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  Discussion on Stallion service contract questions
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 27, 2000 - 10:01 am:

I own a season to a stallion and it seems that every time I call for a ship ment of semen, some other travesty has ocured preventing them from sending me semen. I have paid the stud fee, TWO booking fees and countless dollars in reproducive maintenance costs and I am no closer to a foal than I was two years ago! HELP! At this point, I would like to say forget it, and get a refund on all my expenses. What is the stallion owners responsibility when it comes to fullfilling the contract? This has been a nightmare for me and I would appriciate any advise I can get. I believe the stallion owner entered the contract with the knowledge that the stallion was sub fertile and now I am paying the price of the owners "fraud". Any suggestions?

Posted on Saturday, Apr 29, 2000 - 3:23 am:

We were just talking about this the other night! I believe I will be revamping out breeding contract to include something to protect our mare owners from this. I understand that things DO happen, and semen collection is totally dependent on the stallion (and being collected - I have had a whole collection end up on the floor before)....but there is no reason any mare owner should have to go more than two cycles without receiving a shipment.

There should be a clause in the contract that says something like: "The Stallion Owner agrees to provide fresh, cooled, or frozen semen from the Stallion for use with only the Mare. Upon the death, sale, or infertility of either the Mare or the Stallion prior to the birth of a live and healthy foal, an agreed upon substitute may be used." If after two years, you have not received semen, it is reasonable to expect them to provide you with a substitute stallion - or they are in breech of contract. As far as recoupping any of the money laid out for vet and boarding expenses, I think you would have to go to court over that.

The stallion owner sounds like he has no interest in keeping you as a client, and I doubt you will be able to get anywhere without getting nasty. I would start with a very nice letter (and a copy of your contract with the clause highlighted) stating that either fertile semen will be provided on your mare's next cycle, or you will consider them in breech of contract and you will expect a full refund of the breeding and booking fees. If you receive no satisfaction, I would contact a lawyer.

Posted on Saturday, Apr 29, 2000 - 5:19 pm:

The Vogt's have some terrific thoughts on this. I checked with my good friend and life-long horseman Jim Burnette and he also has a few suggestions.
1)The stallion owner's responsibilities should be spelled out in the contract.
2)There should be a process specified to resolve disputes.
3)The mare owner should be talking about chilled semen not frozen
4) There is an alternative stallion or some other mutually acceptable alternative specified in the agreement.
If these are not part of your current circumstance:

+Perhaps, the mare owner can pick another stallion from the stallion owner;
+The mare owner can request frozen semen now, to be thawed whenever her mare is ready;
+A refund and compensation for mare owner expenses.

++The parties must get together a negotiate a resolution.
I recommend face to face negotiations.

Folks, please, please, please, please
start using the Equine Dispute Resolution Service mediation/arbitrtation clauses in all of your horse business dealings.www.equinedispute.org

Posted on Saturday, Apr 29, 2000 - 10:17 pm:

I contacted them about a "substitute" stallion (another horse owned by the same person which is a nice horse too.) I have not heard from them yet. I suspect they are having fertility problems and they are reluctant to be forthcoming about them. It's too bad because it is a nice horse with first rate breeding but I looked at my records and I was denied semen 3 times last year and on our first attempt this year we were turned down..Not looking too good. Thanks for the advice any help is always appreciated!

Posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2000 - 11:35 am:

I just found out that the stallion in question has a 10% progressive motility AT COLLECTION!!!!!! The motility after cooling and shipping DrOps to a level that essentially equals zero. This individual NEVER said the stallion doesn't ship well. Other breeders that have stallions with a similar issue have told me up front that their stallion does not ship so we would need to go with live cover. I am shocked and amazed that this horse is still advertised as shipping semen AND the owner is STILL selling seasons AND collecting booking fees on an essentially infertile stallion.

Posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2000 - 11:53 am:

AND ANOTHER THING!!!! I have been turned down for semen delivery from her other stallion! He was over booked!!!! This is the most outrageous individual I have EVER dealt with. We settle on letting me breed to her other stallion and Peterson and Smith called for a shipment. "No problem " said the person at the farm. The next day P&S called for the flight information and were told too bad soo sad, he is over booked and you will have to recycle your mare AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am insane over the way I (and the professional staff at Peterson and Smith) am being treated by this person. I can't wait til this whole night mare is over so I can take out a full page ad in multiple publications documenting my experience with this person hoping to save someone else from a similar unpleasant and expensive experience.
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