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[RC] Ready for a good chuckle???? - Chris PausIn light of the seriousness of discussions lately, I'll poke some fun at myself and you all can laugh with me... Background, I've been breeding nice Arabian and anglo Arabians for a few years. I like the WitezII bloodline, but it's getting harder to find good stallions. Last year, I got the bright idea to get my own stallion. At least I was smart enough to get a been-there-done-that kind of guy, Corary Szybki. He's a looker, great personality, and really nice race track record, 21 years old. He was languishing at a big farm, not being used, getting thin and run down and forgotten about. He looks like a new and younger horse now after dental work and good groceries... Anyway, get a mental picture of this event: A fat, middle aged lady, a tall, handsome young veterinarian, an aging, but still handsome bay Arabian stallion, a bay mare in heat, a nervous blonde vet assistant and a breeding dummy... Yup. that was my day on Tuesday.... Took Szybki to the vet for a "collection." We have a mare coming in for AI soon and we wanted to do a test run to teach Szybki the process and to test his semen.. Well, I'm clueless about this...good thing the vet knows what he's doing, LOL... First, vet assistant holds mare (my own mare Ali) in front of breeding dummy. I walk Szybki nearby so he can get excited... we hustle him back inside and the vet washes Szybki's privates.. Take him back to the mare. He gets excited again... My job is to line up Szybki with the dummy and get him ON the dummy so the vet can get under him with the artificial vagina sleeve thingy and, well, you know the rest...I've assisted in lots of breedings but never handled the stallion before.. I'm glad he's gentle and small.. LOL... First try, Szybki hollers and attacks the dummy, but ends up sideways on it, vet can't get anywhere that he needs to be, semen is wasted on the floor. while this is going on, vet assistant and mare are nearby getting nervous... We put Szybki in the stall and let him chill out to try again... Vet assistant and I hang out with Ali for 20 minutes while Szybki gets it together again... We get the old man back out of the stall and do the process again..This time, mare goes into pipe stall near the dummy. Vet assistant just hangs out nearby with hands on phone ready to dial 911.. This time Vet says, I'll lead him on and hand him off to you. I had the "vagina." Vet had Szybki's lead...Our goal was to trade at the appropriate time. Szybki get on the dummy sideways again, we get him down, line him up and try again.. this time he gets the idea... Vet flips me the rope, I hand off the sleeve... whew Szybki figures it out, this is fun, you can see the gleam in his eye... Then, Szybki FALLS off the dummy and just lays on the gravel floor, whew, old man is tired, LOL... He gets up, shakes himself off, and trumpets loudly. He is a happy camper! tee hee... I'm in awe at how powerful these animals are and how quickly things happen. We put him back, vet tests the goods... Szybki has LOTS AND LOTS of swimmers... with decent motility. Vet says there's so much here, he threw out half and still had enough to inseminate 12 mares! He puts extender into the semen and chills it in the equitainer... Two days later, vet tech calls me, it's still good! We have shipping quality semen and lots of it! Anyway, that was my interesting experience. Anyone need some retired race Arab semen?? We're pros now.. LOL chris ===== "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot Chris and Star BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus ============================================================ Common sense should also be a part of the decision making process. If you see someone who doesn't have any, hand them your tool box. ~ Lisa Salas - The Odd Farm ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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