No Subject

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

I have two young stallion colts that I'm planning to geld later this winter
since I'll be using them mostly for endurance and we tend to have an
overabundance of testosterone here anyway (Try stallions 75 to mares 25).
One is 3 and the other is almost 2. Each is the son of a favorite mare of
mine and a stamped Arab stallion (2 different sires) from a friend. My real
hope was to get one filly and one colt and to cross the two of them as these
horses are very special to me. HOWEVER, having gotten the boys, plan A is
definitely out. Plan B is to breed the three year old to my older mare
before gelding him. Both colts are delightful boys, lovely manners and good
conformation, but my younger mare just doesn't do so well as a brood mare,
although she is my absolute favourite (Dory). Nim is the world's best mother
although on the aging side of 24, while in brilliant health. She is terribly
obviously still interested in breeding when she's in heat (can you spell
S*L*U*T?)...so I have two questions:
1. I know that breeding older mares can be dicey, but she is in fantastic
shape...the soundest horse I have, tho' maybe that's not saying much.
2. Is this likely to have any traumatic effects on Nazeer? We'd do a pasture
breeding, just leaving them out together....he's spent half his life out in
a paddock with Nim until just recently.

Ideas?

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net

p.s. You have NO idea how wonderful it is to get home from offices full of
insane lawyers, bankers and businessmen, to log on and read about missing TB
brains, horse excrement, and other much more reality-based items. You all
are saving my sanity.