A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 4

Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season

By Monday, Kurra, the Gamaar bred mare was no longer showing any signs of heat. I ,for one, was hoping for a one cover pregnancy. While I knew the young stallion wouldn't get a lot of practice that way, I was still rooting for no more breeding than absolutely necessary. The whole experience had convinced me of something I was pretty sure of in the first place, MARES are my thing!!

It's probably safe to say the whole time I was thinking this, I was NOT considering the fact the next horse to breed was herself a maiden. Not only was this mare a maiden BUT she was the mare from the farm down the road.

The mare who had lived her life up to the time I bought her in a stall. The mare who had bit me, kicked me and knocked me senseless nearly getting me killed the first month I owned her. This was the mare who had never been socialized with other horses. This was the mare I had bought to breed to this stallion before he was even born. Even the vet was worried about breeding this mare. I mean, how bad could it be?

Once I really began to think about the prospects of breeding Krugorrs Heiress, I began to see the error of my thinking. It would definitely have been a good idea to have had the young stallion have all of the experience he could before we had to deal with the mare. It was difficult enough dealing with a stallion who didn't know what he was doing without adding the mare who was so unpredictable and could be so dangerous.

While the mare's behavior had come a long way in these two years since I'd purchased her, there was still so much unknown about her and her behavior. Each new experience seemed to be meet with so much fear and so little reason, I just didn't have a clue what to expect from her when it came to breeding. I was really hoping I hadn't bitten off more than I could chew.

For now, all I could do about this situation was worry. Heiress was not currently in heat. I did decide that I would spend some more time doing a refresher course on her leading skills before the big event. Making sure she had a firm understanding of "Whoa!" would be important as well.

In the meantime, life on our farm was pretty much going along as usual except for the addition of Kurra to our herd. The mare had been the head mare in a herd of over twenty horses. Jodee had warned us against turning her out with any other horses and I pretty much agreed.

Kurra, however, was feeling deprived being turned out in a small field by herself. The mare spent a good portion of her time standing at the fence line watching the other mares and crying. Knowing how crabby this mare could be, I just let her cry. I really didn't want to see what might happen if any of my mares crossed her. I knew from Jodee's accounts that Kurra didn't take hostages, she intended for her victims to leave for parts unknown.

Dave on the other hand couldn't be bothered by such things as owners concerns about their horses doing damage to our horses. He was preoccupied with feeling sorry for the lonely mare. So while I was gone to the store, he decided to turn Kurra out with the other mares.

Lilly had lived in a big herd. She understood what it meant when the boss mare said get out of my way. She also understood in just one glance that Kurra was the boss mare. If Kurra looked her direction, Lilly knew to do as she was told.

Heiress on the other hand had no experience with a true herd situation. Her only experience being turned out with other horses had been Scandalous who had taken pity on the poor filly. While Scandalous had not let Heiress get away with being totally obnoxious, she had not taught the filly how to survive in a herd.

Once Lilly came to live at our farm, she became Heiress's new pasture mate. Lilly was younger and used to being pushed around. She had no idea that Heiress didn't really understand about being in a herd or she probably would have taken her on. Instead she did nothing to challenge the mare or to set Heiress straight.

The very thought of Dave turning Kurra out with Heiress anywhere near her was enough to scare me silly. I believed that Kurra wouldn't tolerate any of Heiress's stupid behavior and I was right. Once Heiress and Kurra were in the same field it was only a matter of minutes before the fight began.

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

Part 5

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