"The summer Brightwells Auction seems so long ago. Sadly 2010 won't go down in history for breaking any records for foal sales; many disappointed owners took their foals home without a bid while others sold without a reserves for very low prices - a symptom of the current economic climate I guess. We have made a decision to hold the foals back until they are older or until the market recovers a tad more. As farmers we appreciate the auction as a necessary facility for producers to be able to use for presenting and marketing their produce, and a buyer to get a good bargain, so we do auction the effort whole heartedly.
 
The older horses sold better; the jumping horses brought the highest prices with some respectable wages for the dressage owners too.

November plans

I wonder if organiser Richard Botterill will ever reintroduce the eventing foals back into the auction? He has announced plans for the November auction which include a fantastic dressage competition where spectators can see the summer and winter British Dressage champions go head to head; Holden Fold Stud have in increased our sponsorship this year to include this event too. We embrace this effort to give entertainment to the crowd and welcome growth to the event. 
 
Continuing the entertainment, I have been invited to perform a stallion demonstration with Mooiman. As he is recovering nicely from his high jinks on the walker episode, we look forward to joining in the fun.

Competition Kudos

At home we had competition success with the four year old Barinka HFD. Her first affiliated outing was in August, and she was ridden by my 16 year old apprentice Scott Welsby. They secured a five percent lead in the BD prelim winter qualifier then on her second outing won again with a four percent lead, securing qualification for the BD winter regionals in just 2 attempts. She has since been sold and the new owner will keep her here at HFD to be trained and competed, so we get to enjoy her talents for a little longer.

Santana sold

Santana HFD has been sold. It is a huge loss to the stud, but another casualty of the credit crunch. The horse was syndicate owned and the investors thought it time to reap the rewards and release capital from their interests in the horse. It's sad for people like us, but it is a fact of business and we all know the rules. We at HFD have invested in a new stallion for 2011; we see a market developing in the UK for the coloured sport horse of warmblood breeding so a new venture and a new year... watch this space.

Downtime

The foals are all weaned now and the broodmares are enjoying some me time. Stud activity gets quiet at this tme of year with just a few stallions waiting for semen freezing places and the last phantom training stallion for 2010 underway. We're enjoying a few moments of peace and rest until the youngsters come in for the winter.

Healthy debate

The breeding issues raised in my last blog brought many contributors to join in a debate and showed there is a desire for improvements and changes within the current system. People added experiences of their own and emotions ran deep; in fact the continuous debate delayed me getting on with more blogs but finally here we are with a little more about my world and I hope everyone who took part in the discussion is wiser, richer and better informed for it."