Amazing Grace

You know some days terrible things happen - things that make you want to wish that that day could just somehow undo it, so that you could re-live it so that it could be replayed differently.

A couple of weeks ago I had one such day. I went out to feed my horses and found my horse gravely ill. This was my friend, my pal, my riding buddy, Amazing Grace, or Gracie as she was affectionately known by me and most people.

Gracie appeared to be waiting for me and within about 1/2 an hour of me finding her that morning, she died, with myself and my daughter Anastasia by her side.

Gracie was so special to me and I miss her terribly. Give your special pets an extra pat today and every day - you never know when it is time for them to go - Gracie was just 9 years old.

CC and the Horse Show

Well, it is that time of year again - our favorite fun show of the whole year!! The Halloween Show! Unfortunately, we were so busy this year we did not get a chance to put together cool costumes as we do most years, but Danielle and I DID attend on our ponies. Danielle brought *Cinnamon and I brought *CC. Danielle did great on her pony and she and I rode a couple of pairs classes together which was a whole lot of fun.

I was "forced" to ride *CC in the Jack Benny class - I kept insisting that I wasn't old enough.....but my horse show friends just laughed at me LOL. So *CC did really awesome and the judge kept saying how much she liked her - liked how she moved, how she behaved - she even said that she was a perfect size for me - to which I laughed a lot! Still, I know that *CC looks fine with me on her and I'm nearly 5'3" tall so she would be very suitable for a small adult or a child. This was *CC's first experience with a horse show and she was just wonderful - she gave pony rides to "tiny" children for hours. It will be a sad day when we find that perfect home for this pony, she is one in a million!

So we didn't get any pictures, but if I do get some others that were in attendance I will be sure to post them here - in the meantime, happy trails!

*Serenade goes to her first show!

Well, it was a fun/training Arabian show and I took Mirage and her filly *Sandman's Serenade to show them in the halter classes. The judge's comments were very encouraging - she told me what a lovely mare she thought Mirage was and she also commented on *Serenade's suspension so I was pleased! Here is a picture of proud Mom and daughter - since I was on my own at the show I took this picture when we got home.

*DSF Cassandra and Danielle

Well, *DSF Cassandra (aka CC) is doing SO well that at the urging of some friends I decided that my daughter Danielle (10) could safely ride this pony - and so I put her on and here is the result!

I also took a bit of video - you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk2t4g_1Vgw

*CC is reluctantly offered for sale - someone is going to get an incredible riding pony!

Super Summertime....

*Sandman and I attended another show in July - it went well, we showed First Level, Tests One and Two - he is such a good boy and I was very happy with him. Here is a picture of us from that day - the photographer said it was the best halt she captured all day!

*DSF Cassandra (aka CC) is now under saddle and I'm calling her *CC the Wonder pony. This pony has just been the BEST horse to saddle train. She is easy, forward, obedient, willing, non spooky and fun on the trails - just amazing! Here is a picture of us from the trail the other day. Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but we are on a rather steep trail and Anastasia is taking the picture from up above us...

So many new things on the Ranch!

Where to start!


*Sandman and I have attended two shows so far this year - we are showing Training 4 and First Level 1 and 2 - it is a challenge for me, but *Sandman is definitely ready for this now! Our third and possibly final show for the year will be this coming weekend - July 7th - we are training hard for it and I think we are ready!





Our foaling season is done for the year. We had just four foals this year:

Strawberry Shortcake (mini mare) and *VJB Man in the Moon had a pretty, feminine black filly, she is called Mystic Luna.

*Spar's Barefoot Contessa and *Sandman had an incredible pinto Curly filly - we have called her *Sandman's Barefoot Angel. Here is a picture of her:





*Cinnamon Twist EB and *VJB Man in the Moon have presented us with a wonderful, small, "very" Curly colt who we have called *Bobble Head, what an amazing pony sized Curly!




and finally, RJ Light Serenade aka Mirage (registered Arabian mare) had a lovely black bay Curly filly, her name is *Sandman's Serenade. Here is a link to some video from the day she was born: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFMJmRGt6DI


Well, that is it for now - will try to post some info and picture of me and *Sandman after the show!

stallion showcase

Well, it was a big weekend, but we took all three stallions to the annual Lower Mainland Quarter Horse Bazaar and presented them at the stallion showcase.

One of the things I love to do (and haven't caught heck for it yet lol) is to open the doors to my Curly's stalls, tie a lead rope across the door and let people visit with the boys. *Sandman and *Lex are such big babies of course and just SOAK up the attention from all the people. People always want to touch the curls anyway so I got tired of opening and shutting the stall doors and the are always amazed, of course, at how gentle the horses are.

I rode *Sandman for his presentation and it was very fun this year as I gave the commentator a recording of "Mr. Sandman" which I had them play before I entered the arena and it continued to play while I did my "freestyle" version of a dressage test. This went over very well and it was a fun song to ride to!

I showed *Lex in hand and he was very well behaved. I also showed Cap in hand and he was "very" well received - people sure love how he looks and are really impressed with his pedigree!

So it is a big weekend, exhausting, but fun and doing our part to keep on educating people about Curlies!

spring training begins in earnest

This weekend I had the wonderful experience of riding *Sandman in a clinic with Frances Weeks of Vernon, BC. Wow did we work hard and come home with lots of things to work on and think about! This was held at Leslie Walton's place in Oliver - she has a small, but very nice indoor and we appreciated being out of the wind and cold. It doesn't make for great photo opportunties, but I'll include a couple anyway.

Cap under saddle

A quick update - we have been riding Cap and he is coming along just beautifully! He is so eager to please and learn it is a treat working with him.

Spring Training

This year I have more horses to put under saddle than ever before. First up are Captivision - our coming 18 year old Arabian stallion - yep - he is nearly 18 and NEVER been ridden - well, that isn't quite true - we have ridden him these past couple of days. Cap is doing extremely well - he is brave yet very attentive to his handler and really loves to be finally going to work. Stay tuned for pictures of him as his saddle training progresses - we hope to do a couple of endurance rides on him this year! Cap is available to outside mares too!
Next up is little *Lexy - yep - he is nearly three years old now and we are starting him lightly now. He is afraid of "nothing" - very confident, easy going, non spooky, eager to learn and never ever speaks to the mares unless given permission. *Lex is really going to make his mark both as a young stallion (four foals due this year!) and as a wonderful riding pony. *Lex is available for breeding and he is also for sale!

The third horse I'm working on right now is Cordova True Colours (aka TC). She is my BIG racing bred Appaloosa mare. TC was injured as a weanling and was very lame for most of the past 3 - 4 years. We are very happy to report that even though TC is a really wonderful broodmare and has produced two exceptional Curly foals for us, we will now be able to enjoy her as a riding horse too! She is now SOUND and I am saddle training her. What do you think - think she is enjoying herself?

Awesome picture of Bijou and Cappy

I turned *Bijou and CC out in my big field the other day and was all ready with my camera - I was really happy with this great picture of *Bijou - look at that extension!

I also got a nice one of Cappy. And you wonder who Cappy is......well, he is my purebred Arabian stallion - he is a son of Bask AND Aladdinn - an incredible horse! Cappy will be bred to *Bijou this year and he is also available to outside mares. Here is Cap - he is a very sweet boy.

New Year - New Horses

A couple of months ago I was lucky enough to lease a lovely Arabian mare Ana-Alisia, aka Lisia. In 2006 Lisia had a lovely foal with *Sandman so I'm looking forward to a repeat. You can see pictures of *Sandman's Babe here. Anyhow, the great thing is that Lisia is also a neat riding horse - big and powerful and a real been there done that kinda girl - here she is with my friend Maryan the other day.

The other exciting news is that I have two new Curly mares - *DSF Cassandra who is a fantastic Curly pony - about 14 hands, black going grey AND *Poplar's Bijou *Bijou is a half sister to our *Sandman - she is a lovely, friendly, extreme, feminine version of him - how lucky am I to have these two great mares!

A new year!

Well, I haven't been adding much here recently, but I plan to do a TON of riding and training this year so I thought I would try to write a bit about how it all goes.

Even though we have more snow here than I can remember in the past half a dozen years I've been riding every day this week. My favorite riding horse Amazing Gracie aka Gracie is open this year and I have plans to do all types of riding with her - trails, showing and maybe even endurance - I'm really looking forward to it! Gracie is a fullbred Curly with a smooth coat - I find it hard to explain this to people sometimes LOL - but there you go and she is one of the most hypoallergenic horses we have too.

So on this day, January 7th, 2007, three of us went riding; me on Gracie, my daughter Anastasia on her Curly gelding *Cuervo and my daughter's friend Sam on her Curly gelding *Kobee - *Kobee just happens to be Gracie's son! He has become a great trail horse and this young ladies best friend.