All That Jazz

In June of 2010, Cathy sat in her car in the deserted parking lot of the Culpeper Baptist Church. The representative of Herr Fuchs had not yet arrived, and Cath was becoming a bit anxious. Antibes’ fresh cooled semen was a precious delivery and Cath wanted to make sure all went well.

Yes, Cathy was waiting for the delivery of chilled semen from Antibes. I should point out Antibes is a stallion. 🙂

 In early 2009 Cathy had the opportunity to become a horse breeder, something she had wanted to do for a while. We talked about it and then she pulled the trigger, buying two mares in foal from Herr Fuchs, owner of Hilton Farms, near Orange, Virginia. Herr Fuchs owned horse farms in Germany and America and bred Hanoverian horses. The mares Cathy bought from Herr Fuchs, Adancer and Longstocking, were both accepted as breeding mares in the Hanoverian Society. The deal included Hilton Farms foaling out the currently pregnant mares that spring, and providing a free breeding with one of their studs, Antibes, the following year. 

 The mares successfully had their foals in May of 2009, and Hilton Farms delivered both mares and their foals to us at Rohan Farm. It is quite normal to impregnate broodmares a month or so after they have given birth and when our vet said it was time, Cathy called Hilton Farms. Waiting for the semen delivery was the culmination and final step for the deal. 

 The empty church parking lot was fairly public and encompassed an entire block. Sitting there, Cathy chuckled wondering about the church’s position on Intrauterine Insemination (the human equivalent of artificial insemination – a procedure to treat infertility) and whether it applied to horses. 😉

Eventually, Rosemary from Hilton Farms arrived and the transfer took place. Cathy delivered the semen to our vet for cold storage, and a day later the vet inseminated Longstocking. 

At this point, it might be worth a small side conversation on the breeding of horses. In the current world, only thoroughbred horses do live covers, where the stallion actually mounts the mare in a controlled environment. Most other breeds use artificial insemination, including chilled or frozen semen. Both have slightly different procedures for handling of the semen and impregnating the mare. At Rohan Farm, we used both chilled and frozen semen over the years.

Horses have an eleven-month gestation period. After impregnating Longstocking, the vet checked her regularly for the next year, and all continued normally. In the first weeks of May, Longstocking showed signs the birth was imminent, and Cath spent a couple of nights sleeping at the barn. On May 14th of 2010, Cath woke up and Longstocking still had not delivered, so she went to the house for a cup of coffee. When she returned to the barn, Longstocking had dropped the new foal while she was gone.

It is important the foal stands and nurses in the first hour or so. As with humans, they need the colostrum in the milk to develop their immune systems. In this case, our new foal would not stand. We did not know it at the time, but learned later it crimped something in its leg while in the uterus, and standing was painful. Cathy bottle-fed the foal to ensure he drank his initial colostrum. Eventually, we helped the foal stand and nurse at Longstocking’s teat. After that, we checked on him every hour, and a few hours later, he was standing and nursing on his own.

The vet arrived later that day. Midwife Cathy had done everything correctly and our foal was doing fine. He became the first of several foals born and raised at Rohan Farm. 

The next day, we walked mom and son to the paddock near our barn. It was amazing watching the little guy experiencing the world for the first time. While he mostly stuck to mom like Velcro, he did have a few runs and kicks on his own and was a happy looking horse. 

In the Hanoverian world, a foal’s name starts with the same first letter as in the stud’s name, so for us, “A” for Antibes. With his good looks, white markings and stockings, we settled on “All That Jazz”, or Jazz for short. 

Jazz is fifteen now, competing, and still doing fine. Cathy stays in touch with Jazz’s original buyer and current owner, Janet Miernicki, and watches him from afar. Janet says Jazz remains a wonderful horse, and she enjoys riding him on a regular basis. We are thankful he found a good home.

Cathy still occasionally tells the story about waiting in the church parking lot for semen. When she does, I see the sparkle in her eyes, remembering All That Jazz, the first foal born at Rohan Farm.