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[RC] It's a boy ... - victoria thompson... but we knew that when he was conceived. All the stars aligned and said I needed a boy, not the desired girl, and since you can't fight Mother Nature (and win) I was willing to settle for healthy regardless of sex.My mare, Taffy, has shown no interest in having a baby, but my friend Lynne's mare, Ember, produced a particularly lovely baby 2 years ago. One evening while sitting around drinking ourselves blotto waiting for Twix (the now 2 year old) to be born, Lynne said I had to be the owner of Ember's next baby. In my drunken state I said yes. Having never in my lifetime of horses ever felt compelled to raise a baby, I find it very interesting that merely by being drunk I could throw all sanity and good sense out the window and enter into this wild, weird, wonderful world of procreation. Looking back on the deal I should have told my husband immediately so he could have hit me up side the head with a club to bring me to my senses. Instead I waited until I signed the breeding papers and sent off my down payment on the rights to Lipizzan glory in a test tube (Pluto Carma III). Steve just stared at me and said, "What you do with your paycheck is your business." In other words, don't ask honey for any money if anything goes wrong. I knew I'd been holding onto that piece of plastic with the really outrageous credit limit for a reason. So, to make a really long story only long I'll give you the condensed version. Hold on, this part always makes me whimper. Beginning in April of 2005 we entered into the process of trying to get Ember pregnant via airmail. Between Ember's erratic ovulations, veterinary disappearances, and long distance sperm donations April, May and early June were a bust. I finally said to Lynne, "Hitch up the trailer, Honey, we're going on a road trip." Well, that's not anywhere near what I said, but I'm trying to be cute. Somewhere around June 23, 2005 we loaded Ember into the trailer and headed for the wilds of Arizona so Ember could get poked by Pooka's pod. Actually, it was AI, but again, I'm trying to be cute. Arizona's monsoon season was just beginning, but it felt like it was in full swing to Lynne and I. We just kept watching the temperature gauge go up and up and up until it soared to 116 in Phoenix. It came down to 106 by the time we got to Vail, but the damage had been done. My feet swelled so bad they looked like giant sausages. Lynne looked like a limp dishrag. Ember was sweaty to say the least, but she drank well whenever we stopped and offered water. She was happy as a clam to be back at Dancing Horse Farms. Pooka is Twix's dad too. The next day we loaded Em back into the trailer for the trip to Tucson for her stay at "The Spa". This breeding facility is so nice and luxurious we dubbed it The Spa. The damn place was cleaner than my house. Money for the initial exam, for the vet, spa treatment, collection and insemination, Ember care, Etc was exchanged when I signed on the bottom line, and we left Em with a pat on the nose. The drive back to So Cal was just as miserable as the drive out, but we consoled ourselves by stopping at a couple of outlet malls. Prior to returning to Arizona to retrieve Ember the following things happened. Ember became pregnant on the first try ... with twins. Three tries to suck the smaller embryo out failed. Ember went to Dancing Horse Farms to wait for the pregnancy to progress for 45 days before trying to suck out the twin again. While at Dancing Horse a micro-burst storm occurred right over the farm and sent the barn roof sailing into Ember's stall (a micro-burst is nothing short of a small tornado touching down on the roof, picking the metal roof off and placing the twisted mass in on top of Ember. Ember was thought to have a broken neck. Emergency vet. X-rays. Drugs. No break, just whiplash. New vet, chiropractic care and acupuncture. Several visits. Back to The Spa. Still pregnant with twins, but no need to suck it out - Em is absorbing it. No need to worry, just send more money. I'm thinking of naming the little snot Platinum Visa, Sirius Green or Ka-ching Ka-ching. We go to pick Ember up in mid-September. Weather better, but still hot. We decided to stay in a nice hotel this time, so add more money to the pot. Not to mention the price of diesel this whole time was upwards of $3.60 a gallon. $$$$$$$$. We returned home relatively intact (except for my wallet). We unloaded Ember and started the long process of watching her change into this giant football. When asked when the baby was due, we would say, "Oh, I dunno. End of May, early June." The end of May and early June came and went before I decided to count the days. The stallion owner said Summer Solstice. My count put solstice 2 days overdue. Lynne kept saying not yet, not yet, so I didn't bother spending the night. On June 25th, about 5:30 A.M. Lynne went out to feed and staring out over the gate was a little surprise. I got the phone call saying oops we both missed it, and went running up the hill (takes me 30 minutes to get up to her place). Lynne figures he was about 30 minutes old when she found him because his ears were still a little floppy, kind of wet and his hooves hadn't sucked up those capsules all the way yet. Ember was fine. Passed the placenta without us even knowing it until several hours later when we were cleaning things up. Anyway, the little guy is a real pip. LOOONNNNG legs. Beautiful dark bay, but he'll go grey lickety split. He looks an awful lot like his full sister Twix, except his legs are a lot longer. Smart as a whip, very independent, detests flies, loves scritches, chews his tongue, runs really fast, very elegant carriage and, much to Lynne's delight, does boingeties. He was 5 days old when his name finally hit me. Right out of the blue too. I wasn't even thinking about him. Truth be known I was on my way to the bathroom and had no thoughts of anything except the business about to be at hand when this name came flying out of left field and smacked me right in the middle of my forehead. Hawkeye. Now, for those of you that don't read, we're talking about James Fennimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans character Hawkeye, not Alan Alda's gin swilling, sarcastic goofball from M*A*S*H*. Why, do you ask, Hawkeye? It's very simple, Hawkeye was brave, courageous, fiercely loyal, lethal in combat and he could run through the forest as quickly and quietly as any deer. A lot to live up to, I know, but if he turns out incapable of living up to his name I can always say it was from M*A*S*H* He's 16 days old today. Growing rapidly. Learning that people are not chew toys. I'm totally besotted. Lynne is clicking away with her camera daily. As a matter of fact, if you want to go see some pictures of Himself go to Lynnesite.com and click on photography. There you can go to LG Horses and then Hawkeye's Journal and also Twix and Hawkeye 2006. Hit slideshow if you want. While you're there, peruse Lynne's other albums as well. Let me know what you think. Tori =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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