Viva is proud, beautiful, and athletic, with superb high action movement that is a joy to behold and a wonder to ride. He's quite the trail horse, although not originally trained to it. We introduced him to our mountain trails after we got him in shape again after a long hiatus away from the show scene or any active riding disciplines for that matter. He spent 4 to 5 years simply being "kept" and not used in any way, which was a tremendous loss to the Arabian scene. But he accepts new challenges well, and though he viewed the "wilds" of our mountain terrain with a bit of trepidation at first (I don't think he'd ever been used outside a show ring), he's like a mountain goat now. He's quite a character, and rather VAIN! He loves attention. He dances for the ladies --- a beautiful Piaff, and is a gentleman beyond reproof. A true "Ladies Man." AND a proven sire of champion offspring.

The following are excerpts from a recent breeding soundness evaluation conducted on Viva at the Colorado State University Equine Reproduction Laboratory: "During our evaluation, we collected two ejaculates of semen one hour apart. The first ejaculate contained 8.3 billion spermatazoa with 55% progressive motility. The second ejaculate contained 3.76 billion spermatazoa with 70% progressive motility. He exhibited excellent breeding behavior at the time of each semen collection.""Morphological (anatomical) examination of the spermatazoa indicated that 80 and 77% of the spermatazoa were classified as normal in the first and second ejaculates respectively. Those values are considered normal.""In summary, Viva Van Crabbet produced 3.64 and 2.02 billion progressively motile, morphologically normal spermatazoa in the first and second ejaculates respectively. Those values are well within the level necessary for a stallion to be considered a satisfactory prospective breeder for a full book of mares (40 mares bred live cover or 120 mares bred artificially).

"Viva has all the ingredients to produce superb quality foals from your mares, and top quality get on the ground to prove it. We hope to hear from many, even if just to remember Viva from his "good old days," but even more hopefully to arrange for using Viva to produce fantastic 2003 foals for you! Visit often --- we love to hear from folks, and there will be much more info added in the near future.

Pictured Top Right: Unnamed (This little fellow arrived on May 15 (Viva Van Crabbet x AT Smokey Lady). He is yet unnamed, but even though he isn't of the bovine category, I'd be inclined to call him "Bossy!" He is Smokey's first foal, and she is a captive mother --- she follows HIM, not the other way around! If he doesn't choose to stand near her hay box, she won't leave him to eat! But she is still a penultimate mom, and he's a lucky boy. Smokey is Arab/Appaloosa. I suspect this colt will go grey, but --- who knows?!!
He's curious and loves attention and (as they all are) a welcome addition! He is now weaned and residing at his new home.

Pictured Center Right: Viva's Spitfire This is Viva's colt out of our pinto mare, AT Commanche. He was born July 6th at the residence of our vet. Commanche and two other of our horses were residing there temporarily because we and our horses were evacuated from our home due to the Hayman fire. Recently we were able to return to our house (which happily escaped the fire), and the horses were brought home about a month later when restrictions were lifted. Anyway, this little fellow is a charmer and a stocky one! The picture here was taken at the ripe old age of 4 hours. That star is very like the shape of the Hayman fire area!! OOOOOooooooooo

Pictured Bottom Right: Introducing Viva's Special Eyes born 7/9/02 (Viva Van Crabbet x About Time Joan). She's beautiful, and named because of her lovely eyes which are really not done justice in photos. You have to look deep into them! She was already running momma ragged at a ripe old 7 hours in this picture. She's the one who was born just after we returned Joan home after being evacuated. Happily she's safe and sound, as are all our horses. We're thankful for that!! That!!