Copy Checking In

Enjoying the first sprigs of Spring grass

Greener Pastures



"Walker" and Copy



A couple of months ago, some friends called and asked if my mother knew of any old horses that needed a home.  Their herd dynamic was "off" with three horses, and someone was in need of a friend. 

Mom had sold these folks a walking horse and a pony and knew it was an excellent home, so she almost immediately volunteered Copy.  Our "herd dynamic" was a bit off too, since the filly has a pony friend, and the geldings are on individual turnout.  Copy was being "neglected" if that's possible at Mom's house.

They said they would come and meet her and decide if they liked her.  Mom got on the phone with Saddlebred Rescue about the potential re-adoption, and we waited.

Not long after, they came to visit and decided that Copy was beautiful and elegant.  Since she loves men, and the "interested person" in this couple was the husband, I'm sure she turned on her charm.   The adoption was approved, and a date set.



Macaroni (the pony), Walker, Copy and the Percheron



Soon after the couple returned from a spring vacation, Copy headed out to her new digs with a care package full of peppermints, peanuts and her favorite pink grooming tools.  She is now Queen of a small herd in a beautiful 40 acre pasture.  She immediately established herself in charge and with a firm double barrel kick in the chest, relegated the ancient Percheron (former herd Boss) to third in command behind her new beau "Walker".

All is now peaceful and Copy is very happy.  Mom went to visit her last week and was shocked that Copy let her pet her head.  Copy is normally disdainful and aloof.  I told Mom this means Copy is "grateful" for her new retirement home.



What?



Moody Mare

Copy rules the roost at our barn. She always has her stall door open with a stall guard across. Her turnout shift is all night, so all day she supervises. And makes her angry camel face. The only time she can be pleasant is when she thinks I have a snack. Or when I'm scratching her withers.

This expression was very difficult to capture on camera as she is so vain that as soon as she sees a camera she poses. The look was achieved by repeatedly blowing raspberries at her until she got fed up. Note the snarl wrinkles over the nostril.

Anyway, Copy lives to terrorise the geldings, and she does a good job. If you lead one past her open door, you have to walk between them and waggle your finger at her. Grey is terrified he's going to get his butt bitten and always scurries past. When she is turned out briefly during the day beside the barn to graze, we have to move Grey from that side of the barn because she will pester him endlessly through window. That's why she can't be allowed to graze over night, and is limited to the sacrifice pen on the other side which doesn't allow her to get right up to a window and act like a hussy.

This weekend, my mother was leading her for grass, and Face-Off, who is very jealous and opinionated, came to the fence nearby and threw one of his temper tantrums that involves standing in one spot, and kicking like a mule. What he was trying to say was "I am the most special horse ever, and I want to go out and eat grass too." When Mom headed back to the barn, she took a shortcut between the garden and the paddock, and stopped to visit with Face-Off. He reached over the fence and touched Copy. Copy blasted a board off the fence, hitting Face-Off in the knee and drawing blood. Face-Off was very upset and stood and cow kicked repeatedly in frustration. Copy feigned indifference.

She is covered in plushy winter fur, and her dapples are sort of like dimples.

So I guess I owe you guys an update.

Copy is in foal. Or at least she was on Monday. You see, on Saturday Mom hauled her to our farm vet's office, to save a farm call fee. He palpated her (he had the ultrasound machine right there beside him) and said "nope, not in foal, we won't bother with the ultrasound (whoops)". So on Sunday, Mom hauled her out to Stallion Services in Ohio for a culture, checkup yadayada in preparation for her next cycle which ought to be right around the corner. Monday morning, with due diligence, SS ultrasounded her, and not long after I got a phone call at work from Ace's owner... "can't find your mother, but tell her to go get the mare, she's already in foal."

This was like a game of telegraph. Robin from SS couldn't find Mom (no cell) so she called the stallion owner, who called Ace's owner, who called me at work... so at that point I was wondering if Mom and Stepdad had even made it back from Ohio the night before since their answering machine was off and they hadn't called when they got home... See what fun this breeding thing can be?

Back to the mare. So, SS immediately puts Regumate in her mouth (she'd missed Sunday since she was supposedly open), performed a caslick and packed her overnight bag. Mom went back and got her on Tuesday (after calling Vet#1 with the "lesson learned" news). Good news is that no one charged her for anything at either office, so she's only out the gas money. And two days driving. But Mom liked Stallion Services so well, she thought it was worth the trip. They are a very class act and she learned alot.

And Acey is much loved and appreciated. He has an appointment in a couple of weeks at Cornell. And while we haven't been out to visit, his owner assures us he's "just as beautiful as ever". She's raving about the cross and I think I may be more critical about what I made than she is, because thinks he's Louisville quality. That would be great if he got the training to have a chance at that level, and we would love to come and cheer for that! She's very excited about the other upcoming foal. Mom is just hoping that the trip to Ohio and back, and the day off of Regumate didn't cause her to slip that, but last time she was in and out and hauled around during the breeding process, so I'm not too worried about it.

The Economics of Horse Breeding

As Ace’s surgery date approachs, I'm beginning to have sticker shock. There are two clinics to choose from. One is Cornell Vet School, and the other is Cleveland Equine. We are set pretty much equidistant between the two of them, which is a three hour drive one way. Because Cornell is a teaching school, they give a flat rate of $1500 for the procedure. Cleveland Equine estimates between $2000 and $2500 for the procedure, with the variables being surgical complications and recovery time.

Add to this at least $125 in gas because first you have to drop the horse off, and drive home. Then you have to go back and get him and drive home again. Which means each trip out is going to be 6-8 hours factoring in loading time etc. So, this means taking two days off of work. Let’s review. That’s $1500 to $2500 for surgery. $125 for gas. Two days off work. Things are starting to add up. I figure on the low end I'm looking at $1900, and at the high end, somewhere closer to $3000.

Now, when all this is said and done, what could we realistically value Ace at? I’m sorry to say it, but Saddlebred yearlings are not a hot commodity right now. A quick internet search will find you a dozen for sale at a lower price than Ace’s surgery. At the bi-annual Saddlebred auction in Lexington, you will see nice, useful yearlings going for less than a thousand. I’ve even seen a winning futurity colt from an excellent breeder sell for $125. That’s less than what we would spend on the gas alone.

Of course, we wouldn’t part with Ace for a few hundred dollars. He’s a nice, well mannered colt with a great deal of potential. But still, in this economy, you have to make responsible decisions with your money. Having an expensive hobby like horses requires good judgement. Too many people have continued on their merry way until they realized they were in a horrible predicament with no easy way out. And their animals often suffer from it.

With all these things in mind, I emailed my mother the other day saying maybe we ought to think about finding Ace a new home before we both emptied our emergency reserves (and trust me, they would have been empty) on this risky abdominal surgery. It just so happened that she was, at that moment, on the phone with Copy’s new owner. The woman was bringing Mom up to date. Copy did not settle with the first AI and she was going to be AIed again the next day. Mom read her my email and in 10 minutes, emailed me back that Ace would have a new home.

For a few minutes I felt like I was just passing my problem off to the next person. After all, who buys a rambunctious cryptorchid yearling colt who is facing a medical bill of a couple thousand with the risk involved? I sort of felt like I'd made out like a bandit. But from her standpoint it makes sense. She could continue to sink an indeterminate amount of money into trying to settle the mare (that adds up fast, ask me how I know) and maybe or maybe not get a healthy foal. Or she could cut two years off her wait and have the exact same cross she was working on ready to go into training next year. Plus, she can see what she’s getting right down to sex and color.

From our side, it also makes sense. We will not have the added expense and risk. She has experience with stallions and will be able to deal with his high spirits until the hormones are out of his system. She will be able to send him out for training which would be a stretch for us. This will give him the best opportunity to have a career as a show horse, and me the best opportunity of not getting thrown in the dust. As part of the deal, Copy, who is presumably in foal to Ace’s sire, is back here on a lease agreement. If she is in foal, we will have the next foal free and clear. If she is not, the stud fee is paid, and we can pay the resulting vet expenses to get her settled this season or wait until next spring. Are you ready to start on this horse breeding adventure with us all over again?

So Saturday Ace embarked on his first solo trailer ride and overnighter. He loaded like a good boy, and we left him loose in the two horse trailer with the divider removed. As they headed out the drive, Ace (naturally) began kicking and screaming like the baby he is. Mom looked at me and said “that could have been us all the way to Cleveland”. Whew… I hate hauling horses. By the time they had reached their house, a short half hour drive if you take it slow, Ace had settled and was behaving himself.

His new owner was very impressed with how Ace behaved. She said we had instilled in him trust for his handler and obedience. I’m sure he was excited going to a brand new place full of strange horses. The world is much wider than he has ever imagined. The next day Ace got his first water hose bath. Of course he didn’t want to stand at first, but soon settled in and coped with it. Wow, what a lot of firsts for a young man.

He has a turn out area in view of her house, and she has a window she keeps an eye on him from. She says she can’t do the same high pitched “Ace-ey” that Mom can, but she called to him out the window, and he soon figured out where she was and to watch for her. On day two he felt comfortable enough to try to bite her, and she had just been mixing dog food so she had some on the side of her hand. When he reached for her, she grabbed for his tongue (not a bad way to deal with biting if you’re quick yourself) and he got a good dose of canned dog food…. “Yuck Lady. You taste AWFUL. Phooey.”

So don’t give up on this blog. We will still have Acey updates although fewer and farther between. It’s fun to follow along when someone takes one of your colts and develops a relationship with them. Especially when that person is a trusted friend and lives so close. Ace will go for surgery in a couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the hormones to clear his system and for him to start acting like a gelding. We look forward to such time as his training continues and he hits the show ring. You better believe we will be there for that!

The Hussy and the Jackass

**News from Copy’s new home**

They have discovered what a lovely thing she can be when she’s in heat. They A.I.ed her last week, and left a phone message that she was “a damned hussy”. Well.... can’t say we didn’t warn them.

Mom has had the opportunity to speak with them since the hussy message and had this story to relate. It begins a couple of years ago at their last farm on the opposite side of the county. They had recently moved there, in what can only be described as some of the prettiest, quietest rolling farmland in Pennsylvania. Shortly after their arrival, they discovered that a neighboring Amishman owned a jackass. And said jackass would bray repeatedly, especially when there was a mare in heat. Now anyone who has had the pleasure of living in the same neighborhood as a jack or a mule (even a miniature donkey) can tell you that braying, much like a barking dog, can get on your last nerve. That rusty heehaaaw can carry a good long ways. In fact, that was one of their few complaints about their new neighborhood. They were quite pleased when the Amishman sold the jack, and peace returned to the valley.

Fast forward to last week when Copy came into heat. They have since moved to a new farm, on the eastern side of the same county, but at least 20 miles as the crow flies. They were laying in bed one night when in the distance, they heard a familiar voice. “HeeHaaaaw-HeeHaaaw-Hee-Haaawwwww”. They would know that voice anywhere. It was that damned jackass. He now lives in this neighborhood. Terriffic.

When Wayne got up in the middle of the night (remember, he switches turnout groups at 2-3 a.m. so every one get’s fly free turnout) to get the mares… no mares. He went to the back of the pasture where Her Highness hides out. No mares. Copy had broken through the fence and taken her two mare friends with her on a love quest to find the Jackass. It once crossed my mind that I might like to breed Copy to a jackass to get a five gaited mule baby. I decided it would be in poor taste, and her previous owner said she thought Copy would be offended if the the foal was less attractive than her beautiful self. Apparently, she was wrong. Copy was on her way to find a suitor.

Fortunately, they live in rather rugged country, and Wayne found Copy and the mares at the foot of a steep gravel bank. Copy was dedicated to her mission, but a mountain stands between them, and it remains unrequited love. When Mom told the story to my step dad, his reply was… “doesn’t sound too out of the ordinary to me. Loose hussys get out and are bred by jackasses every day.” At least in our town.

Maternal Influence

Now that Copy has been gone for two weeks, we are starting to see a change in Ace’s personality. He’s settling down! Hooray! He’s still a mouthy egotistical teenage boy but it’s easier to get him to think. He isn’t constantly worried about what his mare is doing and where she’s doing it. Or with whom.

I’ve been trying to get him out and about more, so we’ve been doing more hand grazing. The other day on my last post I noticed a weird anxious behavior. When we would first bring him out, he would take a few bites of grass then paw impatiently. If you said “Ace… just eat” he would go right back to eating. It took me a couple of times to figure out where it was coming from. He paws impatiently when he eats grain. If there is a lot of activity outside when you take him to graze, he starts the pawing out of habit. Knucklehead! He hasn’t done it the last two times I’ve brought him out. He’s beginning to be ruled by his stomach rather than his nuts. That’s a good thing.

Today when I turned him loose in the outdoor arena, instead of the usual “I’m Free!” rocketing off, he immediately started grazing. Hmmmm… imagine that. After a little while, I walked to the other end to entice him into a little exercise. He immediately began galloping big loops. What impresses me most about this is that he has natural flying lead changes. Some Saddlebreds don’t because they are bred more to trot. My grey horse doesn’t have a flying change at all. Ace has a pretty good automatic change. I was impressed.

As he got hotter, and more tightly wound, he started sticking to the gate corner so I would call him out “Acey… C’mon.” and he would come trotting down the rail, knees popping, head up and eyes bright like a show horse. He’s pretty proud of himself when you call him and as he got bolder coming down to the far end where I was standing, I realized when he was about 15 feet away that he had no plan for stopping or going around me. I gave a yelp and jumped one way, and luckily he jumped the other. Had we both jumped in the same direction it wouldn’t have worked out well. But that bright happy “Here I Come” face was worth it.

When it was time to go in, he was easy to catch. Then you have to get him thinking again which takes a few minutes. Mom uses the whapper stick as a pacifier, but I’m trying to get him weaned off of it and the corresponding nipping and neck wrestling. Just outside the gate she gave it to him and I cried “don’t give it to him, he can’t think with that thing in his mouth” as he proceeded to walk over top of me. But a swish of the longe whip got his brain engaged, and he dropped the whapper and started to act like a horse again. He’s like a puppy with a chew toy. In fact, it's pretty hard to keep things out of his mputh still. He'll eat any old weed, and I'm constantly removing the ones I know he shouldn't eat.

He deals very well with biting flies. Some Saddlebreds can’t cope at all. The horse flies and deer flies are really nasty this year. He always has at least one welt on him from being bitten when he’s out over night. I ordered him a fly sheet and its on it’s way. In the mean time, he’s getting used to having Grey’s put on. The first time I tossed it across his back he was pretty worried. But he doesn’t freak out, he just studies my face frantically as if to say “is this OK? What are you trying to do to me? What am I supposed to do?”

He’s even managing to cross tie without the whapper to chew on. He doesn’t fidget with the ropes as much and he keeps his eyes glued on me. He loves being crosstied and fussed over more than anything in the world. He studies every move I make and just soaks it all up. He’s fun to groom. His coat is so fine, and his color so deep I could just polish it like fine mahogany all day.

Copy is doing well in her new home. She was bred by A.I. at home earlier this week. We’re waiting to find out how that went. We did get a phone message informing us that she is a “damned hussy”. Hey, we warned you. She’d walk over you to get in the trailer if she thought it was going to Sex Camp. She has bonded with her old friend Wayne. He’s such a dedicated horse husband. When he goes out at 2 a.m. to change the turnout group, he has to go all the way to the back of the pasture to get Copy.

Here’s a photo of her departure.

New Horizons

Ace’s mom Copy is off on a new adventure. Her adoption contract is being picked up by the woman who bred her, and she will be raising more babies. This year she will be bred back to Clint for a full brother or sister to Ace which will be fun to see. In fact, it was Ace’s quality that sealed the deal.

Since Copy really is an “extra” horse for us, and her female presence often causes unnecessary hubbub around here, we’ve been hoping to find someone else nearby who would want her for a broodmare and have been spreading the word. Of course having her go back to the program she came from is the perfect solution, and if that doesn’t work out, she can always come back here. But I think she is going back to where she really belongs and will be there for life.

The fun part is that after all these years she seemed to recognize the woman’s husband and wanted his attention. From an aloof old gal like her, that is really something. What can I say? She likes men… the floozy. And he isn’t even a horse person per say, just the most dedicated Horse Husband I’ve ever seen. Whenever we see them at a horse show, he is always running in her wake carrying towels and stretchy cuffs and just trying to keep up with her.

So Copy will be headed off to live with them. They got to work immediately building her a stall, and putting up fence so she could have her own turnout. It has been a flurry of activity, and we’re excited to be a part of it. They live just a short distance away so we will be able to visit and enjoy the breeding and foaling process with them. And of course, we will keep everyone abreast of how it goes. Mom has been helping with the breeding plan, getting contact numbers and working out the schedule. She's already all excited about the breeding, and as an extra bonus... this time she doesn't have to wean it.

Copy will probably be going back to her "maiden name" which is Fifi. That's short for Filly's filly. It cracks me up. Everytime I think of it I picture the old broad in a pink feather boa and fake eyelashes! Photos of the departure are promised.