Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Roscoe Goes to Training

It was a sad day for us. Roscoe is spending up to two weeks at Equine Reproductive Concepts. While there he will be having Phantom training and doing a Test cool. All this will get him ready for breeding.
After a discussion, we were able to load him up for his first solo trailer ride. He was a perfect passenger for the 45min drive. I left Mom and Peggy with Roscoe while I went to fill out the million forms. As I was writing a handler came out carrying a leather lead with chain shank. He kindly offered to unload Roscoe. I was a little worried since he looked "loaded for bear." In the end I figured Mom was there to control the situation.
When I finally finished the paperwork, I went to see my boy.
Roscoe's home for a little while
Roscoe's stall is the first one on the left in the barn above. He was sweaty, glued to the front of the stall, but munching away at hay. I soon find out that he was scared out of his socks. As he entered the barn with the handler, Saphiro a Lusitiano stallion in the stall across from Roscoe's charged the front stall wall at Roscoe. Mom said Roscoe was thinking small thoughts trying to hide and he would not go in the stall. Eventually, Mom took his lead and worked him in hand to refocus his mind. She was then able to back him into the stall. Poor Roscoe was still worried.
Roscoe in Jail, watching his rear window.
The stall is large, but barred with high walls. Nothing like he is used to. And his front view is of his favorite stallion.
Saphiro, This guy is a teddy bear at home, but uber stallion at the collection center.

We went to have a tour with Roscoe calling after us. His visit will start with handling lessons and manners around the mares. Then he will meet the phantom.
They will use a teaser mare to help train him to use the phantom. Success means he stands for cleaning, then mounts and ejaculates in one to two tries. How long he stays depends on how quick he picks up the process. Since he is so young, they have to be careful not to make him sour. They will work with him daily. Hopefully the work will settle him down.
The lab will test his semen to see which of 3 antibiotics will work with the extender to successfully cool samples for shipping. They will learn what kind of longevity his has so they can customize the collection process for Roscoe.
It was really hard leaving him, but they are pros. Okay still not making me feel better. Even worse, Roscoe could see us leaving and kept watching and calling. Ah the barn won't be the same.
Has it been two weeks yet???

5 comments:

  1. My girls call for me when I take them to new places too - Lainey in particular can get a bit silly about it at shows until she decides to make friends with someone else. It's kind of flattering and sad all at once! Here's hoping the two weeks are up before you know it :)

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  2. Didn't ven realize there was such a thing as Stallion training! Pretty cool.

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  3. We got young stallions in all the time for training in college and it was a pretty cool process to watch them figure things out. I'm sure Roscoe will settle in soon!

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  4. Yeah, I didn't realize stallions needed to be trained either. Hope he gets an A+ :)

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  5. The phantom training is optional, but helps them know their job and how to behave. Plus there is less chance of being injured by a mare or him hurting a mare.
    I did call today and he is settling. He had turn out, chatted with a neighbor and went back to his stall. The big stallions still make him nervous, but the sensible Cob brain is coming back into control. He will have a session this afternoon. We have the option of going to watch, but we do not want to distract him. It is a cool process though.

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