It’s A Lot Harder Than I Thought

(Posted on Thursday, June 25, 2015)

Human or horse, getting pregnant is not as easy as some may think or wish. I started my journey to breed, raise and race a Thoroughbred thinking I could just move my mare to a broodmare farm, set her up with an expert broodmare vet and let nature take its course. Well, dreams get derailed. Lilly is not pregnant. She will not get pregnant this year. Time and nature have worked against me. In the world of Thoroughbred racing, the optimum time for a foal to be born is from February through early May. Horses have an eleven-month gestation period, which means Lilly needed to be bred between the months of March through early June. Our window has passed. Several bacteria invaded Lilly’s uterus, preventing conception. She is also an “older maiden mare”. To breed a nine-year-old Thoroughbred, via live cover, is considered a long shot, a risk. As a result of the medical challenges of the past two months, my vet tested Lilly for Lyme Disease. She tested positive, which may have contributed to her body’s inability to fight the bacteria. I am at a crossroads. I will definitely treat Lilly to make sure she is 100 percent healthy. But do I continue to expect Lilly to be my broodmare? Should I instead put her back into training for competition in the show circuit that she knows so well? My daughter will be tall enough and have the experience to ride her within the next year. If Lilly is not to be my Triple Crown Dreams broodmare, one alternative is to head to Lexington, Kentucky in November for the bloodstock auction. There I could purchase an experienced mare already in foal. I could bring the mare back to Goshen Farm and fulfill my goal of having a foal born in Virginia. The factors at play are time, money, and my dream to have a Thoroughbred in the three-year-old racing campaign of 2019 (more on that later). Decisions, decisions. I’ll keep you posted. Kimberly

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