The Birthday

TODAY IS A NICE WEATHER DAY IN WALES. I WAS INVITED BY MY GOOD FRIEND JOE PARSONS TO WITNESS THE BIRTHDAY CEREMONY FOR HIS STALLION HECTOR. HECTOR IS A STURDY WELSH PONY OF COB TYPE. HE IS QUITE BIG, CLOSE TO 13 HANDS, WHITCH IS ABOUT 4.5 FOOT FOR YOU NON-BREEDERS. THE LAST YEAR JOE ASKED ME TO COME OVER TOO, BUT MY JOB MADE ME TRAVEL TO SCOTLAND JUST THE DAY BEFORE. „THIS YEARS CELEBRATION IS DIFFERENT“ JOE TOLD ME, „BECAUSE HECTOR IS NOW 7 YEARS OLD. HE HAS REACHED HIS MATURITY. YOU JUST HAVE TO COME.“ I WONDER WHAT THAT MEANS. SO I CHECKED MY SCHEDULE AND TO MY SURPRISE I HAD THIS DAY STILL FREE OF APPOINTMENTS. DESPITE IT IS A LONG DRIVE FROM WHERE I LIVE TO JOES FARM NEAR CARDIFF I DECIDED TO MEET HIM FOR A DAY SUPPOSED FUN. AFTER NOT SEEING HIM FOR MONTHS (WE GO OUT DRINKING ONCE A YEAR) IT WAS A BIG HALLO WHEN I ARRIVED AT THE FARM. WE CHATTED A WHILE ABOUT HIS „FARM LIFE“ AS WELL AS MY LIVE AS A REPORTER. IT SEEMS THE LAST MONTHS HAVE BEEN QUITE GOOD FOR JOE. HE WAS MAKING GOOD MONEY AND DECIDED, COWS WHERE NOT HIS SINGLE INTEREST TO FARM WITH. HE HAD A SMALL PONY AS A CHILD TO RIDE ON, BUT WHEN HE GREW TO TALL TO RIDE IT, HIS PARENTS DECIDED TO SELL THE PONY TO THE NEIGHBOUR FARM.

FOR !15 YEARS, JOE HAD NOT HAD A HORSE. ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO HE DECIDED TO GET HECTOR. BACK THEN HECTOR WAS A UNRULY YOUNG STALLION JOE ALMOST COULDN’T HANDLE.

JOE PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO GETTING THE TURST OF HECTOR. SLOWLY IT WORKED OUT SO THEY STARTED TO BOND. ABOUT A YEAR AGO THEIR RELATIONSHIP WAS CLOSE TO PERFECT. JOE COMMANDED, HECTOR ACTED ACCORDINGLY. BUT JOE FELT, HECTOR WAS STILL NOT FULLY SATISFIED. SOMETIMES IN THE YEAR HE WAS KIND OF STUBBORN, AS THEY NEVER HAD A RELATION TO EACH OTHER. JOE ASKED HIS TRUSTED VET WHAT THAT MIGHT BE ALL ABOUT. THE VET DID SOME TESTS BUT HE COULDN’T FIND ANY OBIVOUS REASON. FINALLY THE VET HAD AN IDEA WHAT MIGHT MAKE HECTOR ACT UP. „JOE, YOU KNOW HECTOR IS A STALLION, RIGHT? HAS HE EVER HAD THE OPPORTUITY TO BREED? IT SEEMS TO ME HE HAS A KIND OF „BLUE BALLS“ HE IS ACTIG UPON“, THE VET ASKED JOE. JOE WAS FLABBERGASTED. HECTOR WAS SOLD HIM AS BEING „FIXED“ AND HE NEVER SAW HIM RIDING UP ON COWS. „OH NO, HE IS A FULLY FERTILE STALLION. ACTUALLY WITH A VERY HIGH COUNT OF SWIMMERS“, THE VET EXPLAINED. „GET HIM A MARE AND HE WILL CALM DOWN, YOU’LL SEE.“ JOE THEN TRIED TO FIND A MARE. HE WAS NOT SURE ABOUT BREEDING HORSES SO SOON, HE WANTED TO KEEP HECTOR ALONE; BEFORE STARTING A BREEDING STABLE.

ONE OF THE NEIGHBOURING FARMS KEPT A REAL NICE MARE FOR RIDING PURPOSES. THEY DID NOT WANT TO BREED HER BECAUSE SHE WAS OLD, IN HER LATE 20’s. SO HE HAD TO SEARCH ON. THERE WERE MARES AROUND BUT NONE OF THEM WAS AVAILABLE. EITHER BEEN BRED BY SOME OTHER STALLION ALREADY OR THE OWNERS DID NOT WANT TO.

JOE HAD NO LUCK OF FINDIN A PARTNER FOR HIS FRIEND. HECTOR WAS ACTING UP AGAIN LATELY SO JOE HAD TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING…

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