[QUOTE=AlexS;7294762]
I do believe that you have marketed [XYZ] as being the best of the best - we read other boards you know.
…
Honestly I am happy to see you market your stallion as middle of the road, and I think this is a change and also more realist.[/QUOTE]
I can see the ads now, “Sorry, we were full of crap. After 20 years, we now admit that our stallion ain’t got no talent or potential at all.” :no: :lol: 
But before you go too far down this road you might want to do a quick overview of the very top farms in North American, and in Europe, including those whose owners have millions and millions to spend on the very best of everything, best bloodlines (supposedly), best trainers, best riders, best show venues, etc. Percentage wise, most stallions don’t do anywhere near as well as people assume. And more on point, very few people have the money to get a horse in the right hands, at the right competitions, over the right length of time, to show the world what all the stallion (or his offspring) can do. A performance record is a reflection of talent and money, lots of money… lots and lots of it.
Take an objective look at all of these acclaimed, high profile, highly touted stallions owned by wealthy farms. Many of them never did more than their stallion testing. Many of them had one brief moment, and then failed at a performance career. Many of them have been given every possible chance to succeed, both in competition and as a sire, and they have utterly failed. Many have had access to extraordinary mares, and the benefits of registry ties, and still we can look back and see that they were not good producers. A lot of them were never more than slick ads, a stunning facility, registry connections, and the, “we can’t compete him because we’re too busy breeding him” line of baloney. One could make the strong argument that there was no excuse for their lack of brilliance and success other than lack of talent and ability.
When a stallion is owned by one of us “regular folks” of modest means, it’s not at all surprising that there isn’t some huge performance record. There are very finite limits to what most people can afford to spend on the performance career of a breeding stallion, especially in the 2013 market. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the stallion lacks talent and potential.
I think there is an upside to diversity and having options. Over time the market place will be the ultimate test. If we limited available stallions to only those owned by people with huge check books, who can afford the best riders and trainers, and all of the rest of what it takes so show these days, we’d all be screwed. Wealthy people get it wrong every bit as often as the rest of us. And it isn’t a colored vs. solid thing. Hell, there are registries full of highly touted solid colored stallions that - over time - proved to be extremely mediocre at stud. Heck, many of the stallions that people rave about today, they will wish they’d avoided given a few years of hindsight.
But, other than the foregoing, I really have no opinion on the matter :lol:
