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March 2009

This is the story of two horses, two lucky horses.

Our story begins with a 35 year old chestnut Arabian gelding named Baton Rouge who is aptly nicknamed Lucky. Lucky was severely neglected by his former owner, he was starved to the point that he was picked up by the Georgia Equine Rescue League. It was here that he came to the attention of Jean Long who had recently lost her own chestnut Arabian gelding. Jean felt a connection with Lucky and agreed to provide a foster home for him. Lucky did have one big problem. When a male horse is severely starved they can lose the muscle strength required to keep the penis tucked away in the sheath. When the penis remains outside of the sheath for prolonged periods of time it can swell and become paralyzed. This is what happened to Lucky, his penis was very large and heavy from the accumulated fluid and scar tissue. He could not trot or canter because the penis would start to swing from side to side, pulling on his abdomen. Various treatments were tried in an attempt to reduce the size of the penis but these were to no avail.

Our second gentleman is 28 year old gray miniature horse stallion Piggy owned by Mrs. Susan Turner. Piggy had developed skin lesions on his penis in 2006. The lesions were a type of cancer called Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Treatment was started but the family’s attention turned to a more important matter when Susan’s husband developed cancer himself. One day Susan called because Piggys' penis was bleeding. The tumors on his penis had grown and Piggy was chewing on them.

In both cases the solutions to the problem was a surgical procedure called a “Reefing” where the penis is amputated to a shorter version. The problem for the owners was two-fold. One, the horse must undergo general anesthesia which was a concern due to the age of the patients and secondly the expense involved is considerable.

Recently an alternative surgical procedure had been developed at Texas A & M University. In this procedure the urethra is diverted out between the hind legs through a perineal urethrostomy so the horse now urinates like a mare. Then using a special tool developed for cattle the penis is amputated to healthy tissue. The entire procedure is done standing under sedation using local anesthesia.

Both horses underwent the unique surgical procedure at CGES in February. Lucky’s penis weighed nearly 5 pounds! Jean reports that Lucky can now trot or canter whenever he wants. For Piggy the surgery was life-changing, not only is he no longer bleeding but he is no longer pestered by the flies and insects that were drawn to the odiferous tumors. Susan happily reported that Piggy acts like a colt again.

A special thanks to Scott Dougherty at Triple Oaks Farm for his assistance with the unique equipment for these cases.

March was a busy month for new foals. As a breeder you spend months planning matings and hoping for the best possible outcome. Central Georgia Equine Services welcomed the arrival of a long-necked bay colt by All American Cash out of Push Toy. Our world champion mare She’s Legal Tender had a pretty black filly by Ted Williams. It was another black filly for Win or Lose, this one by Ted Williams. Generator’s Ode To Joy made it easy foaling in the middle of the afternoon with a black colt by All American Cash that showed all of us that he was in charge. We were thrilled when one of our foundation mares, Ice Maiden, had a huge colt by premier sire Jose, Jose. All of these foals were conceived by transported semen.

In Hawkinsville, Debbie Erick had a nice big bay colt out of her Appaloosa mare Catch This Dream. The colt became ill and he made her lose sleep again while she nursed him back to health but Debbie’s tells us he was worth the effort.

Keri Hall was busy in Byron with her long-awaited foal out of her Oldenberg mare Faith. Faith had difficulty conceiving but we were finally able to get her in foal to Paparazzo last year by transported semen.

Carolyn Martin of Cochran had a stylish new addition to her herd of Miniature Horses with a black overo filly out of her mare Fancy.

In 2008 Key Sealey-Tucker selected Winsdown Hi Octane as the next sire for her American Saddlebred mare Wing’s Kalarama Jet. Conceived by transported semen she had a strapping big colt black colt.

In Dublin, Crystal Thomas finally got her wish fulfilled when she had a pretty bay filly out of her favorite mare, Miss Sweet Chico.

Charles Thompson has always wanted a daughter of Afire Bey V, so when he found one on the internet he bought her sight unseen. His bold move paid off when Raquelle Afire produced a lovely colt by their own champion Arabian sire Kruise.

Shelby Kasulka bid farewell to 31 year old Quarter Horse Yellow’s Dan due to the infirmities of old age.

Cher Moore said a fond farewell to 22 year old Appaloosa mare Lucky when she developed a fatal case of colic.