MSRA ⇒ Final Year (BACK IN PROGRESS)

⇒ eleven

"And here we are," Dr. Sharon announced as we pulled into a gorgeous farm. "East Ridge Farm. One of the largest breeding farms in Kentucky."

The van rolled down the driveway, and my jaw dropped... I'm sure Olive and Abby's were dropped too. There must've been hundreds of acres of fenced pastures, marked by black four-board fencing and perfectly maintained trees. There were small herds of horses dotting the landscape. But the real breathtaking part was the grey stone barn looming in the distance. The immaculately landscaped exterior was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. There were a few grooms looming around, leading a few horses back outside while some were headed inside. The van came to a halt in the designated parking area, and Dr. Sharon unlocked the doors, ordering us to follow her.

I couldn't make it up that this was the most gorgeous barn I had ever been in. Dark stained wood made up the stall fronts and walls, as well as the ceiling that was lined with skylights. The stalls were big and bright, with large windows letting in tons of natural light, bedded with clean, fresh straw. The aisle itself was made of rubber pavers that were hard yet offered some squish so horses wouldn't slip. 

"Dr. Sharon! So good to see you again," an older man called from the end of the barn aisle. He was wearing khaki pants and a plaid button down, with a shoulder-length rectal glove on as well. He had a full white beard and a balding head but he was all smiles as he saw us approaching.

"Dr. Carlton, so good to see you," Dr. Sharon laughed. "These are my senior interns, Kat, Olive, and Abby."

"Girls, what a pleasure it is to meet you," he greeted us. "So, who knows anything about Thoroughbred breeding?"

With this, Dr. Carlton launched into the fascinating yet complicated world of breeding Thoroughbreds. He explained the breeding season, foaling season, sale season, the list went on. Today, he was doing pregnancy checks on the farm's broodmares.

"Now," he explained, "foals won't start hitting the ground until January, so we're a while away. But sometimes, mares will slip a pregnancy, and it will go unnoticed. So before the farm wastes time waiting on a baby that might not be there, we're going to confirm which mares need to be in the foaling barn and which ones will go under lights to prepare for breeding."

This whole new world was absolutely fascinating to me. I had never at all been interested in Thoroughbreds before - I had only ever ridden one off-track Thoroughbred. But this whole new world of breeding horses on a commercial scale? Quite appealing.

After Dr. Carlton explained what his role at East Ridge Farm was and why he did it, the farm manager Jacob took us on a tour of the property. The farm was on 450 acres, with 100 of those acres dedicated to a boarding and sales operation that the farm owner ran. There was a yearling sales division, a young horse division, and a broodmare division - each division had one barn, except for the broodmares, who had three. We got to see the dozens of broodmares, fat and happy, enjoying their last few months of freedom out in their fields before the foals arrived. This year's foals were now weanlings, having been born between January and May, with it now being late October. They just looked like large, shaggy foals with heads too small for their bodies. But they were cute and curious, allowing us to pet them.

"Well, that concludes the tour," Jacob said as he slowed the golf cart to a stop back at the main barn. "Does anyone have any questions?"

I dove right in, asking him about the Thoroughbred sales, who the stallions were that the mares were bred to, and why the breeding and foaling timelines were so strict. He explained it all to me: there were multiple sales in multiple states throughout the year, but the biggest one in the world was held in September right here in Lexington. The stallions were located primarily in Kentucky, but there were many in other states as well, but all Thoroughbred mares needed to be live-covered, therefore most of the best stallions and mares lived in Kentucky. Finally, due to the breed registry, foals needed to be born on or after January 1, so mares couldn't be bred any earlier than mid-February.

On the van ride back to the school, Abby was making small talk with me. "So, how did you like it?"

"I've never seen anything like it," I said, still in total awe. Though it was only a twenty-minute drive back to the academy, I'm pretty sure Abby and I were talking about how amazed we were the entire time.

"Do you think you would be interested in working in breeding?" Abby asked as we got off the van in front of the Acacia barn.

I hesitated for a second. "It's a lot to consider. But I think so, yes."

And so it began. I spent hours every day researching horse breeding opportunities. Turns out, Kentucky is the hot spot for Thoroughbreds, but warmbloods are mostly bred in Florida and California. Of course, breeding occurs in every state, but those were the highlights. Warmbloods and other breeds are typically bred through artificial insemination, embryo transfer, or ICSI, not live cover like Thoroughbreds are. The deeper I got into my research, the more appealing warmblood breeding got. You could breed to any stallion in the world, and the mare wouldn't have to leave your facility. You could even breed to a dead stallion if everything was frozen correctly!

Dr. Sharon seemed thrilled that I had finally found something I was interested in pursuing. Obviously, I enjoyed being a vet tech, but I wasn't passionate about it. A possibility to run a breeding program and develop top show horses? That, I could be passionate about. I think I had finally talked Dr. Sharon's ear off about warmblood breeding when she came up with an idea.

"Why don't I send you to my friend's breeding farm next week for the internship?" she suggested. "Instead of being here in the clinic? I'll have Abby and Olive. I'm sure Terese could use the help."

"Oh, wow," I thought for a minute. "That would be awesome!"

So we set it up. Next week, I would be excused from statistics and history, my two morning classes, so I could spend two hours at Terese's farm, Holy Grail Farm. She bred primarily Hanoverians and Oldenburgs but did the occasional KWPN or any other cross her clients wanted. Most go on to become Dressage horses or show jumpers, with the occasional Hunter or eventer. Needless to say, I was extraordinarily excited about this opportunity.