Just saw your pictures, gorgeous!

Wonderful occasion!

Thanks for sharing your adventure.

My ex chiropractor now does work on horses.

During the Derby season he us flown down to work for one of big stables. He quit doing human chiropractic because the other is so much more profitable.

Common practice to breed a mare when she drops a foal. It's a natural cycle, called 'foal heat', not messed up at all.

Kathsgrdn, am I missing a picture link terilyn mentioned?

Agree with Kennswoods, and the mares probably prefer to live out in the pasture with the old barns, as opposed to being as confined as stallions are sometimes kept. When you look at mares and see their condition....if they look like they are in good flesh and not skinny, and worn out....that is the life of a broodmare. It's a business, and as long as the mares are cared for and have a healthy foal....she keeps doing it. A horse doesn't know a fancy stable from a run in out in the pasture. My horses would rather be out than cooped up in a stall. They will stand out in rain and what seems cold to me, as their preference, sometimes. Except the mule....she will always go in the barn when it rains.

So if the horse was wild, she would be constantly pregnant? I didn't know that. I didn't think it was healthy for any animal. I would've thought the body needed to recover, at least until the current baby was older. I know nothing about horses, though. Just thought that was awful, from a human point-of-view.

It's the stallions who lead the less happy life. Having to cover mare after mare and live their lives in a stall is not great fun for them.

Watchmelol: I can't speak for all farms that have breeding stallions, but the expensive retired race horses are very well cared for & don't spend all their time covering mares or in their stall. They are turned out for many hours in large, enclosed pastures. They know their job & when they are taken to the breeding shed, know what to do. They are too valuable to breed to just any mare. The stud fees can be $500,00. Even at our little barn, the stallion is out all day & knows his job. He gets along with all the other horses (except for 1 that he dislikes). Most of those stallions live better than some people.

I agree with Bothell, those pastures are absolutely beautiful. Oh, and no I didn't post a picture here, I posted on Facebook. If I remember when I get home tonight I will post some.

OK....I'm checking back for pictures later...:0)

I can't post a picture, because I realized I don't have the usb port thing for my new phone, so can't download my pictures to my computer. Sorry.

Can you cut and paste from face book ?

tjkeen, maybe....

Wow, it worked! This is the entrance to Hill n Dale Farm, where Seattle Slew is buried.

Well, I thought it worked. The picture appeared here and then disappeared when I hit the submit button.