So, i'm mad. Seething.  At my SO.  And his parents.

I have three horses.  One is in my backyard (see thread "My "Pony" farther down the page).  The other two are boarded at my SO's parents house.

I just got back from the barn, and had a big surprise.  I'm still burning with the pain of it.  So, i'm blind.  Stupid.  Kicking myself in the ass now.  I was brushing my mare, the kinda crazy one (to say the least) and my SO's dad was walking down the aisle (in the barn).  I said "Gosh, she's getting quite the grass belly, its insane!" I was laughing, but was kind of growing concerned because she's quite rotound and the grass hasn't been quite that plentiful.  I was thinking diet time, as she's almost 11 years old now and is slowing down and isn't quite so pyschotic anymore.  He stops and looks at me with a huge smile on his face "Well, heres to hoping she's not pregnant!".  I laughed, thinking he was joking.  Wrongo.  "Oh, you're nuts, thats impossible." I say. He just laughed it off, started walking away "Just ask Sparky, he had other ideas a few months ago." I kinda felt my heart flutter to my feet.  Sparky is their 5 year old Haflinger stallion.  A horse i haven't agreed with them having since they bought him.  They are not experienced enough to deal with a stallion, and this one is full of it.  The facilities aren't made for housing a stallion, but from what i know they've kept him stalled the majority of the time.  I was like... kinda 'struck dumb' for a minute, and took a few deep breaths before practically running to my SO (who was working with cows in the other barn), with a jumble of "What the.." "How in the..." "what did he MEAN!!!" 's.  My Fiance kinda gave me the uh oh face, and said...and heres the killer.

"I didn't tell you because i knew you would freak out and i was hoping it wouldn't have resulted in anything."

1) I've been freaking out that she's getting far too fat, and he doesn't say anything to me? I was OBLIVIOUS!
2) Thats something SERIOUS to talk to me about, Vet care being the biggest issue, 'lifestyle' changes coming in a close second.

So i think my horse is pregnant.  And i'm completely PO'ed.  After a screaming match, i calmed down enough to get the full story.  SO's dad came home to find Sparky had gotten into the pasture with the mares (and two geldings).  I guess he had completely twisted a metal gate as though it was made of rubber... on afterthought i remember wondering what the hell had happened to that gate...
Total time elaspe with mares: 5-10 hours!!! Approximately..    Must have been one of the days i wasn't able to make it to the barn.  And nobody chooses to tell me that because, "Chances are nothing would have happened."

I spent an hour checking over ALL the mares.  I knew their Haflinger mare, Molly, was expecting.  And also one of their Haflinger/QH Cross mares, Belle.  I wasn't told that Molly wasn't intentionally bred, this happened when Sparky decided to have his own ideas.  Belle, however, was bred intentionally.  They DO breed Haflingers, and nice ones to boot, but this is their first experience with their own stallion.  It appears that the other mares are safe, nobody seems to be overly large besides Belle, who is close to being due.  They didn't even mark down the day this happened, so i have no idea what to expect.

How mad do i have the right to be?  I was prepared to demand, on the spot, that his dad (who i love dearly and has done tons for me in the past 4 years) pay the vet bills to get her checked out.  I don't have the money for this, wasn't prepared for this, and sures the heck don't have the TIME for this.

Granted, i don't know for sure yet... but i'm pretty damn close to being sure.  I'm freaking out, but can't help the "Wonder what it will look like?" From creeping in, along with the "Wouldn't it be awesome if it was a colt?" (I only have mares and have been wanting a gelding for a coons age).

I need to take a few deep breaths, and then take the proper steps.  I'm most angry that i've been grumbling about this stallion for the past two years, telling them they were going to have to be more precautious.  I KNEW this was going to happen, and i was dumb enough to put my horses at risk.  Yeah, i find a way to blame myself for everything...

If my 3 yr old is pregnant, i WILL throw a fit.  Please, please, don't let that be!    Tina was a broodmare before i got her (not respectfully, but she's successfully had three foals in her life without a problem).  Socks, the 3 yr old, is Tina's baby she was carrying when i bought her (unbeknownst to me).  I'm dying with worry that Socks could very well be too.  How many mares could a stallion get in 5 hours? 

Gah!!!!!!!!    I've managed to keep male and female rats together (seperate cages of course) for 10 years and never had an accidental pregnancy.  I guess horses are a little more determined than rats.   

Okay so, i'm going to try to make the best of this.  IF Tina is preggo, this is the daddy.  These are the only two pics i have, taken after he had been brought in from his turnout.  Ignore the dirt.





And this is from left to right, Tina, Socks, and one of their geldings, Flash (a crazy lil guy).



And Tina again (aka Sassy, the name she came with stuck to her even though i wanted to change it to Sassy 'cause it fits).

  

^ 

THAT EXPLAINS IT!!! Uh oh, its getting closer to me.  I really better watch... hope i don't catch it next. 

Wow, I am really sorry about the situation.

I guess my only advice is really try to make the best of it, at least you have a place to keep the baby (if there is one, it sounds like there probably will be, though  ] and at least Tina has had experience with foaling before.  You're also experienced enough that you'll do right by the baby and make sure he/she becomes an upstanding member of the equine community.

Just be thankful it wasn't your elderly Appy mare (and that she was far away from the situation)!  That would have been far, far more disastrous.

Oh man i'm sooooo sorry .

I'm a horse person too ya know. My aunt keeps horses and I used to help with them a lot and go riding a lot and i've done a lot of reasearch.

Personally I think it's VERY VERY irresposible for your SO's parents to be keeping a Stallion when they are boarding other people's mares.

Most proffesional boarding stables won't even keep stallions because of the possibilities that could end in lawsuits.

Here's hoping though that if she is preggers that its a nice healthy baby. Perhaps you should talk to your SO's parents about helping you with the extra vet costs that will come with it since it was THIER stallion and THIER fault he wasn't where he was suppose to be. Thats the least they could do.

I do think asking them to pay for an initial vet check is fair, but after that it gets more complicated. I would hold off on saying much else about it until you know 100% for sure whether she is pregnant. If she is not it may not be an issue, although you might want to move your horses.

If she is prego . . . Yes they were negligent, but at the same time they were doing you a favor letting you house your horses with them. Frankly I think they should pay for all the vet care, but if you don't want to rock the boat, you might need to be more diplomatic. I think talking to them about your situation and letting them know that you appreciate their help, but are in a tough situation now because of this and wonder if they can help shoulder any costs this new horse would bring, might go over a little better than insisting on anything.

It is wishful thinking that the 3yo is not also pregnant.  You need to have both mares checked ASAP.  Have you not done your spring shots yet?  Why not call and schedule to all of that at once?


I personally would move my horses.  There is no place in my world for people like that when it comes to the care of my horses.  I would also think about your relationship with your SO.  Exactly what else has he kept from you that might upset you? 

If they had been even slightly responsible people the mare could have been given meds and the pregnancy would not have taken.

With the horse economy the way it is, more foals are not really needed.

Oops, forgot...

*Whispers: Trubnloki... i do mostly all my own shots and care.  I work for a vet, and my boss was a large animal vet for 15 years before he got in a tussle with a horse and hurt his neck.  Now he works with small animals out of his clinic.  But he is willing and able to order me everything i need to do this stuff on my own, and offers his guidance.  Only time i really have a vet come out is emergency or things such as... pregnancies... grrrr. 

That makes me wonder... i doubt he'd be willing to come check them out for me.  Or rather, i would feel funny asking because he does enough on the side for me.  But... that'd be kinda nice.  If he would, that would leave me with a little more money to work with.  He'd probably charge me, but i get a discount.  I doubt he'd do it though, he's washed his hands of all the horsie business and has really bad neck and back problems so he's not supposed to work with them at all....  Wishful thinking.

I have yet to be told exactly WHEN this happened.  She's not huge, but definitely got a noticable weight gain.  Like i said, i'm not sure yet.  She is a big and stocky girl, she's got one of the biggest bums i've seen for a horse her size.  She hides things well.  I was at the barn this morning, but forgot to tape her to see exactly where her weight is right now.  Also was going to talk to the SO's dad but he wasn't there.  He's the only one who knows any details of this incident.  My SO only knew by hearing about it. 

They DO take good care of the horses, but like i've said before they do not have the proper facilities to house a stallion and i think they underestimated him a little bit.  He's in a different area of the barn now, where he's not so "tempted" by the mares (he's got his own stall in the cow barn).  My horses are boarded for free, and i feed and care for ALL of the horses a few times a week.  Its our agreement.  Usually none of the major care falls on me, i usually just have to move horses in from pasture, out to turnout from the stalls, and feed.  The horses are taken care of very well, i have to say.  They just need to use an off-site stallion, or board him somewhere appropriate if they are going to continue breeding.

From what i understand, Sparky twisted a 10 ft high metal gate to get to them.  I'll have to take a picture of it when i go back this evening.  Its insane, i checked it out again today, it doesn't even resemble a gate now.  I don't know how he did it, but thats how he got access to the pasture where everybody was else turned out.  It didn't even happen while he was turned out, which is what i had been fearing prior.  I was actually comfortable with him when he was stalled or let run in the arena, i just didn't like when they turned him out because i didn't feel ANY fencing was appropriate to hold him when he's on one of his kicks.  When he got out, he was in the arena from what i understand at this point.  WHY he left him to run the arena while he was not at home is beyond me and definitely irresponsible.  He's a really well behaved stallion, when it comes right down to it, and i think Carl has trouble seeing the "testosterone" side of him. 

I can fault Carl for not telling me, i'm convinced my SO is just ignorant.  He doesn't have horses and doesn't care for them so its okay that he's horse-dumb.  But the father, thats who i'm irritated with.  My SO said that he did make a comment that he (carl) checked all the mares afterwards and saw no reason to believe anyone was bred, so maybe thats why he was hesitant to say anything.  I could imagine he knew i'd be upset, i know thats not a reason for either of them to not tell me, but if they really thought it came to naught, i can kind of understand sparing me the breakdown.  I'm very very spazzy about my horses.  But there had to be some niggling doubt in their minds, if not they are just stupid.

I'm going to try to get the exact date (if he was smart enough to record it), the vet is coming on Wednesday provided i can manage to not get called into work that day.

As far as i am aware you are allowed to vaccinate your own animals in my state.  I can even order Rabies vaccines through my clinic, or online.  For dogs, cats, sheep, cattle, horses etc.  If not, ooops, i'm guilty.  I do my own cats, but take my dogs in to get vaccinated because i want the record.  Dogs are different than horses, for the most part.  I don't think i shall ever have to prove my horses are vaccinated for rabies because they attack somebody... or should hope now.   

I do have the vet out once a year, occasionally i will have them vaccinate, depending on which horse it is and what i have done already and if they are due for anyting at that time.     I just find it silly to pay for things i've gone to school to learn how to do.  I can just take blood with me to work and run the proper tests or analysis.  I dont have day to day experience drawing from horses, but draw from Tia every six months to run her blood as a precaution (with her age).  Theres only a few things i can't run from work, and i just send those out to the lab - all horse stuff goes to Idexx since he no longer works with them.  However, i am NOT a vet, and never try to diagnose my own horses.  If i am almost certain i know what is going on, i discuss it with my boss vet.  He'll tell me flat out if i should call the actual horse doc out or if he thinks i'm right and its safe to proceed.  I know many may not agree with my way of doing things, but i dont compete, my horses rarely travel, so i never really need to prove anything to anybody and can feel stupid paying a vet to do something i can do for half the cost.   

Back on topic: I'll hopefully be updating later with her new weight versus weight as of this time last year (last one i have recorded), and maybe pictures of that gate (its kinda cool even though he's a jerk).

In my state to enter any state property (fair grounds, parks, etc) you are required to have a rabies certificate for a horse, so I guess it is not a matter of waiting until they bite someone  .
But, every state is different.

Your mare getting mounted by their stallion and them not telling you trumps any other good care they might provide.  They put your mare at risk for lots of things, infections, etc.  It is just wrong.

I am glad you are willing to assume Carl is just ignorant.  I would think if he breeds cattle he would know all about the breeding thing though so I have a hard time believing that he would think it is no big deal.  I have a friend who does the cattle scene and she said that she would assume if a mare let a stallion mount her then the mare was in heat and pregnancy is a risk.

I guess I am just more pissed than you are. 

Have you wormed her lately?  Just trying to come up with other reasons for a big belly than a big baby!