Equine Reproduction Part ll

[Onzyy]

James entered the classroom. The fall sun played on the desks as it shone through the windows. It early afternoon, about half and hour before the Academy classes at the main building finished and the afternoon rush began. There were very little students that he expected for the Equine Reproduction. Only two pitched last time, but the school had experienced an influx of students as well as faculty. The faculty had included his good friend, Alex Compton, but the days were busy enough so that they couldn't really be in each other's company.

He wasn't going to be working with a projector today, rather the he had something interesting planned. The students were frequently seen with the broodmares, as was required of them. James had planned two assignments for them. On the white board he wrote:

Assignment One:
For 1 month you will keep a log book of the mare you are looking after. You will record her behaviour, eating habits, and any changes that you might notice. If she has a foal then you will do the same for the foal.

Assignment Two:
Foal Watch. Some mares are now close to foaling. A daily rooster will be pinned up on the board. The days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, starting this week. Each one of you will be up on your specific day for foal watch. Please note that it is not a sleeping job, and often requires a diligent mind. Be prepared to stay up late.

On a separate part of the board he wrote the topic of the day. Foaling Emergencies When he was done, James looked at his watch. The bell had gone for the end of the regular classes, and the students had fifteen minutes to get to the barn, and in his class. He was wearing the usual of Cargo pants, three quarter naturally, sneakers, and a polo shirt. To the first time students it would come as a shock to see his numerous tattoos that covered the most of his body. There were on his fore arms, upper arms, chest, back and lower legs. Obviously they wouldn't see his chest and back tats, but the rest stood out. As he thought, he walked among the desks, putting a set of notes on it. His own set was already scribbled with his own notes. Once he was done with that he went and sat at his desk, and played with a pen.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara left the English classroom and hurried to her dorm room. Fifteen minutes didn't give her a lot of time and she needed to change before she headed over to Evening Primrose for her next lesson. Slipping out of the navy pant suit she wore that day, she hung the pants and blazer on a hanger and put the shirt into the laundry hamper that lived in the shared bathroom. She quickly changed into a yellow polo shirt and beige jodhpurs, she knew she wasn't attending a mounted class, but the look was professional and made her look ready to work with horses. She slipped her feet into her shiny black paddock boots, placed the folder and the spiral bound notebook she had for the reproduction class into her satchel, picked the satchel up and slipped out of the room.

It didn't take her long to cross the campus grounds to the barn that the broodmares were in. "Hello, beautiful." She whispered as she kissed her black Hanoverian's nose as she stopped to pet the filly. "I'll see you after class." She moved on and looked over the door of Fairy's stall and noticed that the mare was dozing so she didn't disturb the Morgan.

She walked into the classroom and wasn't too surprised to see that she was the first student. Taking her seat at the front of the room, she set her desk up, put her glasses on and read the board. She pressed her lips together and slowly raised her hand. Sure, she was the only one in the room, but it's what one did in a classroom. "Excuse me, Sir?" She looked at the board again - even though she didn't have to - pretending to read. "Do you wish for me to also bring my journal for Chasing Daisies and Shape-Shifter as well as the one I have for Midnight Glory?" She already kept a journal on the progress of the Dartmoor mare and her colt, but she didn't think to bring that notebook to the class. Even little Mirrhi had her own notebook.

The notebook for the Morgan mare sat on the center left of the desk. The spiral bound book had a black base with pink and blue fairies with glittered wings in the foreground and delicate white and yellow Frangipani flowers under them.

[lottii]

Callum was in his room, getting ready for the next class. Currently, he was sat on his bed trying to decide whether to wear clothes he would normally wear for classes which took place in a classroom, or if he should wear horsey clothes. Settling on the seconds option, he pulled on a plain black polo shirt, black jodhpurs and long black riding boots. Hurrying out of his room, he resisted the urge to stop by White Oak Barn to check on his horses, and forced himself to turn into the Evening Primrose barn. Reaching the classroom where Equine Reproduction took place, he entered it almost silently. Nodding towards the teacher he greeted him quietly "Hi, I'm Callum", and chose a seat near the front of the room. After pulling out a black spiral notebook decorated with silver stars, and finding the customary biro from the base of his bag, he looked around, a shy smile headed towards Cara before reading the writing on the board.

Callum was hoping to use a mare owned by one of the teachers - Yazmin Holmes - who was due to foal in the next week or two for his study. The first page of his notebook was covered with a simple black and white design of waves incorporating the words Sea Schell. Looking towards the teacher, Callum raised his hand - and once he had received notification he could speak - spoke quietly, "Would I be able to use Sea Schell for my log book? She is owned by Miss Holmes and is due to foal next week."

[Onzyy]

James just sat and waited for the students to arrive. There wasn't more to do than just that, so he let his mind wonder. The first assignment was to allow the students to get to know the horses that they were working with, the second one to prove that foaling wasn't as easy as the movies made it out to seem. Most days he the darkest of rings around his eyes from foal watch, and these days it was more pronounced than ever. He was shaken from his thoughts as Cara entered. The girl was a fantastic horse woman, and was often seen around the barn. Most of the horses adored her, and they made great progress.

She put up her hand in the empty class, and amusement flashed in his mind even if his face didn't show it. He listened to her, and realised that he should have known that she would already be keeping a journal for the horses that she worked with. Just the one for Midnight Glory would be fine. he told her with a soft smile. Another student followed, and introduced himself as Callum. The poor guy would be the only one with a bunch of girls. Shame, and tough. Once again James listened to the question again. If Miss. Homes approves it then yes. I'll need a signed letter from her allowing you to use Sea Schell, but other than that it's fine. I'm afraid then that you have already booked yourself a 3 night weekend on foal watch this weekend and next week.

James then realised that he left something off the board and quickly wrote underneath the second assignment.
If you are on Foal Watch on a Sunday then you are excused from your morning classes.
He watched the students and waited a few more moments. He heard definite foot steps in the aisle, and waited in the students.

=============

Bella hurried towards the barn, not having bothered changing. She wore the same black skinny jeans and top than what she had for the normal classes. She entered the barn silently, but the horses made enough noise to announce her arrival. In a heartbeat she was in the class. She had requested to work with Nightshade, a large bay Thoroughbred mare.

Afternoon sir, Annabelle Black, but please call me Bella, she said before she took a seat. She read the handout, and wondered which mares still had to foal.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

"Just the one for Midnight Glory would be fine."

Cara nodded her head, pleased with the answer otherwise she hadn't brought all the necessary equipment to class and that just wasn't acceptable.

She watched as another student entered the room, she recognised Callum from a handful of her other classes but kept her attention on her own work rather than trying to make small talk. She was keen to hear what Mr Cole would say to the boy using a teacher's horse, as she would never had had the courage to ask another teacher if she could use their horse. She knew who Sea was, as the young mare was in a stall in this very barn and she knew all the horses in here from the amount of time she spent in the barn.

She turned her attention to the notebook on the desk. Carefully picking it up so as not to spread glitter over the place, as it had not set the way she had hoped as she guessed she'd added too much to the wings of the fairies. She had spent a lot of time on the cover of what had been a very boring looking notebook. she had painted the cover black, front and back, and once this was dry she had used a white pencil to draw on the frangipani flower outlines, before she had used white and yellow paints to fill each of the petals in. Then using an embossing pen she had drawn on the fairies so that it looked as though they flew above the flowers.

She opened the book; the first page had no lines and on it was a charcoal sketch of the Morgan mare, the next page contained the mare's information; name, age, breed, height, weight, birth date, when she was bred, whom she was bred to, things that were of interest about her. The next page was drawn up as a chart with information about her worming and farrier schedule, as well as how much feed she got and how often, and her exercise routine. On the next page, the latest on to have been written up was about the mare being bred (live cover) to the stunning Morgan stallion from the academy's own studs, Insonne Sta'notte. The chocolate silver dapple was known for throwing perfect silver dapple foals with great conformation and temperaments to match. She now had to wait the 13-15 days until they could do the Ultrasonography. She knew that it could be done as early as ten days, but she would rather wait the extra few days so that things could run their own course.

[lottii]

Callum listened as the teacher responded to his question. "Thank you," he replied softly when he heard confirmation he could use Sea. He had bonded quickly with the mare when she first arrived, and had met Miss Holmes through her. "Miss Holmes has already agreed, but I will get a signed letter ready for the next class." He smiled slightly, the pretty chestnut and white mare caught his eye and held his heart almost as much as his own two horses. He couldn't wait for her foal to be born and the class would give him a chance to spend some more time with the Gypsy Vanner.

Internally, Callum partially smiled and half frowned as he heard the news. Foal watch. He nearly shrugged, before realizing he didn't know the teacher well enough as to whether this would earn him a reprimand for rudeness. "Yes Sir", he replied simply, not knowing if he was supposed to add anything else. Callum watched as the teacher added a note to the bottom of his writing on the board, about being excused from Monday morning classes. He sighed gently, that was useful.He went back to his A5-sized notebook, carefully opening up the cover. The inside of the front cover displayed a sideways photograph of Sea Schell before she was in foal, which he had been given by Miss Holmes after showing interest in Sea. The first proper page contained a head shot of Sea, against a background of the paddock, which he had taken himself and stuck into the book to cover the top half of the page. Underneath was written:
Show Name: Sea Schell
Barn Name: Sea
Age: 4 years and 11 months
Breed: Gypsy Vanner
Height: 14.2 hands high
Date Of Covering: dd/mm/yyyy
Due Date Of Foaling: dd/mm/yyyy
Stallion Bred To: Sundance Kid
Stallion's Breed: Gypsy Vanner
Stallion's Height:15 hands high

Turning the page, Callum wrote several headings at the top of the next few pages, leaving a blank page between each of; Eating Habits, Behavior, Veterinary & Farrier Records and Notes. So far, he had little to write down. He knew what sort of things she would have had done with the Vet so far, but he needed to find out the dates. He could write down today's behavior and eating habits, and busied himself deciding what to write.