Leo is home!

Taken by Ranch Namaspamoos

Leo left home for about six weeks of training back in mid-July.  On Saturday the 31st of August Chuck and Guinevive went north to collect him from Ranch Namaspamoos where he had been.  Isabelle is an able trainer and had a collection of student workers to help her as well.  Guinevive will be riding him while he is here but I remind my readers that he *is* for sale! Below please find her report on her first ride with him at home.

Today I rode Leo for the first time since he's been back home. As such, it was more of a “test ride” than anything. First I had to fit the tack to him (as my saddle has a gullet changing system) and ended up with my Wintec 2000 All-Purpose and a Beta Bitless bridle from Nurtural. He was easy-going, even a bit excited about it when I brought it out, which only motivated me to ride him more.

            I led him out and mounted up, immediately he was ready to go. I walked him partway down the hill before I asked for a halt and then asked for a walk on. He listened readily. We were almost all the way down the hill when some birds flew through the branches of a bundle of trees to the left of the path. Mind you, he's walked by this a million times in his life, but as he's just come back home he had forgotten about that particular scare. He did spook, but only shivered his muscles and stepped calmly to the side one step. I told him he was a good boy and thanked him for not taking off and then continued to ride.

            He did notice the other horses down at the far end of the field just a moment later and obviously had the thought to gallop to them, but he held back and listened when I asked him to enter a paddock to our right (the one I usually ride horses in when it's vacant). During the ride he was very easily distracted, but I would attribute that to the circumstances: newly arrived home, new rider, new tack and all of that next to his age and relative inexperience. I think his focus is won as long as you keep him busy. I was successful in this by asking for circles and changes of direction. I won't lie, it was a chore to get him to get going in the precise right direction rather than the correct general direction, but overall he has a good grasp of the concept. This was all done at the walk, and I only asked him to trot on the last leg of the hill on our way back to his paddock.

            When he did trot he actually gave me a foxtrot, dropping his hips and lifting his shoulders. I was pleasantly surprised, having never ridden a foxtrot before. It certainly was smooth!

A week of rain and horses

Last Sunday after doing some work around the farm with the help of a friend, Guinevive convinced Chuck that it was time for a ride.  As the boys are in the furthest paddocks, we loaded up the truck with saddles and other riding essentials and drove on out.

Chuck on *Sun

Guine pulled *Red out and started to saddle him up, only to discovered that the girth she thought would fit did not, so she decided to ride him bareback.  Chuck pulled out *Sun and put the Barefoot, a treeless saddle, on him but left him in a rope halter for the ride.  As it was the first of the season they had already decided to keep it short.

Guine on *Red; Chuck on *Sun

Chuck climbed up onto the tailgate of the truck and I brought *Sun up to it.  Chuck got on and we made sure everything was adjusted correctly.  Then he began walking *Sun and I went over and gave Guine a leg up onto *Red.  Off they went.  They kept at the walk, except for a couple of trots that *Sun offered that were easily brought back to the walk by Chuck.  They meandered down 2/3rds the length of the field and then decided to climb off and walk the horses back.

Monday brought out Linda Corey, our Equine Dentist.  Linda has cared for our horses since 2002 and does so without sedation.  Those horses that need sedation I get our vet to do later (that appointment is set for next week).  I am all about having a horse have a pleasant experience and have no problem calling it off if I think it might be otherwise.  We started with *Red, and while I held the halter and kept my left hand on his nose to keep his head lower, Linda floated away.  For those of my readers who are unfamiliar with dental care for horses, the dentist uses very large files to file down sharp edges and hooks that develop from chewing their grass and hay.  Horses have their complete tooth in their jaw and as they chew and wear it down, the tooth erupts further.  Rarely do they get cavities due to their diet although occasionally they may develop a problem due to an accident.  All in all, we got three boys and three girls done.  For more information and a great video visit Traditional Equine Dentistry.

Tuesday, I did manage to take both Silken and *Walker for exercise walks up and down our hill before I had to get ready to substitute teach.  Both of them are beginning to develop better muscle tone.

Silken trots at liberty

Guine & Silken

Thursday Guine and I took Silken down for Guine to test the waters on the ground.  It has been three years, at least, since Silken was ridden.  I’ve worked her this year, but Guine had not and wanted to make sure she would listen to her.  She took her through walk/trot/canter up and down transitions, some disengagements and worked on side passes.  Then we set up cross rails and she jumped them a few times.  While Guine was working with her, I was busy taking photos and video.

Guine and Silken trot on!

Saddling Silken

Today, I brought *Red to the round pen and showed Guine how I work with him.  Then it was time for Silken again, but this time Guine rode her, first in the round pen and then outside the round pen.  Outside she took her on a brief canter as well and then rode her up to her paddock.

You might wonder why I included rain in the title?  That is because it rained, at some point, every day hampering our ability to work with more horses than we got to.  Oh well, there’s always next week!

Excitement

I have been working with the horses this past week, asking for increasing time moving forward, using tires as a jumping spot, spiraling them in and out on the lunge, and introducing ground poles and crossrails.  With *Walker, I increased the number of times we walked up and down the hill and also asked her to back up the hill for a dozen paces or so.

However, this blog is going to be just a short one as I want to share our excitement that our youngest daughter, Guine will be coming to visit us in less than a week and staying for the whole month of June!!  Guine is our “horsie girl” and she is coming to help me with the horses.  Not only will my readers be able to look forward to great blogs about what we’re doing, but I will be getting new photos AND video of the horses for sale.

Have a wonderful Memorial Week-end everyone!

Here comes the *Sun (and Dude, *Beau....)

I was going to title this “Rain, rain go away” but it seems we’ve gotten a stretch of nice weather – yeah!  Last week I had begun to do some spring tune up of the boys, but rain moved in as well as getting called to substitute teach so I only got to work with *Jack and *Leo.  Finally toward the end of this week the weather cleared and I’ve worked with *Sun, Dude, Silken, *Beau, *Red, and even took *Walker out.

I love that first time of working with each horse as it allows you to see where their head is at, as well as, what they have “percolated” on over their winter time off.  So how did each horse do?  Read on for a brief glimpse.

*Jack was not super focused on me.  He is usually quite attentive so I’m not sure if this was a “one of” or an attitude change, but he certainly makes me laugh!  In fact, when a horse expresses an opinion that differs from mine, that is my usual reaction; I laugh!  This day I found that whenever I raised my energy to ask for more, he’d shake his head at me.  Silly guy with a high opinion of himself!  Still, he did everything I asked; he just needed to let me know what he thought about it.

*Leo, oh that golden boy!  He is so fabulous and I seriously have no clue why someone hasn’t snatched him up to take him home.  *Leo is all about pleasing and bonding.  He is exceptionally smart, too.  We worked on transitioning up and down and it took very little energy from me.  He really watched my body language closely.  He licked and chewed almost the whole time. 

Dude – is, well Dude!  He is a “tester”, he asks “Do you really mean that?”  Once you have assured him that “Yes, I really do mean that” he is more than happy to comply!  He has grown so much since we brought him to foster with us as a 17 month old that was about a 2.5 on the Henneke Scale.  He is a gorgeous mahogany bay with the softest of noses that is happy to rest on you.  I fitted him with one of our Myler bits, a 5” roller bar D snaffle, and it fit quite well.  Guinevive will be happy as she wants to get him out and about when she is up next month.

*Suncatcher, was well, wow,  did he mature more over the winter!  From the moment he stepped into the round pen with me he was a focus on, energy receptive, “how far, how fast, yes ma’am” kind of a horse.  His ear was on me the whole time.  We did walk/trot/canter in both directions and he never missed a beat.  I was so impressed.

Silken had a few thresholds as we walked down from up top where she resides.  I watched her carefully and when I saw the tiniest bit of tension and “What’s that?” creep into her face, I’d stopped and let her look.  I allowed her to tell me when it was time to move on.  It didn’t take any time at all to walk down to the round pen.  She is as sensitive to energy as ever and transitioning down in speed has always been her bug-a-boo when she first starts back up at work.  Her transitioning from canter to trot is fine, it’s getting to the walk that can be slightly problematic.  However, we did get there and I fully expect that the next time will be far easier for her.

*Beau was ever the gentleman as I fully expect him to be.  We worked without a wand or whip, only my hands and energy.  We did walk/trot/canter in both directions a few times and I even set up a row of tires and asked him for a small trot/jump over.  He really does like to tell me that “Curly boys don’t jump” as it just isn’t his forté, but I like him to do it as a strengthening exercise.  I also had him stand next to the mounting block and bellied up on him while he just stood there.

*Red was so happy to go with me and, like *Beau, such a gentleman in behavior.  *Red has always required a bit more energy from me, so after using my hands for a bit and having him decide that he didn’t really want to go left for me, I grabbed the lunge whip and he decided it would behoove him to move on out.  He’s a funny boy and I love him dearly.  I have, and will continue to do so I’m sure, learned so much from him.  He is so smart and curious.

*Walker took a walk with me, as well.  Due to problems she’s had over the past couple of years, she lost some muscle tone, so I’m starting her with just walking/trotting in hand.  We took a trip down the hill to the round pen, checked it out, and walked back up the hill, trotting on two different flat areas as well.  As time goes on we will be walking up and down that hill more than just once.  I expect it will get me in shape too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the spring tune-up work we’ve begun.  You can look forward to more write-ups about what each horse is doing, especially once Guinevive arrives.  We are so excited that she will be here with us in June!

Don’t forget that most of our horses are for sale and we are very motivated to sell.  Check them out, come visit if you’d like, and make us an offer!

Winning Team!

We are pleased to share that *GMC Jimmy Dee (*Sage) and his rider Tesla recently have begun the 2012 show season by winning their class in second level, test three with a score of 70.1%!!  What a team!!

We have three of his half-siblings for sale.  Check out our webpage: www.greenmountaincurlies.com

To Everything There is a Season

And a time for every purpose, under heaven (The Byrds, from Turn, Turn, Turn)

Whenever there are major changes happening for someone and they write about it, they usually begin by saying something like “This is the hardest story/blog/etc. I’ve ever had to write.”  I won’t be trite and begin that way.  Instead, I will talk about what has been, and where we hope to go, and the changes that need to happen.

In January of 2000 we discovered Curlies, thanks to our daughter, Erica’s, eagle eye while watching the Rose Bowl Parade.  You see, there are three of us in the family that are allergic to mammals, and hearing about a hypoallergenic horse meant that it just might be possible to make our youngest, and most horse-crazy, daughter’s dream of owning a horse come true.  Little did we know the path we would start down after viewing that Parade.

Young *Beau; just a few days old.

We visited one group of Curlies, and Erica reacted strongly.  Then a few months later, we visited another group, and she had no reaction at all.  In September of that year we visited with the Tilson’s of Tall Trees Curlies and by November had purchased our first horse, *Tall Trees Misty’s Beau.  We set a goal of finding a mare who would balance what we felt his attributes would become, and in March of the following year purchased *Katrina’s Fire Walker from Melissa Kowal in Connecticut.  The spring of 2001 found us building a barn and fences, and *Walker arrived, on her birthday.   *Beau was brought down by Chuck and his brother in August.

*Walker

Our original goal was to have 10 foals by *Beau, and we have achieved six of them, from three different mares.  We have had a seventh foal, as well, from *Walker and a Missouri Foxtrotter stallion (we were hoping for a filly and got *Leo).  Now, it is time to end breeding.

You see, the family grew-up and moved away, and in all honesty, I probably started too late in my life down this path.  But that is okay.  I have learned so much and made so many fabulous friends by having Curlies.  We have introduced others to the breed as well and made several people quite happy when they learned they, too, might have a horse although they had allergies.

As to where we hope to go, well there are several avenues opening up for us, right now.  One of them is my brand new editing business, Red Quill.  But mostly, we need to be able to visit our family.  We have four daughters and, now, four grandchildren that we’d like to spend more time with.  They all live out of state and it is hard to find someone to care for as many horses as we presently have. 

So, we have decided to offer our horses for sale and will listen to reasonable offers for them.  There are only three horses that will NOT be sold under any circumstances: *Glory of Philea West, *Katrina’s Fire Walker, and *Red Running Star.  The others are available if you are interested.  If *Beau has no one interested in him, then come autumn we will geld him and keep him.  However, he still has so much to give to the Curly World, if the right person came along, we would part with him.

I will keep making blog entries as often as possible, so keep coming back for updates.