A personal account of what it takes to breed racehorses for a living... and the added toll that has been taken given the current climate of racing in Ontario.

Story by Caroline Thornton

Imagine, if you will, that you own and operate a car dealership. You have facilities, inventory, overhead and staff and you have projected sales revenue by month and by year. You are successful and run a very efficient dealership. One Monday morning you get a call from Head Office – all prices are to be slashed by 43% immediately. No conversation, no alternatives and you are responsible for the losses. Welcome to the world of the Ontario standardbred breeder.

As the racing industry struggles to reinvent itself in Ontario, one of the groups hit hardest has been the breeders. Few people in the industry actually understand what the breeders do, and how the recent changes have affected them.

Our business operates on a 5-year cycle. A mare bred in 2013 foals in 2014.

That foal is sold as a yearling in 2015. The yearling often has to race for two years to recover the cost of breeding and racing the horse. As a racehorse in 2016 and 2017 they can, if successful, contribute to the value of their siblings, to the reputation of the breeder and to the overall success of the racing programs ie. the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS).

The OSS is one of the most renowned and replicated programs in the world. Many states in the U.S. have modeled their racing system on it. Now the very program that attracted breeders, buyers and trainers is under attack.

The breeders make a huge capital investment in their facilities, in purchasing broodmares and sometimes stallions, in incurring stud fees and in running their operations. The stud fee paid when a foal is born cannot be recouped for another 18 months, when the yearling is sold. Given the precipitous drop in the value of Ontario offspring, many Canadian breeders are being forced to turn to U.S. sires.

Now the cost of breeding gets even more expensive. Administration costs, shipping costs, GST on the value of the semen, and potential shipping and boarding costs for the mares all have to be taken into account. Breeders, unlike many drivers and some trainers, cannot simply switch jurisdictions. Your farm, your facility (and usually your home) are all tied into the business you are running, making it almost impossible to suddenly change locations.

Breeders – literally – live with their horses 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Most people who have never worked on a breeding farm have no idea of the number of hours and the number of interventions that are part of the breeding process.

Checking the mares for ovulation, organizing the semen shipments, getting all of the paperwork for cross-border shipments, collecting the stallions, inseminating the mares, delivering the foals, weaning the mares and foals in the Fall – all are fraught with risk. Yet for the people who do it, it is the most rewarding work on Earth.

When a mare foals well it is a joyous event. There is no more beautiful sound than the wickering noise a mare makes to greet her new foal. The tiny creature responds and they have a conversation. If the foal stands and nurses well, the story is complete for the moment and the “helpers” can go back to bed. Sadly, it is not always perfect. Sometimes the mare gets into trouble and is unable to deliver the foal. Some foals are born “dismature” which means they are not fully developed and they usually die due to respiratory failure. Other foals are born “windswept” which means their legs are curved and they have trouble standing. They need to be helped up and held to the mare to nurse every 30 minutes until they are strong enough to stand alone.

Every foal has a unique story, each of them has a unique character and they are all “special” to the breeder. The mares come when they are called, the foals learn to lead and follow us around. The yearlings are worked on every day for eight weeks before the sales. During that time they transition from unruly teenagers to confident young adults. When they arrive at the sale, most of them now know how to stand quietly, pick up their feet correctly and walk with confidence. They are ready for their new life – becoming a racehorse!

A year later, when the horses are in the Post Parade, the owners are named, the trainers are named and the drivers are named. Why not the breeder? There are all kinds of wonderful stories about the mares, the foals, the siblings of the racehorse and, of course, many theories about pedigree matching and selection of stallions. In many cases the media fails to mention anything to do with the breeders who have spent two and a half years getting the yearling to the sales.

Without the breeders, there is no product. Owners cannot buy yearlings, trainers have no horses to train, drivers have no horses to drive, and grooms have no horses to care for. If the breeders are forced to cull their herds and sell their farms (which is happening today) the future of the entire industry is
at risk.