I decided that I would leave Lady, Woody and another two Broodmares in Ireland to have their foals. I wanted Lady to be mated with Desert Style again, who was at stud in Ireland. Because of the relationship with Captain Hurricane it was a financial decision. I would also find suitable Stallions for Woody and the other two mares. On the 1st of March Lady produced a Colt Foal. The Colt foal was what I wanted. A Colt Foal would be nearly double the value of a Filly Foal. On the 21st of March Woody also had a Colt Foal by Indian Lodge. Our Branston, who winds Lady up.
Lady was never my favorite Horse whilst she was at Denbury, before I owned her. She had the vice that you sometimes see, of Weaving, swaying her head from side to side. It is not a problem with Broodmares, but would have been if she did it when in training in her racing career, where she would have picked the vice up from. She would Crib Bite, which is another undesirable vice. When she had another Foal, I had to help the foal being born. She would not let it feed, to make sure that the foal got the colostrum I had to milk Lady and feed the foal from a bottle. The next day she was good with the foal, although later she would very often bite the foal when it tried to feed from her. She was also very spiteful and unfriendly with other Horses, violently kicking out on them for very little reason. So my experiences with Lady were not good.
Some weeks later I had a phone call from the person who was looking after my Horses in Ireland. Lady’s foal was missing. The gate to the field where they were kept had been found open, all the Horses had got out, when they were all found and caught, Lady’s foal was missing. The foal would be able to stay alive for a short while, but the weather was not good. For the time of year it was cold and wet. Foals should be stabled in that weather. Hypothermia in a foal of that age, is very possible.
The Foal could not be found. It was very unlikely that it had been stolen and after a week it was likely that it had died. I was given to believe that Lady had not been to upset at the loss, with what I had experienced with her, with the other foal I could quite believed it. Weeks later the remains of a foal was found in a wood, DNA tests showed it to be Lady’s missing foal.
After being mated Lady and Woody with Branston and another foal returned to the UK. The other two Broodmares I sold in Ireland. Straight away it was obvious there had been a change in Lady. She mixed in the fields with our riding horses, allowing Woody and Breeze to boss her. She still Weaved a little but no longer Cribbed. In fact she was a very nice friendly Horse. A real pleasure to have around.
Lady foaled last year, giving birth to Bliss a three quarter sister to the dead foal. Woody also had a Filly named Misty. Lady as you may have seen was a brilliant mother. I cant believe that she would not have pined for her lost Foal, for she never allowed Bliss out of her sight.
Bliss and Misty are now yearlings, both are very well bred, with excellent confirmation. I have soon to make up my mind if I am going to sell them. I purchased the Race Horses with the intention of starting an on line Horse Racing and Breeding Partnership. I was let down by a Horse Racing Television Channel to advertise my new venture. www.ownaleg.com. It is now a free advertising site. I am tempted to start it again with Bliss and Misty.