GUIDELINES FOR BUYING AND SELLING FOUR BEAT GAITED HORSES    

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I – PROCEDURES FOR BUYING A SIRE

- General appearance
- Age
- Reproductive evaluation
- Pedigree
- Size
- Conformation
- Gait and athletic ability
- Temperament
- Quality in the offspring
- Competition records
- Management control

II – PROCEDURES FOR BUYING A BROODMARE

- Importance of selection based on maternal lines
- Why is the mare more important than the stallion?
- Genetics
- Conformation
- Performance
- General appearance
- Temperament
- Reproduction records
- Production records
- Age
- Competition records
- Management control
- Fertility test
- Maternal ability
- Donor or receptor of embryos

III – PROCEDURES FOR BUYING COLTS AND FILLIES

- Age
- Genetics
- Conformation
- Gait
- Competition records
- Temperament
- General appearance
- Size
- Management control

IV – PROCEDURES FOR BUYING GELDINGS

- General appearance
- Hooves
- Bone and muscle structure
- Limbs
- Size
- Conformation
- Gait
- Disposition
- Temperament
- Easiness to be ridden
- Age
- Color

V – PROCEDURES FOR BUYING STUD SERVICES AND EMBRYOS

- Stud services
- Embryos

VI – PROCEDURES TO CONDUCT A ROUTINE CHECK UP

- Limbs
- Mouth and nostrils
- Eyes
- Ears
- Skin and coat
- Tail
- Feces and urine
- Heart beat
- Breathing
- Blood tests

VII – EVALUATION OF NATURAL GAITS

- Walk
- Four Beat Gait
- Trot
- Gallop

VIII – EVALUATION OF HEALTHY HOOVES AND THEIR NORMAL CONFORMATION

- Size and shape
- Unbalanced wall
- Heels too high
- Heels too low
- Contracted heels
- Thrush
- Fissure and fracture of the wall
- Bruises 
- Wounds
- Navicular Disease
- Laminitis

IX – EVALUATION OF BONE AND TENDON INJURIES

- On the knees and hocks
- On the cannon bone
- On the fetlocks
- On the pasterns
- On the tendons 

X – EVALUATION OF AGE BY THE TEETH

XI – SALES STRATEGY

- Sale at the ranch
- Sale at the shows
- Sale at the auctions
- Sale on the internet
- Marketing

XII – STRATEGIES TO REDUCE OPERATIONAL COSTS

- Labor
- Feeding
- Preventive Veterinarian Medicine
- Advanced management
– Alternative economic activities