The story of Gay Bars Silver . . . my Appaloosa Champion.  page 2

Just before the 1999 breeding season, I ran into a good friend at a horse show. During our conversation, Silver Roxie was mentioned and he said he knew the mare. I asked him what she had been used for, and to my surprise he said she was the 1985 National Champion, Jr. Cutting Horse. (21 entries that year!) Well, that got my attention!! He also mentioned how much she seemed to love her babies; and that explained why she stood by the fence, for hours, watching the foals play.

I got home from the show and decided to really research Gay Bars Jess. Jess’ bottom side came from an outstanding line of performance Quarter Horses. Jess’ dam, Cap’s Princess, was by Captain Jess, an own son of King P-234; and out of Sun Princess an own daughter of Leo. Gay Bar King, himself, was an own son of the superstar sire Three Bars! Gay Bar King was famous for siring daughters that produced champion after champion!! I got very excited for about a minute. Then I remembered what Dr. Stallings had told me.

Roxie was now 18. The pessimist in me took over but I called Jess’ owner anyway to at least hear what her thoughts were. I related that there was probably no way this old mare was going to have any more babies. To my surprise, Jess’ owner replied she thought she could get the mare in foal! I laughed. She insisted. So I told her that if that old stallion (23) could get that old mare (18) in foal, not only would I pay the vet bill, but I would give her $100. But, if Roxie couldn’t get in foal, she would pay the vet charges. (Because of all I had done for the partnership, through the years, she had promised me no-charges for stud service to any of her stallions.) She took the bet. I really had my doubts.

It took many tries, seemingly endless months, several hundred dollars in vet bills, and just when we were all about to give up; well wouldn’t ya' know ... Roxie, sure enough got in foal. She was due the first week in June of 2000 and would be 19 years old. Dr. Stallings put her on Regumate and monitored her closely, taking numerous blood samples through out the pregnancy to make sure her hormone levels were as close to normal as possible. She was kept away from the other mares to prevent her from getting hurt in any way. She had a private pasture; was brought in to a clean, roomy stall every night; she had scheduled visits from our vet and farrier; had a very healthy nutritional program; was groomed and loved on daily; and received her Regumate, every day, without fail!

She was a very happy (and somewhat spoiled) mare. And then, about three weeks before she was due, on May 14, she went into labor. Dr. Stallings was called. He said at that point it could be risky for the foal, but the baby had made it just past 300 days gestation. (312 total) Dr. Stallings said we would just have to keep a close eye on this small, skinny, shaky, little Appaloosa colt and hope for the best.

To make matters worse, Roxie’s milk had not come in yet. The new mother and her very scrawny foal were kept in the stall to conserve his energy; he slept most of the time. Every type of milk producing supplement we could think of was given to Roxie. We were with this (almost hopeless) little horse every two hours for a full week, mixing powdered milk for him to drink and FINALLY Roxie’s milk came in enough to keep Gay Bars Silver alive. As the days went by her milk production increased and baby Silver filled out and got stronger.     Next >>

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