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Premarin Stories
October 6, 2003
We were pleased to hear from Jack and Donna this month. Jack and Donna adopted Kelly a 2000 Premarin foal. They moved from New Hampshire to Prescott, Arizona approximately a year and a half ago and they of course took their beloved Kelly with them. As you can tell from the photos below Kelly is doing great and Jack, Donna and their family are enjoying Kelly very much.
Under saddle with Donna. In harness with Jack. With Jack and Donna's Nephew.
October 4, 2003
Karen Withstandley from Connecticut adopted Sulley (Renegade) in 2002 she recently sent us this update on Sulley and Star:
"Hi Ron! I thought I'd let you know about Sulley's first show. We entered a halter class of seven horses, and Sulley won! His first show and first win all at the same time! He acted like he's been doing it forever, and really impressed a lot of people. FASTeam had a booth about the Premarins and we really got the word out. Sulley set an incredible example. The other PMU yearling I have been training took second in the class, so it was really a great day."
More E.P.O.N.A. Premarin foals hit the show circuit
Congratulations !!!! and thanks for helping to get the word out.
Vanessa Cirillo and Avalon 2002 foal. Marie Bourdon and It's All Just A Breeze (Breezy).
Romulos
Many of you may remember Romulos.
He was a very handsome and affectionate Thoroughbred/Percheron Premarin Cross.
Romulos arrived from the Dakotas with a bone splint that had to be surgically
repaired. Shortly after his surgery and while still recovering at the
clinic, Romulos experienced colic and underwent colic surgery.
After several months of recovery Romulos was adopted by a wonderful family P.J. and Chris Bundy of Aiken, SC. The Bundy's first saw Romulos while they were still living in NH and in the process of moving to South Carolina. After they were settled, plans for his adoption were underway. He is doing great and lives in a wonderful horse community that borders a horse park that has thousands of acres, with groomed trails and it is only open to horses. Way to go Romulos !!!
Slew and CC (Dakotas,
August 2001)
This is a unique and endearing story.
It began two years ago with the arrival of a Thoroughbred Premarin filly from
North Dakota, to E.P.O.N.A.. Her name was CC. It is rare that a
Premarin Ranch would use a Thoroughbred mare for Premarin. Most Premarin
ranches use draft or draft crossed mares because they produce more urine. CC's
mom was however not used for urine collection, she was used strictly as a brood
mare. In a strange turn of events CC's mom "Slew" a Seattle Slew
granddaughter, ended up on a Premarin ranch and was bred to the farm's
Thoroughbred stallion that was used primarily on draft mares. The farm did
not use Slew on line, but kept her stabled for the winter and in the spring of
the year she was turned out to pasture with 20 to 30 other mares to foal, and
later rebred.
The pastures of the Dakotas are vast and consist of hundreds of thousands of acres. These horses are for all intentional person left to the wild from spring to fall. An occasional check is done on them, but water, grain and hay are not provided. The horses rely on natural grasses and watering holes. This type of lifestyle is very difficult on a Thoroughbred. By the end of the summer most of the Thoroughbreds are very, very, thin. None the less, little CC comparatively, smaller just by the nature of her breeding, arrived quite strong.
Like many of her counterparts she arrived lethargic, tired and with a bit of a virus. A few weeks later she was feeling much better. Later that fall CC was adopted by the William and Cynthia Tufts family of Chester, NH. T hey had met some of our Premarin foals at a Premarin presentation that we had performed and came to visit our facility. They fell in love with CC and after completing the adoption process and her preliminary training, she joined the Tufts family in Chester. That was last year. This year, impressed with CC, and the desire to surprise a certain individual we made an attempt to get CC's full sibling from the ranch. We were able to do so and little Anika arrived in September of this past year. A carbon copy of her sister CC, Anika stole everyone's heart including that of Rebecca Stoddard.
There is another story of Anika and Rebecca following this one be sure to read it, it is also very touching. Rebecca adopted Anika and she too is living well, in Athol, MA. But our story does not end there. While we were in the Dakotas selecting our foals we were able to arrange for a second load of Premarin that would include not only foals but mares as well. After the big round up in August and the foals are sent to auction the ranchers then focus on the mares. They are examined and if they are in foal then they are brought in and put on line to collect the urine. If they are not pregnant then the majority of the mares are sent to the later auctions.
The six mares that we were able to get were a variety of breeds, Percherons, Paints and a Thoroughbred. Yes, the Thoroughbred was CC's mom "Slew". She had not settled, she was not in foal and the Thoroughbred stallion had died that summer, so Slew was put on our truck. Shortly after her arrival Slew, now known as "Dakota" had a very special group of visitors. The Tufts family. You can probably guess the rest of the story, the Tufts fell in love with Dakota. They had just finished building their new barn and after the loss of one of their horses earlier last year they had available space. So in a very rare and unique turn of events Dakota was reunited with her daughter CC just before Christmas this past year. What a Christmas present and story, a Premarin mare and daughter have the opportunity to be reunited. Thank you to the Tufts family.
Anika
Another great story! Now that you
are familiar with CC there is another story that should be told. Before the
Tufts family, CC was adopted by another family. Rebecca Stoddard and her family.
Recognize the name? Yes, in the previous article Rebecca had adopted CC's full
sister Anika.
Unsuspecting on the day
of CC's scheduled delivery to her new home in Athol, MA, CC was loaded and
driven to her new home. Upon our arrival we met not with the usual fan fair, but
with an empty driveway, an empty barn, and empty household. This was a first. I
had confirmed our delivery earlier that day so I was sure that they were
expecting us, but no one was in sight, no note, nothing. CC had plenty of hay
and space, she was riding loose in the trailer and was quite content. After
waiting a reasonable amount of time the decision was made to head back home. As
we were preparing to leave a family member of Rebecca's arrived and explained
that just a short time before we had gotten there Rebecca's young son had been
struck by a dump truck and had been rushed to Boston.
What a tragedy. We returned home and waited to hear
the results. Rebecca's young son was seriously injured and was going to take a
great deal of time and commitment during his rehabilitation. Taking on the
responsibility of a young foal with demands of her own was not a feasible or
wise decision. Rebecca made the right choice and sadly passed CC up. Shortly
after that the Tufts came into the picture. However we felt very badly for
Rebecca and she had expressed the possibility of adopting a foal the following
year if things developed well for her son.
With that in mind I attempted to get a commitment in
getting CC's full sibling if at all possible for the following year.
Unfortunately someone else had beat me to it, however we were promised second
choice if the first party withdrew. We were fortunate that fate intervened and
the first party did withdraw and we were able to get Anika to E.P.O.N.A..
Rebecca was not aware of any of this. We had spoken a few times throughout the
year and her son was recovering very well and she was again looking to adopt in
the fall. When the foals arrived at E.P.O.N.A. we called Rebecca and made
arrangements for her to come and see the foals. We neglected to tell her about
CC's sister being here, we wanted to surprise her. When Rebecca and her family
arrived she began looking at the foals that were outside in the paddock.
We had brought Anika into the barn, where she was
quietly eating her hay. After a few minutes of looking at the other foals I
suggested that she not make a decision until she had seen the foals in the barn.
When she looked into the stall Rebecca recognized the similarities to CC
immediately and she became speechless. I left Rebecca with Anika and the other
foals to look them over and possibly make a decision. When I returned to the
barn Rebecca and her family were in the barn with Anika and they gave me the
unsurprising decision that she wanted to adopt Anika. So later last fall we were
delighted to deliver CC's full sister to Rebecca and her family, and provide
them with a special foal one year later. Thanks, Rebecca.
We love to hear from our Premarin Parents and how their foals are doing! Please e-mail photos and stories and we would love to feature you and your foal on our web site. Our e-mail address is [email protected] or snail mail to the address below.
With the dramatic cut backs in the Premarin industry the number of Premarin mares and foals that will be available this year will be at an all time high. If anyone has ever considered adopting a Premarin mare or foal and have been "on the fence" this is the year to make that decision.
With the reduction of Premarin contracts and the number of mares and foals at the auctions this year it will be harder than ever to prevent a large number of mares and foals from going to feedlots or slaughter houses. We are currently accepting applications for this years mares and Foals.
Click on Premarin Adoption Form to begin the process.
