These Boots are Made for Walking (and so is other stuff)

     There's an awful lot of equipment that goes along with walking horses. Today's post  is all about the shoes and saddles you need to for a walking horse.

This is a Western saddle. This what most people think of when they think of a saddle. The original purpose of western style saddles were spread the rider's weight over a larger area of the horses back. This is to make things more comfortable for the horse for long rides. It also has a little more equipment to help the rider stay on the horse (keep reading, I explain this later), 

     The other kind of saddle is an English style saddle. It is much smaller than the western saddle, and is made to hold the rider closer to the horse. This guy scares me a little bit, because I feel like nothing is there to keep me intact if things get a little rough.

     In the walking horse world, the different kinds of saddles are in divisions of horse shows (such as the Celebration). Divisions are called "classes."

      You guys should know that I like to make stuff. I feel like making models of things gives me such a better understanding of what things are and how they work. So this is my model of a western saddle (originally, it was going to English, but I just like western better). To break down the parts of a saddle, I have color coded arrows. The yellow arrow is point to the saddle horn. The red points to the part of the saddle that holds you in. This is much more pronounced in western saddles than in English saddles. Purple points to the seat of the saddle. The light blue arrow shows the leather flap, which protects your leg from the buckles and such that attach to the girth (the thing that goes under the horse and ties on the saddle). The light brown arrow shows what I call "The Oh No Handle." It's pretty self explanitory, if something happens that makes you want to say, "OH NO!" then grabbing the oh no handle, might be a good idea. Last but not least, the pink arrow points to the saddle pad, which is not actually part of the saddle. Its job is to protect the horse from the saddle's buckles and such (much like the leather flap goes for the rider). It also absorbs sweat, like a sock.
    Much like people do, horses need shoes for walking. There are LOTS of different kinds of shoes. I'll show you pictures, but I'm not going to bore you with all the different purposes and uses for them. (Partially because you would loose interest, and partially because I don't remember everything, and I don't want to tell you guys the wrong thing) It really surprised me that there were so many more kinds of shoes other than just the typical horseshoe shape.

Cowgirl Out.

Warning Kids: This Could Get Messy

!!!WARNING FOR ALL THOSE NOT-SO-HORSE-PEOPLE!!!

TODAY'S POST IS KINDA GRAPHIC

     I just want ya'll to be aware of that. A few days ago, I went to the barn on breeding day. It was an interesting day to say the least. Let me tell you, I learned ALL about the breeding process, and now I get to share it with you!

     First of all, we need to know the terms. A stallion, or stud, is a male horse. Breeding studs are male horses with favorable genetics. Mares are female horses, and brood mares are mares that are used to breed and have babies. This (that picture over there -->) is an AV, which is short for Artificial Vagina (If this already bugs you, then just quit reading now, and wait for me to make my next post.) And AV is filled with hot water that is the same temperature as a female's insides. A plastic liner is inserted through the middle of the AV. At the end of the liner, there is a bottle with a filter in it.
     When the AV is ready, it is time to collect from the stud. Mike leads the stud (This one is Gen's Armed & Dangerous) to the phantom dummy, and when once the horse is all hot and bothered, he mounts the
phantom. Christy then directs the penis into the AV, and the semen collects bottle at the end. Sometimes, to get the stud in the right mood, they put a tease mare next to the phantom. This is a mare that is in heat. Other times, they collect into the AV off of a tease mare's back. The other option for collecting a stud is just the old fashioned, live action way to do things. (I'll spare you the images of that.)
      After the bottle has been detached from the AV liner, and the filter has been removed, it is time to take things to the lab!

    Mike takes a small sample of the semen and puts it in a machine that calculates how many million sperm are in one cubic milliliter of semen. He then puts the sample under a microscope and eyeballs what percentage of the sperm are alive and moving (he then subtracts 5% from what he thinks to calculate in for human error). The sperm density and the amount of semen collected factors how many brood mares can be bred from the one collection. The semen is then measured out and mixed with a nutrient-rich liquid. This helps the sperm survive until insemination time.
     At this time, if the semen is being shipped somewhere, it is packaged and taken to the airport. Live semen cannot legally go through any mail carrying service, but it can be shipped through commercial airlines, such as Delta and Southwest.
     Once the semen has reached its destination (sometimes its across the country, other times, its across the barn), it is ready to be artificially inseminated. The semen is poured into a syringe, but instead of a needle, there is a long tube at the end. The brood mare's birth canal is washed (you start from the inside and work your way out) and then Mike inserts the tube into the mare, and injects the semen near the cervix. He massages the cervix to encourage it to open up, increasing the likelihood of out foaling out the mare (that's horse speak for "getting the horse pregnant").
     In a few days, the doctor will come to the barn to do an ultrasound. Hopefully, the mare will be pregnant and twelve months later, there will be a baby.
    Man, I sounded really technical there. More importantly, I watched it enough times the other day, that I'm not super grossed out by it. I think that makes me much more of a cowgirl than I was when I started off that morning!
Cowgirl Out!