What is a stallion-owner supposed to do?"

Although I cannot speak for all stallion owners, I can surely speak for myself and maybe a couple of other persons with whom I've talked about this very thing in the past. I speak of mare owners and breeding contracts.

As was done in previous times by many stallion owners, I also used to breed mares for people with just a verbal agreement and a payment. When their foal was on the ground and nursing, I signed the legal document called "Registration Application" (with regard to the APHA). I'd always usually get to see the foal one of two ways...either by the owner returning the mare for breeding again, or with pictures sent to me by the mare owners.

It seems most mare owners are as eager to show off their new charge as are the stallion owners to see them! Personally, I must say that up until the past 2 years, I've never had a problem with a mare owner showing me their brand new bouncing babies. Only with two persons have I EVER had trouble in over 20 years of the horse business....one gal said she needed time to pay, and I never got paid all of the monies due me....and both are since I started standing a homozygous stallion. Then she had the nerve to ask me to rebreed her mares, over a year later, as both had lost their foals? I don't think so. I should have had the death certificates OR the mares back for breeding right away, not a year down the road when her colored foals were long since weaned and sold and she had her money and there was no way to trace these foals! Colored foals bring decent money even without papers. With the wonderful homozygous tobiano have some several more new scams.....

The second person was a fella whom I really thought I treated well, considered a friend, and at one time, would have done anything for. We were strictly on a platonic basis, no doubt. This person made 3 times what I did, but wanted to make time payments, etc., and due to trust, it would take me months and months to even get a payment at times, no matter how small. In amongst this all going on, we did some occasional trading. When we parted ways, we had signed a document together that all debts were satisfied between us. Money is not the issue right now with him, although I understand he's telling I stuck him for money.

In any case, somewhere along the line, he decided he wanted signed breeding contracts. Due to the other gal sticking me for several hundred dollars, and that I had a homozygous stallion, contracts didn't seem to be a bad idea. (I decided to do contracts for anyone whom I had problems with, or did not know. For those who have bred horses with me for a few years, I left it up to them if they want things in writing. Those who know me KNOW that when I breed their mare, I'll do everything I can to get her in foal and DO deliver registration applications upon proof of their births. Some people's words are honorable, so on occasion, I don't even require to see photos, etc.)

In light of my being the stallion owner, it is SOLELY up to me, or any stallion owner, whose mare will serviced, what requirements are listed for the mare/mare owner, and whether or not a contract is needed or shall be enforced if the mare owner breaks the contract. Most people don't know that. To make a long story short, this mare owner booked a few mares to one of my stallions. At the time of this incident, I did have two stallions, and later he decided to use one mare on the other horse. So, he paid me the deposit down on the fee to reserve himself a spot, and now over a year later, I am STILL trying to get a signed contract for this breeding.

I know I bred the mare and that she is in foal. I also know that the person paid for the fee, eventually. I really don't care, for these two reasons, whether or not I have a contract for this particular mating, and will gladly give up the signed slip needed to register the foal when I see a photo of it with it's mother.

The thing with this situation is that this person ranted and raved that I didn't have contracts with him, and HE is the one who won't sign and return the document...after having been given many requests to do so. I gave him a hard copy last year, and have since given him a copy via electronic mail from a file in my hard drive.

Now he complains that he has to sign a blank contract. Well everyone, needless to say, this is the way many others and I do it. Let me give you some information. The reasons people do contracts can be varied and many. I will explain several here, and I'm sure I'll have many stallion owners agree with me. Probably some as well who don't. That's life. I require that the mare owner take the contract, read it, and return it to me all signed and dated with the booking fee enclosed. At this point, I then sign and date the contract, sometimes note any payments made, or other little notes pertinent to that particular transaction, and then return copy with my original signature on it to the mare owner.

I WILL NEVER send out a signed blank contract as any person could take it, sign it themselves--having filled in all the blanks about what was paid, etc...--and then take me to court and either get a free breeding or get money back that they never paid for in the first place. If they said cash was paid, I would have NO way of proving otherwise, and would obviously lose any lawsuit of this nature.

When the mare owner sends the contract back, they of course will send a ($$) check, which IS their proof of the contract being started, and if I were to take their money and never send the contract back, for example, then they would have legal and provable recourse against me. But if I sign and send it out, needless to say, I'm hung if anyone were crooked enough to do that kind of thing....and I do know people who would be that way.

Breeding contracts cover both the mare owner and the stallion owner. Let's say something would happen to me and there would be no one to sign the registration slip for the new baby. With the contract, at least the mare owner could go to the proper breed association and present a copy of his signed contract and copies of cancelled checks to them and prove that he/she did indeed contract and receive a breeding to whichever stallion, and thereby receive registration on the foal.

Most contracts have clauses in them....no hind shoes, negative EIA, clean culture on non-maiden mares, and so on and so forth. Mare owners...there are reasons for these things! Shoes are to be removed because, God forbid, if the stallion ends up taking a kick from a mare, it's far less damaging when there isn't a bunch of iron in front of the whollop he's about to receive. Hooves flex a little, steel--in this case--does not. And a well-placed kick can render a stallion useless for the rest of his life in a heartbeat, too. Negative EIA is a given, hands down. However, since it is passed along through biting insects, I'm not totally opposed to mares coming for breeding when it is COLD who do not have test results in hand.

There are no biting insects in January and February, etc. However, I do ask for it ...just to be on the safe side. Should the State ever walk in and want to see test results...you bet I'd want to have them on hand for two years prior! Non-maiden clean cultures. What is all this? Let me tell you...it means get samples taken from your mare, internally, and have them incubated (via your vets) to see if anything grows...strep infections, or any other kind of infection.

When the stallion who live covers enters the mare, he is being exposed to this mare's insides, point blank, and if she has something, you can bet he's now got it too. Then when he goes to cover another mare, she has it, and so on down the line. It's usually way too late by the time you figure out something is wrong and what it is....several horses are infected and this means the stallion owner and other mare owners are looking at expensive vet bills. I, as the stallion owner, could end up in court, too. Why? Because let's say a mare owner came with negative culture, but some weeks down the road found that his/her mare had infection.

Mare owner would know where the infection came from, and of course it would be the stallion. He got it from another mare who came in without a clean culture. Infected horses don't always discharge, so just because a horse looks good, or "feels" good inside, does not mean she is clean. Interstate papers are of no value to stallion owners, as they have nothing on them but maybe temperature, the horse looks good to sight, breathing is ok, and other irrelevant items.

When you sign a contract for negative culture, that's just what it means...clean test results. I, personally, do not always require cultures on maiden mares because they shouldn't have anything ever put into them that would cause an infection. However, on maidens whom I know or suspect of having been exposed to over-active geldings, or who have been exposed to someone else's stallion and maybe didn't settle...I do require clean culture. I just don't want my stallion taking a chance on getting infected. The stud fee probably won't pay the vet bills, nor should it have to.

Why don't some stallion owners offer discounts for grade mares? Well, let me tell you...a paperless mare is no less dangerous or any less work than one with papers..bottom line. Why don't some offer discounts on multiple mares? For those who stand homozygous stallions, the reason is because you are GUARANTEED a colored foal at the end of an eleven-month wait. And for those like me who only charge $500 & $750 for this kind of guarantee with a quality stallion such as we may have...this already is a discount. Remember the costs involved in buying good colored stock outright? Some persons have spent considerable amounts of money on their stallions' purchase prices....some of us have raised our stallions. I've had comments made about my horse because he didn't cost me much...I owned the mare. Well let me tell you who think on these lines...if my horse were to die from infection from one of your mares....do you have ANY idea what it would take to replace him?

You certainly would not want to pay the costs. You don't consider always what the stallion costs...you have to use replacement costs. My horse isn't the best in the world, by a long shot. However, he is the only foundation-bred, homozygous, muscle horse you'll find for miles in my area, and it would take a LOT of money to buy the horse from me, IF I'd even sell him. And if someone else had him, I know that I'd not get him bought cheaply.

He is naturally packed with muscle, good-tempered, short-coupled, guarantees colored foals to ANY mare, wide, square, and carries no lethal white....so even a carrier mare would never have a lethal foal. So many have gone to the really tall and modern kind of horse. It would do me no good to go that route because most everyone else has one. So I'll just stick with my older-style muscle horse and let him make his own way. Some people still believe in this kind of animal. Since there are so few around, needless to say, I'd hate to guess just how much it would cost me to buy one like him outright...that depending upon if I could even find one TO buy.

My contract also states in it that the live foal guarantee is only between original mare owner/lessee and stallion owner. Why is this? Because if I breed someone's mare and they sell her, the new owners could abuse, or overwork, or do anything to cause this mare to lose her foal. I am then stuck rebreeding the mare for nothing, when in all actuality, she should have carried to term. If a mare is sold or leased away, I will only upon live foal issue a registration slip. Guarantee of live foal is between the original owner/breeder and the buyer/lessee, NOT the stallion owner and the buyer/lessee. There is no variance on this point with me....I just will not be responsible for someone else's actions.

If someone's mare dies in their care, a substitute mare is granted full rights to return to the stallion, but death certificates are required. Otherwise, someone could tell me their mare died, sell her and/or the foal, and bring another mare and get another foal for nothing. It's not going to happen, folks, I'm sorry. If, however, I know for a fact the mare is dead myself, I of course have no problem working things out with the owner. Contracts cover, for the most part, persons far away, or unknown to the stallion owner, and other such circumstances. I am a very reasonable person, and those who know me also know this and know I bend over backwards to get a person their new foal.

What if I sell a mare of my own in foal? Well, I cannot be responsible for the loss of the foal once they take her home. If she delivers to term, then registration paperwork is issued. However, since I do not know how they will take care of this mare, I don't guarantee that the mare will STAY in foal, or that she won't have trouble birthing. Mother Nature sometimes does what she will with no request of input from us as to what we would like to happen. Once the mare leaves the farm, there is NO way on earth a stallion owner can baby-sit her for the rest of her months of pregnancy.

Once someone buys a pregnant mare, it is their responsibility to see to her every need. My advice on buying any horse is to have a pre-purchase exam...especially where large dollar amounts are at stake. If you, the buyer, do not have one, then come what may and you eat it. If you buy a horse sight unseen, then shame on you for even trying to blame someone else for a bad decision you may have made. But if you go and look at the horse in person and even though may see things wrong go ahead and buy the horse, don't expect to come back on the seller and try to collect!

If you have problems with the horse you're looking at, discuss and document with the seller what it is that bothers you--BEFORE you buy. Ask for written guarantees. If you don't ask for these things, then shame on you again. If you see problems that you don't like...consider this...there are many more horses in the pastures! Go elsewhere to buy, plain and simple.

If I would consider guaranteeing a mare to deliver to term, you can bet I would put it in writing....I've no problem with that at all. I want my clients to know I am honest and willing to back what I say. But if I don't guarantee a live foal, then don't come back on me sometime down the road trying to change the rules to suit your needs. Why might I not guarantee a live foal? Because I don't know what kind of care you may give the mare. I may be selling the mare as a rider, or a show horse. She may not be the color I like. The reasons could be many. For myself, however, I can't afford to feed a horse for nothing, so I don't have geldings on the place--in that I don't ride anymore; and, mares are in foal to help earn their keep.

My keepers, of course, get a rest periodically...I have a problem personally with keeping a mare pregnant most of her life. I believe they deserve rests, so after three foals, they get a year off. So if and when I decide to sell a mare, she is either in foal, or she is not. But I don't guarantee a live foal, I simply cannot. I can only state she is in foal, if that is the case. And anyone who would absolutely say "Yes, she will foal and I will guarantee it." is a fool.

A better thing would be to either document the pregnancy on paper for the buyer and what will or will not be done. If I were to buy a mare in foal, written paperwork is certainly something I'd ask for! Also, when I sell a mare pushing her as pregnant for the high selling point, the cost is higher than what it would be if she were advertised as some other type of horse, or just notated as bred, for example.

This last particular situation has never happened to me, but I'm sure it has happened to many in the past, and will happen to others in the future. This whole piece is just to explain a little of what we stallion owners have to take into consideration all the time....and if mare owners are aware of the huge responsibility we take on by breeding mares for the public, perhaps there would be better business relations. With understanding come pleasant relationships.

In summary, I am speaking on my own behalf out of experience with a few of these things I've talked about. Maybe other stallion owners can identify, maybe some can't. But for the mare owners who have not thought of some of these things from the stallion owner's perspectives....perhaps this will give you a little food for thought.

Thank you for taking the time to read this....

Colorfully yours.....
Carolyn Schultz of Harlequin Ranch, Monroe, WI
Home of: HARLEQUINS LINCOLN
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