Breeding Journey to Date

I can't believe that Jetta is already nearly 11 weeks pregnant! Here's what we've been through so far.

• I spent forever and a half deciding on the stallion. I've loved Mirabeau for quite a long time... I've probably been following him for about 4-5 years. I made a huge spreadsheet with all the cremello stallions that were an option, mostly warmbloods, including one QH, a couple TB's and a Akhal-Teke. Columns included registry, cost for collection and shipping, availability of fresh semen, what area that stallion succeeded in, progeny, height, genetics, conformation, jumping style, and any pros or cons. Top pick was actually Limet Hurry, an FEI dressage stallion. Only to email the owner and find out that he was deceased. Second pick was Crown's Ace of Pearl, from the UK. I tried to contact the owner several times about whether semen was available in the US and got no response. So with those results, my top three picks were Milky Way, Mirabeau, and Yeager, all of whom are sired by Mascarpone. I loved Yeager a lot, he's a fancy eventer who I really like, but he's a buckskin so chances are I may have ended up with a bay baby. Which is fine, but if I'm going to breed, I want to get exactly what I want, which is a baby with some color. I don't plan on doing this twice! (For now at least ;) So Mirabeau it was! He's the right height, conformation, and jumping style I wanted. His babies are all gorgeous. Only downside was that he's in Stallion Book II for RPSI, the registry I plan on for my baby. He was towards the top of my price range, but I really liked him so I went with it!

• I took Jetta in at the end of July to have a breeding soundness exam. She ended up having a large anovulatory follicle (90mm! A normal follicle is more like 30-40mm at the time of breeding, 35mm being the "magic number" for breeding) that had to go away before she could grow another normal follicle. We gave her some SucroMate (GnRH analog) and prostaglandin to facilitate it's rupture and regression. 

I stole this from the internet, but this is exactly what her anovulatory follicle looked like

• A week later I took her in to see if the anovulatory follicle had regressed, which it had. I then talked with the breeder to make sure she would be able to collect Mirabeau when Jetta would be in heat (I had the option to short cycle her a few days apart so it would depend on what worked best for the stallion owner, plus it was past the breeding season of August 1st, so I was lucky the stallion owner was willing to work with me during her show season)

• Two weeks after being short cycled, I dropped her off at the vet's so she could be bred! She had a growing follicle on the Tuesday I took her in. They bred her Thursday and she had ovulated by Friday. Of course I was in Nicaragua this whole time with extremely limited WiFi and no cell service so I was biting my nails the whole time, especially because both the vet and stallion owner called me - I could see that they had called but I couldn't listen to the message or call them back! Turns out she just needed my SSN for shipping the semen, but luckily my vet came through and gave hers instead.

• At 19 days I took her in to be ultrasounded to confirm the pregnancy and I saw my little nugget! 

Nugget!

• I got Jetta approved for breeding with the RPSI, mare book I

• Then a week ago I took her in to check for a heartbeat, and if we were lucky, get the fetus sexed. Jetta was an absolute pain about standing still so no sexing was done, but I got to see my baby's itty-bitty fluttering heartbeat! I was so excited to see it, I was trying to keep my hopes down just in case because it's so easy to lose the embryo in the first 60 days. I might have cried some happy tears.

What my baby currently looks like

I am over the moon excited about my little nugget growing away, it's now the size of a chipmunk! At the 80 day mark it has developed into horse shape from the little sphere it was on our first check. It's only about 4 inches long at the moment, so not very big. I'm slightly tempted to get the baby ultrasounded again so we can get a sex, mainly just so I can narrow down the name choices and reduce the suspense. I keep getting asked whether I want a colt or a filly, but I honestly don't care either way, so I might just let it be a surprise... we will see!

Weekly update

Well, I'm going to try and do a weekly update, we'll see if I can stick with it!

Saturday the 29th - I went to a horse show to watch my roommate ride. She took her two babies (3.5 year olds) to their first show and also her niece and pony. That pony was seriously the cutest thing ever. It was like a model Breyer pony. I had fun helping out and I was kinda glad I decided on not taking Jetta - not only were we not really prepared, the warm-up was absolutely awful and it was hectic enough already with two young horses and a pony!

Look at it's itty bitty dressage bridle!

That perfect little face!

Sunday the 30th - Jetta got her hooves soaked and I ended up cleaning her stall while I waited since I was bored (she's on full care). I love how Jetta doesn't care about having plastic bags strapped to her feet even if she does think they smell funny.

This smells funny...

The manure hill of death... uphill on slick rubber mats. Let the games begin

How 90% of the pitchforks look now

Tuesday the 1st - I went to this super awesome dinner talk put on by the NW Equine Practitioners Association. They do continuing education (CE) talks for veterinarians and it's free for students to go to. A lot of the veterinarians I know were there so it was nice to catch up, get a free catered dinner (and alcohol!) and learn about Bisphosphonates in treating Navicular Syndrome, specifically Osphos. I highly recommend you read up on it if you're interested! A lot of neat research has been done and hopefully more to come in the near future!

Wednesday the 2nd - It was actually sunny when I got out of class and when I got to the barn the arena was full... so we ran away and hit the trails! I've been wanting to go really badly for the last couple weeks but never made it out. It was GORGEOUS. It was no longer sunny by the time we got to the trailhead, but it was still absolutely beautiful with all the fall foliage. We barely saw anyone and when we got to the top of the hill, the view was breathtaking. I'm a little bummed my phone died, but we spent a good 20 minutes soaking up the view (well, Jetta grazed). It was so clear you could see 3 different mountains in the distance and the sun was starting to set, casting a pink glow on them. Gorgeous.

We also got to test out Jetta's new "trail bridle" set up. It's a beta bridle in our color with rope reins and the second waterford bit I bought her. It works perfectly and it'll be nice that I can just hose it down when it gets all sweaty!

Thursday the 3rd - we had a short ride in the arena, nothing fancy but she was fairly good, she looked pretty fancy on the lunge line!

Saturday the 4th - I rode MS's horse Dundee. It's so fun to get to ride other horses, Dundee is so different from Jetta. He's got a HUGE, bouncy warmblood stride. He's pretty lazy but not too bad. He's doing rehab right now so he just started being able to canter a little bit. He was FRESH. For him at least. I had a fun time riding him even when he decided to take off in the canter the first time I asked for it. For the most part he's a really chill guy, plus adorable.

Jetta got a haircut. I was at a loss for what kind of clip I wanted to do this year. I usually really like doing a blanket clip on her, but I wanted to take off less hair this winter and then I saw what SprinklerBandits did to Courage... so we tried to copy. I don't think it turned out as nice as hers, but I think I like it.



Then today, Tuesday the 6th - Jetta just got lunged today while I was on my lunch break from school. I forgot my clippers since I wanted to fix up some of the lines on her clip job, but I guess that'll happen tomorrow. But we got a neat surprise... Chester's back!! I love this little pony. He's the sweetest little guy and he and Jetta love each other and they look like copies almost, one's just miniature!

That little nose!

Best friends

 So now you're all caught up!

October 10 Questions

From Viva Carlos! I've been sitting on this for a while and it's almost not October any more!

What do you consider “jumping high” for yourself?
I've been pretty consistently competing at 2'6" to 2'9" so that height feels comfortable and "small" to me. I've started jumping more consistently at 3' and while it seems big, it's not too scary. So anything over 3' I definitely consider "high".

What are your short term goals for riding? Do you think you’ll reach them? 
Short term goals are just to stick with riding during vet school even if it's just a couple days a week. I want to make it to a couple small shows a year, raise my baby horse and balance it all with school!

Cannot wait for my own baby horse!

Long term goals for riding? Do you think you’ll reach them?
Long term goals include getting my bronze medal in dressage and getting a ribbon at a recognized Horse Trial. And I'd love to someday compete comfortably at Training Level eventing, but that may be very far off!


How many barns have you been at in your riding career?
Oh dear. A lot. I boarded between 2 places when I was younger, but mainly kept the horses at home. Then when college came, I switched a lot. It's hard to find a good barn! I think 4 different barns so far, so 6 total!

How many different trainers have you been with in your riding career? 
Hard to answer since I haven't really been consistently in a program since I was little. I started out with one trainer when I first started riding who was really the best trainer I could have asked for, but unfortunately we had a falling out. I started riding with a different trainer who was also amazing and I still keep in touch with now. When I got interested in dressage and jumping, I started taking lessons concurrently with another trainer. Then once I moved away to college I haven't consistently taken many lessons, though I guess I consider KO my eventing trainer and KB my dressage trainer though it's been over a year since I've seen either of them!

If we could only get this trot in the dressage ring!

Ever worked at a barn? What did you do?
Yes, a lot. I have cleaned stalls, brought horses in, blanketed, fed, exercised and started babies, etc. A lot. I think I've done this at at least three or four barns. I did it in exchange for board a lot, especially when I was boarding 2+ horses. It worked out really great and I really did enjoy it. I kinda miss it!

Scariest thing that has happened at your barn?
I really haven't had too many scary things happen. Grady's colic and having to be euthanized was terrifying and awful, definitely the worst thing I've ever been through. He actually got stuck in the fence because he was rolling close to it and got tangled in it and luckily our neighbor freed him and called my parents.

Will never not miss this guy

Have you ever given a lesson? What level was the rider?
Yes, I gave a lot of lessons on my trusty steed Jazz for 4-H'ers. I used to lead a 4-H group. It was all very basic beginner lessons, a lot of brand new riders.  

What is your opinion on the accuracy of critiquing riders online?
They may be accurate, but most of the judging is done off a snapshot in time without actually knowing the horse and rider. Basically, my philosophy is if I'm not paying for it, I don't want to hear it. That's what professional trainers are for.


What is the ideal height of a horse for you?
16-16.3 hands. Jetta's 16.2 hh so she's the absolute perfect height! 

 

Our Little Pumpkin

I'm so excited for my little pumpkin! Can't believe we're already at 60 days... only 280ish more to go!

I think the other boarders at the barn thought I was crazy, but I don't care because I absolutely loooove how these pictures turned out!

The Princess and the Golden Bit

Retail therapy at its finest to deal with vet school? Check.

Pretty mare all decked out

I really wish I was posting more, but I'm still in the adjustment period getting into the swing of thing for the first term back of my second year of vet school! It still seems weird that I can now call myself a second year. But everything's going well despite my less than consistent riding schedule, including acing the first two midterms.

Jetta got a new browband to go on her PS bridle and I'm obsessed. It's the sparkliest thing I've ever seen, it's literally blinding in the sunshine. I love it. It looks near identical to the ones that PS of Sweden sells, minus the snaps, but it's half the price.

So sparkly

I think it looks like Jetta has a tiara with it on. She's my princess so I guess she deserved a crown finally!



The golden bit part... that's not quite as fun. I have never spent so much money on a bit before, it hurts me a little inside. After the last show I decided we really needed something different and this bit had been recommended to me by two different trainers and it has great online reviews so I decided to try it out. Jetta is a sensitive horse who can be heavy at times so it's tough to find a good bit that she a) listens to, b) doesn't throw a fit about being too "strong" and c) doesn't grind her teeth with. Too thin of a bit? We get head tossing and an open mouth. Too thick? We get teeth grinding and/or ignoring the bit (and yes, she very recently got her teeth done and they had no issues). Her two favorite bits are her HS mullen mouth ported loose ring (not dressage legal) and her D-ring waterford (also not dressage legal).

So I bought a Neue Schule verbindend snaffle. That thing better be made of literal 14k gold for the price! I scoured the internet for a year for one less than $100 used, but they were never the right size or type so a shiny new bit it was.

I'm still tentative at calling it a magic bit (which it should be for the price) but Jetta goes pretty well in it. She listens very well, but at the same time she takes a really nice contact. Obviously it hasn't fixed all of our connection issues, but I think it was a good purchase. After a little bit of fussing at the walk, she settles down and takes the perfect amount of contact, much better than she usually does, and she doesn't just bulldoze through it in transitions. So I guess we're keeping the golden bit!

And the last bit of retail therapy... the big bi-annual tack sale was last weekend and I haven't been in over a year so I decided to go. Jetta got a new turnout sheet, a fleece dressage girth to replace the one that just walked away, a new boot bag for my tall boots, another waterford bit to put on her "trail" bridle so I don't have to keep swapping it off her cross country bridle and a couple other odds and ends for friends. It was a pretty good haul!

Shopping is always the answer, right?

RPSI Inspection

I've been planning on getting Jetta approved by the RPSI ever since I got her. Don't ask me why it's taken 8 years to finally get her there, but there was always one reason or another that I couldn't take her. She went through a terribly ugly 3-year-old year, I sprained both my MCL's, she was too skinny, I was too busy, I had no money, etc., etc.

This year there were no excuses, especially since she's gonna have a baby! The inspection was also super close to where I live, about 40 minutes away. I'd never heard of the barn before, but the host was incredibly nice responding to all of my questions. I researched it to death - how to present your horse, how to do the triangle, what my horse should wear, etc.

Luckily Jetta's mane is roached so I didn't have to worry about braiding. I trimmed her mohawk up a bit to make it look a little bit neater and not so floppy. I trimmed her tail, washed her legs and braided her forelock.

First off, all horses (except foals) are shown in a bridle. I didn't have a Newmarket lead (the Y-shaped lead chain with two clips) but luckily I own a leather lead so I found a cheap Y-connecter through Stateline tack (the actual leads are so expensive!) and used that. The reasoning being that you could keep your reins on the bridle, but you have to unhook them to let your horse go free, so it's a huge hassle if you don't have clips.

Jetta is very good in hand for the most part, so I didn't worry too much about working on that. She spent the night in her stall instead of out in her paddock due to the rain, which wasn't bad because she's supposed to be a little hot so she could show off her moves.

At the inspection, I finished filling out any paperwork that I hadn't submitted online beforehand. The North American RPSI manager was there and the judge from Germany. There were both incredibly nice. Seriously, everyone I met was so nice. I was kind of nervous my Thoroughbred was going to be looked down upon by the Warmblood people, but that was definitely not the case. Jetta was complemented on her manners because she stood tied to the trailer the entire time, I was congratulated when she passed her inspection, people discussed different stallions that would cross well with her in the future, etc. It was a very welcoming environment.

The first thing they did was explain a bit of what they're looking for. Horses are scored on a scale of 10 for 7 different areas. An average score of 7 is required for a horse to be considered "premium status" (basically they need a minimum score of 49). They explained the difference between books I and II, the German Riding Pony side, and the fact that now horses registered with RPSI is considered a Deutsch Sport Pferd (aka German Sport Horse or DSP). This is new because previously, every region of Germany had a different name for their warmbloods (for example, Zweibrucker), but now it's just DSP (there are still a few regions that don't conform to this, but over half of Germany agreed to the DSP change).

Getting her height measured

When it came my turn to go (single mares went first, then mares with foals), I stood Jetta up in front of the judge while he looked over her conformation. She was pretty impatient and while she stood nicely for the most part, she had to do her signature impatient head bob. The triangle portion went well, and then it was time to let her off the lead. I thought she was pretty good for the free portion, she did just kind of want to zoom around in the canter, but she did show off some nice trot, though I wish she had slowed down and gave a little springier trot instead of her Standardbred impression.

Love this one, she actually looks warmblood-like!

But she listened well and was easy to catch afterwards, which couldn't be said for some horses, so I was happy with her. And we passed!

Presenting my German Sport Horse... Mule

The judge's comments were that Jetta has good conformation, with nice size and good amount of bone. She had a good shoulder and fairly good neck. Her head was unfeminine (lol, she got a 6 on sex/breed type). He really liked her walk (7.5) and said she had good engagement in the trot (6.5) and canter (6), but could be more uphill. Quality of conformation, correctness and overall impression all got 6.5. She scored a total of 45.5, so not terrible, we were only 3.5 points from being premium! Her average score was a 6.5, so she was pretty close.

Overall it was a great experience and hopefully I'll be back next year with a little baby in tow!

(Kinda) Wordless Wednesday

So I ordered some pictures! I couldn't not at least look at what photos the photographer got, even if I had to pay to get them. I emailed him and found that the $20 posting fee went towards the cost of the photos instead of adding on top of them, so I figured why not!

He only posted 9 photos of me - 2 were dressage and just not even close to what I wanted: a salute picture and an extremely awkward canter photo. Then there was 3 photos in sequence of the bank, and then the other 4 were stadium jumps which were either just a half second too late or too early. This is mostly what I expected though I have to admit I was extremely disappointed there wasn't a photo of that massive trakehner that Jetta jumped, or at least a coop!

But she looked too cute jumping off the bank to not get and I kinda liked one of the stadium pictures. Just don't look at me. I make weird faces. Look at my cute horse instead!

I'm really glad that he got these cute pictures, even if I do look like a dork. I think he did a good job with these. I've got a pretty adorable pony!