The Business of Horses - Foundation Horses

If Paint is a Quarter Horse with excessive white, whatAnother sire of trotters was the stallion, Justin Morgan.
is a Quarter Horse? A Quarter Horse is aJustin Morgan is recognized as the founding sire of the
Thoroughbred outcross. A Thoroughbred is an ArabianMorgan Horse. In some circles, he was also thought to
outcross.be descended from Thoroughbred breeding.
When the Foundation Registries started up, I wasToday's foundation breeders are for the most part
amazed to learn that Poco Bueno was a foundationtrying to revert to the past when the horse was used
sire. I thought that he was the great grandson of afor a variety of jobs. He pulled the plow or delivery
foundation sire. Some of the leading Paint sires of ourwagon all week and on Sundays was the family
time are Quarter Horses. Painted Robin, Triples Titanbuggy horse or was at the bush track running against
are just two that come to mind. In today's registry,other horses.
they could be registered as Quarter Horses but not inThe breed registries are starting to realize that most
the Regular Paint registry. Why? They do not haveof horses, people own in today's world, do a multitude
one registered Paint parent.of tasks. They are used to work cattle, teach the kids
Appaloosa breeders have the same background.how to ride, barrel race for Mom and rope for Dad
Bright Eyes Brother, Hall of Fame sire is by a Quarterand still look good enough to show at halter in the
Horse, Billy Maddon, out of a Quarter Horse mare,morning and do performance events in the afternoon.
Plaudette, who produced a Quarter Horse ChampionIn the market, these horses are still bringing decent
Running Mare, Maddon's Bright Eyes. Plaudette was byprices as compared to the one-event horses where
a Thoroughbred, King Plaudit out of a Peter McCuethe demand has dropped dramatically. I monitor several
mare.sales across the nation and have watched what used
When the Thoroughbred was first being developed,to be really hot breeding, sired by leading sires, bring
they were the products of three Arabian stallions. Youless than the stud fee. If you have training and upkeep
could not have a Thoroughbred without being able toadded in, you really have a loss that the IRS is going to
trace back to one or more of those three stallions.question at some time about your profit motive if you
The three were the Byerly Turk, the Godolphin Barbhave one.
and the Darley Arabian.As one person put it, you need to get rid of ones that
The Byerly Turk's most prominent descendant wasyou are just feeding and buy one or two really good
Herod. The horse, Matchem, was a grandson of theones. If you are breeding because you have mares
Barb and the Darley Arabian sired two great horsesand a stallion and are selling the results for canner
that went on to out produce themselves, Flyingprices, you may want to change your program
Childers and Barlett's Childers.completely. From a business standpoint, and the IRS's,
Up to 1940, the Arabian Registry was part of thethat will make more sense than holding on to what you
American Studbook maintained by the Americanhave and trying to make a profit. I have heard all the
Jockey Club in this country. Which brought up somestories about how the public does not know a good
interesting complexities in later years. Remember thathorse when they see one but who else is going to buy
a Thoroughbred produced some of the leadingthe horse. That applies to those horses that are
Quarter Horse stallions and mares. There was anfoundation breeding (?) as well as the ones that are
Arabian stallion in Colorado who produced Arabians,not.
Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. He had an AHRWhen something first gets hot, lots of us get lucky and
number and a JC number and so his get were able todo really well at first. Then the market becomes more
be registered in several registries depending on theeducated and shifts to a more realistic view of things
mare's breed.and everything shifts back to normal. At that time, if
The Saddlebred as we know it now did not exist ayou have been watching and listening to the buying
century ago. The history of the breed starts in Virginia,public, you will have upgraded your program and still be
Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri. Much of theable to break even, in most cases.
development was done in Kentucky and so they wereI don't have a problem with foundation breeding
known as 'Kentucky saddle horses'. Most of thebecause at one time or another in my life with horses, I
earliest registered horses had some Thoroughbredhave bred, trained or sold horses that are considered
blood crossed on trotting and slow pacing mares.foundation in today's world. But as the market shifted, I
They were able to walk, trot, canter and they alsohad a choice, either to make a living or to find new
were capable of racking, doing a running walk or foxemployment.
trotting or slow pace. I bet you thought that onlyIf you are profit motivated, you will continually be
Tennessee Walkers did that. Those saddle horseslooking for ways to improve your profit margins. If you
that did the running walk are the foundation of today'sare a hobbyist, you may not care at first but at some
Walking Horses.time you will want sell or trade your horse(s) for a
One of the foundation sires for today's Standardbreddifferent one. One always wants to recoup some of
was a Thoroughbred named Messenger. While he didthe investment that you have put in the horse and the
not produce any trotters himself, his son Mambrinoonly way to do that is to have something the public
produced Abdallah a noted sire of trotters in America.wants to buy.