Wednesday, September 5, 2007

A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - Down a Rocky Road

Before I begin, September is Disaster Preparedness month and it's important that we have plans for our equine friends as well. Equine U has information helpful to designing disaster plans for horses at equineU.com's Preparedness page.
Please check it out.

Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Since the hematoma in the Arabian mare's uterus hadn't healed completely, there wasn't much we could do but wait for spring to breed the mare back to GS Khochise.

Life on our small breeding farm was rolling along quietly except for weaning time. Legs was quite a mamma's boy and really didn't want to give her up. The young colt screamed himself hoarse and still wouldn't shut up but the rest of our horses were happy and content.

Legs finally did get the hang of being weaned. Turning him out with Heiress helped to console him some. The young mare was happy to baby sit the naughty colt even without his mother present. The days were moving along.

Later that winter, on a dry, but overcast day, I decided to turn horses out. I put my dream horse, Scandalous, into the farthest field.from the barn along with her first born, Aidol, a gelding. Then I added Mark, my first show horse, to the mix.

I remember glancing over at Aidol and Scandalous. The two horses were contentedly grooming on each other as I released the third horse into the mix. I hung his halter with the others and turned to walk back to the barns. Taking only a few steps I was startled by a blood curdling scream and the crashing of hooves.

I whirled around to see Mark, the gelding, with his ears flattened fiercely against his head diving savagely after my beloved mare. The look on the mare's face was sheer terror as she tried to escape the attacking gelding.

I grabbed a halter and frantically stumbled my way through the gate calling to Scandalous. The mare, hearing the sound of my voice, turned and tried to come to me but the enraged gelding cut across her path. The mare instinctively turned as mother nature designed leading her away from my help and directly into the path of the outraged gelding.

With the stampeding horses now moving away from me, I ran to the inside of the U-shaped pasture hoping to be able to cut the horses off. When they reached the fence they'd be forced to turn back towards me. I'd have to be able to cut them off and split them up. There was no doubt in my mind the gelding was trying to kill my mare.

To be continued..............

Part 2

11 comments:

  1. Sigh.... Why do you always do this? LOL I'm telling you, you should write suspence you are VERY good at it.

    *running to check dates*

    I can't wait for the rest of the story.

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  2. OMGosh!! And I agree with lady of chaos...you should write suspense! Holy cow!! Hope this turns out better then I'm imagining. *cringe*

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  3. Interesting post as usual.

    If you have not seen a tomato horn worm lately, complete with cocoons of predator wasps aboard, then take a look if you have time.

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  4. Holy cow. I swear I am about to hyperventilate...

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  5. yikes!!! your mare...scary.

    I am going to check out that site. I think I am prepared for a disaster...

    my old guy is freeze branded and I had him tattooed years ago....before the microchips came out...this brings me a small peace of mind.

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  6. I can only hope that your mare is very, very fast.

    You do tell a good story. I hope this one has a happy ending....

    Be back tomorrow!
    Anne

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  7. Is it tomorrow yet?

    At least I know that poor, little Heiress finally got the hang of a field and could be out with others.

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  8. Hmph, this is just MEAN! Leave me in suspense like this... I really, really need to hear the rest of this episode... I hope it turns out OK!

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  9. I am surprised that Scandalous didn't just start biting him all over, for acting like a tyrant. And I am surprised that gelding was being a tyrant like that. I thought geldings were supposed to be more mellow!! but I have seen other people have tyrant geldings, bothering mares, or mares with their foals. So. Anyway, want to hear the rest of this episode. I hope that you were able to separate them in time. You probably learned to not put horses together like that again.

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  10. I agree with Lady of Chaos you would make a very good suspense writer LOL.

    This is one of my traumatic moments too, when you introduce new horses to each other in a pasture. I always sit with my heart in my mouth until I am sure they are settled and touch wood so far have never had a bad experience. The usual squeeling and kicking for the first few minutes until the pecking order is established then all peace and happiness LOL.

    Looking forward to the next episode in this sage and hoping that all was well and not too much damage inflicted.

    (((Hugs)))

    Lori

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