[Lexy]

I have seen more than a couple of posts concerning those whom have lost babies. (Which I feel bad for). It seemed like a lot of ppl are losing babies, but I just wrote it off to the internet being so expansive and the fact that this and other forums I read are so intensely "horse", it is bound to seem that there are many because there are many ppl involved all over the globe.

Rick and Pat Brown are long time friends of ours, about 20 yrs worth. They have been in the horse breeding/showing business for about 35 yrs. Off the top of my head, I can recall at least 10 stallions they have stood. And I can't even count the broodmares that have called their pastures home, most of them were born there and have or will die there. They have had many babies........ lost many horses, young, old and in between. But I think what has happened in the past 7 days has broken the spirit and the heart of one woman who has given the best part of her life in the quest to better the breed and truly loves the American Quarter Horse.

The Browns own the stallion that we are breeding both of our mares to this year. Had they got him just a few days earlier last year, both of our mares would have been bred to him then, but they got him around the first of April and we had already turned our stud in with the mares. So we have been anxiously waiting to breed them to him this year. One mare is already bred and back home, the other is being bred now and we are picking her up today. This is a pic of Simplicated Quarter Horse aka "Sim".





As you can see.... he is a pretty boy. If I recall, Pat said they bred 7 mares to him last year and since it was April when they got him, ALL of us have been waiting with baited breath for the first foals to arrive.

During the time Lacey (the first mare) was over there I asked her if any of the mares were getting close to foaling. She told me within a couple of weeks, but that none of them were really getting "cranked" (our term for bagging and all the other things mares do in the last couple of weeks before foaling). She said that she felt that something just wasn't "right" this year. And of course we always have to deal with the Alabama weather. Freezing one night, 85 degrees the next day which goes on for a couple of weeks. Winter, Spring, Winter, Summer, Spring etc etc.

On the morning of the 28th I called to see if Lexy had come in yet. She said not yet but I've got something to tell you. She went on to say that one of her mares, (I don't remember which just that it is an appendix mare), had foaled that morning. Before I could even get excited and start with the questions she told me he was still born. She said it was a colt, a good sized one, black w/2 hind stockings. Her son was in route to Auburn University with the foal and the placenta for a necropsy and labs. She was disappointed and even tho they have only lost 3 foals at birth over those many years, she is a seasoned breeder and knows this will happen from time to time. Life goes on and there will be more babies this year.

Today around noon she called me. I instantly knew something was wrong just by the way she greeted me. After I said hello, instead of the usual "What ya up to?" she asked me if Tommy was home. THAT is never a good sign. Told her yeah.... what's wrong (thinking something has happened to Lexy or Tank). She said she had lost another baby this morning (a big chestnut filly). The baby was stuck and the mare had been in labor for quite some time before she went out to feed around 6 am. The mare wasn't really early, just a couple of days, but she said she sure didn't look like a mare that was going to foal either. She did all she could do to help the mare and with a little assistance, she finally delivered the foal. She said she doesn't know if it was alive during delivery, but thought she felt the babies mouth move. In any event, by the time the baby was fully delivered, she was dead.

She asked if we could come and get Lexy and Tank today. I told her sure..... but asked her if Lexy was still in (heat). She told me that Lexy was in a standing heat Friday, they covered her Sat and that when we got there, we would cover her before we left. By both of our calculations, she would be out by Wed which would be the next time they would cover her. The main problem there was that Tank kept getting under the panels of the pen they were in. He had done it a couple of times before today, but today he got himself in a real jam. She had to physically lay on his neck and head to keep him from breaking his neck because he was starting to panic. She was afraid he was going to get hurt and she didn't have anywhere else to put them. On top of that, the mare that lost her foal was going bonkers. She had put her up in one of the breeding pens for observation and the mare could see Tank. She kept running the fence line calling out to him. She was worried that between the difficult delivery and the mare working herself into a frenzy she might founder.

What got me was the resounding "I GIVE UP" tone in her voice. She told me on the phone that she was through. That at 57 yrs old and 30 some odd years of "doing horses", she just couldn't do it any more. Not physically and certainly not emotionally.

Told her we would be right there.

When we got there she was visibly upset and had been crying. And the tears started again when I hugged her. Pat is a strong woman. She has been my shoulder on more than one occasion. She knows about horses......... everything I know about breeding, I learned from her. Before I met her, I knew nothing about genetics. She set me on the path to learn by teaching me the basics and making me understand the importance of it. If you give her a horses name, most of them she can tell you their pedigree from her head. And I don't mean just sire and dam either. She will tell you who the maternal gggg-grandsire was, what his significance to the Quarter Horse breed was and probably who owned him. Bloodlines are her thing and she knows her stuff. She could tell you in general about a horses show record or a stallions/mares babies show records. Sometimes in detail some times not..... all depending on the importance of the bloodline to her. Pat didn't bred for the show pen, she bred for the horse which made show records important, but not so important. Anyone that knows her, knows that to her, breeding for the horse, IS breeding for the show pen.

It all breaks my heart. Not just that she has already lost two foals, but that this person who is an asset to the breed and horses in general, no longer has the heart to go on. What do you do? There is no comfort in words, not even in hugs. I know the feeling cause I've been there, done that.

Most of the time you will notice I am not an overly emotional person. As a matter of fact, a lot of the time I will come off as a little cold, perhaps even uncaring, or "rude" (not that I actually feel that way). It's because I am straight forward with my thinking, for me, it is all cut and dried and that is the way I put it out.

This is something I have a hard time dealing with. I don't like to see ppl give up and I hate it when they hurt. This is just a way for me to express my sadness at the loss of these babies and the loss of passion of a true horsewoman.

OK. Long enough.......... too long. (Probably would have been a good time to start my journal)

[3WishesDun]

What a sad story. When you put your heart and soul into something like that, it is hard not to feel such big losses deep down inside. Perhaps she will change her mind, and perhaps she will not.... but nothing will take away her contribution to the breed she loves or the horses she has bred, foaled, owned and cherished. That will always endure. I wish her all the best. And I am very sorry.

[Shannon]

I second April's post. What a tragic week this woman has been having. Bless her for striving so hard to benefit the breed and the horse in general. I hope the rest of the foal crop arrives soon and each and every baby is healthy and spry. Hopefully seeing those fantastic foals hit the ground will re-inspire her to continue her journey

[Lexy]

Forgot to mention this. The results on the first foal were inconclusive. The only thing they do know is that it wasn't bacterial.

The second foal was buried. Pat really felt that the filly died being delivered.

My hubby always picks on me cause I get nervous at foaling time and will check the mare every 15 mins or so..... Now he looks at things in a whole different light. For once, he has learned something at someone else's expense.

[itoshii/]

Awee. Yeah maybe she will change her mind but if she doesn't. It's glad to know that she did something she loved!

[luvs2ride79]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's bad week. Hopefully she will come out of it and feel better after the next foal is born okay.

It has been a back couple years I have noticed. I am a firm believer in Karma and I have to wonder if maybe mother nature isn't trying to sort things out? With the number of registered QHs out there (2.8 Million in the USA according to the AQHA), and the shear number of horses in general (well over 9 million now in the USA alone), I have pondered if maybe mother nature isn't trying to slow us down, or give us some big hints that we need to start taking notice of just how many foals are born every year. Anyhow, just something to mull over.

Again, I am awfully sorry to hear about your good friend's bad week. This is why I haven't bred my mare yet, and likely won't. I just love her too much to risk losing her or the baby, or both. I don't know if I could take it. I am a real softy, lol.

[ryu2832]

I am very sorry to hear of her losses. I have been fighting through a couple of tough years both financially and emotionally. I have considered just finding homes for the broodmares and just ride for awhile.

Breeding can be exhausting and takes a lot of stamina. Hopefully there will be a little one to put a smile on her face yet this year.

[madvoice]

I'm very sorry to hear of your friend's losses. I hope that things get better for her.

[ajsck5]

I am sorry to hear about your friend.
On a good note. I know a person who has been breeding for over 20 years. They lost their stallion to a accident. She said she was giving up breeding. But a few years went by and she is breeding again.
Hope this happens with your friend. I know I wouldn't want to breed, if I was in her shoes. But Time heals.

[ajsck5]

Handsome Stallion - I might add.