Saturday, January 19, 2013

Pickles aka Miss Pix

I would like to introduce you to my husband's wonderful Curly horse, Pickles (DE Woehnta).  My husband, Mark Fitzner, is severely allergic to horses but not to Curlies!!!  Thanks to this wonderful breed Mark can now share my passion or shall we say obsession with horses.  We were on the search for a horse for him when we came across an ad for curly horses in Tellico Plains, Tennessee.  Carrie Ellis and her parents were kind enough to email us some pictures of the horses they had for sale and the moment Mark saw a picture of Woehnta and he knew he just had to have her.  We drove down from Michigan with our trailer, unsure as to whether we would be returning with a horse or not.  Once again, Mark took one look at Woehnta and was certain she was the one for him, Carrie even tried to show us the other horses they had but he had eyes for none other than her.  Needless to say we brought her home and Mark renamed her Pickles.  Now is probably the point that I should say that Mark had only ridden a horse maybe twice in his life, so needless to say, he was a green rider.  His first time on her we walked in an indoor arena for about 2 minutes and he said "How do I make her go faster?".  I just laughed and told him he needed to wait until we got to know her better, which of course was the next time we rode.  Pickles has been a great teacher for Mark and he picked up riding easily.  Shortly after we got her he joined me in competing in CMO (competitive mounted orienteering) and now we ride the rigorous trails in Tennessee.  He and Pickles are soul-mates and are a perfect match for each other. Part of my goal this year is to alternate riding her and my horse Shya so I can work with her on being softer on the bit and giving to the pressure. 



5 comments:

  1. What an awesome story! Pickles is very pretty! The orienteering sounds fascinating. I'm looking forward to seeing more posts about it!

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  2. Unfortunately they don't have CMO in Tennessee :(

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  3. Oh my Mark sounds like MY Husband! Same thing. Picks a very green and sensitive curly, doesn't know how to ride...but a match made in heaven. I love that. Pickles is gorgeous! Is this the horse you ride all the time too Tammy? Do you have other curlies? Since you are the one signed up for the contest, we'd like to know more about YOU! =]

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  4. I also have a Curly, Shya, and she is Pickles sister (share the same sire), but she has a completely different personality! One of my goals is to ride Pickles and get her more sensitive to cues for my husband, that is why I shared her photo.

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