I agree--while it's not ideal, I think that once the weanling learns the pecking order, things will be okay. Is the mare just biting junior when jr is pestering her? Or is she savaging jr--attacking unprovoked? At the breeding farm where I work, we keep one or two mares that are still nursing babies in with our group of weanlings. The weanlings always try to nurse off the mares, and the mares will bite and kick at them when they are pestered. But the foals soon learn that they need to back off, and everything is okay. Has the mare been alone for a whole year? It could be that she has lost her socialization skills. It's almost never a good idea to keep just one horse alone without some kind of companion, be it another horse, donkey, cattle, goat, etc. They are herd animals, and really need companionship to feel comfortable (of course, there are always exceptions, but for the most part, this is true). I think in the long run, the weanling will learn to be submissive to the mare, and the mare will probably start to tolerate the weanling a bit more, and things will get better in the long run. If they don't, you should find a different situation for the weanling, because while your intentions are noble, junior really needs to live with other horses to learn social skills, and shouldn't be kept by herself in a field, in my opinion.

***"What generally causes this type of failure?"*** The kind of "cascading" damages in a catastrophic failure like this engine suffered are typically due to a "set of circumstances" than from a "single cause" (I am referring to "dropping the exhaust valve") The valve seats are steel rings, pressed into a machined recess in the aluminum cylinder head. Under "normal operating conditions", the temperature of the engine remains below a critical threshold, and the valve seats stay in place. BUT, whenever "abnormal operating conditions" prevail, the temperature of the engine (especially the exhaust valve sector of the head) may go higher than the design temperature limit. If/when this happens, the exhaust valve seat loosens and jumps out of its recess. Once the seat is out of place, it prevents the exhaust valve from closing, and so the piston comes up and strikes the valve and seat. The impact may stop engine rotation instantly, or the engine may continue to rotate from flywheel inertia a few seconds as it spirals to a stop (the moment the exhaust valve seat came loose, combustion ceased). A "common cause" of overheating is when mice build nests, or caches of food, inside the sheet metal shrouds that duct cooling air from the flywheel fan over the engine cooling surfaces. An engine running with too little fuel in the mixture (lean burn) can also run hotter than normal, and that will eventually result in loosening of the exhaust valve seat, though that type of loosening may not always result in a sudden, catastrophic failure (but it can). Another way that exhaust valve seats can loosen (in an otherwise "normal" engine) is if valve adjustment is not maintained to the correct specifications. If the valves have too little clearance, the exhaust valve will "leak" a portion of the combustion gases past the valve seat during the part of the combustion process where it is supposed to be completely seated. Cooling of the valve seat and valve are primarily accomplished by having the valve and valve seat in contact with each other for the majority of the time that combustion takes place in the cylinder. This "closed time" allows heat to be conducted away from the valve and seat, into the cylinder head and valve stem, where the heat can then be carried away by both lube oil (inside the valve cover) , and cooling air from the fan. If the "closed time" is reduced because of insufficient valve clearance, the temperature of the valve and seat will increase higher than the design limit of the head, and the valve seat may loosen, or the valve and seat may be "flame cut" by the escaping gases. A good "forensic analysis" of the failed engine is needed to determine the reason for the overheating.

Hi guys! No, I didn't finally jump over the ledge :) I just took a small hiatus. I boarded "charliedawg" in a kennel, packed the suitcases, got the family in the car and got the heck out of here. WHEW! If I ever build a house again (which I highly doubt I will) I will definitely put mental health vacation $$$$ in my budget. LOL Tragusa, I'm not glad that you had all of the problems but I'm glad to know that it worked out for you so I know it will all be ok fo me too. GC will be back tomorrow. She has ALWAYS made things perfect so I'm not sure why I doubted it now. I think I just felt out of control because she is gone. I'm not the type that needs to be in control of such a big project, I guess ya'll figured that out by now.

Thank you. We have been so pleased at the traffic and all the offers and the wonderful feedback on our farm, but it has not been a good experience with our agent. She has been dishonest and we don't feel she's been working on our behalf. On this deal, we sent a counter to buyer's agent, our agent called and said they want the contribution to as-built. I told her we will agree to pay half that, but do not want them coming back and picking our counter apart so please check with them to make sure that every thing else in our counter is acceptable if we agreed to half contribution. She called back and said yes they're fine with everything in your counter. Great! So I get their counter yesterday, expecting our last price, half contribution etc. and it came in with lower price. I asked for her advice because this was a lower price than they had agreed, and she told me that they never agreed to our counter, and we had discussed the lower price. Not! GRRR. So we signed at the lower price but needless to say are not happy with our agent. This is not the first time this has happened in our negotiations with three offers and it has made it so much more stressful. We just want to get through this one without giving up too much more, and if it doesn't close we'll be switching agents. I appreciate the opportunity to vent.