Our specialty
is in raising Hancock and Blue Valentine-bred, using-type quarter horses
with family-type personalities. 6 Shoe Quarter Horses is home to 2 stallions.
We own & offer both live cover and shipped semen on Mr Blue Tom Hancock,
a blue roan son of Blues Kingfisher. We also have Blues Kingfisher here with
us, who is an elder own son of Blue Valentine, owned by Charley Mahler of
Allen, Nebraska.
Mr Blue Tom Hancock he has natural cow instinct and seemed to really enjoy
being in the roping pen. He hasn't roped in several years but maybe one day
he can compete again.
Mr Blue Tom Hancock
Why did we choose the Blue
Valentine bloodline? PERSONALITY! They are just a pleasure to be around.
Tom's and Kingfisher's colts have been easy to get started under saddle and
have plenty of good horse sense. They love to be around people and easily
become one of the family. The colts have speed and natural cow instinct.
The offspring are being used on ranches, roping and barrel classes along
with being just a good family horse.
Blues Kingfisher, age 30. Bred by Hyde Merritt,
WY
"I need to get a good picture of Kingfisher playing
with Tom. More like aggravating the crap out of him, I think. They have side
by side lots, with a large alley between the two lots. You can't help but
get tickled at him. He bows up, struts, lopes around, bucks, snorts. Gets
Tom all excited. Then I swear you can see this smirk on Kingfisher's face
as he walks back to his room to stand under the fan. Poor Tom. It's fun to
watch ole Kingfisher play." ~ Mary Scruggs |
We also made a life long friend in the process of owning several Blue Valentine
mares. We met Charley Mahler and owe him many thanks for the opportunity
to know Blues Kingfisher. It has just been a pleasure being around both of
them. Charley bought Kingfisher and several mares in 1993. He didn't have
to use a teasing horse. He just opened the gate and Kingfisher would go with
him to check the mares. Charley has several Blue Valentine stallions that
he stands to the public. One is an own son of Kingfisher and the other is
Royal Blue Hancock, a 46.875% Blue Valentine. He also has several young studs
that are coming along that will be crossed on his daughters of Blues
Kingfisher.
Blues Kingfisher & 2006 daughter,
Rosie
Many equine owners have older
horses they would like to breed but have trouble getting the mare in foal.
The best advice is to work with an equine veterinarian that specializes in
reproduction or has experience in that area. Embryo transfer and In Vitro
Fertilization (and even cloning!) are expensive and most people just can't
afford these techniques. We used the following affordable procedure with
Blues Kingfisher and 2 maiden mares.
I would like to thank Dr. Hopper for helping me write about the procedures
used along with Drs Christiansen and Smith. Everyone in the Equine Reproduction
group at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Starkville, MS had a hand
in getting Hoppers Blue Easter and Kingfishers Rose here. We use CVM for
all breeding and collection.
First Dr. Hopper had to monitor the mare closely, because with Kingfisher's
age (27yo) there had been a natural decline in fertility and it was decided
that the best chance for success was to breed her close to her expected ovulation
and to utilize a technique that places the sperm very deep in the mare's
uterus and close to the site of fertilization. When the mare was in estrus
(heat) she was examined by ultrasound to evaluate the ovarian follicle. When
the follicle was at a stage that would respond to HCG (a hormone that induces
or hastens ovulation) she was given that as an injection. Ovulation should
then occur within 48 hours and they continued to monitor her with the plan
that Kingfisher, who had been "rested" (not collected or allowed to breed
for 7 days), would then be collected the following day. After Kingfisher
was collected the semen was evaluated microscopically and then mixed with
an extender and centrifuged. This concentrated the semen. It was then re-mixed
with a small amount of extender and prepared for insemination. Then the mare
was prepared and bred with the semen placed by the method referred to as
"deep horn insemination. The mare was checked the following day to ensure
she had ovulated.
On day 18, we finally had a picture of little Easter and Rosie. It was a
long 18 days and everyone was staring at the monitor waiting to see a big
black blob that would indicate a fetus. It's hope for the owners of older
mares and stud horses to get that "one last baby."
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