I was kind of tempted to write a post about how I have seen the light about the evils of private horse ownership after hanging out with my friends at that scary, radical HSUS organization, and therefore had driven to Montana today to release my horses into the wild to live with others of their kind. :-) But then I realized that, even if you didn't catch the date:
a) my horses follow me around with or without a rope, so it would be really hard to set them free unless I got back in the truck and drove so fast they couldn't keep up. Apparently they are fond of being domesticated. It seems to have something to do with those crescent-shaped apple flavored cookies...
b) some dumbass would send the blog entry all over the web on days that were not April 1st and claim to have discovered my true colors.
So I will skip that entry, amusing though it could have been, and proceed to another question that's on my mind this time of year.
Someone sent me a thread from a message board where someone was talking about big name stallions they are considering breeding their grade, unspectacular pony to. We wondered if any of the big name stallions' owners would say "oh HELL no" to that idea.
Stallion owners - have you had to say no? I know some of you aren't very anon here, so if you want, all you have to do is make a 2nd google account so that you can be anon with your answer today if you want. I'm interested in hearing if you've turned down a mare or more than one due to the fact that you didn't feel the mare was a match for your stallion based upon quality or another reason (too lame, showed up in too poor condition to breed, HYPP or other genetic defect status, etc.)
How did you deal with having to say no? Did the mare owner throw the hissy fit of all hissy fits? What advice would you have for others dealing with these difficult situations? I know some people who simply don't stand their stallions to outside mares anymore because they don't want to have the hassle and don't want sub-par foals out there making their stallion look bad. They want to control exactly what he is bred to. But if your stallion does stand to the public - how do you handle quality control? I'm particularly interested if you have a stallion that is a Beginner Breeder magnet - buckskin, palomino, leopard appy, Gypsy Vanner, Friesian, you get the idea.
And has anybody ever been sued for refusing to breed a mare if the stallion was at public stud and the mare owner had the money? I think that's a fascinating question, because I can totally see Ms. Fugly Mare Owner stomping her foot and suing Mr. Discriminating Stallion Owner if she suspects that the reason her mare was rejected was that Stallion Owner thinks the mare is a POS. I know we have some equine attorneys reading, so I'd love to hear any stories!
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