Answers

My last post generated several questions, so I thought I'd cover them all in a post.
First of all, I will continue to blog- that is for sure! I love interacting with all of you, and even if I don't leave comments on the blogs I follow, I do try to read them. The blog community is a wonderful, supportive and caring group, love you guys!

Aurora was surprised that I'm letting Gussie go; it was a tough decision to let both mares go, but I have Rio to ride now, and Gussie will do much better if she is given a job to do. She doesn't do well with a lot of time off as she tends to get herd bound, but whenever she is ridden regularly she is awesome. Also, I would like to see her crossed out on a different stallion, so the choices for her in Saskatchewan are better than me keeping her. The fellow that will be checking her out might be a perfect fit for her, we'll see.

Malory asked, how long have I been doing this? I assume she meant breeding horses. 18 years. Selectively breeding just a few horses, with temperament, conformation and athletic ability uppermost in my breeding program.

Several of you have encouraged me to keep Josie, and I agree that she is a little charmer. I may just keep her, as I really do prefer riding mares, so we will see what happens over the next couple of years. Also, I have made a deal with Belle's purchaser that if she is in foal and produces a filly that I get to keep the filly.

And finally, Stella Belle. Yes, I have received the test results, all of which were negative for neurological diseases. No West Nile, EV1, or EPM. Not Rabies or Tetanus. I had the opportunity to speak with an experienced horse vet a couple of days ago, and the first thing he said when I described what happened was trauma. Apparently when there is trauma to the head, there is a bone at the base of the skull/neck that breaks during head trauma such as falling over backwards etc. and all the things that happened to Stella were what he described. The suddenness and violence of the incident and the rapid deterioration all were there. My first instinct when this happened was that Stella got her head through the panels to visit with Nitro, and jerked back and hurt her neck , then panicked and ran out of the shelter, where she started running into things and crashing around. I didn't see her put her neck through the panels as I had my back turned while I fed Beamer his hay, but turned around when I heard the clatter of Stella running over the poop scooping shovel that was leaning against the wall as she fled from the shelter.

So basically, Stella had a broken neck.

And me having to make the call to euthanize her was better than having her suffer until she died, because there is no recovery from this kind of trauma. I cried when I realized that, because until then, I wasn't sure. What if...

The expense of having the neuro tests also gave me some peace, because I know for sure that my little herd is healthy.

And now that I have made these changes, it's time to get on with life. New goals include getting Rio legged up so that I can ride him in a Jim Anderson clinic in January. My goal for Rio is to enter Cowboy Up challenge competitions, and if I can, get someone to show him in English classes that will showcase his lovely movement. (Shayla!)
As for Beamer, I will stand him to other people's mares and he will get lots of riding too.

But I'm going to miss my girls.