Projects & Ideas Discussion For Niche Markets

[BlackOak2]

I've been considering this for awhile and making some notes. Although my notes aren't as expansive as perhaps I'd like, I feel it's time to share them and start this topic for the community.

I am authoring this topic as an aid for those of you that have a good handle on the game, but perhaps you don't know what to work toward yet and for those that have finished up other projects, want to start a new one, but haven't found one that interests you.

This topic should not be used to advertise outside of the projects and ideas (for instance offering a sale or a stud that is easily obtainable elsewhere), but feel free to advertise or ask about availability within the topic. This topic should also not be used for training services.

Also, if a project that could be considered a Niche Market is for sale in totality, feel free to advertise for that as well.
Feel free to add a niche market idea that you consider unique, interesting or usable; please include why and any relevant information. You do not need to start the idea yourself. This topic is to offer ideas for those searching for another project or an idea to start on.

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So... What is a Niche Market?
Oxford defines this as: 'a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service'
In the HWO community, this means that a niche market is for those select few that are looking for a particular type of horse.

What does this mean in relation to earning money?
It means that the need for the niche may be sporadic and a bit lonesome at times. But with dedication to the niche, a great deal more money COULD be made. It's not guaranteed however, in the end, it comes down to what the owner did to make their stock unique.

So, what would a niche market be?
For the HWO community, a niche market is any type of horse breed that is or could be considered abnormal to the basic standard. A good niche market example that successfully expanded to become mainstream is leopard arabians. Leopard arabians are an abnormal color to the breed standard of solid coloration. So a niche market can in reality be made of just about anything and with enough time and dedication, move from niche and into mainstream. The trick is to figure it out and stick to it long enough to see it mature.

Okay, I got it... but... what is this topic really for then?
To aid people toward getting their niches off the ground, to offer advice if needed and really, just to expand the community a little more and offer yet another unique part of HWO.

[BlackOak2]

Niche Market Suppliers

Those that have confirmed having and selling horses in these Niche Markets can be found in this list. Feel free to make contact with the suppliers listed on this topic, but please keep requests to the Niche Market they offer.
If the Supplier has their own topic for their Niche Market, it will be linked in the list, please make contact there instead.

BlackOak2
Constellation Arabians - The Heavy Arabian Bloodstock
Short to Tall, Pony types
Medium Heavy to Very Heavy range


Arabmania2
Arabian x Thoroughbred crosses
14.3-15.3 both Horse & Pony types
Medium to Heavy range

[BlackOak2]

Because I didn't think to add a front-page list of available supplies for these Niche Markets, I'm commandeering the second post as the new list and moving all the information I had from that first post, to this post.

To start out, I will offer my own notes that I've compiled for niche market ideas.

Please remember, these ideas are for any player to take up, if they're looking for a new project to start on.

These are all related to recipe horses. Right now I'm working on running through the breeding quests and I've found that the following are hard or impossible to come by.

Arabian x Forest Horse crosses
10.3-14.1 Pony types
Medium to medium-heavy range
Reasoning: Because the arabian is generally light and the forest horse is often medium light, combinations heavier then medium or medium light don't often appear anywhere. Such breeds that use this combination are: Boulonnais, Camargue, Dole Gudbrandsdal, Haflinger & Pottock.

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Arabian x Mongolian crosses
10.3-13 Pony types
Medium to medium-heavy range
Reasoning: Arabians are light... mongolians don't often or simply can't overcome the arbian lightweight preferences. At the time I made this note, there were NO crosses on the market. I haven't checked recently. Such breeds that use this combination are: Cheju, Kabarda (this one is a light breed), Karabair (another light breed), Kazakh (another light, but not super light) & Manipuri Pony.

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Arabian x Noriker crosses
13.1-14.1 Pony types
Medium to medium-heavy range
Reasoning: Extremely rare on the market, likely due to the noriker population. There is only one recipe that calls for this mix: Avelignese. This breed is relatively heavy.

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Arabian x Spanish Barb crosses
11-12.1 Pony type
Medium to medium-heavy range
Reasoning: Although the market has an acceptable amount of crosses, there is very rarely a medium and no heavier. Recipes that call for this cross: Chincoteague, Colorado Ranger (straight cross), Mustang & Sable Island Pony.

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Arabian x Thoroughbred crosses
14.3-15.3 both Horse & Pony types
Medium to heavy range
Reasoning: There are plenty of these crosses on the market, but any horse heavier than medium-light are seemingly non-existent. Likely because these horses are mainly used for racing type competitions, favoring the light-weight body-style seems to be the trend. Recipes that call for this cross are: Anglo-Arabian (light breed), Dole Trotter, French Anglo-Arab (light breed), Pozan, Trakehner (relatively light breed) & Waler.

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Arabian x Welsh Mountain Pony crosses
10.3-12.3 Pony type
Medium to medium-heavy range
Reasoning: They don't appear to exist in the market at all (at the time I wrote the note, I haven't checked in awhile). This cross makes the Dartmoor. This would certainly be a niche market. But if this cross is improved upon then even this niche CAN be a good money-maker. As I already said, it comes down to the owner of the project (or owners) and how they handle it.

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Forest Horse Purebred
10-14 Pony type
Medium to very heavy range
Reasoning: The forest horse breed tends to lean toward growing taller and favors the lighter types, so finding those that are both shorter and heavier (or either) tends to be quite difficult.

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Tarpan Purebred
Pony type
Medium-heavy to very heavy range
Reasoning: This is another recipe breed that is used very often in a lot of recipes, but the HWO community generally lacks anything heavier then a medium build. Having a heavier build population to choose from would be beneficial to those that are using recipes that call for such tarpans.

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Thoroughbred Purebred
Pony type
Medium to very heavy range
Reasoning: As stated before, the general trend is racing-style Tb's, thus the body builds we have to choose from range from light to very light and seldom medium-light. Finding a medium, even in a horse type or a medium-light in a pony type is... difficult... and impossible for most cases.

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Grade Horses
Of varying types and ranges
Reasoning: These horses are very handy when you need to take a horse and change it's type and style. Using a grade horse is arguably the fastest way to produce an acceptable recipe horse offspring that can produce the new breed desired. So this one would be broken down even further, such as:
Body Size 0-30; Type Percentage 70-100 Pony (of varying heights)
Body Size 60-100; Type Percentage 100-70 Horse (of varying heights)
This particular niche can have a very broad range of types and ranges, but the most help may be from the far left and far right (like I just gave), the super heavy and super light and also middling ranges, and of course everything in between.

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Not a part of recipe breed needs, but this can also be a niche market I thought would be a nice addition for those that breed color.

Color Check Horses
Horses that are bred to, to double check the color of one of their own. But when taking on this particular project, the owner (or owners) must be able to guarantee the color genes of those that they offer to the community.
Double black horse (EE with no other added genes, such as hidden cream or pearl)
Flaxen chestnut with NO agouti
Double Pearl

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Those are all of the ones I have for now.

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Original post on this reply follows:

Here's another recipe-style market.

Purebred Shetland
Multiple heights, probably best for 20-36 inches & 10-11hh
Very Light to Medium Light range
Reasoning: Because the Shetland appears to favor the heavy and very heavy range, it is difficult to breed lighter purebreds, let alone find many or any at all on market. Although these do pop up semi-regularly because the Falabella recipe calls for a medium light to medium, these types tend to be undersized and disappear quite quickly. Such breeds that use the Shetland are: American Shetland; Chincoteague (heavy breed); Falabella; Kerry Bog Pony (medium to heavy); Miniature; Pony of the Americas; Yakut (heavy to very heavy) & Yonaguni Pony.

[BlackOak2]

Another two for the breed recipes.

Purebred Hackney (this is not the Hackney Pony)
Best height range might be 14.0hh to 16.2hh
Two different size ranges, medium and medium heavy to heavy.
Reasoning: The Hackney is a fairly light horse type. It's not too popular of a breed; as of this posting, there are only 436 active horses. Of these, only 19 are at stud and of those 19, only 1 is medium light, the rest are light or very light. There are a few recipe breeds that do require a heavier and in some cases a much heavier type range then these horses can produce. Such breeds that use the Hackney are: American Saddlebred (light type); Australian Pony (light to medium light); Boerperd (medium light to medium); Calabrese (light to medium light); Coffin Bay Ponies (light to medium); Dutch Harness (medium light to medium); Einsiedler (medium light to medium); French Trotter (very light to light); Hackney Pony (light to medium); Vlaamperd (medium light to medium heavy); Welsh Cob (medium heavy to heavy); & Welsh Mountain Pony (medium light to medium).

Purebred North African Barb
The height range that's most often missing is 11-13.1hh.
The range that would be most suitable would likely be medium to medium heavy.
Reasoning: So this is another AC breed. And for the most part, the NAB doesn't really need much alteration to help with making new breeds. However, even with this, I have found some need in certain areas, specifically for those that decide to stand or sell pure or mixed NAB's on the market. Tendency toward the taller and lighter end seems to be the preference, to help both the Arabian and the Thoroughbred in certain area stats they lack. So finding ones that are shorter or heavier is certainly a difficult task. Such breeds that use an NAB that's different from basic standard are: Camargue (medium light to medium heavy); Giara Pony (11-13.2hh); Java (11-12.1hh & medium light to medium); Mangalarga Machador (medium light to medium - just outside requirements); Oldenburg (16-17.3hh & medium light to medium heavy); & Pindos Pony (12-13.1hh).

[AmberNW]

I like the idea of the Arab x TB crosses. I have started working on Anglo-Arabians and have played around with this a bit, but not enough to know if I would want to make a move towards marketing them.

[BlackOak2]

I like the idea of the Arab x TB crosses. I have started working on Anglo-Arabians and have played around with this a bit, but not enough to know if I would want to make a move towards marketing them.

Like I have stated, it is a niche market. Need for these are likely to come and go with perhaps long 'dead' areas in between. That said, they can certainly be used in other capacities, such as grinders and competition lines.

If you do decide to take this route and create one of these niche markets, either the arabian x thoroughbred, or another, feel free to use this topic to post availability of your production and even sell off the project if or when you grow tired if it.

Also, if you get stuck or need help, feel free to ask. I may not be the one to answer, but we'll see about getting you the aid you might need.

As a last note, the arabian, thoroughbred cross may have other potential uses as breeding into already established racing lines, as these two separate breeds are two of our leading 'breed favorites' and also leading 'racers'.

So, thank you for your potential interest.

[BlackOak2]

Another Niche.

Purebred Oldenburg
The height range that's most often missing is 14.0 to 15.3hh.
The range that would be most suitable would likely be medium heavy to heavy.
Reasoning: The Oldenburg is a relatively tall horse. However, most of the recipe breeds require a horse shorter or even much shorter than the minimum requirement of the Oldenburg. Plus, most of them also require a size or type that although included in the Oldenburg, the breed has a wider range than a lot of other breeds, leading to horses that by breed standard, certainly should be fine to utilize, but still fall outside of the recipe breed requirements. Narrowing this gap should lead to a better recipe parent. The recipe breeds that utilize the Oldenburg are: Bavarian Warmblood (medium light to medium); Finnish Universal (medium to very heavy; Frederiksborg (light to medium heavy); Gelderlander (medium to medium heavy); Groningen (medium to medium heavy); Kladruby (medium light to medium) and South German Horse (medium heavy to very heavy).

[Baranduin Brewster]

I do have pony type Thoroughbreds, mostly medium build stallions, though I do have the capability to breed Medium Heavy, these are a bit vertically challenged.

I also have a lighter horse type line of Shetlands. Mine do range from Micro up to about 9 hh.

My lines are closed to purebreeders for the most part, but if someone needed a studding for a recipe creation arrangements could be made

Another niche could be Micro/Miniatures of normally taller breeds

[Showtym_Sport]

I like the idea of the Arab x TB crosses. I have started working on Anglo-Arabians and have played around with this a bit, but not enough to know if I would want to make a move towards marketing them.

Like I have stated, it is a niche market. Need for these are likely to come and go with perhaps long 'dead' areas in between. That said, they can certainly be used in other capacities, such as grinders and competition lines.

If you do decide to take this route and create one of these niche markets, either the arabian x thoroughbred, or another, feel free to use this topic to post availability of your production and even sell off the project if or when you grow tired if it.

Also, if you get stuck or need help, feel free to ask. I may not be the one to answer, but we'll see about getting you the aid you might need.

As a last note, the arabian, thoroughbred cross may have other potential uses as breeding into already established racing lines, as these two separate breeds are two of our leading 'breed favorites' and also leading 'racers'.

So, thank you for your potential interest.

I have a few Arab×TB of anyone wants any I can easily do a custom foal.

[BlackOak2]

...

I have a few Arab×TB of anyone wants any I can easily do a custom foal.

This would be the niche market that they would fall into. There, of course, can be others, this is just the one I came across for quests.

Arabian x Thoroughbred crosses
14.3-15.3 both Horse & Pony types
Medium to heavy range
Reasoning: There are plenty of these crosses on the market, but any horse heavier than medium-light are seemingly non-existent. Likely because these horses are mainly used for racing type competitions, favoring the light-weight body-style seems to be the trend. Recipes that call for this cross are: Anglo-Arabian (light breed), Dole Trotter, French Anglo-Arab (light breed), Pozan, Trakehner (relatively light breed) & Waler.

Are you offering your services here as a Niche Market Breeder? If you can... I suppose I should've made a separate post to list those that can fulfill Niche Market needs... I suppose I'll have to go back and rearrange some of those first posts to fit.