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RE: [RC] Eliminating risk of mare impregnation - heidi
On the other hand, prostaglandin shots are cheap, effective, and don't need to be done unless the the mare actually does get bred--and there are overwhelming odds against it happening.
Even with good containment, with 14 stallions and intact colts
here, I have had one get loose on occasion. But good containment
also means that the mares have a decent fence, and in 35 years in the
breeding game, I've never had an "accident" either.
Stallions can and do get out. And I've seen loose stallions
at rides. Heck, I've even had a loose stallion of my own at rides
a couple of times. But have yet to hear of a mare getting
bred. Prob'ly somebody will come up with a story of one that
has--but in 30+ years of the sport being in existence, I'd bet you
could count the times on one hand and have fingers left over.
Last time I had a stallion of mine get loose at a ride, it was
"Junior"--and he had a habit of rubbing his lead rope and popping the
snap, if it was a spring snap instead of a bull snap. I
accidentally tied him with one, and in the night, he went quietly
trekking off in search of alternate flavors of food. The ride
manager came up to my rig with him in tow (not even a lead rope)
laughing his head off--told me that somebody had showed up with Junior
at his rig (nope, no lead rope--had just taken hold of his halter,
since he was gentle as a puppy dog) and had asked if the RM recognized
the horse. He told the RM that he had found him quietly sharing
his gelding's hay. "Oh, yeah," he said, "that's Heidi's
stallion." He said that the guy shrieked "STALLION??!??" and let
go of the halter as if it were an electric fence. RM said it was
the funniest thing he ever saw.
I do remember a really rank stallion that got loose at a ride in
Oregon back in the late 70s--I was riding a stallion then, too
(Junior's dad) and had him tied on the opposite side of our old Miley
two-horse (since that is how we camped back then) from one of my mares
that a friend of mine was riding. Heard him raise a ruckus as he
was likely concerned about "his" mare, and dashed out in the night to
find the silly loose stallion mounted on somebody's gelding about three
rigs down. Go figure. But that's as close as I've ever seen
to an accident at a ride.
An archaic, barbaric process that is not indicated in 99% of the
mares to which it is done. If it were arbitrarily done to female
human athletes, we would call it female genital mutilation. As to
being a "barrier" to breeding--hogwash. An aggressive stallion
will simply mount and thrust until something tears--and that very well
COULD injure your mare.
Fine. By the same token, giving prostaglandin to mares has a
great "track record" and few risks--and isn't something you will likely
HAVE to do anyway, since odds are your mare won't get bred. But
tell me, would you voluntarily sew your own vulva shut as a
means of birth control? ........I didn't think so.
Heidi
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