Learning all the time

I just finished reading the book Whole Horse, Whole Heart Whole Horse by Mark Rashid (thanks Maryan for lending it to me and insisting that I read it :).  This book was just full of information that I already knew (confirmed it for me) but also full on things that I had thought I knew, but this book clarified it for me, and, of course I learned quite a bit too!

In one chapter he talks about being a young boy and having a horse "The Black" that he bonded in a way that each the boy and the horse gave all of themselves to each other.  Mutual trust, respect and love for each other.  He explains that even though this does not occur for all of us who love horses, he is very glad that he got to experience it and experience it so early in his horse career as it showed him what kind of relationship could be attained with horses.

I have loved and owned horses all my like, but never did I have a horse like Amazing Grace.  She and I bonded in a way that I couldn't explain to people and before reading this book I didn't even know that anyone else had experienced this type of relationship with a horse.  When I climbed on Gracie to go for a ride it was like coming home - we belonged with each other.

I have always loved horses, I have owned them since I was 11 years old, I will always love horses, but I have to admit that since Gracie died unexpectedly a couple of years ago that I do not have the same zest that I did while she was here.  Now, each new horse that I get - whether purchased or born here, I look and look at that horse "will this one be like Gracie?" and so far none of them have been.  I do enjoy and love each and every one of them, but it is like I will now always be searching for that something extra special that Gracie and I had.  If I am very lucky, I may find it again.
Shelly
http://www.curlystandardplace.com

A busy January for us!

Well, I have been doing lots of things with the horses so far this month, I have been riding *Joe at least three - usually four times a week and we are seeing really good progress.

He is fast becoming a really nice riding partner and I am looking forward to continuing our progress together.

Next is *Sandman's Serenade - she is also a Curly/Arabian and we have high hopes for this filly - she is an absolute delight to work with and train - she loves attention and she tries very hard to get things right.  My daughter Anastasia has done most of the ground work with *Serenade and now that Anastasia is in university full time I have taken over with *Serenade - here she is in her lessons:

The third horse I have been working with, to get started under saddle is the lovely lady *My New Flame - this is a very pretty young mare that has the most amazing movement - she will really turn judges heads in the dressage ring!  But first, I need to get her started under saddle - she is now lunging well and wearing a saddle too - taking it all in stride!

The winter riding conditions so far this year have been really great and we have been taking *Bijou and *Tessa out as often as possible - a couple of times a week.

Well, that is it for now - more news as it happens!

working with *Joe

Here is my Curly/Arabian gelding *Joe http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=116 He is going well - this is a bit of video of me lunging him:


and here are a few pictures of him.

He is doing very well - excellent rhythm and learning to lift his back well.  I am also riding him and his saddle training continues to advance.  *Joe is coming 14 this year and never trained to ride before I got him, so IMO he is doing well.  His fitness level also continues to increase - he is going to be a real competitor on the endurance trails I think!

January 2nd, 2011 - first ride of the year!

January 2nd, Anastasia and I were able to get out for a couple of hours today - it was cold but just an incredible day to ride.  The trails are just about perfect, not a whole lot of snow, but someone has conveniently run around with a snowmobile and packed most of the trails down so that the footing is excellent.  We had a really great time and I even remembered to take my camera along so here are a bunch of photos!  Stay tuned - we are just getting started!

  I even got a bit of video - here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTIDLq-rJE

*Bijou and *Tessa

 

Curly Standard Place News

Well, I haven't been riding much - I spent at least a couple of months working very very hard to get my farm ready for winter and I am very happy with the results, but now it is time to get back to horses!  I have ridden my wonderful girl *Tessa several times, she took this last year off to have a lovely big black filly, http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=117
but now I want to get *Tessa back fitted up to take in some endurance rides next year - she is a real competitor and I am looking forward to it!

I have also been making slow progress with *Joe, my Curly/Arabian gelding....he is his own funny self, but definitely coming along. It is snowy and icy around here lately so I am taking advantage of my neighbor's lovely coverall arena and well, *Joe was quite alarmed the first time in there :) but yesterday he was very attentive and good, so next time I will get on him and see how that goes.

Anastasia has started our *Sandman/Arabian filly *Sandman's Serenade: http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=84 done all the ground work, but now Anastasia is at university full time so I have taken over *Serenade's training for a bit.  Wow *Serenade is so calm, solid and easy going!  She is a delight to work with!  We have backed her a few times but not really ridden her much yet, but she should come along well.  She will still be too young in the spring for much endurance riding, but we will definitely ride her out to bring her training along.

So that is mostly my updates - I have sold several young horses
*Sand Runner went to TX
Miss Molly went to a super local family
*Chrystal Bloom and *Simon Says went to KY
*Sum R Son went to Alberta
and *Bobble went to IN on a long term lease

So, this will make my training workload more manageable now and these horses have gone to some really fabulous homes - I am very excited about this - I hope I can blog about some of their accomplishments eventually, that would be great.
Shelly
http://curlystandardplace.com/index.php?display=0

ground training *Bobble Head!

This summer, one of the things that I have been doing is training my 3 year old Curly pony stallion, *Bobble Head*, to drive.  I do ground drive all my horses before I get on them, but I have never actually trained one to pull a cart, but we are getting there with *Bobble!  He is driving very well in hand now - we go down the road a half a mile or so every day and I get someone to pull the cart along with us for the "sound effects" lol.  The next thing we will do is hitch up something like a tire and have him drag that - we are getting close to hitching the cart - I am SO looking forward to driving him to town!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Shelly
Standing Curly Sporthorse Stallion *Sandman's Magic
http://www.curlystandardplace.com

Update from CSP :)

Hello!

I have been very busy with many horse activities this summer, so here is a little report of the last two weekends! 

Weekend before last five of us took our horses to the Ride Over the Rainbow Ride in Merritt, BC - I am very happy to report that THREE of the horses were Curlies - yay!  My daughter Anastasia was riding *Poplar's Bijou, my son Shane was riding *Cuervo and we have an agricultural engineer student with us from France and we decided to put another of the Curlies here back to work and so she brought *Kobee.  *Kobee is a son of *Sandman and out of my beloved, deceased mare Gracie.  *Kobee was born here, sold to my daughter's best friend, I trained him to ride as a three year old and then he has been only trail ridden since then, but not for the last year as his young owner is across the country at school at the moment.  So we asked a lot of this young horse to go and do a 25 mile endurance ride and admittedly we did go slow for his sake but he did not disappoint us and did a GREAT job promoting Curlies for us!

A word about feet, when we arrived at the endurance ride we realized that *Bijou had lost a shoe - she only wears them on the front - actually she has really great hard feet, but she was a little ouchy this spring on the rocky terrain here and so I put front shoes on her for the first time.  There was a farrier there at the ride and we planned to have a shoe put back on her in the morning - but he would be there after the other riders left.  So in the a.m. we all got ready and.....no farrier - so after waiting about 20 minutes I decided that we would go on the first loop with just one shoe - I knew she had really great feet and I also knew we would be taking it somewhat easy as this was *Kobee's first ride (he was barefoot too!).  So we went and did the first loop and she was just great - we got back and that foot didn't even have a chip or anything out of it - the farrier put a shoe on her and we were good to go for the second loop.  We all completed the ride and it was a really wonderful day all around!

Yesterday we again took THREE Curlies to a dressage show in Vernon, BC.  I brought Sandman, Anastasia brought Bijou and our student again brought Kobee.  We asked a lot of my student to be bringing Kobee to these events - he is a VERY good boy, but his formal training really did stop after I rode him for 30 days - his young owner just wanted to ride him on the trails so that is what they did.  But, as you can see, this is a very fine horse and he could do so much more and do a super job too.  There were some very very nice comments about him after she did her tests - about what a lovely mover he is, which I of course already knew, but wonderful to hear it from other people :)  The judge was impressed with him too - even though it was his first time in the ring, she noted what a willing horse he is :)

Oh ya, Sandman and I got a second and a third in First Level - he is SUCH a good boy :)

 

Okay - that is it for now.....shameless plug - both Bijou and Kobee are for sale :) :)

Shelly

www.curlystandardplace.com

New Foal Announcement

Well, I am a bit tardy in my posting of our second and final foal of the year - but here he is, born June 7th 2010:

This handsome colt is sired by *Sandman and out of our lovely *Elko Nevada mare *My New Flame We are very happy with our newest addition - stay tuned for his name - still in the debate stages!

Endurance riding in Alberta!

We traveled out to Devon, AB to attend an Alberta endurnace ride - we had such good time! 

Endurance riding June 2010

I am so lucky to have a family that supports me and rides with me!

 

As some might know by now - my little speedy girl *Charm is out of commission for this year's endurance.... I was SO hoping to be bringing her this year, but it was just not meant to be.  She will be bred to *Bobble for a 2011 foal and then we will get back at her training when she is well and truly healed from her bone bruise.....

 

Now, since I am not taking *Charm to the endurance rides I took my back-up girl Mirage, Mirage is a purebred Arabian and dam of my now three year old Curly girl *Sandman's Serenade (she is going to be started lightly this year).  We also took my SO's horse Dakota Scout, he is a NSH and really shines in endurance, but most important to "me" is that we took two of our Curly horses and they just rocked!

 

Anastasia brought *Poplars Bijou, this was *Bijou's very first endurance ride - she was absolutely wonderful!  She trailered great, accepted the remote camping and the very different climate at the coast where the ride was held, and on the ride itself she was happy to keep up with our other horses and she crossed the river like she had been doing it forever, in one place it was almost deep enough to swim! 

 

The other Curly we brought was *Cuervo - my 15 year old son Shane rode as a junior and they did awesome!  That *Cuervo is an amazing kind of horse, he packs beginners anywhere, does uncounted riding lessons and then we throw him in the trailer and he is getting to have quite the extended trot on these rides!  Shane and *Cuervo got runner up high vet score for juniors and he got a great prize!

 

I have to say just a footnote about my mare Mirage.  I purchased her several years ago for breeding to *Sandman and I did get our really great filly *Serenade from her, but after that I discovered what a fun and competitive little riding horse she is and so I have been riding her in endurance as most of you know.... Now, what most folks do not know is that Mirage came to me with a severely damaged left knee, it is fused so that it cannot bend fully, she can't bend it up totally for the farrier, she can't really jump and she can't lie down normally, she can lie out flat but most horses sleep somewhat upright.  But, she has never been lame on it, she doesn't favor it at all and while we watch it carefully, so far it doesn't seem to give her any trouble.

 

So anyway, we were at the awards ceremony after the endurance ride and I was SO blown away when they announced that Mirage and I had achieved the prestigious High Vet Score Award.  Now this award is given to the horse that has received the best vet scores from before, during and after the ride, they said she won this award quite decisively too.... I was almost moved to tears I was so proud of my little horse.  This score is not related to her injury, but I wanted to tell about it anyway for some understanding of what this horse is about - she is very neat, quirky, but an absolute competitor - if not for the knee, I know this horse could do 100 mile rides, she is really something!

 

I am attaching a couple of pictures - the photo with the three of us is me on my grey Mirage, I am holding *Bijou (she looks grey too, but that is because she wears a whitish fly sheet) Anastasia is on *Cuervo and Shane is on Dakota, we are cooling their legs in the river after the ride.  Oh and that is my other daughter to the right at the back, she swam all day in the river lol.  The other picture is Shane and Anastasia.

Shelly
Standing Curly Sporthorse Stallion *Sandman's Magic
http://www.curlystandardplace.com

 

*Sandman Rocks!

Here are the two tests that I had video taped by a professional videographer at the big dressage show.  When I went to order them from her at the show she was gushing at how well he is doing - she hadn't seen him for a couple of years and she was just so nice about how good he looked.

So in these videos I am showing SM First Level tests One and Two.  I watch these videos and see the things that could be better and wish I was a better rider, but oh well, we do what we can eh?  I am proud of my boy though - he does try hard.

Level One, Test One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX14Rb-lvLk

Level One, Test Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNhR6hZYero

I also captured a still from the video showing some of his trot - he is a tad lazy, but moving out a bit in this photo :)

 

I look at him and what he can do so far and what I think he can do in the future and I remind myself that he is one of very very few Curly stallions today who is from multiple generations of all Curly horses, he has a few non-curlies in his great-grandfather generation, he has Ruby Red King (the Morgan) as a great-grandfather on his bottom side, an appaloosa Blossom also on the bottom side for a great-grandmother and one unknown on the top side great-grandfather, which in those days could have been anything :)

He is ridden year round, during off season and breeding season, in fact sometimes I hand breed him before or after I ride, (usually after though as he thinks he needs a nap after.....riding AND breeding lol) I lead him through pens and pastures of mares to put him out on his pasture and he is a good boy.

But what I like most about him is that he challenges me to be a better horse-person, to ride him better and better every year and to be a savvy horse handler - as after all he IS a stallion and has slightly different issues and agendas and with more oomph than mares or geldings.  Some days I wish I didn't have to be as "on" for him, but most of the time I welcome it!

Well, hope you don't mind the long post - I have been putting a lot of thought into my boy these days.  Some people still tend to shy away from breeding their mares to a tail-less stallion and I always say I do not breed for it, but I have seen very few extremes from him and the few that we have seen seem to be mostly from appy lineages.  Anyway, I don't think we get more extremes from him than others get from their full mane and tail stallions.

Enjoy the videos!

Shelly
http://www.curlystandardplace.com 

Okanagan Breeder's Showcase!

 

 

 

Hello all,

This past Saturday and Sunday I attended the Okanagan Breeder's Showcase.  This was their second annual show and they had a lot of interesting stuff going on, clinics and events and a great used tack sale, along with the Stallion show of course!

 

I'm not sure why I didn't go last year - other commitments or something, but I am sure glad I went this time.  It was a pretty good turnout and lots of interest in the stallions - in particular *Sandman of course - he always creates a "stir" as he is so unique looking - not just his lack of mane and tail, but he is an impressive horse in person - people just "have" to look at him :)  I could hardly make my way to and from the indoor arena where the stallion show was - SO many questions and really really nice comments about him.  The one trainer that I use quite a bit, though I haven't seen her since last season, she even had to tell me how good he is looking, so that was great!

 

So we had two sessions where I rode him for the show in the indoor arena - of course the lighting in there is terrible so no photos from inside and we only have a few pictures of him outside, I will attach them though.  I have to say that he was a very good boy, and we have only ridden him for about a month or so this year and last year he was only ridden about three times, so it is taking him a bit to get back into it completely.  But, when he hears his music "Mr. Sandman, by the Chordettes" (I always play this music while they read his information, so cute and fitting) he puffs right up and shows off like crazy LOL.

 

I'm also going to copy/paste the lyrics for his "song" - I find it soooo hilarious and fitting for him - plus the music is quite nice to ride to :)

 

Standing Curly Sporthorse Stallion *Sandman's Magic

 http://www.curlystandardplace.com

 

 

 

 

(scat “bung, bung, bung, bung..........)

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Give him two lips like roses and clover (bung, bung, bung, bung)
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.
Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.

(scat “bung, bung, bung, bung.….)

Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream
Make him the cutest that I've ever seen
Give him the word that I'm not a rover
Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.
Sandman, I'm so alone
Don't have nobody to call my own
Please turn on your magic beam
Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream.

(scat “bung, bung, bung, bung)

Mr. Sandman (male voice: “Yesss?) bring us a dream
Give him a pair of eyes with a “come-hither” gleam
Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci
And lots of wavy hair like Liberace
Mr Sandman, someone to hold (someone to hold)
Would be so peachy before we're too old
So please turn on your magic beam
Mr Sandman, bring us, please, please, please
Mr Sandman, bring us a dream.

(scat “bung, bung, bung, bung….) 

New Arrivals! Dontcha love Spring!

Early on the morning of April 6th, a new star was born!  Our wonderful mare *Spar's Barefoot Contessa and our stallion *Sandman's Magic produced a really wonderful black Curly filly.  We are working on a name for her, suggestions welcomed!  Here she is, just a few hours old.

And then on April 8th, another Curly filly was born - sired again by *Sandman - this one belongs to lucky Sheryl of Cozy Nook Curlies in WA state - look at the colour on this baby wow!  Congratulations Sheryl!