Welcome to “Voices,” our public forum where horsemen and horsewomen are able to share their thoughts and concerns about the important issues facing the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry. All opinions are welcome, and we value yours!
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Patrick J. Hurley (Former CTBA Board of Directors Member), Medford, OR:
Sales: Has the CTBA given any thoughts about having a sale for the breeders of California? Since Barretts, Ltd has decided to cancel the October mixed sale, and they do not represent the breeders of California, will the Board of Directors of the CTBA take the position of having a sale?
Everyone realizes the economy is suffering and so are the horse breeders. Not everyone is getting out of the horse business and many are staying in. One must realize that if a sale takes place, they may not get the asking price, but if their horse is sold, the bleeding will stop.
Perhaps the CTBA should stop looking at the bottom line on their finances of having a sale and look at breaking even. They need to look at the direct costs of a sale and negotiate for lower fees. There are many ways to lower costs but an effort has to be made to reduce and not accept any offer that is given. But the real question that the breeders are asking: What is the CTBA doing for me?
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Myron Johnson, Fresno, CA:
Jane and I were very gratified for the posting by Sandy Nickols about the latest addition to our
farm’s equipment roster: the Trailer Trainer, featured on the CTBA website in the "Equine Agriculture/Equipment" area. Thanks to Leigh Ann Howard of Valley Creek, who has a Trailer Trainer at her farm, we were introduced to the benefits to be gained from regular schooling in this device, first and foremost being a safe loading experience for both horse and handler.
We have been very fortunate, in our over 40 years of loading we have never had a serious loading mishap, but we have had our share of equine “nope, I ain’t gonna do this!,” a few minor scrapes and extended loading efforts — the longest I recall was well over a half-hour. We are on our second season of using the Trainer, and so far it really has worked wonders. By introducing the foal to following its dam up an inclined ramp and the noise of treading on the ramp itself (the two key reasons, I believe, which cause untrained horses to balk at getting in a trailer), the stage is set for a uneventful experience as the foal grows up. We have set up our Trainer in the center of our trailer loading area, and our farm hands walk equines of all ages being handled into and out of the Trainer as matter of course.
I got a lot of enjoyment from designing and building the unit from an old tilt-bed tractor trailer, cut-up pieces from a discarded mobile home frame, cosmetically rejected lumber from our local building materials store and scrap metal roofing. Total cost (excluding lots of fun design and build labor) was about $600, and every time a mare and foal or a yearling willingly walks through the unit and then into Sandy’s trailers makes it all worthwhile!
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Sandy Nickols, San Pablo, CA:
On a different note, I have been meaning to write in for some time regarding an article on the CTBA website by Myron Johnson of Rivendell Ranch. The article (entitled “Trailer Trainer”) is archived under the “Equine Agriculture” link on the left side of the homepage, and then the “Equipment” link. It is in regards to his trailer trainer that was inspired by Leigh Ann Howard’s unit. It is a must-read if you missed it.
This is a nerve-wracking time of the year for a commercial hauler. Mare and foals are brought out and understandably, the babies can be quite reluctant to load in such an unfamiliar apparatus. Even with 2 or 3 handlers on a foal I have seen them get loose, flip over backwards and all in all end up with a terrible first-time experience. Not only is there the risk of injury but we all know how long it takes a horse to forget a bad experience, and some never do.
Along with the newborns there are the yearlings who, for the most part, have either never loaded before or had 1 or 2 trips with mom for moral support. Making sure that their first adult experience is pleasant is so important.
We have hauled the Rivendell horses for years, and being a wonderful hands-on operation, the babies have been handled regularly and loading has always been pretty uneventful, as it should be. But last fall and the early part of this year as we started picking up the juveniles to go in for breaking, the difference was amazing. They turn out large, well-developed youngsters, but you would have thought they were old pros that had traveled extensively. Jane and I barely had time to say howdy and the van was loaded with just their main man on the heads and mine closing the doors to the stalls.
Kudos to all the farms that use this form of training in their program, and may they become a standard everywhere. With so much time and money involved in breeding, it’s a shame to risk injury or a lifelong hard-to-load horse when there is such a simple solution.
February 27, 2009
11:24 p.m.
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Michael Power, Auburn, CA:
I appreciate Ms. Nickols’ response. While I am not intimately familiar with the other stallions which stood at Windfall Farms I know that Siberian Summer’s fertility rate was always outstanding until the last few months of 2007 when, in spite of fastidious veterinary and managerial attention, it dropped to about 13% between April and June.
Siberian Summer had already impregnated most of the mares bred he bred that year before his fertility plummeted. That’s why his annual fertility rate was still relatively high.
Windfall’s stallion manager, Mr. Joe Tevis, has a long, successful history in the same capacity at the original Westerly Stud and Cardiff Stud Farm. He’s managed horses like Gummo, Promised Land, Flying Paster and Rising Market. I don’t know of a harder-working, full-time professional farm manager than Joe. He worked closely with the farm vet to monitor and control the fertility of each stallion, several of which were known ‘shy breeders’. It will be difficult to improve on his expertise by any accepted methods.
February 26, 2009
2:13 p.m.
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Sandy Nickols, San Pablo, CA:
In reference to the inaccuracies in my last post, Mr. Power was correct. It was inaccurate to not have mentioned that all but 1 standing at Windfall during their last breeding season suffered severe drops in conception rates. Without listing names, the 5 main stallions had the following percentages of live foals produced during their last 2 years of breeding at Windfall:
2006 2007
Stallion number 1 80% 40%
Stallion number 2 53% 41%
Stallion number 3 75% 58%
Stallion number 4 52% 57%
Stallion number 5 71% 67%
One can only speculate as to why the failing farm had such poor conception rates on all their stallions that last year. My intention is not to start a verbal war with Michael but to protect the reputation of a nice stallion who has been missed. I don’t believe either UC Davis or Ellen are fabricating the fertility report.
February 24, 2009
5:53 p.m.
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Adrian Gonzalez, Paso Robles, CA:
I read an article yesterday in the "USA Today" that California lawmakers agreed to add $32 million to the state budget to help the racehorse industry. Does anyone have an idea as to where this money is going?
I hear Barretts is having a two-day yearling sale this fall. I think that may be a good idea holding it after the Cal Cup and it will help keep the select/non-select issue from getting too far out of hand like it has years in the past. Buyers should still be there on the second day and it may even help for those horses that make it into a select sale but are on the middle to bottom end. Florida's new sale incentives seem like something California should look into. What do you guys think?
February 20, 2009
9:58 a.m.
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Michael Power, Auburn, CA:
Ms. Nickols' letter contained several inaccuracies which I would like to correct.
As the previous owner of Siberian Summer, I have firsthand knowledge of his sub-fertility. As an aged horse, this is not an atypical condition. In his last few months of service in 2007 he impregnated only a few mares out of dozens bred. Although we constantly monitored his sperm mobility and motility we could not stave off his inevitable decline in fertility. We even stopped taking bookings after this fact became known to us.
Windfall Farms closed its commercial breeding operation in December, 2007. They later bought Siberian Summer from me for $15,000.
The CTBAboardwatch issue to which Ms. Nickols referred cautioned readers about the unfortunate misleading advertisements about his fertility by Victory Rose Thoroughbreds.
In the last 42 months CTBAboardwatch (of which I am a co-founding member) has boldly addressed the industry problems which the CTBA has ignored. We have also set forth many concrete proposals to solve them. More than 3,300 people read our e-newsletters; our membership includes former CTBA and CHRB chairmen, many top breeders, trainers and owners who recognize that the status quo has failed us.
Some of our recent recommendations for the California racing and breeding industry include: establishing a "California Millions Program," developing innovative marketing strategies to attract newcomers to the industry, increasing racing opportunities for Cal-breds, devising steps to improve the welfare of racehorses through stricter medication limits and more horse retirement options and offering many suggestions to improve the internal and external workings of the CTBA.
The California horse racing industry must focus itself on enacting substantive solutions to the problems which have gone untreated for so many years. Therefore, we must all place principles before personalities in our quest for a vibrant breeding and racing industry. I hope Ms. Nickols will join us in this ambition.
February 18, 2009
8:25 a.m.
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Sandy Nickols, San Pablo, CA:
Thanks for the update on Reba's Gold. Sad to hear. There are several promising youngsters by him here in Northern California.
Anyone get the recent email from Mr. Power/aka "CTBAboardwatch" attacking Ellen Jackson and her farm? Despicable, to say the least. One would have to assume the reason the stallion bred no mares in 2008 is because he was tied up in litigation to try to recover the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to the farm by the stallion owner. Let me think who that owner was..........oh yes, I believe it was Mr. Power.
If this is more than just sour grapes and the horse has a fertility problem, he has gone to the best place to deal with them. Ellen has done wonders with other sub-par stallions and brought them back to a useful stud career.
Shameless for an organization claiming to want to help the industry to waste so much time tearing it down.
Our time would be better spent addressing the failure of the artificial surfaces, the loss of California fans and racetracks, the loss of breeders and the closing of our farms.
February 15, 2009
1:42 p.m.
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Gretchen Graves and Janet Griffin, Bangtail Farm, Mad River, CA:
Yesterday afternoon, we saw two episodes of "Jockeys" on Animal Planet. We couldn't seem to find it on the evenings advertised so we were pleased to see reruns and eagerly watched the shows. Neither of us are fans of reality shows but we wanted to give the production a chance and hoped it would create public interest and show our sport in a positive light. We were happy to see our California-based riders as stars.
After watching a scene at least five times where a horse and jockey fall after the start of a race, we turned it off. It seemed that after every commercial break they came back to that fall. Sure, spills and breakdowns are part of horse racing. One of the reasons CHRB mandated synthetic tracks was to lessen the occurrence of injury to horse and rider. So I guess our point is that the excitement of the jockeys in the colorful silks, beauty of the horses in the paddock, the thrill of the finish and the exaltation of the winner's circle and an excited bettor cashing a REALLY BIG ticket would have served us better than repeated clips of a fall.
February 15, 2009
10:52 a.m.
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Rudi Groothedde ("California Thoroughbred" Managing Editor), Arcadia, CA:
In regard to Sandy Nickols' query, I contacted the New Mexico Horse Breeder's Association and they told me that, unfortunately, Crossroads Ranch in Anthony, New Mexico notified them that Reba's Gold died in March 2008.
February 11, 2009
10:40 a.m.
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Eric W. Anderson, Santa Rosa, CA:
This past week we saw the debut of the “Jockeys” series on television. Not real sure what to think.
At first glance it was a reality show all the way through. I wish the race scenes (particularly the voiceovers) would have been done more ‘life-like,’ giving the novice viewer a sense of the real thing.
I will reserve final judgment for another episode or two.
February 9, 2009
2:09 p.m.
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Sandy Nickols, San Pablo, CA:
Hi all, does anyone know the location of Reba's Gold? The CTBA has him listed as moving to New Mexico but I can't find out where. Any help would be appreciated.
February 8, 2009
5:15 p.m.
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Leigh Ann Howard (CTBA President), Bonsall, CA:
To Gretchen and Janet: The CTBA will gladly send a hard copy of the weekly newsletter to you and any other members who wish to receive it in the mail. Just give Christy or Vivian a call at the office and I'm sure they would be happy to send it out. Yes, many of us certainly can relate to being 'rural.'
To Ginny: I don't think the 'small' breeder is the only one being impacted by our economy and I certainly don't think anyone wants to see the changes that are happening all over the country, to all of us.
To Don: The CTBA annual event is being held in Orange County this year because there are over 465 breeders living in that county. There are four breeders living in Petaluma. We currently have a completely sold-out event.
The CTBA is working with the racing industry to develop a program that will, overall, be more beneficial to the breeders and owners of our Cal-breds. Any members who are interested in giving Doug Burge some input are welcome to call him in his office at the CTBA.
February 7, 2009
9:41 a.m.
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Larry Stevens, Kennewick, WA:
Thanks Don, but remember, we have to feed those powers that be “line upon line, precept upon precept.” If you try to feed them too much all at once they will absolutely choke to death!
I’m just saying it’s time to take the AI rule off the books and let it be used as a tool to improve fertility, save stallions, safety to horses and personnel.
Being able to ship semen it is another whole ball game. In CA or any state we have to consider how many of the mares are boarded out at farms as opposed to being kept by the owners. I would assume most of them. Semen could be shipped from the farm where the stallion resides to the farm that boards the mare.
If you have a stallion station that depends on the board bill from outside mares they will be hurt because the practice eliminates that income. For me, I’d like to have 4 or 5 very good stallions and do nothing but ship the semen out, thereby eliminating the care of mares and foals, expense and help. But remember, only the good survive and that’s not all bad. Shipped semen will sure change the geography of things.
First, let’s just allow AI breeding!
February 3, 2009
11:45 a.m.
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Don Sandri, Hayward, CA:
I agree with Larry Stevens' take on AI (below), but for a few other reasons. AI, in my opinion, provides a real advantage for breeders in Kentucky and Florida where the heart of their breeding industry is generally located within vanning distance for stallion covers. Here in California, farms are spread out through the state forcing those who wish to breed an expensive van ride and lengthy stay at the stallion's location to accomplish conception. The process is costly, time-consuming and riddled with potential accident and sickness for mare and foal. For California it effectively limits mating selection by proxy out of fear and cost.
It is time to end the ban on AI, especially in California, for safety reasons alone.
February 1, 2009
7:05 a.m.
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Ginny Johnston, Tularosa, NM:
I found that the "California Thoroughbred" was an excellent state publication. Never had any quarrel with the quality and certainly understand the drop in advertising during the last year. However, I do not understand the silence from the CTBA amidst the current economic crisis. I guess it is business as usual out there for the top of the heap and close out for the bottom. Maybe that is what was wanted all along. I suppose that is one way to get rid of the cheaper Cal-breds. Just hope the Cal-bred races don't disappear because the fields come up empty.
We dropped out of the CTBA to focus on what we have in New Mexico. Maybe more should move out of California to where the small guy can still win a race and breed a winner.
January 31, 2009
6:46 p.m.
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Gretchen Graves and Janet Griffin, Bangtail Farm, Mad River, CA:
In regard to Rudi's comments (below): CTBA is often accused of being out of touch with its members. One problem with the weekly updates is that many rural farms have no high-speed internet. We tried for two issues to download the weekly news and just gave up. We don't believe we are the only farm to be stuck in the dial-up world. After all, the term "farm" usually indicates very non-urban area with limited services. Maybe the weekly updates could be offered in different formats?
January 31, 2009
8:15 a.m.
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Rudi Groothedde ("California Thoroughbred" Managing Editor), Arcadia, CA:
As the managing editor, for the past nine years, of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association's official publication, "California Thoroughbred," I would like to respond to the comments made by Barbara Lopes on January 17.
Although I cannot speak for the other CTBA departments regarding member concerns, I feel compelled to address her comments regarding our magazine "getting thinner and thinner," being "just plain boring" and not taking "more than about 15 minutes to read."
With respect to the "getting thinner and thinner" comment, the major factor for the reduced size of the magazine has been the steady decline in the number of advertisements being placed in our monthly issues over the years. Another factor was our intentional transfer of the monthly maiden winners and stakes winners ("Season in California") pages to our "California Thoroughbred WEEKLY" newsletter, which was done last year for the following reasons:
- To reduce costs: the newsletter is primarily sent by email, with some hard copies printed in-house and distributed, thus saving the CTBA money so the organization wouldn't have to increase membership and/or subscription prices annually to correlate with the rising costs of printing and publishing;
- To provide more timely information: many of our members have previously mentioned that the publication of this information on a monthly basis in the magazine meant that it was often outdated by the time it was received, so it is now available weekly; and
- To provide our advertisers with a better service: they can now advertise their stallions on a weekly basis, in conjunction with us being able to now publish weekly statistical sire lists.
Regarding the comments about the magazines being "just plain boring" and that it doesn't take "more than 15 minutes to read," although that is a matter of opinion, I compared our most recent December and January issues with the ones published 40 years ago, which is the time period Mrs. Lopes references. Here is the breakdown:
- January 1969 - 25% editorial (45 of 178 pages)
- January 2009 - 45% editorial (40 of 88 pages)
- December 1968 - 33% editorial (57 1/2 of 176 pages)
- December 2008 - 52 percent editorial (37 1/2 of 72 pages)
If you then add the page breakdowns of the corresponding weekly newsletters (a previous service to members that was upgraded in May 2008), the modern magazines actually had 20% more pages of editorial overall — 123 1/2 versus 102 1/2 — than their 1960s counterparts. Advertising-wise, the corresponding numbers were 104 1/2 pages versus 251 1/2 pages, signifying an almost 60% drop.
Therefore, it has primarily been the major reduction in the number of ads — not editorial — that has decreased the size of the magazine, which today offers readers a better balance of editorial and ads than in the past.
Finally, with the advent of the internet, our CTBA website has also impacted the size of our magazine, as it provides daily information about Cal-breds and many other topics specifically related to the Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry in California.
However, if it is the content of the current editorials that you refer to as "just plain boring," then we need you to be more specific and to suggest subject matters that would be of more interest to you as a CTBA member. Editorials in our December 2008 and January 2009 magazines and newsletters included regular coverage of stakes races, big race days and local sales; profiles on regional farms and sires; updates on veteran California-breds, both retired and still racing; information about CTBA members and the association's Hall of Fame; and current news, statistics, columns and educational articles in a mix that we truly feel provides the best way to educate, inform and entertain our loyal readers, whom we really appreciate. If any CTBA member has an idea for an article, I invite you, as always, to contact me by phone at (626) 445-7800 or by email.
I hope that my comments are taken in the spirit in which they are given: not to instigate arguments, but to stimulate discussion about possible ideas that will hopefully lead to solutions being found for the many challenges that our industry currently faces. We must communicate — which is, after all, the essential function of "California Thoroughbred" itself.
January 29, 2009
8:45 a.m.
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Larry Stevens, Kennewick, WA:
Don, you don't have to be a member to post on "Voices," as you know. Your letter is exactly why you should continue to express your observations. Well put, only for the rich!
This is completely off this subject, but it's my annual bitch about the Jockey Club rules on Artificial Insemination (AI).
It's posted on the AQHA website that they have bred Storm Cat to an AQHA mare belonging to Vessels Ranch. Of course Scoop Vessels is on the Jockey Club board, and that might help. This fact doesn't bother me, but the fact that Storm Cat, because of stupid rules, is of no longer any value to the TB industry does.
Here we have a great stallion who once commanded a fee of $500,000 without a live foal guarantee, because of age can't breed all his mares live, being reduced to a $20,000 fee for QH mares because they can collect less often and breed hundreds of mares from one collection. So now that they have the technology to use just one sperm cell for a pregnancy they can freeze his semen and Storm Cat will be available for a long time. Remember though, not for TB mares.
See the stupidity of the AI rule? Why not use that same technique for the benefit of his own breed and besides, those foals would be better TBs than the QH foals will be QHs.
January 17, 2009
2:22 p.m.
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Barbara Lopes, Lakeport, CA:
Well, I'd say that Don has hit the nail on the head. I looked at my invitation for the annual meeting and dinner and promptly threw it in the trash. C'mon CTBA, get real in this day and age. Doesn't it cost us breeders and owners enough just to keep going, let alone pay $300 a couple for a meeting and dinner, plus extra for an overnight stay if you live far away?
In looking back over the last few months of comments on "Voices", it seems as if more and more people are criticizing CTBA. Like Don, my husband and I have been members since the 1960s, and were always proud to be members. Also it used to be that I could hardly wait each month for the magazine. It's getting thinner and thinner and is just plain boring. I think the powers that be should go back in the CTBA library and read the old magazines. Maybe that could help them with putting out something of interest that would take more that about 15 minutes to read.
WHAT'S HAPPENED TO OUR WONDERFUL ASSOCIATION?
January 17, 2009
12:52 a.m.
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