A horse stable is not the place most people would expect a teenage Seattlite to hang out, especially at 8 a.m. doing chores.
But contrary to the age group's sleep-in stereotype, the Gold Creek Equestrian Center, northeast of Seattle near Monroe, is where 15-year-old Emily Coyle is on a Sunday, getting ready to do exactly that: barnyard chores.
The center is home to dozens of well-kept horses housed in long, tidy rows of spacious, clean stalls.
At the end of the stable, furthest from the nearby indoor riding arena, sits a stall Coyle's family has rented for its newest addition: Hailey, a light brown, 6-month-old, female foal, with a patch of white on her formidable nose.
"[My parents] didn't necessarily want me to have another horse," Coyle said, before heading out with her mom, Sherilyn Peterson, to attend to her horses for the third or fourth time that week.
A galloping love
Five years ago, at a summer camp in Vermont, Coyle was introduced to horseback riding. She has been immersed in the sport and lifestyle ever since.
Last summer, while she was vacationing with her family at theirVermont home, this affection for equines went to a deeper level. During this time, Coyle met a horse named Hershey.
While trotting the horse, Coyle's friend and riding instructor commented to Coyle and her parents about how well the two of them worked with each other. The instructor felt the girl and the horse should be together.
"I was just going to use him for camp," Coyle noted, "but we clicked real well, so my parents decided to buy him for me."
This decision led to an epic adventure for Coyle. At summer's end, with the horse now hers, Coyle and her folks loaded Hershey and a friend's horse into a trailer and drove across the northern United States.
Every three hours, they would need to stop and let the horses rest their legs, for the animals brace themselves against the constant vibration and motion of the trailer. Because of this, the family limited their driving days to around seven hours.
Coyle's family also planned their nightly stays around hotels that either provided accommodations for large animals or had stables located nearby.
Since then, Coyle's free time, and spare money, has gone toward her horse. Along with dedicating her time to be with Hershey, Coyle was also active in seeking information from riding teachers, friends, and print or electronic media to better her horsemanship skills.
Coyle's thirst for knowledge brought the Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) industry to her attention. As a result, her passion turned to a very personal, yet subtle form of activism when she happened upon some Internet sites dedicated to PMU foal adoption.
Coyle spent a week searching the numerous ranches and organizations that work to put their PMU foals into adoption. It is through these efforts that she eventually discovered Hailey.
"I spent a month putting together 90 pages of information to convince [my parents] that I needed another horse!" Coyle said, laughing lightly.
"We told her she wasn't going to have any more [horses]," Peterson added. "That's why she was looking online quietly."
Of horses and hormones
Born on a Saskatchewan ranch, Hailey comes from a draft-horse bloodline. Her Percheron mother and thoroughbred father have provided a heritage Colye says will see Hailey growing to 16 1/2 hands at the shoulder (5 1/2 feet tall) while hitting the scale at more than 1,200 pounds.
According to Coyle, draft mares are bred with smaller breeds of horses to ensure an easy foal birth. The less difficult the labor and birth, the more time, lives and ultimately money the PMU rancher saves.
But what is the big deal about urine from pregnant horses in the first place? According to the volunteer-run, Alberta, Canada-based PMU foal adoption network Foal-Quest, during the late 1930s, scientists found the urine from pregnant mares to be an excellent source of conjugated estrogens. Once refined, the estrogens are used in hormone replacement therapy for women having difficulty with menopause.
Currently FoalQuest estimates there are 450 PMU ranches in operation. The majority of the PMU ranches are located in Canada's western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There are also a healthy number of ranches in North Dakota.
Most PMU ranches run a herd of 80 to 100 mares. In all, these ranches account for about 1 percent of the North American equine population, and 97 percent of them are family-owned.
When the foals are 4 to 5 months old, they are separated from their mothers and used to increase the rancher's herd size, adopted out or sold to feedlots for slaughter.
FoalQuest estimates 30 percent of the PMU foals follow this last fate and end up treated as cattle for food. While horse is not a popular meat in the United States, the Japanese and European market is healthy.
One tough kid
Before meeting her new caretaker, Hailey had seen humans, but they were mainly the ranch hands, cowboys and veterinarians rounding her up and checking her health along with the other foals.
"She was imprinted by her mother," Coyle asserted. "So she knows a lot of horse etiquette, but she really doesn't know anything about people."
But "Hailey was weened fairly early, which is traumatic," Coyle noted. "She tried to nurse on my shoe."
This makes training difficult, and a lot of patience is required, Coyle said.
"[PMU foals] need a really long time to get used to people," Coyle said. "For a lot of them, the only contact they've had with people is right before they leave the farm."
The stress of round-up and shipment often triggers a flu-like illness in the foals, which Hailey suffered. Because of this, Coyle said Hailey was fairly easy to work with, at first.
"When they start feeling better, they realize maybe they don't like you very much," Coyle asserted.
So far, Hailey's training is one of delicate, yet consistent, effort. Coyle, and her family, favor the "natural horsemanship" method of training.
"It's relating to her like another horse," Coyle said. "She learns that way because she's been imprinted by a horse. So she really doesn't know what people want from her."
Coyle helps bridge this understanding gap between her and Hailey by reading aloud to her in the stall so she becomes accustomed to Coyle's voice.
Another is playing with her dominance perceptions, both in and out of the stall. With horses, Coyle said the dominant horse is the one who stays in place.
So when the two are playing, Coyle will move Hailey's head or haunch while staying her ground.
Through techniques such as these, Hailey will allow Coyle to freely ride her one day, but time is needed. Coyle said she doesn't expect to begin working with a saddle until Hailey is 2. Until then, the pair will work constantly together, week after week.
"It's kind of a herd of two horses, and you always have to be the dominant one," Coyle noted.
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