Would a stud who retired at a young age due to injury deter you from breeding to him? I know a lot plays into it - conformation, conditioning, etc. but still wonder if people take this into consideration when choosing studs. If so, would some types of injuries be more likely to deter you than others? This is just genuine curiosity - I love learning from this group.

Right now most stallions are enrolled in incentive programs and people look at what incentives a stallion is enrolled in. They can range anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 per year to keep them in the incentive. They have to raise stud fees to cover their enrollment fees. Personally, I watch stallion auctions carefully and have bought several breedings from there. These are some things to cinsider

I'd be more willing to breed to a stud that ran & got hurt vs a stud that didn't run at all. And a lot of the big studs have never seen a barrel pen & people still flock. They're interested in incentives, sometimes color. 

Really good question and MANY ways to look at it. ONE---did the stud actually have an injury or was he just not top tier so they did not want to take him public---have seen this many times. TWO----for me, if there was an actual injury it would depend on if it was a conformation flaw that caused it or just bad luck. Sun Frost for example---was ridden very little after his 3 year old year from a stifle injury from jumping a sucker rod fence. Studs can hurt themselves so quick and easily and would depend on the situation. We have two studs, neither have left our place since we got them 15 years ago--had no interest in campaigning a stud but went to breeding them immediately and campaigning their Get. There can be many reasons for a stud to have not been campaigned other than an injury---I like to look at what they have produced more than what they did themselves, 

I just bred to a stud that had 4 first out of 8 starts. Got a bone chip in his front knee so they quit running him.