Draft Horses and Veterinary Students

The afternoon was sunny, and we were hand breeding a Belgian mare. I was assigned to the mare's head to keep her quiet and still, while watching for the approaching stallion out of the corner of my eye.

The stallion was a huge, gorgeous Belgian; however, he was nervous and inexperienced. Dr. Campbell, being a rather large, robust man himself, was at the stallion's head keeping him under control as they approached the mare.

Yeah. Right! The young stallion completely lifted Dr. Campbell into the air and was approaching the mare at a very fast clip. I stood motionless. This was it. All my hard work down the drain. Killed before I even started my veterinary career. Your life truly flashes before your eyes. I considered releasing the mare and running for my life, but my job was to keep her under control. I stood my ground against tons of horseflesh.

Fortunately, no one died that day, but this was the first and last time I ever hand bred any draft horses.