"Mystery" horse impregnates five mares on Bourbon farm

[kentuck]

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/04/23/2612602/mystery-horse-impregnates-five.html#storylink=omni_popular#wgt=pop

<snip>
CENTERVILLE — As bettors and the general public study equine bloodlines to prep for their possible Kentucky Derby wagers, Bourbon County horse owner Marilyn Montavon is trying to solve a mystery that could cost her thousands of dollars.

On April 15, tax-filing deadline day, two new dependents showed up on her farm in the form of two foals — a colt born to the mare Goldie and a filly born to Mert.

The babies were a surprise to Montavon because she has no studs on her farm, and she hadn't bred the horses.

Then she noticed another newcomer making use of her pasture: a 3-year-old stud horse that she had not seen before. He'd apparently been busy, because at least five other mares were pregnant.

...more

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I have inside knowledge

that the stud in question goes by the name of 'Sneaky Pete.'

[babylonsister]

2. Must be the bourbon... nt

[hootinholler]

13. Candy is Dandy... n/t

[Scuba]

3. ...

[Sheldon Cooper]

4. I know absolutely nothing about horse ranching, so I'm sure my ignorance is showing here.

But if you are raising thoroughbreds in KY horse country, how do you NOT know you have an extra horse? Especially since the gestation period is 11 months? That stallion has been around for at least a year - how could she have missed it?

I read the article and I still don't understand her excuse.

[Walk away]

7. They can jump in and out of paddocks. Especially a horse looking for...

a little nookie! My Thoroughbred used to try to convince the other horses to go for a run with him by jumping in and out of his paddock and showing them how it's done. None of the others even tried.

He might have been in for a visit and back home in his barn a few days later or even that night.

[Sheldon Cooper]

11. So it may not have been an abandoned horse, as the article discusses?

If a male could have jumped the fence to visit the females, and then returned back to his own place later, then it could very well be a neighboring horse, rather than an abandoned one. If they do the DNA testing, they may be able to figure out who the foal daddy is.

[kentuck]

16. It's the ghost of Secretariat ...

...galloping thru the meadows at night, leaping fences and trees, to get what he most enjoys...

[Sheldon Cooper]

18. That would not surprise me!

Secretariat was one of a kind, and this is coming from someone who knows squat about horses. Although I did read the Seabiscuit book.

[randome]

29. If you build it...no, that really doesn't work.

[LWolf]

8. I get it, sort of.

She pays someone to take care of the horses. She doesn't care for them herself. I'd hope, if someone were taking care of my horses, that they would know how many I had and what they looked like. That they'd know the difference between a stud, a mare, and a gelding.

I also wonder why it wasn't discovered earlier. Do they not catch these horses up periodically for worming, vaccination, and hoof care?

[Sheldon Cooper]

10. So, routine vet checks would have caught the problem earlier? I wonder why that wasn't done.

It sounds like both she and the caretaker dropped the ball on this. The caretaker should have been more aware of what the animals were getting up to, and overall she should have been a more involved owner.

[Heather MC]

5. Call Maury

Seabiscuit you are NOT the father.


And the audience screams

omggg I just knew that horse was the baby daddy.

[kentuck]

6. :-)

[LWolf]

9. Something similar happened when I was a kid.

Back in the 70s. It started with my mare, who seemed a bit too rotund; we had her vet checked and she was in foal. At the time, the place I boarded her said it must have happened before we got there. The eventual foaling proved that wrong. That, and the 2 other foals that were born at about the same time to mares in the same pasture.

It wasn't a mystery for long. There were some weaned foals pastured with these mares. The weanling colts were, at some point, pulled out for castrating.

One of them was a little older than the rest, and precocious. His earlier foaling date had slipped their minds.

It wasn't a mystery stud that just showed up and managed to stay invisible for a year.

[Sheldon Cooper]

12. I have a friend who had no idea her horse was pregnant until she looked into the pasture one morning

and saw the little newborn. She just thought her horse was getting fatter, and the thought of her being pregnant never crossed my friend's mind. They never found the guilty party, either - it remains a complete mystery to this day, 30 years later.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. Can you translate that gibberish for us city folk? LOL

Just kidding. I think I can pick up some of it. I speak a little horse-y from watching Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and Bonanza.

[Orrex]

14. That stallion should be saddled with foal-support payments

I hope that he has a stable job.

[Renew Deal]

22. lol

[treestar]

30. haha

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Whoa! Always trying to stirrup something, eh?

Like that's your mane function wither or not we try to rein you in. You curry no favor with us, not a bit.

[kentuck]

36. +A

nice play on words, Jackpine..

[Orrex]

37. It behooves us to review the impact of this horse's unbridled lust

[hootinholler]

15. Why it's the Horse Messiah and the 4 horses of the Apocalypse! n/t

[Bosonic]

17. Hay ladies...

[dembotoz]

20. life finds a way--chaos theory

[Orrex]

27. They should totally invole the lycene contingency

Quick! Before these horses rampage across the countryside and start eating lawyers on toilets!

[Katashi_itto]

21. Photo of Mystery Horse revealed!

We do know that this horse is Co-owned by Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor however they couldnt be found at the time of this photograph

[Renew Deal]

23. Kick

[MrScorpio]

24. Father and son horses were up on a hill, looking down at a field of fillies... nt

[kentuck]

25. Let's run down there!

[MrScorpio]

26. Bingo! nt

[Yo_Mama]

42. Jump the fence, and... n/t

[Yo_Mama]

41. The young horse turned to the old horse and said.... n/t

[hootinholler]

28. I thought Bourbon came from distilleries

There's a bourbon plant?

[Orrex]

31. I have a serious question, for once

I know nothing about the economic aspect of horse breeding, so perhaps this is obvious, but why will this cost the owner thousands of dollars? Do these births reduce the economic value of subsequent "pure" births? If so, then how?


Thanks!

[Jackpine Radical]

35. A wasted breeding season?

Any female mammal is only good for so many births in its lifetime.

[Orrex]

38. Ah. Maybe I was thinking too deeply about it.

I thought that it was a matter of compromised purity, or whatever, but what you're describing makes perfect sense.

[bklyncowgirl]

43. The mare's owner now has to care for the unwanted foals.

Unless they can find out who the abandoned stallion is and it turns out he's a registered Thoroughbred, those babies will not be eligible to race. That reduces their value and also increases the amount of time that she'll have to hold on to them and feed them before she can sell them at something that comes close to breaking even.

If they were Thoroughbreds, she could send them to one of the yearling auctions where Thoroughbred breeders send potential race horses. As grade horses, which basicly is what you call an equine mutt, they may make very fine riding or show horses but you won't know that until you start to train them at about age three. That's three years of feed, farrier and vet bills and unless she can do the job herself, training fees.

Now, she seems to be someone who loves her horses, so sending the foals to slaughter will probably not be an option so she's right--this will cost her.

Bearing an unregistered foal will not reduce the mare's future breeding potential.

If I was her I'd fire the caretaker--and sue the stallion's owner if he or she can be found.

[randome]

32. Just like a deadbeat dad. Wham, bam and then hoofin' it out of there.

[Orrex]

34. I blame the mudder

[Baitball Blogger]

39. So a mare with a dead foal in utero has no way of delivering the dead foal without dying?

[bklyncowgirl]

44. Abdominal surgery in horses is always difficult--this may have been too far gone.

We are talking about thousands of dollars and a very high likelihood of failure.

[Poll_Blind]

40. Lady horses- just say NAAAAY! nt

PB