeding model under discussion here is a Foal Mill. Mix them up, promote the big name sires, sell them off as weanlings, stay discrete about where they end up and how much they actually sell for.
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Post #16 by Scribbler identifies the original drama as being on FB, so that’s what I was referring to.
I guess you did resurrect the train wreck. I know, I know, if I don’t want to see it, I shouldn’t open the thread and look, but you know how that goes. 
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I mean it’s a decent concept. Have one decent mare, get many foals from her by big name stallions and use recip mares so you don’t have to pay $$ for quality brood mares…but do have the costs associated with recip. Then capitalize on the American fastination and interest in anything European and/or Dutch.
People are idiots. They’ll hear - insert big name stallion here - warmblood and/or Dutch and swoon. It’s also a foal so less “things” to worry about re time on this planet to acquire lamenesses, ailments, poor training, or wonky adult conformation.
The thing is that these big name stallions sire quite a few horses in the US and Europe, usually, so yours have to stand out. So that means that the mare side has to be decent too, or the mare has to be proven, or the price has to be attractive.
I have a hard time believing that someone would pay 50k for the aforementioned foal, but whatevs.
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I started this thread, but it was followup to a previous thread where this person was discussed. The last couple times this thread was resurrected it was not me. Once it was the topic herself coming on to announce pre-emptively that she had more FB drama, and the next time it was this braider drama. Both times I wasn’t aware of the drama until it was posted here.
Anyhow I started this thread, yes. But it’s had such a life of it’s own it’s very much leading it’s own life now.
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However there is significant risk in the early years of life.
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I also find it interesting when people post photos of young foals and go on about their scope and floaty gaits and their pasture moves. All healthy foals dance like baby goats and have floaty trots. it’s more useful to look at the mare trotting beside the foal (if it’s not a surrogate mare obviously) to see how the foal will move as an adult.
There likely is a market for lower cost designer knockoff babies, big name sire out of whatever mare. But you do need to keep the costs and the sales price lower. I can’t imagine it’s a model that appeals to the top of the market.
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I cannot fathom how someone could make a mare they love be a veritable puppy mill type brooder - and esp. via ICSI, which is not a particularly kind process to subject a mare to on a repeated basis, month after month, year after year.
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another interesting point, is that one would expect the majority of the “litter” to be noteworthy in an effort to justify a healthy value. There is risk in producing multiples.
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So the Foal of Foals ended up in a raffle?
I’m sure there’s some highly nuanced, heavily writ, detailed “business decision” reasoning behind this, but what kind of raffle? Did anyone win the foal? Was it for a pre-determined amount of money?
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I know very little about ICSI, but am curious. Would you mind explaining the collection process? Brief googling just now tells me a needle is used, but I would imagine the mare is sedated, right? And I would imagine the needle would be fairly small? Will do more googling, but I didn’t realize it was potentially harmful to the mare!
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I’m also curious why you say it’s rough on the mare.
No experience in harvesting eggs in mares, but I’ve heard it’s brutal for women. I’m also curious how it’s done in horses.
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I would not even risk speculating as to the goal. Here’s one of the ads for it. Don’t think any winner has been announced.
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The OPU process itself (ova pick up… the egg retrieval) is not a walk in the park for the mare and yes they are sedated. But what’s more concerning is the degree to which the cycles must be manipulated with drugs. It’s one thing to do that once (or twice if she doesn’t get in foal on the first cycle) for a traditional breed to carry or even a “traditional” ET, but doing this over many cycles year after year is questionable for the mare. Some theriogenologists advocate for allowing the donor mare to ultimate carry a pregnancy, if she’s capable of that.
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Interesting, thank you. Most of the information I’m seeing online is from vets or vet schools that perform the procedure, where they share a pretty general rundown of how it works. I didn’t even think about how the cycles would need to be manipulated long-term for this if you were doing numerous collections on one mare. I’m not a breeder myself so I don’t know a whole heck of a lot, but I do find it all fascinating, especially with all the technology available.
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Yes, I think it’s pretty new terrain to collect multiple eggs from one mare in one season. And it’s invasive enough that you wouldn’t be doing this while actively competing, month after month. Or with a mare you loved.
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Thank you.
So you lay down your money ($100 it seems) and that goes into a pot with X number of other adventurers. If your name gets drawn, then you’re the new owner of a very young horse from among the listed group. The way it’s written, it sounds like the seller chooses which foal is sold. (But I could be wrong).
That’s an… interesting concept.
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I have seen this done in situations where a person is trying to raise $$.
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It’s also easily exploitable by the seller, i mean, who is to know that some real person actually “won” a horse and the seller didn’t just pocket the money and the list the foal in another raffle? Odds are you’ll not win, so you won’t know it was rigged.
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