I know this could fall under breeding, but I want advice from dressage people. What do I expect from an IU purchase? Should an IU purchase be cheaper than a foal on the ground because there are so many unknowns and you are only buying a pedigree, or are they expensive because they could be amazing?
What terms, guarantees are normal?
I haven’t done this before, said foal is purpose bred for dressage and seeing I’ve not bred this year, I’m wondering if this is the best alternative?
Any advice appreciated.
At a guess, I’d say a given IU foal purchase would be lower cost than a weanling of similar genetics because the buyer is assuming risk, and the seller is getting a guaranteed sale.
I am not sure how many buyers shop for true top prospects that way. If you had the cash, I think you’d wait and see what a dressage prospect looked like at age 4.
As an example, TB racing shows us how variable performance can be for foals even out of super star parents. I don’t think track people buy IU typically. They go to yearling sales instead for young stock.
I would want to look at both parents very carefully and avoid any F1 crosses like draft or harness horse because those are unpredictable. I’d also want to look at the other horses from this breeder and mare
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It’s actually common to buy IU foals in racing; the fall and winter sales offer broodmares in foal, so what you’re buying is the BM and the IU foal. Different than just buying a foal tho. But there are all kinds of arrangements where somebody privately sells one or the other—the foal or BM—in advance. I know a number of people who have done it. You just have to factor in the risk when you set the price.
I bought a 3 week old and an IU. In fact, the IU was purchased when the mare was pg with the year older sibling and before being even bred or confirmed PG. My contract had some provisions for that. With the IU, I had tried to purchase the full sibling from two years prior, then the full sibling that the mare was carrying when I struck the deal. So mine was the third full sibling and it confirmed that the cross was excellent. It was a loooong wait for the IU, particularly since, for a host of reasons, the mare did not get pg until July after the sibling was born in early March. One thing I can say is that you must have the best quality mare you can find and she should have a track record of high quality foals (my 3 week old is out of an elite mare and had really nice foals from a variety of stallions). My IU contract required a deposit that included the cost of the semen, then following a confirmed pregnancy another 20%, then the balance after the foal was born and had a positive vetting (so like a day after the birth).
My IU foal ended up being USDF HOY for current year foals in the year of his birth. He was not cheap, but he was about 20% less than the 3 week old foal that I bought who was just as well bred.
There is a lot of risk with an IU and a foal. It is important to insure the foal at birth. A friend bought an IU foal that needed umbilical hernia surgery shortly after birth. The foal also went on to win USDF HOY, but then died before the award was given due to complications (adhesions) from that original surgery. It was heartbreaking. Finally foals don’t know anything and have to figure things out and can have very stupid accidents no matter how careful you are.
Before I bought the foals, I did try to buy older horses. In my budget for two young horses, I was looking at top class foals, nice yearlings, two year olds that were either average, feral or had been injured or had chips or in the few 3-4 year olds I saw, training issues or were already 17 hands at age 3. Most of the top breeders were hanging on to the nice two year olds, to break and train for a lot more money, so if they had a two year old for sale, it was not going to be something I would want.
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