The Ex-Stallion, continued ...
Just a week earlier, we had gelded Lightfoot. The vet sedated
him with an intravenous injection. When Lightfoot looked groggy
enough, I pulled forward on the lead rope while the vet pulled
back and sideways on his tail. Sure enough, the colt toppled
over on his side like a tree sawed off at the base.
The vet had me sit on Lightfoot's neck just in case he woke
during the operation. I watched and could see that the vet removed
both of the colt's testicles. It was a good thing, too, because
later events would make almost anyone wonder.
The vet had warned me that even though Lightfoot was only
14 months old, he might be able to get a mare pregnant. For
up to six weeks after castration, enough sperm might remain in
his genitals to do the deed. So when I saw Coquetta acting sexy,
I ran out, haltered Lightfoot, and moved him into a pen where
she would be safe from stray sperm.
The next day our farrier, Philip Johnson, came over to shoe
Coquetta. He parked his pickup truck in the driveway, opened
the back of the camper shell in which he kept his tools, and
started setting up. I called to Valerie, "Go get Coquetta."
She slung a halter and lead rope over her shoulder and headed
out to the northeast corner of our ten acres.
Sandia was nuzzling Coquetta. She nuzzled back. She spread
her hind legs, lifted her tail and arched it to her left. Sandia
grabbed the crest of her neck with his teeth and reared up on
top of her.
I turned to Philip. "Looks like Val is going to have
to wait a few minutes to catch Coquetta. Do you suppose it's
safe for her to be up there?"
"I think it will be OK."
"I guess I have to learn not to be so worried when she
is around horses."
Sandia got inside Coquetta, then leaped off backwards. Coquetta
aimed both hind hooves at him. Although the horses were some
50 yards away, I heard the thud as her hooves struck Sandia's
bloodied chest. How many times, I wondered, had they already
coupled? How many times had she punished him?
Sandia whirled, seized Coquetta by the loose skin on the right
side of her withers, and pawed his way back onto her back.
Philip stepped closer to me. "I don't think your daughter
should catch her. We could have a wreck."
Wreck. It was the first time I'd heard that term applied to
horses. It wouldn't be the last, either.
I called Val back and we left the lovers to their violent
courtship. This went on for almost five days. Sandia managed
to give Coquetta some pretty good scrapes on her back. That solved
the mystery of her many scars -- they must have been from previous
matings.
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