Baby Boot Camp

It's that time of year again... the baby horses are not so little anymore and we are well into the weaning process. One of the ways that we seek to set up our horses for success at their new homes is to make sure that they have a solid set of basic skills when they leave us. Although we work with the youngsters on and off during the summer, their structured training plan comes after weaning as a part of our Baby Boot Camp.

For our foals, weaning generally takes place at around 4 months of age. It is an extended process, which starts by gathering a group of similarly-aged foals in a field along with their mothers and a designated babysitter horse. The group spends some time getting to know one another and adjust to the farm and the babies are given the chance to have their own buckets of grain while their mothers are eating. Once everyone is settled in and the babies are eating well, we start the weaning process. We gradually remove first one mare, then another, over the course of several days or weeks until the foals are left with just their friends and their babysitter. Although I am always sad to separate mares and foals, the reality is that while they often call out initially when they realize that they are separated, it generally takes less than a day for everyone to settle down and enjoy life with their own friends.

After the group of foals is weaned, we start to utilize feeding time for training. At first, this means putting halters on each one and tying them up while they are eating. This is a highly supervised process for the first few trials as some horses can fight against being tied up and it's important to be able to intervene if necessary. Most of them figure out quickly that it's nothing to worry about and it come with the benefit of good food too! After their meal, each foal has their feet handled to practice lifting and standing with their feet up.

Once the mealtime routine is established we progress to practicing on trailer loading. Instead of feeding in the barn, I will put the grain buckets on the trailer and each foal will be led onto the trailer and tied at their own bucket to eat. The first day of loading can sometimes be a long process, as each horse has to figure out what I'm asking and decide to cooperate. But after a day or two loading is a non-issue and they are ready to leap on the trailer to find their bucket! I did learn the importance of practicing with both step-up and ramp trailers, as it can throw them to encounter a different style than they are used to :)

In addition to leading, loading, tying, and handling feet there are any number of other little things that we can work on. If the weather is right, some foals have their first baths before they leave. I find that this is often one of the most eventful training sessions, as most don't enjoy the hose at first! We also practice some basic ground skills such as backing up or yielding the hindquarters. In the end, we find that the time spent with the youngsters pays off in producing cooperative and sensible horses for their new owners.

On the Hunt for a Unicorn

By now many of our followers have heard the news... there's a new boy in town at All the King's Horses! Kyro van de Fossa Eugenia is a 5 month old Brabant colt who recently arrived from the Netherlands. Importing any horse is a big deal, but this boy is especially significant for us as he will be our future herd sire and contribute greatly to the genetic makeup of our herd. Of course, anytime we purchase a horse we are looking for a conformationally correct animal who is a good example of the breed standard, but we had several other important items on our list when evaluating a herd sire prospect. Here are some of the factors we considered when searching for this special boy:

1. Pedigree: The Brabant breed has small population numbers and suffers from inbreeding, where many of the horses are closely related. When only a handful of horses are imported to the US the problem quickly becomes compounded. As we searched for our next herd sire, we were actively looking for a stud that is not related to the popular lines that have been imported in recent years.

2. Leg Health: CPL is a known issue in the Brabant breed and something that affects most of the horses to one degree or another. As breeders of purebred Brabants, it's not likely that we will find a horse totally free of CPL but we do seek to find horses out of lines with long-lived horses that remain healthy and sound, even if their legs aren't perfect. This is the hardest factor to judge without actually meeting the parents in person (which is the way we'd like to do it, but Covid...) so we relied on feedback from the connections we made during our 2019 European tour as well as published results on leg health to identify lines that we would consider for our own herd.

3. Height: We prefer our horses in the 16-16.2 hand range, while current trends in Europe are towards taller horses. Kyro's sire measures just shy of 16.2 and his dam was comparable in size. I was surprised at how tall Kyro appeared when we brought him home, but a measurement of his cannon bone using the 'string test' popular with many breeders suggests that he will mature right at 16 hands. That would be perfect for us!

4. Color: This is a hard one for me to admit, because I am always preaching at folks to consider more than color when buying a Brabant! However, as a breeder I have to consider the fact that color sells, and blue roans are our most requested color. Since most of our mares are bay based, with bay being produced by the dominant Agouti gene, we really wanted either a black or blue roan stud to help increase our odds of the elusive blue foals. While color was not a disqualification for the 'perfect' horse, it was something that we took into consideration

5. PSSM: PSSM is a genetic condition that affects how horses utilize sugars and starches in their diet. Affected horses can experience 'tying up' of their muscles during a PSSM episode. The gene is found in many horse breeds and can affect different horses or breed types in different ways. Based on the Brabants we've tested, both imports and American bred horses, we find that nearly all of them carry at least one copy of the PSSM1 gene. Even so, on our own farm we haven't found that differences in PSSM status are evident in our horses' health or behavior so it's not something that we get too concerned about in our breeding program (more on that to come). That said, it is a thing that people sometimes ask about, especially if they plan to cross with light horse breeds that are more prone to problems. With this in mind, we tested potential stud colts for PSSM as part of the evaluation process. When Kyro came back free of the PSSM gene that was the final confirmation that he was 'the one' to join us.

Importing, when done well, requires a whole lot of time and careful analysis of the goals of your own breeding program as well as the horses that are offered to you. It is an exciting process but not something that we take lightly. To be totally honest, I'm rather glad that this will be our final import for a while! We owe a huge thank-you to many breeders and friends in Europe who helped us by providing leads and suggestions on horses to consider as well as feedback on their pedigrees. And, of course, a big debt of gratitude and admiration for the Gaal family who bred Kyro and were willing to share him with us. We can't wait to watch him mature and see how he fits into the future of our herd!

So you want to breed horses...

In my line of work, breeding and selling foals, it's not at all uncommon to encounter folks who either purchase a filly from us with the intention of breeding in the future, or reach out about stud service for a mare they own. Many of these people are new to the breeding game and have exciting plans for their program and the foals they will produce and sell in the future. We're pretty new to breeding ourselves (our first *intended* foal was born in 2015) so I recall the excitement and apprehension of starting out quite well. I love what we've attained and while I'm far from an expert there are a few things I wish I had known going into things. With that in mind, here are 3 big-picture tips if you're just starting out!

1. Know what you enjoy and play to your strengths. There are SO MANY facets of horse care and it is literally impossible to be an expert at everything. To keep costs under control, we often take on a variety of different tasks but there will always be things that we cannot do ourselves. It's good to know what parts you enjoy and what tasks you're capable of performing yourself, and to have a plan for the areas that require outside help. For example, I have always been fascinated by the breeding side of animal care and have invested heavily in education and hands-on practice in order to handle that part of our operation. On the flip side, I am no trainer and often send horses to a friend who specializes in starting youngsters or providing refreshers to mature horses when needed.

2. Know that in the end, it's about the people! This may come as a surprise, as most livestock folks don't get into their chosen profession because they especially enjoy interacting with people. But the more time I spend breeding and selling horses the more I realize that ultimately it is the relationships that we build and the way we treat people that makes or breaks a program. Between marketing horses for sale, offering advice on all kinds of issues to past and potential customers, dealing with vets, salesmen, registries, and other breeders I find that much of my day is spent communicating with others- even if it's done in the middle of the field while attending to chores. As an introvert this can be a real challenge, but I firmly believe that there are direct ties between how you handle the people side of things and how your program is perceived.

3. Be grounded. One of the certainties of breeding horses is that there will be hard, heartbreaking periods. Of course, many days are full of excitement and wonder but if you spend any amount of time at all with horses there will also be days that threaten to crush you. It is vitally important to know why you do what you do, and to remember that a failure or loss does not define you or make you a terrible horse person. The tough days can be hard to accept, especially the ones that mean losing an animal that you love, but being able to recognize the deeper purpose behind why you got into breeding horses and take the bad days along with the good is vital to staying (a little bit) sane in the process.

So if you're just getting ready to start on the horse breeding journey... congratulations! There truly is never a dull moment. Ask questions, learn as much as you can from others (who have probably learned the hard way themselves) and be prepared for the unexpected along the way!