More China and Horse Update

Karin called this morning which was her Monday night to tell us about their Monday.  They visited the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses.  The terra-cotta army, as it is known, is part of an elaborate mausoleum created to accompany the first emperor of China into the afterlife.

Emperor Qin not only had these thousands of warriors made and placed in his tomb along with horses 4 abreast puling chariots before he died, he also gave them real weapons. 

This was a work in progress and after he died the work was stopped so some of the warriors have no heads.  He also ordered his 9000 concubines be killed and placed in his grave with him and that's what they did. Many of these concubines had never even met Emperor Qin but were killed to satisfy him in his afterlife. The Huns discovered the tomb and stole many of the swords and other weapons but enough was left that the magnitude of the find was huge.  

From there mom and Karin were taken to the Xian Museum. This museum houses 130,000 pieces.  At this museum they learned how to write the word 'happy' in Chinese.  From there they visited the Small Wild Goose Pagoda. This is one of the two most significant Buddhist pagodas in Xian which was built around the early 8th century.

They learned that the 3rd wife of Chairman Mao didn't like the pagodas so burned all the books in them and utterly destroyed many of them.   When Karin called they had used the hot tub and had ordered room service for dinner,  a steak sandwich with sauteed onions. This was the same thing they ordered last night but it was so good they didn't mind having it again.  As she was talking to me their doorbell rang, it was the maid wanting to turn down the beds and put chocolates on their pillows except Karin told them, "we are already in bed."  Karin called tonight which was really Tuesday morning for her, not to give me any news but to hear horse news. 

Today Dr. Hoerr was scheduled to come out in the morning but he didn't make it until afternoon.  Rebecca, Rosalie's filly's owner came all the way from Georgia to visit her filly. We brought her in the stall and haltered her and Rebecca spent 2 and a half hours working with her. That really was too long for such a young filly. She did ok the first couple hours but that flight or fight kicked in and Claire kicked out, hitting Rebecca.  Hopefully tomorrow will go better for her but she should probably keep the training sessions much shorter.  

When Dr. Hoerr arrived the first mare I had him look at was Zalena. This morning she was acting like she had something stuck in her mouth. Dr. Hoerr brought his dental tools, he didn't find anything stuck but she had a pocket around a tooth which was getting hay stuck in it. This is caused by some periodontal disease. He checked all of her teeth and none were loose but she needed to have her teeth floated. At 19 years of age she will need her teeth floated a little more often. Next was to have Ayanna's colt's blood drawn for his coggins test. His owner named him Evan's Sir Lancelot. 

He did ok with the needle stick, not as well as some of the foals but not terrible.  They were put out so more mares could be brought in. Duchess the outside mare would not stand to be sonagrammed. Dr. Hoerr had to sedate her and we were very disappointed to find that she had just ovulated. She never would let Valiant near her and kept mule kicking out.  She is a maiden mare and just not showing good signs. Her owner was called. They are going to pick her up tomorrow morning and go over their options.  Star was sonagrammed next.

She had a CH (an egg that did not ovulate) which means she is NOT cycling. No wonder she isn't showing. Dr. Hoerr gave me a shot to give her but it may not work. Sometimes these will cause a mare to not cycle all summer but sometimes the shot will bring them in.

Rosaleigh was next and confirmed in foal. She was bred to Evan and is due May 8th, 2019. Her foals are always gorgeous and we are thrilled she settled.

Jewel was also confirmed in foal and also bred to Evan.

Jewel is due May 10th, 2019. Both of these mares were only covered once by Evan so we are pretty thrilled they both settled.  Sheena was last. Dr. Hoerr found that she had ovulated on BOTH of her ovaries.

We will need to check her for twins in 16 days.  As soon as Dr. Hoerr left Ayanna, Jewel and Rosaleigh along with their foals were loaded into the stock trailer and taken out to Middle Grove. It is just so hot that they will be glad to get with the herd under the trees and probably will end up in the lake to cool off. All the mares here (except Roxanne and Rosalie) were turned out into the pond pasture so they could use the pond to cool off in.  Once I got home from Middle Grove and was walking back to the house I noticed Jenis, Lily, her colt and Sangria all were in the pond. By the time I grabbed the camera Sangria was walking out but the others were still drinking and splashing.

Mark picked up a battery operated weed wacker today and spent most of the evening out weed wacking.  He is pretty happy with his new toy but since it works well one can't really consider it a toy. After I finished cleaning the stalls used today Madiera was taken out, teased and covered by Evan.