Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - The Maiden Season Part 6



Part 1 of the Baby Boomer Series

Part 1 of the Maiden Season

By this time, Heiress had finally coming into heat. I wasn't sure that I was really ready to deal with her and breeding but it seemed to be now or never so I began to set things up.

I planned on teasing her for a couple of days before we actually tried to breed her. That would give her a little time to get used to the stallion's advances. I knew from my breeding/teasing notes how long to expect her to be in heat. I made the appointment with the vet and his wife to return to help based on that information and Dave's schedule from work.

Dave was going to help with the breeding this time. He had come running when things went awry the last time so now he figured he might just as well be involved.

Internally I laughed because it just so happened, he was going to be involved whether he volunteered or not. I had no one to hold the mare. And since he hadn't built the breeding wall that I'd requested, he was going to be involved much closer than he expected.

Once the day had arrived and the parties were all in place, we got the horses ready to breed. Heiress was as good as gold about being washed and having her tail put up. I thanked Kurra in my head for the newer, gentler Heiress.

The vet thought we should twitch the mare and it made sense to me. He applied the twitch but then handed it to Dave. Dave held it fine, just didn't keep it on the horse, I'm not sure where in the process he lost it, I only know that he did. But we proceeded believing that the mare was restrained.

By now, Legs had figured out he was going to get to breed again. While the Arabian horse had totally lost the urge to leap, he was not using his head either. The young horse was not listening and being pushy. He had to be corrected a number of times. The horse really wasn't happy about being yanked out of the sky before he could reach the mare and he was pretty sure it was my fault.

So the next time the horse reared up to mount the mare even though he had been invited this time, he reached over with his left front leg and grabbed me by the shoulder. The horse evidently wanted to make sure I wasn't going to interfere this time.

As the horse's leg moved towards it's target on my shoulder, it caught the corner of my glasses knocking them into oblivion and breaking my nose. The sheer force with which the horse's leg came down on my shoulder spun me around like a top and threw me to the ground. The horse saw me falling and realized he was in trouble so he dropped back down to the ground. I landed in a heap underneath the once rearing stallion who was in kind next to the mare in heat begging to be bred.

I cannot see a thing without my glasses. The world is an absolute blur. Whenever I find myself without them, my first thought is always finding my glasses. This may sound dumb but even laying underneath this stallion, I didn't move for fear I would break my glasses. Then I would be in real trouble.

I screamed at Dave to find my glasses as he screamed back at me to get out from underneath the horse. But I refused to budge until I knew that my glasses were safe. Once they had them located, I crawled out from underneath the sheepish horse.

Legs had totally forgotten about the mare. He knew that he'd done something wrong. He watched me get up and nudged me gently to see if I was ok. All I really wanted to do was kill him. Blood was gushing out of my nose and my whole body was already beginning to hurt, Not to mention the vet and his wife were both laughing hysterically.

Now, I'd be the first to admit when something is funny but this had not been funny to me. I didn't care that Legs wasn't trying to hurt me. That he was just trying to get me out of his way! The horse had hurt me whether he intended to or not. I probably would have really thumped on him had I thought it would make any sense to him at all. But too much time had lapsed from the time he grabbed me to the time I finally was back on my feet. He seemed to understand that he was in trouble so I left it as that.

Instead I really wanted to thump on the laughing vet and his wife. Just because they had never seen such a thing before didn't mean they should be laughing. It didn't matter to me the horse hadn't grabbed me with his teeth, kicked or struck at me, what mattered was that he made contact with me. Yes, I was relieved to know that the horse wasn't being "aggressive" in the usual manner that breeding stallions sometimes do BUT I could have been killed. Even today, I still think their laughing was in poor taste.

Now I really wanted this darn thing done. Despite protests from Dave and the vet, we went back to the task of breeding the mare. They thought I should go in the house and wash the blood off my face and hands. But I wasn't budging again. I just wanted the whole thing over!

This time Legs was quiet and cautious. He didn't mount until he was told. And Heiress, the horse we had all been worried about for this event, she stood there like a rock. The darn mare never moved even a muscle that I could tell. Not only that, when the stallion collapsed on top of her, she reached around and nuzzled his face. I could see her wheels turning,
"My sweet boy!"
After the fact I'm pretty sure that all those months of baby sitting when he was just a foal, had really helped us with this breeding. The mare wasn't worried about him jumping on her, he'd done it dozens and dozens of times. Whooda thunk??

I had expected breeding this mare to be a problem. But not in my wildest dreams had I imagined that Legs grabbing me would be even a consideration. Now I was two for two with horror stories on teaching a maiden stallion to breed. This was definitely not going as expected!.I sure wished that breeding season was over.

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

Part 7

7 comments:

  1. Oh man... I hope your face healed up quickly. It doesn't sound like you were off to a very good start with breeding.

    Now I mean I know it all worked out in the end, obviously since you've been breeding for years, but I am really interested in where your story takes us all next. :)

    *My notes are getting pretty thick here...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Boy your introduction to the art of horse breeding sure has been eventful. I agree that I would have been spitting mad if it had been me and the vet and his wife were laughing. There is nothing funny about being laid out flat by a horse, its hooves can be lethal even without full force behind them and for you to be on the ground and them still to laugh was just not on. Thank heavens Legs understood you so well and had the sense to back down. My hand raised filly, Wiggle will step out of line every now and again and I will give her a severe reprimand and a swat on the butt and she is like a little sheep after that following me around looking so sorry for herself because she knows she has done wrong, she hates upsetting me and it sounds like Legs is the same way with you.

    So glad Heiress was such a good girl, it is always the ones you least expect to be good that are isnt it LOL.

    Looking forward to the next instalment and hope that your nose wasnt too painful for too long.

    Lori

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a shame that the vet laughed. It's not funny to get smashed in the face by a horse...ever.
    And who would have guessed that Heiress had any natural instinct about this part of life. It's wonderful since this is why you bought her. She a ho.

    ReplyDelete
  4. *gasp* I hope your nose healed alright!! Glad to read Heiress behaved well and didn't make trouble. Legs breaking your nose and catching your shoulder was NOT what I expected to read about in this entry! Hope ya gave the vet and his wife a piece of your mind for laughing!! Soooo unfunny!! At least if they were going to do so...wait until the breeding was over and you were taken care of and preferably alone amongst themselves...jeez!

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow. You are one lucky woman that you didn't get hurt worse. Your face is fragile and even tho Legs wasn't out to hurt you, he was bigger and stronger and this could have been a disaster.

    Thank goodness Heiress was a good girl for you.

    You are a much more determined person than me, two for two would have done it for me for breeding. I'd have quit after that and watched from the sidelines.

    ReplyDelete
  6. goodness! I know how it is not being able to see well! I cannot see inches in front of my face w/out my glasses or contacts.My glasses are never, ever far away.

    I hope your nose healed fast, those injuries hurt.

    ReplyDelete
  7. My computers been offline for 3-4 days. Anyways, I think Dave and Kurra could of been a blessing for Heiress and her breeding with Legs. I seriously do. If she was seriously behaving that good, because of Dave putting those mares together, and what happened, maybe it was a very good thing.

    Did you ask the vet his wife, if they were in your shoes, if they would want you laughing at them, if it was the other way around? but maybe they weren't laughing at you, as much as they were probably laughing at your young stallion. Cause I really can see any laughing at anyone, getting that hurt.

    ReplyDelete