They say that you shouldn't breed your mare unless you can accept the fact that you may lose the mare or the foal or both. So cloning looks like a good option to me.

Let's put aside the reality that the cost is prohibitive unless you are T. Boone Pickens.

What I'm really wondering is if I cloned my mare, would there be any training advantage?

Some articles suggest there might be because you could short-circuit the process knowing what pushes a horse's buttons.

Just as an aside, if you're thinking cloning is the way to produce a Kentucky Derby winner, think again. Research has shown that cloning doesn't ensure the creation of "super horses." Of three mules cloned in 2003 from a full sibling of a champion race mule, only one went on to race competitively. All three were placed with winning trainers.

Back to training. Would there be any benefit gained by already knowing your horse's personality? Forewarned is forearmed.

Perhaps the battle over yearly injections (and believe me -- you only want to do yearly shots with my mare) could be avoided with a clone. My theory is that the whole problem began after Kismet's wolf teeth were pulled at age 3. (A common thing to do in horses so the wolf teeth don't interfere with a bit.)

Her wolf teeth were really embedded in her gums. It was very traumatic with a lot of blood involved. (Usually the wolf teeth pop right out.) Even though she was given an anesthetic cocktail Kismet seemed to resent needles after that experience. And really, who could blame her.

Taking the bull by the horns, I decided to de-sensitize her to needles. So I borrowed a bunch and used her as an equine pin cushion for about a week. Just let me say, it was not the brightest idea I've ever come up with.

Since the mare associated the injections necessary for the dental work with one veterinarian, I tried another the next year for yearly inoculations.

At least the new veterinarian could approach the stall without Kismet flipping her head up and down in time to Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It took three people to get her steady enough to give an injection. When it came to taking the Coggins (the needle is inserted in a vein in the neck whereas the other injections are given in a muscle in the neck) I had to leave the barn.

The next year I relinquished my long-held belief that I would never twitch her, and we added a twitch to the experience and covered her eyes. Live and learn -- the human helpers were able to shed one layer of body armor. Kismet remained as rigid as a board during the process, ready to flee if given half a chance. But overall it went better.

This spring Kismet was the best ever. Good girl. She read my column on my horses' New Year's resolutions. (One of hers was to be good about shots.)

So what will I do with a little clone? Since my mare wasn't afraid of needles until the whole wolf teeth incident, maybe I can figure out the best way to make that experience a positive one for the clone.

Or I could hope for a clone without wolf teeth (not all horses are born with wolf teeth) and avoid the whole darned issue.

Pat Smith can be reached by e-mail at fotobytocco@vbbi.us.