I am proud to share with you pictures of Sigmund's first lesson in breeding.
First, let me give a little bit of background information: Both of these horses
have never been bred before. Shar is a maiden mare and Sigmund has just never been
given the opportunity to mate before now. As part of my lease agreement, I am to teach
Sigmund how to breed; I also have to break him to ride, and I have the option of
showing him (with a horse as beautiful as he, how could I possibly refuse to do that!).
In addition, I am able to breed him to mares of my choice. Of course, Shar is also
an arabian of incredible beauty, so this is a plus for me! I am still looking for more
mares to breed him to (to further his experience in breeding and to start making a name for this
perfect stallion), so if you have a mare and would like to breed her, contact me for
stud fee information and any other information at shahar@usit.net.
Now, lets take a look at part of the breeding process...
I chose to have the first lesson with both of the horses turned out with each other
because of reccommendations from several local vets. They all said that it would be less confusing to both of the horses if
I just let nature take its course so they could learn to read each other's signals before I tried to introduce hand breeding
with my voice signals and lead lines and people... Sigmund took on his first lesson with commendible
effort and energy. He payed close attention to the reactions and signals that Shar was giving to him and
seemed as though breeding was 'old hat' for this young boy. Shar on the other hand was not so
up on this new experience! 
She was reluctant for a good part of the morning, but as you can see by
this picture, she began to give into Sigmund's passes. Shar was very aggressive towards Sigmund for the most
part and Sigmund has a few cuts to prove it, though he performed like a champ and was never turned off from the
new experience. As the teasing progressed, you can see that Shar was becoming more receptive to Sigmund. With each knicker and each squeal,
she responded and was giving him signs that she was ready. However, she was still unable to keep her feet on the ground!
At this point, I 
decided that the next lesson would include hobbles! I would prefer not to have to use hobbles, but, it is not worth
risking the health and soundness of the horses to let them beat up on each other.
The whole lesson went very well! Sigmund pranced around her and circled her to control her movements, and for the most part, she listened.
Sigmund was not too aggressive towards her though at times she really could have used a swift kick in the rear! He flirted and carefully
tried to read her expressions. Sigmund, unfortunatly, was never able to mount her during this lesson. Shar's reluctance to having another
horse dominated her in such a way scared her. Her fear is what caused her to kick at him.
In this last picture, Sigmund is chasing Shar to try to control her and to try to get her to understand that his intent is not to hurt her. The closest
he came to actually mounting her today, was gripping her withers. Needless to say, she became hurt and stressed that another horse just chewed on her back,
so she kicked him around a little more! As I said before, the lesson went very well, and I do want to inform you that, yes, both of the horses did get some cuts
and bumps, but they are both doing well and neither have any serious injuries. Stay tuned and I will be glad to provide pictures of lesson two (with field breeding hobbles) within a few days once I get the film back...
