That’s not a 25k foal. Sheesh.
I mean, I have a youngster that’s lived in fugsville on and off, but that’s beyond foal fuglies, IMO.
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One has to wonder in what condition are all the other foals she’s bred this year. Kate Shearer is obviously unable to afford to board them properly and doesn’t care enough to check on them.
IMHO, it’s a horrible, unprofessional, money grubbing racket that Kate Shearer has created, and she calls it a “breeding program”.
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Exactly. It’s poor nutrition since in utero.
What makes it even more unfreakingbelievable and despicable is this is the same woman who crows about the glorious alfalfa she buys here in Arizona and then ships to Florida for resale. The implication being that she’s feeding that glorious alfalfa to her own horses, in adequate amounts. I’d laugh if it weren’t so tragically sad.
She came from this state. I had heard many a story about her. It now appears they were all true.
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On one of the threads she posted that this foal was the only one looking like this because she lived inside and only went outside with a lead rope tied around her neck in a big loop necklace because she jumps the fence. I am totally horrified at the concept of an 8 month old foal receiving what sounds like an hour max of turnout per day. She also does not feed concentrate feed and said the filly was getting 16 lb of alfalfa per day to keep her thin to avoid OCD. As the kind of whacko who hired a phd nutritionist to help me develop my yearling’s feed ration, keeping them skinny actually is more likely to cause joint/cartilage issues, and feeding just alfalfa, no concentrate is not recommended by anyone to my knowledge. Add in 23 hours a day in the stall, I don’t even want to think what kind of condition this poor foal’s legs are in. But keeping it thin is where we draw the line for joint health. FFS.
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I will say, it is not unique to this poster. I went to a fancy Dutch breeding facility and they did to EVERY SINGLE HORSE. It was MADDENING. Like, I would be walking up to pet over a gate and here came the owner, swinging a leadline or lunge whip. Like. The fuck? Weird that their broodies were all shy 
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Again, more proof she has no idea how to properly manage her horses. Who leaves foals and weanlings in the stall?! If your weanling is jumping fences, you thank your lucky stars that it might have some talent and build a taller fence! And keeping them SKINNY? On purpose?! Dear lord, get this woman away from horses.
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Babies who are fed alfalfa without balancing the calcium and phosphorus levels are pretty much screwed. I knew someone who fed their really nicely bred WBs nothing but free choice alfalfa in round bales and they were all stunted for life. A Popeye K that barely broke into the 15 hand range etc
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In my opinion, the foal was jumping the fence because it was starving.
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It is certainly possible to present a weanling in good flesh and still lean, without chasing it with a whip. This guy is 6 months old in this photo.
I wouldn’t pay $500 for a foal in the condition in those photos, except to rescue it from the poor care it has received. There is no excuse for not properly managing horses, and to treat a breeding program like this is appalling. Any decent breeder would have the foals and their dams in good condition and not show photos of horses needing groceries and care, especially expecting the crazy prices asked in this case.
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I saw a group of weanlings at the local sale barn that had come all the way from Texas and were being sold again and they looked perfectly normal. This is so sad.
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I posted a close up of my weanling earlier. You don’t want them “skinny” but you also don’t want them fat. A good weight but not obese is ideal.
KS’ babies, and broodmares, are not in a healthy weight. They are abnormally underweight.
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These babies look both starving and wormy to me.
Big barrels with woolly coats, but no top line.
Absolutely appalling.
There are so many things wrong with this situation.
This woman should not be breeding horses. Nothing about this situation makes any sense. She’s not going to make a profit off breeding horses like this . She’s just going to hurt them.
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Unfortunately, she may continue to profit if people are naive enough to pay 5 figures for any of the horses she breeds, while she neglects the animals in her care.
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I doubt those foals are being fed free choice alfalfa in round bales. I haven’t seen her ads for the dairy quality alfalfa but that stuff usually doesn’t get shipped in round bales.Mostly big squares. If the babies are out with round bales it is probably locally grown hay which is usually bahia or a mix if you are in Florida. High lignin content and maybe 5 to 6% protein. Fine but not optimal for adult horses that aren’t in work but not what you would feed a weanling. Probably can’t digest it and it doesn’t have the nutrients that they need. I guess it could work if you supplemented with enough ration balancer. But not by itself.
Those foals look like the local foals from yahoos that sell for $200 as a yearling and even those CL foals look better. I can’t even imagine advertising foals that look like any of those. If you are a small breeder then your reputation depends on how your horses look. Does she think that they look good? I have never seen a foal from Iron Spring or Hilltop that look like that on Facebook or in for sale ads on the internet. I would be wanting my money back.
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I wasn’t insinuating that she was feeding free choice alfalfa in round bales. I was talking about the dangers of not balancing calcium and phosphorus in young horses which she clearly isn’t doing.
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I understand. I don’t think her husbandry is something she puts much thought into. Obviously.
She did state on FB that the horses had round bales out and she didn’t know why they were so thin.
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Well honestly, the quality of the foals bred by Kate Shearer (DHH mares x whatever popular stallion) are light years behind what Iron Springs or Hilltop’s breeding programs produce.
Any comparison is laughable.
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This one horrified me when it came across my feed a couple of months ago. The caption seems to be gone now, but if I remember correctly this is the mare whose eggs she most uses.
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Where is her farm?
I noticed she stopped posting on this thread.
This is probably more a question for the sport horse breeding forum, but is it even cost effective to have a breeding program if you have to pay board? It seems like her resources are stretched too thin if she has horses boarded everywhere. Like a classic animal hoarder situation except hard to spot because it’s a few mares and foals here, a few there…
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