Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Cha-Cha-Changes

Well, just when I think I have everything worked out...something always has to completely mess up my plans. The latest fiasco has rendered me incapable of getting Frenchie back to SD in time to get bred in a timely fashion...again.

Awhile back I had a weird little accident with my dually. I swerved to miss a huge truck tire that had shredded on the interstate and without even going off the road, somehow managed to ram a mile marker post through the floorboard of my pickup. I cannot even explain how it happened because I have no clue. The pickup was scheduled to be in for repairs, they originally said 5-6 days, but when I dropped it off, they said 10 days...Well...it's been 3 weeks and my pickup is STILL at the repair shop. Needless to say, I am beyond furious. I specifically told them that I HAD to have my pickup back by no later than the 1st of May. MH is going to have to take over dealing with these people because if I have to talk to the idiot behind the counter again, I very well may go postal on all of them.

So the Frenchie to Pistol breeding is off...again...

Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something?

Whether it is or if this is just another example of extremely poor customer service...

I have to move in a different direction. I simply cannot leave Frenchie open again this year. I hadn't even considered breeding her to anything else this year, so I had to take a step back and evaluate what all I had going on.

I pick each stallion/mare cross for specific reasons and I just cannot randomly change which mare goes to which stallion. Except for...

That brown stallion, Second Painted Sign. I can pretty much pick whatever mare I want to to breed to him. I know that neither of the Tiny Watch mares will work on him (and they are both booked elsewhere). Sassy is booked and that foal is already spoken for, so I cannot use her either.

Up until this whole pickup deal turned into a nighmare, the only mare I had available to breed to that stallion was Beretta.

Well, now that Frenchie will not be getting bred to Pistol...I got to thinking...

I actually think she would be a better cross on the PYC stallion than Beretta. Frenchie is a mare that can handle A LOT of speed being added to the mix and she has consistently put her nice hip, stifle and hock set on her foals. In my (humble) opinion, she really strengthened up that area on her foals by A Streak Of Fling. So it stands to reason that she would also do the same thing on the PYC stallion. *I don't necessarily dislike his hockset....but it is a tish higher than I like and he has the typical length from stifle to hock that you see on most race-bred stallions...which is also a tish longer than what I prefer. Frenchie could fix that, while the stallion brings a whole lot of speed to the mix.

I actually like the idea of this cross vs. breeding Beretta to him. It just seems more right in my mind. So that is what I am going to do.

I also decided that rather than leave Beretta open, I am going to go ahead and breed her back to Mags. I have my heart set on having a Mags/Beretta filly to keep for myself and while Beretta is only a 7y/o, I can say with some measure of certainty, she will probably not have as long a life as normal. Beretta got obese over the winter and even after I started controlling their feed again, she has not lost any of the weight. The excess weight is causing problems with her bad leg. I finally had to get her up and restrict her diet even more and start her on a light exercise program. It's a difficult situation. She cannot stay this heavy because it is wrecking her leg and yet any sort of demanding exercise is painful for her too.

I think I can get it all under control, but it did make me realize that if I want that Mags/Beretta filly...I had better not hold off too long. I can only hope that the all-colt cycle breaks this next year and I will actually get a couple of fillies out of some of these mares who are on limited time.


2 comments:

Crystal said...

This breeding business is sure complicated. And ya you need some fillies next year for sure

Shirley said...

Well things seem to happen for a reason.... It will be pretty exciting around your place next spring!