WTF WED: Sometimes what is on the surface isn't the "bad..."

Welcome to the very first WTF WED. :) Today's ad was sent to me by a new reader (Thanks Cheryl!) through email. As I was reading the ad posted from Fresno, CA, I couldn't figure out what was really wrong with it, granted its for a now 2 year old stallion that is barely halter broke, but as they are only asking $800 for him, I figured that was a reasonable price considering almost immediately most people would geld him. Some halfway decent info on the colt, its pretty typical for a 2 year old to be portrayed this way. He's just starting out and hasn't been worked with much. Seems to be a decent willing personality. 





Ad  Text: 
ranger is a well built stud colt w 2 blue eyes. sorrel paint. will be 2yrs in jun. currently 13.2hh big butt. GREAT personality. lots of fun. gets along great w mares and geldings. does great in a pasture. ties, trailers, bathes, ponies. hes a real blast to play with. very smart and fast learner. would be very easy to train. his sire is used for roping and kids ride him. he dos not act like a stud and neither does ranger. ranger likes to play w my dogs. not spooky at all. hes very interested in things. u will absalutly love this guy. hes got one of those personality s where hes just so much fun to be around. come and c for ur self how cool he is. call seanna @ 559-908-8380 also check out his sire and dame and the color his sire has thrown. $800 firm
check out his sire Casper @- http://www.acmountainviewranch.9f.com/stallions.html
check out foals his sire has thrown @http://www.acmountainviewranch.9f.com/Foals1.html


Ok so there were no pictures posted (thats pretty common, as CL is finicky about pics uploaded), and clicked the links. They go to a freeservers website (covered in advertising and not clean or professional looking at all) for the owners ranch. 

This is Ranger. He's rather cute. He's a prime candidate for the cute GELDING of the year award.

Oh. Ok. NOW I get it. We have a typical backyard breeder here. Mr. Voo Doos Ghost is a done nothing, mediocre paint stallion that they are breeding ONLY because he's KOLORED. Oh, and Ghostie is by a stallion that is a "RARE" homozygous tovero. *snork*  I am starting to see why Voo Doo's son up for sale here is a stallion at all. He's got "the world champion bloodlines" that are.... letssseeee.... one generation, two generations, THREE generations back! This is Rangers's grandsire. Gallant isn't that bad of a stallion. He actually looks like he should be a stallion. However, his son, Voo Doo's Ghost... DOES NOT need or look like he should be a stallion. Gallant's sire is Gallant's Move, who is the "BIG NAME" on the pedigree, a horse that actually DID something and earned a Supreme Champion APHA title.

As I'm reading through the site, there are a few things in particular that really jumped out at me. The most glaring is this little gem of text, "Please take note: Casper does NOT photo well. In all the years I have owned him, I have not ONE good picture of him! We live on uneven terrain. All the flat spots that are available to photo him are littered with my husbands junk. Please, come and see him in person and be completly amazed by this blue eyed stallion."  

Ok, WHAT THE FUCK? All the flat spots that you can possibly take a DECENT picture of your stallion, who you are admittedly advertising for breeding, cause your stallion REALLY REALLY needs to make more of himself, (REALLY!?), you can't because of your HUSBAND'S JUNK??? But yet its ok to come see it in person?? Why can't you MOVE IT or CLEAN IT UP? You can't move it, you can't take a decent picture, but you want people to see it in person. Whomever that bit of logic made sense to, has NO sense. And then you POST it on your stallions advertising page. Thats classy, folks.

This is totally besides the fact that most stallion owners don't take promotional pictures themselves, they HIRE someone else to do it. Yes, it costs some money. Its not the cheapest thing in the world. BUT if you want to set your stallion apart from the millions of back yard breeders such as this wonderful ranch, then you buck up the money and get those pro pics. YOU haul the stallion to shows/competitions. YOU compete on him, other than just local 'fun days'. YOU spend the money to show the world that your stallion is WORTH spending the money on! 

The bottom line: If the freakin' owners don't think the stallion is worth spending the money on, why should the mare owners spend their hard earned money in stud fees to the same stallion?!!

Oh, did I mention he's a 'rope' horse? As in one of a million such horses. Why do horses become roping horses? Usually because they are either bred for it, or they don't have the athletic ability to do anything else besides walk down a trail. I'm sure he's a great horse. I just don't understand why we need more of his 'rare' coat pattern?


What else stood out like a sore thumb to me? Oh, the mare. 


They have also on their sale page a red roan mare by the appropriate name of Rosie. Rosie was purchased as a childs mount, and seemed to do ok with that job. They say she taught their daughter how to ride, and from the looks of her, I actually don't doubt that. In the picture below, she just looks like one of those wonderful caring babysitter type mares that just love having someone or something to watch over.





What the hell happened to this mare? Apparently she got injured pretty badly, and is no longer ridable. 





Its rather hard to tell how old the injury to her hock is in this picture, but they do say that she was involved in a 'wire' accident. That MUST have been some heck of an accident, as it caused her entire BODY SHAPE to change. She went from sleek, shiny, happy, and gorgeous, to... sad, skinny (see the ribs? and whats goin' on with that ridge down the bottom of her belly?), and depressed (the look in her eyes in the second picture compared to the first just kills me!). They are trying to find a new home for her too, which...


Ok. *deep breath* I have a damn strong feeling that the child was playing around on her on the property, and something happened and she got tangled up in some of that JUNK of daddy's, and nearly caused Rosie to loose her life. JUST LOOK AT THAT HOCK. Granted, in the picture, its somewhat scabbed up, but its still protruding out a decent amount. Wire injuries usually slice, dice, and scrape horrendous amounts of skin off. That to me, looks suspiciously like a puncture wound. Now I'm not a vet nor a vet tech, but I have seen a fair amount of injuries to horses and this one just doesn't smell right. Nor was I there to confirm my suspicions. I might could probably be totally off on this one. 


What I do know however, is they certainly aren't planning on keeping her in a 'forever home' due to her injuries. Oh no, they are looking to dump her on someone else for the rest of her life, however long that might be. The page hasn't been updated in some time, they mention her 09 foal, so who knows where she is now. I fear to ask. Many a time a 'good home' ends up suddenly showing a whole different personality the moment they leave the sellers farm and all of a sudden the horses find themselves on the road to the local horse auction. A horse with an injury like that? Fair game. I sincerely hope that mare DID find herself a decent pasture where she can stand and swish flies the rest of her deserving life.


Sometimes it pays to click those links. On one hand you obviously have a very cute gelding-to-be that needs a great home. On the other you are dealing with what looks on the outside to be knowledgeable horse people that are involved with who knows what (they are looking to trade that colt for sale for a MINI for their petting zoo? check THAT out on their sales page link!), so in this situation, whomever buys or looks at buying that little colt, better watch out.


Until tomorrow!