Sunday, September 30, 2007

A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 3


Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season

Ok, so I know you've been laughing over this latest adventure. How could you not? Had I not been there having to deal with this mess, I'd have been laughing too! But instead I was considering this. This particular mare is the dearly loved aged mare of my friend and how in the heck are we going to get my stallion down without hurting her mare?? Darned if I know! And then there's always, how are we going to get my stallion down without killing him?? Darned if I know that either!! If he falls wrong, he can break his blankety, blank neck. And of course there's, "why does this kind of S _ _ _ always happen to me?" That last one really wandered around in there a lot!

Flying by the seat of our pants, ever so carefully we tried to move Legs's right front leg over the top of Kurra's head. If we could get both of his front legs onto the same side, we might be able to kind of roll him onto his front feet. From there maybe we could just kind of walk him off of her neck.

It sounded good, even if we didn't ever really say it out loud. The vet, his wife and I just well went into action. So in tune we were all trying to accomplish the same thing. The vet moved the front leg up the side towards over the top of the mare's head. His wife tried to stabilize the back end of the horse while I tried to balance his front end as it was swinging it my direction. Jodee stood there watching and holding her mare as we worked to get that leg over the mare's head.

I heard the thud as he clubbed Kurra in the head with his right front hoof and I cringed wondering what Jodee was thinking or if she was even breathing.

Kurra didn't move a muscle as Legs struggled to get some balance. By now the vet had let loose of the front leg as it was making its way over the top. Instead the vet was now trying to keep the stallion from falling back his direction. If the horse fell off this way he was going right down onto his back. That was no a place we wanted to go.

Thump, he hit the mare again with that right front foot. But this time on the left side of her face as his foot crashed on its way to the ground with the rest of his weight falling right behind it.

The young stallion was down in a heap on the ground at the mare's feet but only for an instant. As fast as he had fallen the horse lunged to his feet trying to recoup whatever was left of his dignity. Then nonchalantly the young stallion shook himself off.
The whole time the mare never budged an inch although she did let loose with a pretty deep sigh as Legs crashed to the ground. Kurra just stood there patiently waiting for us to try again. After all she knew the routine..........

And try again, we did. One, two, three times at least before we ever actually got the mare bred. By now, the horse had figured out he was really going to get to breed the mare, if he could figure out HOW to do it, so he was getting a bit pushy. I pulled him down a few times because he tried to jump the mare before he was told. The usual baby stuff.

While Legs may have tried to mount the mare from the side a couple of times and fell off a time or two, he never again LEAPT onto the mare. The horse would raise up on his hind legs and stand for an instant before he ever so gently lowered himself down atop the mare.

I doubt that Kurra interpreted his attempts as the young stallion trying to be gentle. I'm pretty sure she had a clear picture that he was really only trying to save himself from more humiliation. That mare just stood there like a rock! Quietly making it as easy as possible for that stupid maiden stallion to figure out how to do what nature intended.

I'm pretty sure the mare was relieved when the young stallion finally got it done. Although the wise mare did glance back at this obviously virgin stallion laying atop her to see how he was "handling" his conquest. This smart old mare had seen virgin stallions so overwhelmed that they passed out and fell from the mare. She wasn't taking any chances of getting thumped on again. The mare was prepared to bolt at the first signs of Legs loosing consciousness.

Fortunately, Legs kept his wits about him. While he did lay there for a while drooling all over poor Kurra as he nibbled her neck, this horse had had all the humiliation he could handle for one day. He was getting off with dignity and class!

Even though he still had that glazed over look in his eye, the young horse gently lifted himself up off of the mare when I insisted enough was enough. Every so carefully he pulled back, turned and walked away with me. Stopping for an instant to give Kurra a well deserved soft knicker of acknowledgement as we headed for his stall.

And Kurra, well, she was glad to go to a stall and be done with that stupid maiden stallion for the day. Can't say as I blamed her. I was pretty glad to be done with the whole thing myself. I for one, was crossing my fingers and hoping the mare would be out of heat on Monday so we didn't have to do this whole thing again.

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

Part 4


9 comments:

  1. LOL Poor horse. Usually, once they get it, they get it if you know what I mean, after they know what to do it's more a matter of keeping the manners in line... Or so I've been told. I guess I'll find out for myself next year. :)

    Can't wait to hear how the second go round went...

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  2. Oh, Legs, I'm so proud of you!
    I can't wait the 11 months to see what comes of this mating. I'm glad your story goes faster than that, MiKael.

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  3. OMGosh! Poor Kurra! Good thing for Legs she was used to this and calm through it all or dang...I can't even imagine what a tragic outcome that could have been. Glad his first breeding turned out pretty well considering the loss of a bit of his dignity...LOL! Again...can't wait to read more and find out if the breeding took!!

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  4. OH, my! I can't even imagine. Loading a horse in a trailer is enough for me.

    Poor mare! I'm sure he'll get it right next time. Sounds like he was definitely interested!

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  5. That is one good mare! Glad you were at least savvy enough to use an experienced mare. Just imagine all the fools out there who take a couple of two year olds thinking 'It's nature...'! That had been the master plan for Sunny and the colt her previous adopter had (look at me rolling my eyes here!)

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  6. people not being everyone ... i hadnt thought of it that way. makes a lot of sense. :)
    kïrstin♫

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  7. I have been so lucky with both of my stallions. I had also never been around a stallion or foals before I came here but with both of them it went smoothly.

    You did give me a good giggle, LOL your descriptions are so graphic I can just imagine the whole thing!!

    Hope all is well. (((Hugs)))

    Lori

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  8. oh. boy.

    What a really really steady mare. Good girl Kurra.

    And good for you too Legs and M. Heart stopping for you I'm sure M...but the boys usually end up figuring it out, thank goodness.

    Once again, glad there are those hardy souls out there since I won't be breeding! Don't have the guts for it myself.

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