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One small breeder sits on pins and needles, and wonders if he can stay in business

Empty FeelingI

t is an idyllic setting, on display at hundreds of horse farms throughout Central Kentucky: A narrow lane lined with pine trees curves among a dozen paddocks. Canadian geese fly

overhead and birds sing, buoyed by the warm morning sun. Inside the fences at Milestone Farm, mares cavort with foals at their sides; their long,

graceful necks arch down to munch the famous Bluegrass, unaware that the famed food source is likely causing the death of their fetuses and foals.

Forty-three-year-old John O’Meara is all too aware of what’s going on. He has leased the farm just outside Lexington some four years, and the

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Copyright©2001, The Blood-Horse. Reprinted with permission of copyright owner.