Summer of Bromance

This morning I welcomed a new horse to my little farm: MBF The Eclipser, aka "Clipper."

"Clipper" was in need of a good home and when I heard about him, I knew he was the perfect horse for me. He is nine years old, and up until three months ago he was a breeding stallion. Because of the market, his owner decided to geld him, have 60 days put on him and try to find him a home. Thankfully that home was with me!

One of the many reasons he's such a perfect fit is because I know his breeding very well. His sire is GQ Eclipse, which some people may know as the sire of GQ Santana. I've worked with three full brothers to GQ Eclipse, Clipper's grandsire and granddam. Clipper's dam is a daughter of Mr Impressive, who was grandsire to two great mares I've owned.

These horses are all incredibly intelligent, with gorgeous conformation and beautiful movement. Clipper also happens to be sweet and kind, and although I knew I wanted him just hearing about him, meeting him made me absolutely certain he was the right choice. He loaded right up into my two horse trailer and we made our way home.

My only hesitation was that Clipper had never been around geldings. He bred mares and that was pretty much it, for the majority of his life. My biggest fear with getting Clipper was that Fabian would get hurt, and I certainly did not want to take any chances. I had to carefully plan out how to introduce these two, and I had planned on not being able to put them together for many, many months, if ever at all.

I put Clipper in the roundpen at first because that is the safest fence for the horses to meet across. Any kicks or strikes would only meet a single metal bar and not damage the horses in any way. Once Clipper settled down, I let out Paula and Bambi only, so as not to overwhelm Clipper.

At first he was very studly towards the girls. Paula wasn't much of a help--at his first schmoozing she turned her butt right to him. Paula's not much of a lady, I'm afraid.

Bambi reacted like most pregnant broodies, with a squeal and a strike and then everyone ran around a bit--the girls on the outside of the roundpen and Clipper inside of it.

Once everyone calmed down again I allowed Betty and Fabian in as well. Chaos ensued.

As Clipper and Fabian met I held my breathe. I was hoping Clipper wouldn't have a strong negative reaction toward Fabian. Afterall, Fabian "had" the mares and Clipper was the new stud on the block. We all know Fabian is no threat, being the meek gelding he is, but Clipper might feel differently about it.

Apparently (and thankfully) not.

Then they took off running....

I couldn't tell whether they were overly happy or overly unhappy with each other at first.

Fabian had a much stronger reaction to Clipper than I thought he would.

Watching them, though, I noticed they weren't exhibiting any signs of aggression whatsoever. This was a happy dance!

I love you, man.

The boys quickly calmed down and started nuzzling and smelling each other.

Neither of them noticed that the girls even existed.

I moved the girls out of the area and left Fabian where he could stand right beside Clipper and I went inside for about an hour. I wanted to see what would happen--if Fabian would move on to the mares or if Clipper would change his mind about his tolerance of being near a gelding.

When I went back out they hadn't moved--they were standing side-by-side like best buddies, so I took a chance and let Clipper out. I had a halter with me just in case I had to suddenly separate them, but it wasn't needed.

Even with the mares crowding the fence and Fabian saying "hi" to his sisters and niece, Clipper wasn't the least bit threatened. It appears that Fabian and Clipper are soulmates, er...bromates--meant for one another.

They've been out together for seven hours now and as I look out my window I see them grazing next to each other. I would have never imagined that these two boys would connect like this. There wasn't even a squeal between them. It was instant love.

If only everyone got along so wonderfully, how much easier all our lives would be!

~J