We started our Thoroughbred horse business in July last year when we purchased our first broodmare (in-foal), she had a lovely filly in September. The plan is we want to buy, sell and breed horses, and hopefully turn a profit doing so.
Our filly, who is now 9 months old, sold yesterday, we set a perhaps conservative reserve, and happy to say she sold for 1.6 times the reserve.
The reason for the conservative reserve is that we need to get some cash back into the business, and if we were to keep her to sell as a yearling we would have been looking at another $5-7,000 in expenses, and maybe get another $2-3,000 profit for it. But while you hold horses there are always risks, especially with young horses, and because their aim is to be a racehorse, if anything goes wrong, either with their legs or respiratory system, you can end up spending alot of money on a horse worth nothing.
So while we're trying to establish our business our motto is sell sell sell, once we've made millions we can keep all the babies and enjoy them, but that's a way off the track.
The good news is I didn't cry as she went through the salesring (yes I was close to tears I'll admit), and she has gone to a good home, I spoke to the buyers afterwards, they are keen to get her to the track as a 2yo, so that will be in our favour if she can run early, it will help our subsequent foals sell.
The farm she's going to is only an hour and a half up the road, and I've got an open invite to go see her, so that's good news also.
The bad news is I feel like I've sold a child, yes stupid I know, but I was there when she was born, have dealt/played with her almost every day since then, I helped her take her first suckle of milk, and to get to her feet, I weaned her from her mum, and taught her how to be a horse, not a foal.
I guess it just proves I'm not as hardened as I should be after 15 years in the thoroughbred game, and to be honest, I don't think that's a bad thing, there are alot of people out there who treat there horses as just assets, with little to no emotional attachment. While I want our business to succeed, I never want to lose my love of horses, and only see them as $ signs!
Good luck little filly, I'll be following your every step :)
No comments:
Post a Comment