Just got home from Little King Farms Breeding Seminar

[Boinky]

What a truly nice seminar Robin and Marianne put together! It was rather cold in the barn but it was a beautiful day overall for this!!

It was quite in-depth and covered many many topics (really surprised they made it through it all today!). They had several examples of placenta's they had saved to show a healthy placenta as well as umbilical cords (twisted and normal). They had several foal cadavers and some aborted fetuses that they used as examples.

Robin even created a simulated situation where you had to reach in a bucket to pull out a foal. She used some garbage bags to recreate the "sac" and then you had to lube up and reach in and try to fish out a cadaver using one hand. I didn't try it as I'm grossed out by anything dead (not sure why..never used to have a problem with it..and i have no problem reaching into my shoulder into blood and guts and gore..as long as it's alive or freshly dead..lol) but by everyone's account it was quite difficult. They did some demonstrations of internal ultra sounding and basic mare anatomy.

Example using a snap test to test antibody/colostrum levels in foals

Some Artificial semination collection tools etc.

there was so much that i can't even think to cover in this (i'm exhausted)......

we even got to see one of their many mares foal out in the morning.

It was truly a very good clinic and I would encourage anyone to attend! It was interesting and quite in-depth even for experienced breeders.

I am looking forward to their May clinic and hope I can attend!

Thank you Robin and Marianne for hosting this really nice clinic!!

-Hillary

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

Sounds like it was a fabulous clinic, Hillary!! Wish I could've gone with you. Maybe next time.

 

[Tami]

Yes, it was an amazing time. I have been breeding/foaling out mares for 25 years and I learned a LOT. What a wonderful day. Thank you to Little King for sharing their knowledge with everyone.

Oh, and I met Parmela....and Carrie from Little Indian Acres. And I saw Alicia from On The Rise....but we knew each other already....lol.

 

[Becky]

Sounds very educational! I'm a firm believer that we can never know too much and we're never too old to learn!

 

[joylee123]

[SIZE=12pt]You are all so lucky! I sure wish I could have gone. Maybe next year if we are closer. It really is nice of them to share their knowledge

[/SIZE]

Joy

 

[ontherisefarm]

We got back last night from there. It was a wonderful seminar and we learned alot too ! The food was good too! And getting to watch that foal born was making me really anxious for ours to come. 2 more months ugh!!! Trying to get the dead foal out of the simulation was very difficult to do. It took me a little while to get it done and I hope I never have to do that for real. It was still a great learning experience. Even my husband was impressed that he learned some stuff too! I also got a chance to meet up with Tami and Laura too. I got a glance at Parmela but didnt get a chance to speak with her.

Thankyou Little King Farm for a very informative Seminar and a Great time with mini friends !!!!!!!!!

 

[TuffyLynn]

Maybe they should consider making a video(dvd) since it ws so informative!....just a thought

 

[Little Indian Acres]

I agree, the clinic was wonderful! I got a chance to meet several people from the forums and learned a lot! We also got the chance to buy breeding readiness kits for a very low price. Being that I am nearby it was also a great chance to get advice on managing horses in my actual climate which is a totally different climate than I am accustomed to.

Thank you so much to LKF for this chance, looking forward to the other upcoming events.

Carrie

 

[ShaunaL]

Wow, sounds like a great experience! At least those of us who couldn't go can gain some more knowledge via the board from all of you who did go

 

[copperwood farm]

We just got home, what a long drive......BUT well worth it. What a wonderful learning experience, and opportunity to let us be a part of.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT LITTLE KING FARM.

PAM

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

Just got home a bit ago. All I can say is AMAZING!

I thought going into this that I'd surely learn something but I was TOTALLY unprepared for how much information there was! Totally overloaded, but in a great way!

Robin, Marianne (and Ed!

) were all extremely informative and so willing to share their years and years of experience. I can't thank them enough for all the work they put in to helping the rest of us with less experience. Robin is so personable and articulate. She gives a great presentation and has grown up loving on these horses. Her ultrasound "class" was so informative and the lesson on examining the placenta and cord after the birth was invaluable. But the best had to be the uterus she "made" for us to fish the foal out of. It was brilliant!!

Marianne has more knowledge in her pinky than many of us will ever have period! We learned about nutrition in the broodmare and foal, we got to feel on udders to contrast and compare, learn about what to move/reposition in many different bad foal positions, what to have in a foaling kit (both regular and dystocia), stallion management, labor signs, and more, and more and more! And Ed would come in with stories from researchers he had talked to, experiences from his medical background and explanations (sometimes really detailed

) as to what is actually physically happening. I loved hearing all of it but sometimes Marianne and Robin would say "Ed, this is breeding and foaling 101! Too much information!"

It was just amazing!! The Eberth's are first class!

Oh, and we got to see AVs, sperm collection filters, tools to extract a dead foal, medical supplies, a teasing demonstration. I'm sure there are a thousand things they also taught us that I've already forgotten.

I strongly encourage anyone who can to go to the next one!!

And I got to meet some fabulous new friends!

 

[Boinky]

LOl i'm still chuckling about the "magnums".. i still can't imagine those fitting and NOT breaking..LOL even doubled up..yikes..LOL My mom always told me doubling up was not safe either.. LOL LOL

 

[StarRidgeAcres]

LOl i'm still chuckling about the "magnums".. i still can't imagine those fitting and NOT breaking..LOL even doubled up..yikes..LOL My mom always told me doubling up was not safe either.. LOL LOL

Well, my stallions are all tiny ones!

 

[Robin]

Well- I have to say - it was a long day but we made it through it!

Thank you so much to everyone that attended. I am glad that so many of you feel like it was worth your time and drive to come. We had people all the way from Canada, Wisconsin, Missouri, Maryland, etc! When Mom and I were putting all of the details together, we quickly realized- it was just too much for one day- so we did decide to do the 101 version - until dear Dad stepped in and interjected his thoughts!

We did cover all the things listed, however there was even more---- go back and look at your notes and we discussed conformation and choosing stallions and mares to breed. We talked about conformational faults and genetic abnormalities. We went thru ways to tease, chart estrus cycles, calculating due dates, different ways to breed. Which this is where my demonstrations got a little off track--- we didn't have one mare with a good enough follicle and heat to breed! So we had to skip that. But we did have a tiny Echo daughter go into labor and show all the wonderful classic signs of labor for all to see. We showed how we treat the expecting mares and the process we go thru to ensure a live healthy foal. The mare was perfect- did all the right things in front of a huge audience. Thank goodness- Mom and I were sweating it a little.

We also went into details on the ways to cover your mares, problem mares, problem stallions. Ultra sounding- what to look for and questions to ask your vets about what they see on ultrasound. Ways to collect your stallion- And trust me- the magnums do work - many Buckeroo foals were conceived using that collection method before we got more "professional"! There is nothing wrong with Red Neck A Iing

As we said over and over- there were 2 things we wanted people to take away from the seminar.... 1. Do not over feed your mares and kill your foals with kindness. Foals are lost every year- some people lose most of their foal crop- by feeding their mares improperly.. #2. BE THERE- you may get lucky and have a live foal if you are not there, but the odds will catch up with you. You must be there. Anyone who says the "foal was just dead in the sack-" is incorrect. Unless you open that sack and find cloudy eyes, a twisted cord, or ascending placentitis, your foal died- because you weren't there. We went into the other reasons in great detail, but all in all, many foals would be alive today if there was simply someone present to help it take a first breath.

We also shared all the little tools and tricks we use here for foaling, milking, testing colostrum, testing IGG, getting a foal to suck, enemas etc.

We are planning on having another breeding/foaling seminar- 202 version in the future for anyone who felt like what we covered was elementary. However- the next "free" seminar will be May 30- Training, showing and marketing and Buckeroo's Birthday party. We will have several professional trainers in here to share their ways with you. I will be doing the majority of the marketing version.

We also will have a youth and amateur clinic in July with help from the Mid America Club.

I will try to keep looking back here to answer any questions that you all have from the seminar. Or please feel free to e-mail us too.

Thanks again to all who came. We had a great time- and I enjoyed getting to spend time with ma

 

[Robin]

Thanks again for all who came. We had a great time- and I enjoyed getting to spend time with many of you and meeting you in person. Also- congratulations to the Rath's for winning the free breeding to Jr and to Debbie Walton for winning the Psyched Up breeding.

One more thing- for those of you who took pictures- please e-mail me any of them. I would love to post them on our wesbite.

Robin-LKF

www.littlekingfarm.com

[email protected]

 

[kaykay]

I really wanted to attend but had commitments to go to Equine Affair in Ohio

Are you guys going to do this again next year?? I sure hope so!

Kay

 

[OldStageMinis]

Well, WONDERFUL weekend. The company, the expertise, the mare foaling on cue.

Thank you Little King. First class seminar, I can't even list the many things learned, but actually feel almost ready

for the foaling season-thanks to Marianne and Robin (and Ed of course).

Looking forward to foaling seminare 202--I'm ready!

 

[Becky]

And trust me- the magnums do work

Yes they do! That's what my vet uses here to collect a miniature stallion.

 

[Karin - NaKar Miniatures]

I have been using the Magnum condoms for years to collect semen to do my own AI. They work great. Talk about getting strange looks at the register when I would place about three boxes of the extra large on the counter. LOL The person at the register didn't know what to say. I can only imagine what they were thinking!!!!!

 

[WJS]

Maybe they should consider making a video(dvd) since it ws so informative!....just a thought

That sounds like a PERFECT IDEA, especially for those of us here in the UK, who only dream of attending such clinics.

Regards

wjs