Youngstock available
We sell many of our youngsters as foals/weanlings for the simple reason that it is the most economical stage for people to buy horses. Of course, you then have to wait a couple of years to break them in, but during that time you have the pleasure of watching them grow up and of working a little with them to establish the basis of their future training. The early development of a foal through to the time of beaking-in shouldn't be underestimated as it has an enormous impact on the quality of the resultant riding horse.This is one of the main advantages in purchasing a purpose-bred competition horse rather than an off-the-track ex-racehorse. In the case of the ex-racehorse there are many ingrained behavioural issues to deal with, regardless of how well they were broken-in. This is simply because of the nature of the work they are expected to do and the environment they need to function in.
We usually have other youngstock available as well, through to four or five-year olds. Feel free to browse our listings and don't hesitate to contact us for additional information or if you are looking for something particular.
Aurum is committed to producing quality young horses. We often have experienced horse breeders visit to inspect our stallions' progeny and one of the most frequently heard comments is: 'there's not a bad one amongst them!' It's no accident!
Height estimates.
A word on our expected mature height estimates is appropriate.
After many years breeding experience we have come to understand that a range of factors can influence the mature height of a foal.
Obviously the genetics of the parent lines has a primary influence (we don't mean the height of the parents, we often see foals exceed both their parents' heights). However, nutritional issues also have a huge effect, in particular ensuring that the growing youngster has an optimum supply of the appropriate vitamins, minerals, protein, energy sources and other dietary components. We have seen genetically 'tall' youngsters fail to reach a good height due to issues with pasture deficiencies that were not identified and supplemented adequately. The 'proof' of this is when the same parents later produce taller progeny with a change in pasture as well as additional dietary supplementation. For this reason we strongly advise purchasers of youngstock to follow our recommendations as to feed. It is very disappointing to us (and to the purchaser) to see a youngster fail to reach the same height as his siblings for this simple reason.
All of Aurum's youngsters are fed a good quality vitamin/mineral/protein balancing supplement in addition to their normal feed from before birth (our mares are supplemented) right through their lives with us. It is also vital to monitor a youngster's growing rate and increase their energy requirements if necessary. For example, most young horses show a very strong growth spurt sometime around the 8 to 14 month age range and we find it necessary to give them additional feed in this phase just to keep weight on them since most of the energy they take in is going into skeletal growth.
We estimate our foals' mature heights based on measurements as they grow, our experience and comparisons against standardised growth curves. Mostly we get it pretty right but since we can't control how a horse is fed or supplemented after it leaves our care or indeed if there are other extenuating environmental factors we can never guarantee that any horse will reach our estimated height.
Pricing
We generally don't publish youngstock pricing on our site. The reason is that the prices can and do change fairly regularly based on the age of the foal/weanling/horse and it would be too difficult to ensure that all prices were always up to date.