*Joe

Well, our Curly/Arabian gelding has been ridden all winter and he is really coming along extremely well!  I am so pleased with him.....
In December he was ridden for a month by Trevor Mertes of Horses That Work, *Joe and Trevor did some ring work, but mostly rode out on the trails. 
As soon as *Joe came home from there, my eventer friend Carolin Sherman began riding him - lots of work in the arena and a bit of trails.  We have been lucky with the weather and I have managed to get some great photos of them together.   The first one is with Trevor on the trail... the rest are of Carolin and *Joe working together.  Once Spring is officially here (and my ring clears up more!) there will be a whole lot more to blog about!
Shelly
Curly Standard Place

Got colour?!

Something very new for me is the addition of a really nice PAINT mare. Now this is a first for me as up to now I have not specifically looked for horses with colours.....I admit that sometimes I do get them.... but this is the first horse that has been added to my herd to hopefully add some colour.
So, too back up a bit.

I recognize that people really do like the pinto colour on their horses and now, since I have *Icon and since HE has colour, it occurred to me to be on the look out for a nice (hopefully homozygous) pinto coloured mare. So when Jazzmyn's ad came to me I was intrigued and I decided to go and have a look. I was happy to find a mare with decent size (she is 15.3hh) excellent conformation, known Paint horse pedigree (including some TB!), and that lovely black and white colour, but what "really" sold her to me was her amazing, kind and friendly disposition...... a person would have thought she was a Curly! LOL She will fit right in with my kind and friendly people orientated Curlies and that is just super.

Jazzmyn is a 2003 fullbred Paint mare, no papers (yet) but I am working on that! She is trained to ride, apparently likes to jump! So she will be put back under saddle this spring and she will also be bred to either *Sandman or *Icon - I just can't decide! If anyone were interested in a pre-purchased foal from Jazzy and either of my stallions, now is the time to speak up as you can choose the sire for her foal at this time!

Oh ya, in my search for her pedigree information, it was pointed out to me that she is actually a "tovero" (I am learning) and what that means is that she carries both the overo and tobiano genetics and will have around a 75% chance to throw colour to her offspring, no matter what stallion she is bred to - so not quite homozygous - but still a good bet! So with either of my two stallions she should cross very well!

Below are some photos of her and here is a link to a slideshow of some more - of course, as spring comes and we get new ones this will be updated:
Jazzmyn slideshow
here is a link to her page on my website:
Jazzmyn

Shelly
Curly Standard Place

Sharing *Serenade

Well, it has been almost two weeks since we said good-bye to Cap.  He was a good friend and constant companion to my dear friend Maryan - who is understandably heartsick about losing him.

So, I did quite a bit of soul searching and finally convinced myself that I can share *Serenade with Maryan.  The truth is that I am absolutely loving riding *Serenade and she has been so important in the healing of my chronic neck injury, but even before any of this happened I had already talked to Maryan about her grand-daughter coming to ride Serenade this summer and Maryan already tried her Serenade out.  And, the fact is I won't have the time to ride Serenade as much as she should be ridden and she will really blossom with Maryan!!

Now, I know down the road that Maryan will be looking to get herself another horse and that is fine.  I know my friend and I know she loves having her own horse!  And, like I told her once we put this other sadness aside horse shopping can actually be fun.  But in the meantime, she can lean on *Serenade, spend time with her, dote on her and it will only be very good for both of them.

So here I am lifting my glass to both *Serenade and Maryan - I hope they can enjoy each others company for the time being and we will see what the future holds for us all..... Maryan says she can ride *Serenade in endurance for me this year - that would be awesome!

adendum - I got a few photos of Maryan and *Serenade the other day - along with *Serenade's dam Mirage.  Maryan is going to be helping me out with both of these girls, she used to ride Mirage years ago - before she even had Cap:

Shelly
Curly Standard Place

Good-bye to a friend

Last week our older Arabian gelding Captiwijon (affectionaely known as Cap) slipped on the ice after a night of freezing rain.  At the time he seemed to be okay, maybe a little tender on his back end, but really seemed okay.  We moved him anyway from the icy area to somewhere with good footing.  So a couple of days ago I went out to feed them in the a.m and he was on three legs - his right hind leg was just dangling, looked broken to me.  The vet was called, x-rays were taken and they were inconclusive but it was decided that we would give him a couple of days to see if he could recover from it.  That night he laid down in the deeply bedded stall and in the morning it was clear that he wanted up but couldn't do it on his own.  We have a lot of wonderful neighbours and friends and with about 8 of us assisting him he was able to get up.  He had a pretty good day, lots of drugs to keep him comfortable and his owner (she boards him here) spent the whole day with him and then stayed over night last night with him.

This morning it was pretty clear that his three good legs were just not going to be able to hold him up much longer.  The decision to call the vet back was made and he came out right away and kindly, humanely put the old fellow down.  What a sad sad day for us and especially my dear friend Maryan - she truly and sincerely loved that horse.

Now a bit of celebration of his life. 
We were introduced to Cap 6 years ago when he was an 18 year old stallion.
He was originally purchased out of California by his then owner for quite a bit of $$ - this was during the hey day of Arabian breeding, before the horse market fell apart.  At the same time a lovely little bay mare was purchased, Calika, she and Cap have been together their whole lives.
When he was 18, Maryan and I purchased him as a stallion - we were very impressed with him and his very good manners - but he was not trained to ride and we soon fixed that and had him under saddle before long. 
In the Spring we bred him to *Bijou and ever after that he had a special place in his heart for her - he loved her!
We then decided that he was going to be the perfect riding partner for Maryan so we had him gelded and then they really became fast and close partners.
Not long after that, Calika's owner brought here to board as well - they were reunited!
Maryan rode him all year round - she doted on him, cared for him, just adored this funny old horse and it was mutual - he adored her right back.

Today we said good-bye to him - he fought to overcome this for two and a half long days, but it was pretty obvious this a.m. that there was only one final act of kindness for him.
Good-bye Cap - you funny, silly, brave and very lovely boy.

Shelly
Curly Standard Placw

I forgot about *Tessa!

How could I forget about my main riding partner?!  I have been trying to keep up my training and fitness level on *Tessa, along with riding/training all the other horses that I am currently working with, it has been fun, but also a lot of work!

*Tessa is like my crown jewel - I simply adore her, she is a daughter of my deceased mare *Chip's Barefoot Babe (Babe was a piece of my heart!) and her sire is *Spartacus, so she has really excellent breeding and obviously the ability to go in lots of directions.

I have shown her in dressage and endurance and done some jumping with her and lots of trail miles.  She has had two wonderful foals for us, both sired by *Sandman, a lovely grulla pinto filly 5 years ago and in 2010 she had a gorgeous black filly.

So, *Tessa has always been a horse with quite a bit of "go" and she has a spook serious enough in her that I would never consider her a beginner's horse!  But a year ago when I put her back to work (after weaning her foal) she was just SO much worse than she has ever been - she has been a bundle of nerves that at times has been at best unpleasant to ride and sometimes even seemed to be a bit dangerous, both to me and to herself!

Most cases of horses changing their behaviour so drastically can be pinpointed to being pain related, so I have begun a quest to find out what element has changed for *Tessa - I want my horse back!  I started with treating her for ulcers, and this month I will have the chiropractor look at her, but in the meantime I read something about minerals that sounded like it could be her problem.  You see, when my mares are pregnant and lactating they get a loose mineral fed to them every day to make sure that their foals are getting enough minerals to grow properly.  Once weaned they foal then gets the minerals fed daily until they are about 2 or 3 years old.  Of course *Tessa was no exception, she was fed the minerals until she was 3 and she was bred at that age and continued to get them through her pregnancy and beyond.  Anyhow, when I did all the math, it has been this last year when she has NOT received the minerals that her behaviour became over the top.  So I have put her back on the loose mineral and also on a daily dose of magnesium, she has been on this for about a month now and I think I DO see a difference.  Yesterday I took her out for a VERY pleasant trail ride, best I have had with her in a long long time - I am SO happy to have my horse back!

So the lesson here is that if a horse suddenly changes - there is a reason for it and we need to track it down and "make it better!".

I don't have any current pictures of *Tess as we have been riding mostly solo - but here are a couple from last year - she is like a fairy tale horse LOL.  Well, the first photo is fairly recent :)
Shelly
Curly Standard Place

Its a whole new year!

Yes, 2012 is upon us and if the beginning of this year (weather-wise) is anything like the end of 2011, we are in for a lot of riding!  We have had such a great Fall/early Winter riding season already that I have made a lot of progress with several of the horses that I am currently riding.....

*Spiffy (in my last blog) has gone on to her new home with a wonderful family, they are new to horses but really doing a lot to learn and *Spiff is helping them all she can :)   - in their own words "we are having both a lot of fun and some challenges with *Spiffy), well, isn't that the way it always is with horses?!

*Serenade continues to be a wonder to ride and she is getting fitter and happier to go out each day I ride her - and that is 3 - 4 times a week.  She seems to be completely sound now as well, which we are all thrilled about!

I also made pretty good progress with *'Flame, she is now under saddle and doing well in the preliminary phases.  I think I will put the rest on hold for her though - as she is looking pregnant (gosh, can't wait for her *Icon baby!).

 *Charm has become a very fun and forward riding horse - she will be an amazing endurance horse!  We are really looking forward to this spring and the upcoming endurance season!

And, *Joe.  I had put *Joe's training on hold for a couple of months and then I sent him to the young cowboy trainer that I use locally.  He put 30 days on *Joe for me - mostly on the trail - and he said that *Joe did great.  He said that *Joe is a great horse with a distinct personality" - yep, that describes *Joe.  Now, my young neighbour/friend is going to ride *Joe for me for another 30 days, she is mostly an eventing rider, but she is a very good rider/handler and I know that *Joe will do great with her too!

So stay tuned - there is lots more exciting stuff to come from the Curly Standard Place in 2012!
Shelly
Curly Standard Place Website

Three *Sandman girls

Well, I looked at my blog to see when the last post was and I was kind of surprised to see it was August!  I guess I have had a pretty busy Fall and while this is a good thing for the progress of my horses in training obviously other areas got neglected.... :)

I was really lucky this year to be riding and training THREE young mares from *Sandman, all at the same time.
*Spiffy Curl is a 2008 Curly pony mare that I trained to ride and then she went on to her new home with a family that has allergies - they came to meet her, tested her and decided that she would be a welcome addition to their family.  I got the fun job of training her for them and she was really wonderful - accepting of all that we did and I really got to enjoy her for the time she was under saddle with me.  Here we are out on the trail - not too long before she went to her new home:

The second one is *Sandman's Serenade - she is a 2007 Curly/Arabian mare that had a really bad injury to her shoulder muscle as a weanling and it has taken her literally years to heal.  She is nearly sound now and as part of her rehab I have been riding her 4 - 5 times per week.  An unexpected, wonderful side benefit of this riding is that "my" chronic neck injury seems to be benefiting from *Serenade's smooth stride and her calm and easy going nature.  We are getting sound together!
Here I am with her on the trail the other day:

I know these two girls look much the same, but they aren't that similar - well, they are half sisters of course, but both were born black and have the grey gene from their (different) dams.  *Spiffy is only about 13hh and *Serenade is close to 15hh so they are different in that aspect!

The third mare is our lovely copper dun 2005 mare *Shesa Magic Charm.  After about 18 months off to have her filly Ballet Dancer, it is like *Charm had no time off from riding at all - after a short lunging session I hopped right on and she was just super!
*Charm is offered for sale - she can be rebred to our new young Curly stallion *BCF Icon for a really wonderful sporty foal!  Here is *Charm with Anastasia the other day:

Well that is it for now!  I hope I can post more updates more often now that Winter is just around the corner.... but I have sure been enjoying all my time in the saddle this Fall!
Shelly
http://www.curlystandardplace.com

Endurance Rides Again!

July 31st was the date for our second endurance ride of this season.  This ride was less than half an hour from our house so we took the horses up the night before to have them vetted and then we took them home and turned them out.  We loaded up early on Sunday a.m. and went to the ride.  I think this was a very good decision on our part as our horses were calm and relaxed - obviously had had a good rest at home before the ride.

I was especially pleased with Tessa - she has had some issues this year for sure and yet at this ride she was wonderfully calm and had a great attitude.  As soon as I got on her I could tell we were going to have a great ride - and we did!  She paced herself very well and reached 60 bpm easily when we returned to camp for our mid ride vet check.  She also pulsed down at the end of the ride pretty much right away - this is a big improvement from the last ride and I was very pleased!

Tessa and I placed 11th, WSL placed 12th and Anastasia and Bijou placed 13th - this was out of 48 horse/rider teams so that was a great placing IMO!

Here are a few pictures that someone took of us at the ride - there are more somewhere, I will find them eventually!  This first one is WSL, me and Anastasia heading out on our first loop.

 This second one is Tessa at her first vet check - hmmm a bath might be in order here LOL!

 And this is Anastasia and Bijou - what a great team!

Shelly
www.curlystandardplace.com

Newest addition

Here at the Curly Standard Place we are continually striving to improve on breeding outcomes and in order to do this we are always on the look out for outstanding horses to add to our riding and breeding programs.

We were lucky to be offered the truly lovely young purebred Arabian mare Soledad.  She is a 2009 registered Arabian and we are really looking forward to seeing how she grows up!  She is to be used for riding, of course, but she will also likely be contributing to our breeding program eventually as well.

Please welcome Soledad!

Ballet Dancer

We are just "LOVIN'" this foal.  This is the sweetest, most friendly, darling foal that we have had born here - she is just exceptional!

Newest arrival

Well our final foal of the season has arrived!  This foal is a first in many ways.
She is a first foal for our homebred mare *Shesa Magic Charm (aka *Charm)

She is a first foal for our homebred pony stallion *Bobble Head

 She is the first *Sandman grand-foal born here (*Sandman is *Charm's sire)
She is the first foal to be one of three generations here on our farm - very cool!  So, without further adieu, here is the beautiful red dun filly foal from *Charm and *Bobble!

Honorable mention MUST go to the Quarab pinto pony that we used to own Absolutely Charming (aka Abby).  Abby is *Charm's dam.  Abby is here for a few weeks for a riding refresher, so she got to be here when her grand-baby was born - it is really neat to see all three generations together!
Here is Abby:

Shelly in Summerland
Curly Standard Place