The Morgan Show.................Night Duty

I awoke from a sound sleep to the sound of my cell phone. Stumbling without my glasses in a strange place, I tried to locate the darn thing before it quit ringing. A call in what seemed like the middle of the night could only mean one thing.............an emergency of some kind or another.

As I tried to shake the cobwebs from my brain, I heard the voice saying something about start times. Still trying to clear my head I realized this was Jennifer, the woman who'd hired me to manage the show. I sighed a quiet sigh of relief. it was "only" some kind of scheduling snafu and not some dire emergency.

I listened while Jennifer explained some people thought our start time was 9 am while others thought it was 8 am. Then came the query, "What was I going to do about this?" There was no explanation for the confusion but it really didn't matter. Any confusion about start time meant we'd needed to go with the later start time. We didn't want anyone missing their class because of this issue and the only way to assure that would be the later start.

Jennifer said she'd pass the information along to those who had posed the question while I notified the show secretary and then tried to get back to sleep. An hour later start wouldn't affect me at all, I'd have to be at the show grounds to deal with the people who didn't get the message about the later start.

Having been awoken with such a start, my brain was buzzing too much to sleep. I turned the TV back on hoping to bore myself back to slumber. About the time my eyes began to droop, I heard a loud rapid pounding. The sound was over almost as quickly as it started and I found myself wondering what had jarred me awake yet again.

The obvious choice just didn't seem to make sense. As I lay there wondering if I really had heard what I'd thought, I found myself discounting my ears due to the briefness of the sound. About the time I began to drop off to sleep again, the pounding began again. This time it might have lasted a brief instance longer but the moaning I heard following left no question in my mind. I had definitely heard the sound of the bed next door banging into the wall. I guess I don't need to say it was a very long and awkward night.

I was relieved when my alarm finally sounded. I could escape the confines of my room and those noisy neighbors. Although I must admit, with the "duration" being quicker than most stallions I know, I couldn't help but wonder what the appeal would be.

All I could think of was Richard making fun of Legs when he had recently helped me cover a mare. The man's retorts had inferred the length of the encounter was hardly worth the effort. Being the smart mouth I can be on occasion, I'd come back with the fact I knew men..........well you get the picture. After this experience, I'd be sure to tell Richard that Legs definitely had my neighbor beat.

Now, I know this is NOT the kind of information you expect to find on my blog. It got to be the joke in the show office each morning about the activities of my neighbors. Guess I had to laugh at it, there's wasn't much else I could do with the awkwardness of that situation. Unfortunately these noisy neighbors AND breeding issues at home had their effect on the rest of my experience at the Morgan horse show.

Wouldn't you know it, when I was away from home is when the mare I was planning on breeding would come into heat. I would have allowed her to skip this cycle except the next cycle would have been worse.....during the Region 4 Championships. That meant I needed to let someone else handle Legs for breeding, something I have only done once before........and that one time is something I will always regret.

I really wished I could just left it go but this mare is Solidare. I don't really know how many years I will have left with her. Putting breeding off for another year could mean I never get another foal from her. Solidare so loves her babies and she is really upset when the other mares have foals and she doesn't. As much as I would like to "protect" her from her instincts, I know it's really not fair to the horse to do so. I've had many talks with vets about her and all of them believe I should be breeding her so I'm gritting my teeth and going with it.

Richard had helped me the one time with breeding. He'd handled the mare for me. While he teased me about Legs, he was impressed with the horse's manners. He felt totally comfortable handling the horse to cover Solidare while I was gone. Wish I could say I felt as comfortable about it. Not that I don't trust Richard, it's just that anything can and does seem to happen when I'm gone.

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

The "Real" Show Begins

This picture is Solidare with Dare when she was a foal.

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