Why are you selling him?
We are so sad to offer him for sale, and it's been a hard decision. We have 3 stallions and about 12 broodmares/fillies. Our mares/fillies are either cutting/reining bred or Hancock bred. So we have to keep the Hancock stallion, as we don't want to lose that part of our program. For the cutting/reining mares, we are going to stick with Rawhide Whiz, only because he is possibly the best-bred grullo QH we've ever seen. We thought about waiting to see if we liked Rawhide Whiz's foals (the first crop arrives this spring) before offering Merlin for sale, because we LOVE Merlin's foals. But we are short on room, and collecting and AI-ing with three stallions is just too much work for me. I can handle two, but trying to get three mares' mates collected in one day if needed is more than I can expect of myself due to my work load.

Does he pasture breed?
We've actually never tried pasture breeding him, and possibly that's what he needs to learn to be efficient at breeding. When live covering, we've had the mares in breeding stocks. He just isn't very quick about getting on, staying on, and breeding. A couple times, he's lost his footing and actually tipped over! We've gone to AI on all our stallions, so don't even live cover any longer. We have collected Merlin off a phantom and also ground collected him. He doesn't like the AV, but we got him collected whenever needed and the mares all settled except for one that needed a year off (she carried her 2007 foal for over a year, and had inconsistent cycles for the next 2 months).

How much are you asking for him?
We are starting at $20,000  for him. His 2007 foals sold for $7500 (grullo colt), 3500, 2800, 2000, 2000 (grullo fillies...two for 2000 were reduced in price due to family health event), 1000 (dun colt...price reduced due to family health event), 1500 (grullo colt, sold in mid winter looking like a fuzzy bear).
His 2006 grullo colt sold for $4500. Those are off the top of my head...the two for 2000 and the colt for 1000 have been his cheapest foals to sell, and were reduced in price due to their owners having a family health event. I'm missing a couple I think, but would have to look them up to see who they were. But the three listed here are his least expensive sales ever. So he's for sure a money maker.

Are there any strings attached such as retained breedings?
We are open to suggestions. I'd rather not retain breedings for a reduced sale price, because everyone I know that has sold a horse with retained breedings has lost their breedings. Once a horse is sold, it can be resold without transferring those breedings, so I don't want to rely upon that. A partnership is a possibility, but it would have to be just the right situation.

How is he to handle?
He is a pussycat. I am not a small woman, but think a small person could easily handle him. He does act like a stallion at breeding, but I've not had any trouble with him. When not breeding, he acts like a gelding. My kids pet him and he has NEVER acted mean in any way.

Is he spoiled or disrespectful of your space?
Not at all. When leading him to breed, he sometimes needs a reminder to stay off my shoulder. At a conference I went to (from Equine-Reproduction.com staff), a tip offered for all breeding stallions was to carry a wiffle ball bat. It makes a big noise, but doesn't hurt the stallion. Merlin knows that when I carry the yellow plastic bat, it's breeding time. One pop with it is all it takes for him to concentrate and stay beside me.

Does he have any bad habits at all?
Only that he is not good at live cover as described above (too much jiggling around and moving his feet, rather than getting set behind the mare and doing his work). He could not breed a tall mare live cover without some work. We just found it easier and safer for him to be collected.

Does he have any scars or blemishes?
No

Is he sound?
Never has limped a day in his life. Kind of related to this is agility, though. Merlin is not an agile/cat-like mover. He is too muscular and his stride is choppy, so he would not make a reining horse. So we've crossed him mostly on lighter-built mares that aren't so massive, and the foals have been wonderful with nice muscle but also more athletic.  He has had one heavy-built foal that I was AMAZED with the agility of, though. Yesterday (3/5/2008), we had to move a horse through their pen and the foals just had a ball with it. That big-muscled colt would have put a cutting horse to shame! 

Have you ever had his semen tested?
No, but last year (2007) we exclusively collected and AI'd and the mares all settled except for the one above that had irregular cycles and carried her 2007 foal for more than a year. We tried her on one or two cycles, but her follicles didn't develop correctly (we ultrasounded her several times) and at the right times, so we gave her the year off. I don't consider this to be Merlin's fault.

Straight teeth?
Yes...I haven't looked for a couple years, but will. They were correct when he was 1 or 2 when I last examined them.

Straight legs?
Nice and correct on all 4 legs (see pictures on his main web page). Excellent hoof and bone.

How is he with the farrier?
I used to shoe, so do this myself. Since we decided to not show him (financial reasons), I've never put shoes on him. His hooves don't need trimmed often, so he's only been trimmed about 5 times. He leans on me when I do his back hooves...aggravating. But he isn't mean...just hasn't been worked with enough because he keeps a pretty good hoof on his own. It seems like one back hoof had a flare on it last year, but mostly they grow straight and wear off nicely. Right now, they haven't been trimmed since about June, and they are growing correctly.

Do you guarantee him to be a 100% color producer?
No, but we don't have any reason to believe that he won't be. The chances are overwhelming that he is homozygous for dun factor (see statistics below) because he has produced 11 colored foals out of 11 total foals. There is a remote possibility that we just got lucky, but it's just that....pretty remote. I've never heard of a horse producing 11 out of 11 foals with the same color gene (dun factor, in this case) that wasn't homozygous for it himself.
See the production table below.