Gaia made history at 11:00 p.m.October 27, 2012, becoming the first MM foal born in the US using imported frozen semen from Brasil. A labor of love, our dream was realized when Agro Maripá collected and exported the first frozen MM semen from 3 of his stallions in Brasil. Our continued thanks to Agro Maripa!
Gaia is the product of Oma de Maripa and Brasilia do Summerwind. She was reserved by Dr. Adrienne C. Scheck of Scottsdale AZ and with SW Future Foal retaining breeding rights to her to ensure her genetics are carried forward in the U.S.
All of us are thrilled with her!!!!!
Her name Gaia was selected by Adrienne for a number of reasons. Gaia (“guy-a”) is the goddess or personification of Earth or Mother Earth (the Greek common noun for “land” is ge or ga) in pre-Olympian Greek mythology. The Gaia hypothesis proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.
The circle of life is hardest to accept when it’s time for your dearest friend to pass on. Today, our beloved dog Mac died at age 13. People will say Lynn and I were lucky to have him with us for so many years, but there is never enough time.
Mac joined our world on St Patricks Day when Lynn surprised me with a border collie puppy. It was particularly sweet, since I had had only one other dog in my early years who also was a border collie called Spike. I lost that dog on the day my father died on my seventh birthday. Looking back I realized that Spike was more my father’s dog then mine, since he stood over my father and shortly there after disappeared. Getting Mac from Lynn was almost like finding Spike and closing a painful chapter in my early life – the circle of life.
Mac was unusually large for a border collie but a gentle intelligent soul that touched everyone that he met. He could outrun a Frisbee, run for hours, and herd anything. He was very protective of his younger brother Jamie. Once when coyotes lured Jamie into the brush at our ranch, Mac charged the pack and brought Jamie back safely.
Jamie and Mac on a hike up Troon Mountain in AZ.
On another occasion, we were at the car wash waiting for our car when a young mother with a baby in a carriage approached and asked if it was safe to pet the dogs. The baby pulled on Mac’s ears, poked him in the eyes, and laughed loudly. Mac sat quietly. A few minutes later a young man with a manly dog came by and the dog lunged at the baby, teeth showing. Mac raced over, placed his jaws over the face of the dog and drove him to the ground. I was fearful Mac might harm him but he just stood between the baby and the dog in that sideways look so common for border collies.
Mac was very smart. I often said he was smarter than most of the people I have met during my life. Back in New England one of his jobs was to get the morning paper. If there wasn’t one on our driveway, he would search the neighborhood until he found one. We always let him out through the garage and he came back in the side door. One winter morning I was out with him and told him it was time to go in the front door. He turned and looked at me oddly but trotted over to our actual front door which we never used. I looked at him and realized I had said the front door not the side door. When I corrected myself, he calmly trotted to the side door waiting for me to let him in.
The family photo
Mac could talk. He just used a different language. I don’t mean that he barked but rather he would make an endless variety of sounds that over time Lynn could understand. He would wake you in the morning, talk to you about how hungry he was, and constantly describe what he saw on his morning walk. It was my problem that I didn’t always understand.
As we grew older together, we became more and more alike. Protective of our routine and less tolerant of others, we enjoyed our time together.
I will miss Mac forever but will be forever grateful for how he explained the circle of life to me. I think I will be better prepared as life and death move on.
A year ago this month, we said goodbye to a favorite Marchador, Chanel de Miami. Her death was untimely, quick and without warning. She was a truly great mare.
A daughter of imported Foundation Marchadors, her lineage and history is told in the MM series, the Importers – MM Horse Farms. The Importers MM Horse Farms
Had she lived, she would have left quite a legacy in her offspring. Tragically, her sons she are gelded so only one daughter may continue her line. Destiny do Summerwind is owned by Gayle Hamilton in Texas. Gayle just won the USMMA Valentine’s story contest by writing about her MM valentine!
We met the precious cargo at Scottsdale Equine Reproductive Center!
In 2011, we were unbelievably excited to receive the first shipment of frozen semen exported from Brasil. Ho-hum, you say. It happens all the time. NOT! We had worked for over four years to see this happen. There were two main issues.
In Brasil, each breed is regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture. For this to work, the ABCCMM had to modify its registration regulations, which had previously not allowed the use of frozen semen. Then the Ministry of Agriculture had to create the rules for exportation for the MM and approve veterinarian clinics for collection and exportation. To our knowledge, there are only 2 clinics in Brasil that have been approved so far.
Ximoio de Maripa semen arrived in 2011 from Agro Maripa! He is pure blood Abaiba of very old genetics.
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The second is that there is not much demand for frozen semen in Brasil. With so many horses and land, often the preferred method of breeding is still live cover. For us to get Brasilian Marchador semen, the breeder needed to want to do this for us — for the good of the Marchador breed around the world.
Enter Mr. Marcelo Baptista, owner of Agro Maripa who fulfilled our dream. Agro Maripa collected and shipped 3 Maripa stallions of excellent quality and impeccable lineage to us in March 2011.
Frozen semen (and later frozen embryos) is very important for the future of the Marchador breed here in the U.S. Imported frozen semen adds many things:
Talisma Kafe, from Haras Elfar, is a stallion whose semen has been collected and we are working through the importation process for 2012
Diversity — new bloodlines, new individuals to the North American gene pool.
Quality — these stallions are first-rate individuals, champions in their own right and proven producers. Often not for sale, frozen semen offers a way to bring their blood here.
Excitement — it is exciting to be able to have a larger catalogue of beautiful Marchador stallions to choose from.
Connie Claire with La Paz Jivago foal DaVinci do Summerwind. DaVinci was the first MM foal born using frozen semen in the U.S. We are expecting a 2012 foal from Oma de Maripa using his frozen semen!
For us the diversity and quality were the key items. The excitement is just an added bonus! We could have an immediate boost in quality in one generation. For diversity, one could argue that we are okay there for now. Because we are fortunate to have many breeding stallions here in the U.S., enough to breed the mares and cross-breed the resulting next generation. But what about the third, fourth and fifth generation?
We may not be alive to see those MM foals born, but we are doing this for them. Continued importation is the key for maintaining and improving the quality of the Mangalarga Marchador breed here. We plan to import more semen, from different bloodlines and make it available – a semen bank for eternity.
