Opinions on DHH crosses for jumping?

[Warmblood1]

On Kates FB, she states that the help wasn’t feeding “them.” I assume there are many more looking like this. She says she rents 22 stalls so it could be as many as 22 horses looking like this.

I have a hard time believing that a hired horse person in Ocala with a working history would just flat out not feed the horses.

Kate has historically priced foals at ridiculous prices. Wanting 50-60k for a foal out of an unproven harness broodmare by a jumper sire. She “justifies” the prices because of the insane costs she puts into getting a foal on the ground. She does ICSI with recipients using expensive frozen semen that is usually old and likely takes multiple attempts, while paying board on up to 22 horses. I do not see her foals selling. I would imagine she is not in a great position financially. I have to wonder if the help was stranded with a farm with very few resources, if any.

I also saw someone state they leased a horse to Kate and it went very badly as far as care.

REGARDLESS, how anyone leaves and doesn’t ask for pictures of their beloved breeding stock is absolutely beyond me. This is all on her and I’m sure she is going to do everything she can to ruin the name of whoever it is she hired, whether they had anything to do with this or not.

Absolutely no ethics here.

And Christ on a bike, who locks a weanling in a stall 23 hours a day? With no food and water. That poor baby. I can’t imagine the psychological damage that been done as well. Just sickening.

[fargaloo1]

I’ve met quite a few in the horse industry who “lack social skills” but can be fabulous horse people. However, the ones who are total jerks to people are usually total jerks to their horses, too.

[Warmblood1]

@SusanO

She did state on FB that the horses had round bales out and she didn’t know why they were so thin.

I mean, she is in FL, right? How long is a round bale going to be any good in heat, humidity and rain? Did she just dump a round bale out, let it rot and expect that to be sufficient?

[skydy]

It seems she doesn’t own her own farm. She boards for 450.00 per month? The information is conflicting and confusing, and not what one would expect from any reputable breeder.

[fordtraktor]

She didn’t state she has round bales in the fields with the horses as far as I saw. She has round bales maybe. Not in the fields, probably. And I have rounds in my fields, and feed minimal concentrate (1 cup/day plus Vit E) to my weanlings and they are fat.

If she doesn’t know why they are thin, she should maybe look into it before they get posted on the Internet in this condition!

[SusanO]

She is in Florida and I doubt she has round bales shipped in. So that would be local grass which is mostly bahia. You are farther north (midwest?) so you have better grass than Florida so your roundbales would be better quality. I do think Ocala has less sandy soil than the other parts of Florida so maybe she has some bermuda too. Bahia is a tough grass but not very nutritious. My horses do not consider it a food source. They much prefer northern hay.

I will look back at her FB posts where she said she had 200 bales of hay and roundbales.

[Tha_Ridge]

She also lost an Ogano Sitte colt at 12 days old this year… Can’t remember the exact circumstances, but I remember that the recip mare did not look great, IMO, after foaling:

[Tha_Ridge]

Also, here’s the Chacco Blue filly posted upthread at birth:

[skydy]

Oh, the foal’s contracted limbs. I wonder if it had any veterinary care to address them…

[SusanO]

From her FB post re the situation. “There are 200 bales sitting in the feed shed and round bales in the pasture”.

But poor quality hay in a round bale isn’t going to help much. I don’t care whose semen it is you have to have decent husbandry to produce good foals. Nothing from the pictures suggests that care and feeding is a top priority.

[Rumorhasit93]

I don’t know anything about breeding nutrition to comment above, but that disgusting stall and condition of the mare is enough for me to know she has no clue what she’s doing.

I worked at a barn with foals (one per season) and we had deeply bedded straw stalls. Here’s “our” Clearway foal from several years ago. I thought I had a picture with more of the mare, but you can tell from this her health.

[Tha_Ridge]

Well, the poor thing only lived 12 days so hopefully it didn’t suffer too much. There’s a video of it cantering alongside the visibly lame (and still thin) mare.

[skydy]

Oh dear. I don’t want to see. How can people be so heartless.

[Tha_Ridge]

I didn’t read Susan’s post as defending KS at all.

[Scribbler]

Can any Florida peeps get the SPCA or equivalent monitoring this (literal) shit show? It’s so much worse than I guessed just watching her as a sociopathic train wreck.
.

[fordtraktor]

Apologies, you were just conveying from her claims. It is clear they weren’t accurate.

[SusanO]

No. I am not defending her. I think her horses look horrible. I would be horrified if any of mine looked like hers. I just question that her horses are getting any of that alfalfa. My thought is that they look like they are getting a bunch of crap local hay and no supplementation. I am in central Alabama so not as far south as she is and round bales here are not made of the same quality grass as is grown farther north.

My horses are too fat (BSC 8’s) and get minimal RB. But I don’t feed them crap hay. AND none of them are in foal or nursing a foal.

[skydy]

I got the impression that Kate Shearer was paying to board some horses (at a self care place?) for $450.00 a month, hired some unknown person to feed them and didn’t check on the horses for 30 days. I could be wrong. Am I confused? Does this woman actually own a farm?

The horses didn’t look good when she left them.

[skydy]

Yes, people that have even the most basic understanding of equine breeding, and who care about their horses, don’t keep thin mares and foals in filthy stalls.

Breeding 101. Nutrition, hygiene, veterinary care.

[skydy]

@Warmblood1

I have a hard time believing that a hired horse person in Ocala with a working history would just flat out not feed the horses.

I think you’re right. That just doesn’t wash.

Unless, the people were hired and not paid and the person who hired them was MIA for a month. I can see someone being unable to afford the gas to get to work if they weren’t being paid, but if they were experienced in the industry you know they would have told someone that they couldn’t keep working.

If they were inexperienced (which I find more likely) they might not know to make a fuss, since apparently there were other people around at this farm.