STUD NOTES

BE PREPARED: The path to yearling sales

Ah, yearling preparation. It might appear to be a timely subject, but realistically this is relevant year round.

First off, the popularly held belief that yearling preparation is an eight, 10 or 12 week process is pure fallacy as far as I am concerned.

To my mind it’s a much longer period than just those last few weeks where everyone appears to scramble to get the young horses up to scratch for the pomp and ceremony of yearling sales. In reality, all we should be doing is putting the spit and polish on these youngsters for their big day.

The way I view it, much of the job is done before the youngsters even “come in” to the stables for their sales preparation. It’s about how they are reared and what has happened to them from foal to preparation (or to the breaker for those bypassing sales): corrective farrier trims, diet, social life, paddock conditions, health, foundation education … these are just some of the issues that are considered and undertaken before the yearling even enters the very daunting stable life of sales preparation.

OK, now forget about pedigree – that’s on the page and not much you can do about it. This chat is about how we put them in the ring and what we need to do to get them there.

 For us, the optimum is an ‘even’ draft of well-educated youngsters. They are well grown with well cared for feet that place them level on the ground. Ideally they have great conformation, are blemish free, and with the correct amount of cover and muscle development over their frame. They should be well groomed, boasting healthy coats, walking like they have purpose and balance, yet demonstrating calm, intelligent disposition.And that’s just the horse … now for the personnel!
(Photographed is General Nediym x Zibiza (nz). This colt's presentation was spot on at the 2010 Melbourne Premier Sales. He sold for $170,000).

A well run team that is cohesive and organised makes all the difference. And it’s not just about the leaders, but includes those in the aisles getting horses geared up, keeping order (rugs away, sweeping etc.) and maintaining safe practice in tight spaces.
In fact, the expectation of all the staff should mirror what is expected of the horse; well educated (in the art of parading  youngsters), well groomed, walk with purpose, respond to what is asked of them in a professional manner and have a calm, intelligent disposition. A good sense of humour doesn’t hurt either.

Now, that’s the desired result, but how do we get there?

The reality is, we do not have a barn full of perfect subjects to work with as our starting point.

The ideal scenario is to prepare only horses from the home farm, or, if from another farm, recruit from those that have very good management themselves. However, in the real world, commercial farms need to make up numbers and source yearlings from other owners.

It is challenging receiving yearlings from many different backgrounds and very likely that they will be all over the shop: some will be great, but more likely there will be considerable variance in conformation, how their feet look (pinched, flat, clubby etc.), weight, coat length and condition. Some will be undersized – either genetically or environmentally handicapped – some may be simply feral … the list goes on.

I believe it is to everyone’s benefit that all yearlings do the full preparation within a draft. Smaller owners are often tempted to do half preparation themselves, and ask the professionals to finish it off: I can understand the economic reasoning behind such decisions, but realistically it’s generally putting the yearling at a disadvantage; they stick out like a sore thumb, and worse … inferior.

One of the very first procedures should be to endoscope the yearlings – there is no point in wasting time and money on preparing a horse with a Grade 4 or 5 classification only to find the sale relinquished after all the hard work and financial investment.
(Pictured is Dr Ian Douglas performing pre sales endoscopic examinations at Yallambee Stud with Anton assisting. Dr Douglas is also an official endoscopy veterinarian for New Zealand Bloodstock yearling sales)

Yearling preparation is very subjective: each to their own and yes, there are many ways to skin a cat. The very first thing I do is to stand back and look at the individual, visualising how I want that horse to look at the end of the prep and exactly what needs to be done to achieve that result.

The most basic and obvious procedures for improving the health, coat condition, appetite and body shape of the yearling is often one of the most overlooked: you must get rid of both internal and external parasites at the beginning of the yearling preparation! And if your draft includes entries from other farms, or if you are sending yearlings to a commercial preparation farm, ensure your vaccination program is up to date.

The most common thing we all target is muscle definition. This work may be done through walkers, even water walkers, lunging, hand walking and so on. After all, a fit, buffed body always presents well. Other methods can employed to enhance or hide certain body features: for example, make a neck “appear” to look longer or shorter. Whatever the exercise program is, every horse will need a day off to be … well, just to be a horse. Take that opportunity to give them a run in a good size paddock: to take in the scenery, pig root, fart and a good stretch of the legs.

What can’t be changed is imperfections in leg conformation, predisposed scars from old injuries, and perhaps behavioural habits such as windsucking. You can help them look better: for instance, good farrier work to ensure the yearling places its foot level for those with conformation issues. Windsucking? Well, that’s got to be declared and can’t be changed, and although undesirable it should not stop a horse from selling.

Yearlings will undergo varying exercise programs, but whatever that may be, it will need to be matched with appropriate diet to maintain a balance in working the horse, obtaining correct body weight, coat and hoof condition. Again, diet is very individual. Personally, I keep our feed mix fairly simple.
I do not use scales during yearling prep: much to the horror of my expert colleagues. Yearlings are appraised on how they look visually by the buyers, not by the kilo. I try and present through the eyes of the buyer: let’s face it, THEY are the final judges.

Scales may be of some use picking up weight loss before it becomes visually evident, but generally I think it is too easy to be clouded by weight gain and figures, and losing sight of how the horse “looks”. This is an individual choice, and there are many farms that find scales a great asset in their yearling preparation program.

Coat and hoof conditioning is very important. This can be achieved through a great base diet, but including specialised supplements is very beneficial.  Combine this with good old fashioned elbow grease with a curry plus a sensible rugging regime and the coat will be well on the way to gleaming. Washing the horses with shampoo and conditioner periodically and painting their feet with hoof conditioning brews throughout the duration of the preparation is often employed.

Clipping coats early in a preparation is a practice that is used quite a bit, especially later sales held after the coats have started to turn. Personally I am not a fan of the procedure and feel that a good healthy coat is fine, albeit a little long – after all the yearling is very likely to be turned out into the paddock after the sales. Some farms will dye manes and tails, and sometimes, also the black points of bay and brown horses to enhance the visual package. Pulling manes and clipping out ears, bridle paths and feathered fetlocks will greatly enhance the visual package.

I’m not going to dwell too much on ‘walking’. I don’t care what anyone says – you can teach most yearlings to walk well … we do it year in and year out. It’s not rocket science, yet is so often overlooked.

In amongst all of this there are two more major procedures that will need to be performed by outside experts: the farrier and the veterinarian performing sales x-rays.

 I would regard a good farrier program leading into sales preparation as mandatory! At the end of the day, good farrier balance, shape and skill can make a considerable difference to the sales price. Most professional yearling preparers will have, at the minimum, one set of front shoes on during the preparation, and a full set of four shoes pre sales … and they are worth every penny.

Briefly, x-rays are expected, but not mandatory at most major sales. They are not expected in the secondary sales. In my opinion, the most important part of sales x-rays is having it performed by very experienced radiographers. I would only consider vets who read radiographs very extensively, such as those that work out of equine clinics and/or read on behalf of clients at most of the major sales.

I find one of the most productive things is to have an objective person, with good knowledge on how yearlings should look, to appraise your draft a couple of weeks before going into the sale. I keeps me much more impartial as it is very easy to become insular and see the horses through rose coloured glasses. (Dr Peter Huntington, a world authority on nutrition fits the bill perfectly for this event, and we value his comments tremendously).

Towards the end of the yearling preparation most fillies are in season. There is nothing worse than having these sexy young females parading … not only to those inspecting the yearlings, but to all the colts in the vicinity.

Males, being as they are, get pretty randy without too much encouragement and take on an entirely new personality if there is a wanton female around. It can often be quite dangerous out there on the common parade area. Suppressing this behaviour of the fillies (before their arrival and throughout the duration of parade days) can be achieved with appropriate hormonal treatment such as Regumate™. It is essential for safety of horse, handler and those inspecting the yearlings plus it maintains harmonious relationships with your neighbouring farms.

Ultimately, the very fact that we are dealing with horses – and young horses at that! – we must remember that they are like 16 year old kids (or, for that matter, a lot of young adults!).

They will all be different in terms of their mind and body maturity: some will be mentally immature; some have their heads in the clouds, others on the opposite sex! And when they become fit and are properly fed with high energy feed, lotions and potions, they will be jumping out of their skin, wanting to take on the world (and usually their handler!).

They will need their space to release the pent up energy, yet must have strict guidelines as to where the boundaries are.

Any parent that has had teenagers pass through their home will understand what a difficult balance it is... and so it is with yearling preparation.


The Circus Comes to Town: Part 2 of the Yearling Sales story