Lynn Crowden is the owner and manager of the Woodlander Stud, one of Great Britain's leading dressage brood farms and stallion stations. For twenty years Crowden has used German mares to breed top competition horses.
She produces horses from foals to ridden but has also learned that one cannot know the quality of what one has bred without access to the best training and riding. Woodlander Stud has bred over 200 foals. Read Lynn's blog entry in which she praises the Hobby Breeder.
Long Live the ‘Hobby Breeder’
Picking up on something I mentioned briefly in my last blog, there is a bit of a debate raging at the moment over the role of the "hobby breeder" and their contribution to the downward pressure on the price of foals and youngsters……
Firstly, I come from a school of thought that recognizes that most of the best horses in the world will have been bred by "hobby breeders" (from now on HBs) even if they have bred many horses and breed from a number of mares in any season. The reason for this is that the backbone of all continental studbooks for warmbloods is the small breeder with one or two mares or perhaps even a small mare family. These breeders have other sources of income, perhaps a profession, maybe a farm or maybe a horse business with liveries. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and they breed and show for pleasure. Yes, the top foals and youngstock from these best lines will command a premium over more ordinary foals but these breeders do not live on their income from the sale of their stock. The proceeds merely enable them to continue breeding. We are all, therefore, including Woodlander Stud, HBs!
Sur le continent, the HB is supported by a system of ‘producers’ who buy the foals, mostly but not always and the colts and run them on with an eye on the stallion market. These producers are often stallion keepers or owners and will buy in the best of the progeny from their stallions. Their motivation is clear and by and large, they do not run mares of their own but depend on the foals from the best mares for their forward stock.
For those breeders who wish to manage the sale of their own youngsters, the studbooks and the stallion stations run shows where the top placed foals will be eligible for one of several auctions, per studbook, where foals are sold. Even in the biggest auctions, the prices will range from around £3000 to upwards of £30,000 for something very desirable. I did once bid up to E28,000 for a very special foal and did that believing that I would have never afforded her later given her provenance, movement and type.
On the financial front, far from creating a disorderly market, I find that the "hobby breeder" is more likely to ask too high a price for a foal, often because they are not objectively able to position their foal in terms of quality. They also adopt a cost plus attitude and it is not always possible to realise what you have invested if the foal is a bit ordinary. The "commercial" breeder will behave like a retailer and will often reduce stock at certain times of the year to make room for the activities to follow.
We should distinguish between the HB and the very amateur breeder who MAY be undiscerning and breed from poor mares and unlicensed stallions and may have a cute foal which they sell for almost no money. The discerning buyer will know the difference between the likelihood of this youngster making it to the top and one bought from a reputable source with a good mother parentage.
Long live the ‘hobby breeder’ – a passionate and creative optimist who does a wonderful job just for the love of it.
-- by Lynne Crowden for Horse Hero
Blog entry reproduced with kind permission of Horse Hero.
Lots more of Lynne's blogs on www.horsehero.com plus the official Laura Bechtolsheimer blog and other dressage riders, as well as videos made with Lynne, Laura, and many more...
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