Only thing I can suggest is that she does use top name sires. May not be my choice (Im more about dressage) but I can see that is a catch. Maybe.
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People buy the aire name for sure and may assume that if you are sourcing these stallions, you are using good enough mares. And they donât understand that not all horses under the KWPN banner are riding horses
People would be happy enough to buy Big Name Stud x Decent OTTB mare, especially if itâs in a real WB registry, even if itâs not. And those would be way better sport horse prospects.
Also itâs true that many ammies donât have a good eye for functional confirmation, as witness all the people buying Friesians for dressage 
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You could throw a dart and have a better experience buying a young horse. She doesnât have some exclusive market on name recognition stallions. Nor is she cheaper than the prices of other foals. You could walk up to the hunter breeding right and buy one showing on the line for her prices. I truly DONâT GET IT. Itâs like she has some sort of direct line to the worldâs greatest collection of clueless buyers or something?
A friend of mine currently has roughly a dozen TOP bred foals (and had some in utero, though I think all have now been born or maybe 1 still to be born) for sale. Everything from pre-weaning through 3 year old. Some with experience showing on the line. All papered with real registries and no oddness in the pedigree. Some of the older ones with national titles. Most by stallion names youâd recognize. Handled, in tip top shape, nice seller to deal with, located in a relatively good part of the country for horse sports. Other than the top 3-4, all priced at or below what this breeder claims sheâs selling her horses for. And this person still has her horses for sale.
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Given this breederâs history of fabrication, I donât believe for one minute thatâs sheâs getting the prices that she claims.
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I assume her ability to sell these foals/young horses is dependent on a few things
- Selling them for less than the asking price. âHey, Iâll sell you this $20k foal for $10k, what a steal!â There is no reason to update an old ad to say the horse went for less, leading to people assuming the horse actually went for something near the asking price.
- Undeserning buyers. People make bad horse-buying decisions all the time. I had a friend who repeatedly bought $1k horses off Craigslist because, according to her, she couldnât afford better, and all of these horses had issues or wound up with them. She spent more money dealing with these issues/buying multiple horses than it would take for her to have bought one decent horse. There are absolutely buyers who will look at those broodmares and see nothing wrong.
- Many people donât do basic due diligence. The amount of people Iâve met who will get a pet without even Googling how to care for said pet is astonishing! So there are people who see Famous Stallion and KWPN Mare in the ad and say âPerfect. Obviously that means this is an Olympic hopeful and I have no reason to dig furtherâ. Why would they look up anything about the breeder, mares, or siblings? Itâs not like someone would sell a less-than-stellar horse and lie about it.
- Many people can be convinced to just⊠buy an animal. A relative got a puppy recently. A client of hers breeds mini-Aussies (Red Flag 1) and offered Relative (Red Flag 2) one after she mentioned that she was looking for a family dog. Relativeâs only previous dog was her childhood dog (a golden retriever). Her spouse and the other adults living in the house (all with lots of dog experience) said this was a terrible choice as this dog would need a ton of training. My relative got the dog anyway! And no, it hasnât gotten training and several months later is a tiny little menace.
- People who do see at least some of the problems, but think one might be a good diamond-in-the-rough. Maybe X mare isnât the worst and the stallion is decent, so they could make this work.
- I doubt Kate is a picky seller. I have to imagine sheâd be willing to sell the foals to anyone with money (so long as she hasnât fallen out with them). The breeders/sellers I know do vet buyers to make sure theyâre not sending one of their beloved horses to a bad situation. Ex. theyâre not going to send a spicy weanling to an ammy home where the owner has made it clear theyâre never going to work with a trainer because itâs a racket.
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Which would leave her about 1% of that market!
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Who would buy a foal in utero without seeing the dam and researching her performance record and/or pedigree? That would be pretty dumb.
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thereâs a sucker born every minute, and people like to think theyâre getting on the âbottom floorâ or perhaps getting a deal
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I was trying desperately to delete this, because this is a completely different topic that is likely to veer off in different directions, and Iâm just grumpy today 
Carry on!
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No sweat. 
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I think she attracts a certain type of buyer. Kate can lay out a line to rival the greatest con artist so in essence she baffles them with bs. The prospective buyer is dazzled by her nonsense plus the recognition of the big name sire. These are the same types of people that fall for every new supplement or feed that comes along. In the dressage forum there is a thread about some âwitchâ that can make your horse sound, calm, and an Olympic mover just by her adjusting the horses shoulder or some such nonsense. Itâs nuts, when really what the horse needed was less rich food, turn out with other horses, and for the rider to let go of their face and to ride forward.
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There are very dumb people on the world and some of them buy horses. It isnât even that hard!
Think of all the absolutely hideously conformed, no-performance record studs youâve seen advertised. There are people willing to breed their mares to horses like that. So there are people who buy in utero.
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And to this point, the reputable Spy Coast that Iâve referenced in this thread, requires a trainer present for trials. Keeps the looky-loos out as well as ensuring the horse goes to a knowledgeable home.
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You could buy in utero by those same stallions out of proven broodmares for way less. She may be a bad horse caretaker but she must be a hell of a salesman.
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Itâs very possible she gives a âdiscount.â But yes, to me it is a complete mystery
It is definitely possible that she discounts them sometimes but the subject of this thread was reportedly sold for 25k. That is nuts even if the horse wasnât starved.
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There was a Dutch harness horse class at live oak today. Thought it was an exhibition but they gave out ribbons. Anyway they were really impressive, and I see why they like them for Saddle bred/saddle seat type classes (I donât know the proper terminology). It was pretty cool.
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This kind of touches on what I was saying with the Paige Cade article - Kate does a great job actually SELLING her babies. You donât have to go looking to know she exists and her foals are available. She figures out what motivates her target buyer demographic and then runs her business to market to them.
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The only reason I know Kate exists is because of the constant online drama and the allegations of horse neglect, not because her horses are hugely successful or the offspring are doing well competitively. I donât even know that many of her horses have sold.
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You arenât her target buyer though. Iâm surprised you havenât seen the constant FB ads with pricing specials and photos of the famous sire doing impressive things. Itâs a shame she canât use her considerable skill in certain areas for more productive endeavors
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