Its about time!

Has been way too long since I did a post on my blog, but better late than never - here is what I am up to lately.

We did have about a foot of snow and then it all melted within a couple of days and then it froze solid - we have the most nasty frozen wasteland out there for footing so no riding as of yet this year!

However, I did get a chance to work with my new mare DKH Lacey, she is a big, black, smooth coated Curly mare that I just brought home a few days ago.  She is halter trained, but just barely and so the first thing we are working on is just letting her know that people can be friendly and that people aren't scary at all.  I haven't tried to actually catch her yet - she is in my round pen and she has a halter on, and she did load in my trailer to come here so I know she can lead and load, but I'm in no rush with her.  We will take our time and she will come along in her own time.  I did a little bit of approach and retreat and she was letting me stroke her on the shoulder on both sides and touch her halter, so that was a little progress and enough for .today - I will have to do this every day for a while, but we will get there.

Here is a picture of her from yesterday, doesn't she have a sweet face?!

*Tessa Does 50

August 23rd was the date for the Skimikin Endurance ride. Skimikin Lake and campground is located between Salmon Arm and Kamloops and oh my what a gorgeous setting for an endurance ride! This was the third year for an endurance ride to be held in Skimikin, but it is a regular campground too and has several pens for horses - so if you like horse camping and are in this area I would really recommend it!

We arrived mid afternoon on Friday the 22nd to find the campground already full - they had about twice as many rider/horses as they had expected! There ended up being 48 entries for the 24 mile ride and 30 for the 50 mile ride - that's a lot of horses and campers!

So they were well organized as usual and a spot was found for us and we settled in. I had been discussing with Anastasia that maybe we should try a 50 mile ride - our horses are pretty fit and it seemed like a good thing to think about. So we DID sign up for the 50 mile ride, but we were admittedly both a bit anxious about it!

The 50 mile ride started at 6:30 a.m. and we awoke to just about perfect weather. It was overcast and a fair bit cooler than it had been the week before, which was great. We were ready to go and headed out to do our first loop. The first loop was 20 miles and we completed that in just about 2 hours - so that was great time. The horses were in good shape at the first vet check and after the required 45 minute hold we started out on the second loop, which was 14 miles. This loop was a little easier terrain than the first one and we did it in about 2 hours as well. There was another 45 minute hold at the vet check and we started out for the last loop, which was a repeat of the second one. Well, we have to admit that we were quite tired heading out on the last loop - another 14 miles to completion, but we went out and did it!

The horses also told us that they were a bit tired on this loop, but they held up very well and I was SO jazzed about how well *Tessa came through it all - she is just a wonderful partner and tries so hard to do everything we ask of her. Here is a picture of *Tessa taken by the photographer that was there for the day. If this looks like FUN - well it is!!

Curly Endurance

Here at the Curly Standard Place we like to do all kinds of things with our horses and this year we are trying our hands and hoofs at the sport of endurance. A couple of years ago we did go on a training endurance ride and liked it quite a bit, but we also recognized that it takes a certain kind of horse to compete in this somewhat extreme sport. The horse needs to be athletic, handy, forward moving, energetic and also be a willing participant. Of course is also goes without saying that the horse (and human!) needs to be well conditioned! We have a link on our website with more information - check it out: http://www.curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=102

So we have now done three rides this year - we have an Arabian mare RJ Light Serenade aka Mirage http://www.curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=79 who we ride, she had a Curly filly with *Sandman last year who we hope will be another prospect for endurance eventually, but the horse that is our main focus is *Spar's Barefoot Contessa http://www.curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=19. *Tessa has now completed 3 endurance rides and she just gets better and better. The first ride she finished 10th out of 37 horse/rider combos, the second she finished 2nd, she pulsed down just ONE minute after the winning horse and the third ride...... well, here is our report!

The week before the ride I took Tessa to Sundre, AB for the ICHO convention and inspection so I really didn't know if she would be recovered enough from that big trip for me to take her to this endurance ride yesterday. I got home Wednesday and she didn't seem overly tired and the endurance ride was only a couple of hours from here so we decided to give it a try, we hauled up there Friday night. We were a bit late getting there for a couple of reasons, I hauled 4 horses to this ride, Tessa, my Arabian Mirage, my friend's TB and her pony for her 11 year old son to ride. We missed the ride meeting the night before, but got the info we needed and were told the ride started at 9 a.m. - that is sort of late in the a.m. and we were all ready to go way before that!

So our horses were very keen and we were in the front from the start - making incredibly good time over good trails, and incredible scenery for the first loop, but about 3/4 of the way in I felt my Arab was a bit off - hard to tell, but she just slowed down a tiny bit, which isn't like her! So I told Anastasia that she would have to think about doing the second loop on her own and sure enough when we got back to camp and I got off my horse she was lame. Tessa pulsed down very well though - she was about 5 minutes ahead of everyone else! So after a 45 minute hold Ana and Tessa hit the trail again. Anastasia said Tessa was a bit hesitant going out on her own, but once she realized that they were going, she picked up the pace and was full of energy. They were about half way or so when they came upon some other riders (other riders were on a different ride route, probably a 50 miler) and the other riders told her that she was going the wrong way! Ana doubted herself at that point and doubled back for about 10 minutes until she ran into the riders who were coming up behind her. So she turned around and rode back the same way (which was the correct way!) and arrived back at camp at the same time as the riders who had been quite a bit behind her before she turned around. Their horse pulsed down a couple of minutes before Tessa so Ana and Tessa got 2nd place - which is VERY good, but disappointing for her as they were WAY ahead of everyone and Tessa was in really excellent shape - this horse LOVES this sport. So their completion time was just a bit under 3 hours for 27 miles, that was about half an hour faster than last years rider/horse combo. The awards breakfast was to be Sunday a.m. - I'm sure they will get a few more things for their efforts, but we came home last night - I was just exhausted and have so much to do at home I just had to get back here.

The good news is that even though the vet at the ride felt that Mirage would be needing bute for her injury for 5 days, she is sound this a.m. - so I am very happy about that, must have just stepped on a rock wrong or something - I was pretty worried about her, she was in quite a bit of pain until the vet gave her a shot of bute. She was feeling sorry for herself all afternoon yesterday - since she got left behind and all!I have a page with some information and links on my website - please have a look if you are at all interested - this is an incredibly fun sport!

It sounds exhausting and in some ways it is, but it is also exhilarating - especially when riding a fit, enthusiastic horse show loves to go. By the way, in between these endurance rides, Tessa has been getting dressage scores in the high 70's, she is an amazing horse.

Here is a picture of *Tessa and Anastasia during one of the rides.

and the morning after LOL

2008 Foaling Season Complete now!

We have had 3 more foals born here, and the final arrival was from an outside mare, for a total foal crop this year of 9!

Here they are in order of arrival:

*Captain Cruise (*Poplar's Bijou x Captiwizjon)

http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=101

*Chrystal Bloom (Midnight Bloom x *BNC Custer's Kid

http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=104

*Sundance (*Sandman's Magic x Legacy) Legacy is a gorgeous Arabian/Dutch Warmblood cross.

Finally - another colt! This one is

*Velvet's Mystic Man (*Sandman x Velvet)

Two more precious new arrivals!

March 19th, 2008, Ana-Alisia and *Sandman presented us with a gorgeous Curly half Arabian colt. http://www.curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=98 His name is *Sand Runner - hopefully he will live up to his name and be an endurance contender!

Then, on March 20th, 2008 we had a bright red filly born to the Shetland pony Stormy and the Curly pony sire is *VJB Man in the Moon. Wow is this little girl CUTE!

2008 New Arrivals!!

Three, yes three new foals so far this year - all sired by Sandman!

Two were born on the same day - March 10th, 2008.

First was *Sum R Son, his dam is our Canadian/Percheron mare Sum R Canadian - he is very well put together and a handsome dark bay colt.

Next was a lovely coal black filly from our fullbred mare *DSF Cassandra. We are calling this one *Spiffy Curl - she is just precious!

March 13th, our racing bred Appaloosa mare, Cordova True Colours, presented us with a loudly coloured, huge, Curly colt - we are calling him *Sandman's True Colours.

Fuzzy Horse Show

Anastasia is 18 now - and she is more than happy to be showing Sandman this year. March 9th was their first time out together and they did just great!

I also took *Spar's Barefoot Contessa, it was her very first horse show and I rode her in walk/trot classes. I was so happy with how she went and the judge was quite impressed with her too.

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.