"December to February is the evaluation and forward planning part of the year. I can safely say that we have never had so many calls for us to advertise; at one point Brian was taking up to six calls a day from various papers and magazines. It's hard but the stud business in the UK is difficult and it's easy to spend more than your income on the tempting packages on offer, but we stuck to our strategy set in December and went for a full page ad in Horse Deals. Also H&C's Stud Break is an amazing opportunity for stallion owners to advertise and I hope people will sit up and take note!

Pound stretcher

Our budget has to stretch to also cover our continued support of the one and only prestigious sport horse auction we have in the UK, the Brightwells auction. It has been hard cutting back and resisting the tempting offers posed. It's the side of stud work that no one thinks about. 

What's wrong with this picture?

Even the vet tried to entice us to spend money before it has been earned; a cleverly worded letter arrived advising us of new "recommendations" to stallion owners introducing even more swabs for the AI-only stallions at a cost of over £450 per horse. Now here's  a scenario for you to consider: In the UK stallions who cover naturally (and are therefore more at risk from spreading and contracting diseases such as CEM or EVA) do not have to be swabbed or vaccinated at all. There is no policing or legislation for infection control in these cases, but stallions who only cover using AI (and never come into contact with host mares or any animal involved in the breeding process providing the stud uses a phantom and not the old way of using a barren mare of course!) and in a position where it is nigh on impossible for them to contract or spread any of these diseases have to be either swabbed clean or EVA vaccinated. Now there's a thought-provoking upside down situation!

Ram jam

Anyway, we do have a ram jam full diary for 2011 with a four month waiting list for places in the training stables and foaling boxes. Stallions for phantom training are now queuing for places at the end of March, so busy times for the forseeable future. With that in mind we decided to take on an extra pair of hands in the form of a yard person. We had 50 applicants over two days and it was hard to keep up with - a nice job for Sue the stud administrator. I finally opted for a young man who seems like the perfect candidate, he's at night school and enjoys being around animals and working outdoors. 

Motherly pride

We had a proud moment when Mooiman's son Titanisch - ridden by Matt Frost - was at the British Dressage National Convention and pictured in the January 2011 British Dressage magazine. It gives you a great feeling when you see one of your stallions' offspring gaining appreciation at such a prestigious event.

February brings one month away from the first foaling. Alifra HFD is in foal to Mooiman and due on the 9 March, so we spent the end of January power washing every building inside and out, catching up with repairs and tidying up the woolley youngsters ready for breaking. We fond a new home for the lovely Ferdie who was sold just after the new year celebrations. I will miss riding him, he's a lovely Florestan son who I am sure we will hear more of in the future.

Myerscough stallion parade

On 18 February we are taking three stallions to Myerscough for the stallion show. It will be Spyder's first public demonstration we have a stand there so it's a great chance to catch up with everyone coming out of winter hibernation. Back at home, our haylage stock is getting smaller by the day. A huge amount of our income is spent on forage, but empty bellies spells all sorts of digestive disorders, so it's off to market we shall go..."