Always something

My husband wanted to know if I wanted to go for a ride this evening and you know I couldn't turn that down, so off we went!  His horse can be a handful, but lately she's been good, but tonight she was a handful.  I must say he did good being persistent that she do it his way, but it was very upsetting for Corky and consequently Corky was the "steady" one, but was not my usual ride that I'm used to with him. 

Kirk wanted to go where I took my friend last Saturday, so off we started down the road.  I felt like it was taking forever to get there, because Corky was taking baby steps as the leader horse because Kayla was trying to intimidate him, but Kayla didn't want to lead either.  Mares sometimes!  On our way we discovered a snapping turtle laying her eggs!

 We continued down the road and finally came to the two-track.  The footing is sand and gets better, so that was good.  Kirk kept wanting to trot and canter, but I was hesitant because it's a curvy road and you never know what is coming around the next curve.  Finally we came to a straight area and we started trotting, just getting ready to go into a canter and a bird flys up and wham!  Both horses spook.  Cork has never spooked that bad and I almost went over the front of my saddle head first, but caught myself with my hand on his neck.  I know he was feeding off of Kayla's anxiety.  Kirk wasn't so lucky.  Kayla is infamous for spooking at birds flying up and crow hops and Kirk didn't go with her and took his first fall from his horse and he's been riding her for 3 years on and off.  Pretty good, huh!  I was worried he was hurt, but he got back on that horse and we continued for a little farther.  Kirk was impressed that Corky was going through the big puddles, so insisted Kayla do it at least once and that did take some convincing on his part, but he finally succeeded!

The pace back home picked up, of course, and guess who we ran into on the way home?

Yup, Ms. Turtle all done with her duties and heading for the swamp.  So all in all my ride on Corky was a good one, but I like my relaxed Corky much better than my Corky who has a nervous horse partner.  Have a good weekend all!
Janeen and Corky from the UP of Michigan!

Lovely day for a clinic

I am so  behind on blogging!!  Wa sa greta  day last saturday  for a  horsemanship  clinic.. #  curly's!!  Whoot..  My  self with Sage..  Kendahl  with  Rose and Chrisinda Grant  with one of my home  bred 's Orion  ..  Clinic  was Saturday May 25th.. great fun!!

 Kendahl and Rose

 Sheryl and Sage

Chrisy and Orion

Facing fears

You know those times when you say you don't want to do something but then you do it and you're so happy you did? Well I had one this weekend.  Theo and I did some cross country jumping!  I love dressage, I love stadium jumping, I'm a bit of a weeny when it comes to solid objects but I faced my fears and we did so great!   I went with two other girls that are beginners and thier ponies just hopped over everything...not Theo he had to jump even the smallest bank or log or garden hose...  Yes anything with uneven ground is a jump to him. 

First we did some flat work and a stretchy trot with transitions.

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Then some small jumps

The next day we warmed up and then did some bigger jumps before going outside!

 

And here is some video of us doing cross country. you can't really tell but it was pouring down rain. It was so much fun after I got over my fear of jumping down those banks.  We jumped a ditch and did the water obstacle.  Theo was a bit excited and wouldn't stand still but once he had a job he was focused and listened really well to my aids.

Beautiful End

It has been a stormy day, but no rain, just lots of clouds, looking like it's going to rain and then the sun would peek out for a bit and then the cycle would repeat.  After I got done working, I wanted to take a ride and decided since it rained yesterday I would just ride from home, since the road wasn't dusty right now.  It's already too dry and clouds of dust come up when a car goes by. 

This winter the loggers made it possible to get down a two-track again, by putting a culvert and stone over a wet area that I couldn't cross before, so I decided to go back in there.  It's about a mile and a half down our road.  This is where it used to go down into a wet area and back up.  It's hard to tell now, but I'm pretty happy about it!

I was very pleased with Corky because it's been a few rides since he's been out alone, the wind was blowing slightly, like 10 miles an hour, and I knew we would encounter a car or two on our way there and back.  He didn't hesitate going out alone, the wind didn't bother him and he did great with the cars passing!  He did seem to have a problem of wanting to turn slightly to the right or left as we were going to the two-track, but he listened well and didn't do any abrupt turning to go back home to be with his buddies.

You follow along on a winding trail and then you get to the area where they logged.  It always amazes me what a devastating appearance a logged area is at first, but in a couple of years it won't be so bad.  Corky was glad for the clearing because once we hit the two-track the mosquitos seemed to have come from nowhere and in the clearing there was a breeze.  And not too far from this picture we came to where it meets ..... you guessed it!  The swamp.  Everything ends at the swamp.  Sigh.  Someday I'll figure out a loop if it kills me!

Corky is a really good boy about turning around and not becoming belligerent about wanting to go home.  His pace does pick up, but it's not like I'm having an unpleasant ride.  We came across another vehicle which was noisier and it did make him tenser, but he did really well with it.  He's a good boy.  One last photo on our way home.  The sky was blue, the breeze had quit and it was just an awesome late spring night.

Janeen and Corky, Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Taking Harold Along on our Memorial Day Riding in Maine

~Susan and Ah-D~Harold, how did you enjoy the Maine spring?  Quite chilly, so no black flies... PERFECT.  Take a look at the white coming in above Ah-D's eyes!  He is now a mature gentleman of 12. By the way, Harold, I had to stick you and Jed into the saddle bags aways down the trail because it was so windy, you were flapping all over the place.

This stone wall was in our way as we wandered through the woods.  I say wander, but that implies sauntering, and sauntering we were not.  Springtime = friskiness, but my handsome Curly boy behaved himself, nonetheless.  I moved one of the stones in a low spot so we could sneak over to the other side.  :)  Now, if I can only remember exactly where I did this....

We visited the Secret Garden.  I just love that Japenese Maple on the left, don't you?

I set the camera on the picnic table so we could pose in front of the beautiful view.

I haven't had the opportunity to ride with friends much lately, and I am hoping that will change soon.  I have TWO riding dates set up in the near future! 

Sunshine .....

Wouw finally after 2 or 3 weeks we had sunshine, we had a lot off rain, clouds and a lot of verry hard wind!!!
The Netherlands didn't had this mutch rain since or how you call it...it was back in 1962(heard it on the news)

So now we had nice wetter I went outside with cinderella...

it was nice...because I don't have a (jet, it will come soon)good place like a paddock at home, and with all the rain it was verry wet and to risky to ride galop and trot so now today finally i could do some galop and trot, we also jumped in the field and after that we went outside.....


I am a little worried about Bucky because he is getting fat verry quickly...even whene he looks at grass he is getting fat!
So my kids ride him 2 times a week and I let him run as well...but today..I thought maybe I can sit on his back....it was verry funny....It is verry strange to sit on a small horse...it looks like ryding a camel to me!
so offcourse I ride him with a western saddle....it fits him well....but it didn't fit's me.....AU!
so I' am thinking off using a normal saddle whene I ride him...or does anybody knows a solution for this situation???except off me lossing weight waahhahahahah!!!!???

 

thank you all for reading our story

 

greetigns marjolein, cinderella and bucky

Memorial Day Weekend Rides!

In the US today is Memorial Day, so most people had at least a 3 day weekend.  Our weather here couldn't have been any better!  Sunny all three days with perfect temps and the bugs aren't bad yet!   I planned to ride every day this weekend.

Saturday I had planned to ride with 2 friends and we were going to explore an area about 15 miles away for me.  I went to hook up the trailer, looked back and realized I had a flat.  Then I realized I had a flat last weekend and never fixed it!  Ugghh!  I immediately came in and called the tire repair place, but there was no answer.  They were closed for the holiday weekend.  Double ugghh!  So I called my friends and told them I wouldn't be able to make it.  One of them was depending on me to pick her up, so I asked her if she wanted to come here and ride one of my extra horses, which she did later on in the afternoon!  It wasn't going to be so disappointing anyways. 

We rode the road for about a mile and a half until we hit a two-track.  I haven't been back in there for about 2 years, so it was interesting to see the growth!  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.  Corky had a couple of new "obstacles" to overcome.  There are alot of puddles back there and the first one we came to was very shiny, like there was some type of oil in it, and then it kind of streamed awhile.  Cork and I weren't on bigger side, so I wanted him to cross it.  The stream was about 3 inches wide, so he could have stepped over it, but, boy, did the shiny part get him.  He just couldn't figure it out and wanted to jump it, which I wasn't going to let him do since it was so small.  He finally got over it and relaxed.  We continued on and eventually came across a side track which goes into a swamp, but someone has been bulldozing piles of dirt and debris up so you can almost get to the other side of the swamp.  I had to take that just to see how far we could get because I'm still looking for a loop through that darn swamp!  We couldn't go far before I felt it was probably too wet, so we turned around and we went up and down the small hills, but on the last one Corky jumped from hill to hill.  It caught me off guard, but it was so funny!  He thought he was cool and I wasn't sure what he was.  After that we turned around and headed back.  Amazingly we were gone about 3 hours.

Sunday I gimped my trailer about 10 miles away (the one tire is just losing air slowly), and met up with Denise in the afternoon with Bear.  It is so awesome to be in the woods and everything be green and hearing the birds singing.  It was less than a month ago we had a freak snowstorm, much like upper elevations of New York had this weekend! 

Corky seemed to be more alert of stuff on the ground and actually jumped once and Denise and I couldn't figure out what he saw, but on the way home I remembered the "shiny water" from the day before and I think he just was on his toes and the shadows on the ground from the trees was making him look more.

And today I met up with another friend who lives about 5 miles away and we rode in the School Forest trails.   On our way to the trails Jan mentioned something about a pond at the bottom of the hill and I didn't remember any pond.  I had only been down there once for a memorial service for a fellow trail rider, but didn't remember any pond.  So after we got done putzing around the trails we rode down there.  I definitely forgot how beautiful it was, especially after a long winter.

There's the remains of an old building and I wondered what that used to be.  If memory serves me right this was someone's farm and either the school bought it or it was donated to the school, so maybe that's why we call it the School Farm ski trail.

And then as we headed back to the trailer I spied these lilac bushes, but they're not the traditional lavendar.  I love this color!

And I almost forgot!  Corky hasn't been real difficult, but started this weekend testing me catching him and getting in the trailer.  Denise suggested I teach him to get in the trailer on his own.  So today I started that and he understood within a couple of minutes what I wanted.  We've only accomplished his front feet in and then I have to go in beside him, but if his two front feet are in, he'll go all the way without stopping and being stubborn.  Yay!

I hope all of your weekends, whether it was a holiday for you or not, was a good one!

Janeen and Corky

Foster horse Jim ( aka T-bar), diamond in the rough. A blessing that's what he is.

Last year we took in 5 rescue horses in foster for Curly Horse Rescue. Also know as "the Kansas 5". These horses had been free roaming for at least 5 years with no human contact. All 5 where scared, not halter broke and untouchable and certainly you got not catch either one of them. One was very lucky and was already adopted out ( Woody) and just stayed here for some basic training. The other 4 needed a new home. We ended up adopting 2 ( Sam and Cinderella) and Jim ( Tbar) and George ( twotwo) are still looking for homes. They are both here in training now. George already proved he was a very easy trainable horse with a great personality. I have been riding him and he is getting better and better.  Jim however, scared, skiddish and not interested in bonding..It took me almost 3 weeks to catch him after we let him go on a 40 acre pasture with our other geldings. But now I started working him...THIS HORSE is the SURPRISE of the 5!! He is awesome. Scared, insecure, but a heart of gold and within 2 sessions a total different horse. He want to try so hard and is really looking to get a connection. This older gelding ( he is about 15) is a diamond in the rough!
Why it took me so long to start him?? Well I started with Sammy, since I adopted him and I thought he would make a nice little trailhorse for our ranch. Well...that didn't turned out so well. Sam can get very aggressive and will charge if he feels that's the only way out. He also is not looking into getting a bond with either human OR other horses. He hates to be touched and worked with. If you still try he will just shut down and it's like working with a shell. Luckily the last couple of months he is changing and he actually has friends now. He also comes to greet me and the last time I took him out and worked with him he really tried. So he will be ok some day but it is a longer journey with him than any of the other horses.
Sam and Jim look like twins, the way they move, they way they look, the way they take off together like DO NOT GET NEAR ME! I was a little discouraged by Sam, had a lot more horses to train so Jim was somewhat on " the back burner". Until now!
I took some pics of our first session in the roundpen and I took him true the obstacle course.

Started in the roundpen with the flag...what is this scary thing?

After about 10 minutes. Ow, ok it's just a flag I can handle that if you don't move it too fast.

What are those?? WHAT? I need to go true there....are you serious?

Well so far I could trust you, so you might be a good person..I will do it.

You know there is a shower curtain trying to attack me don't you????

 pfff glad you saved me from that scary thing.

                                 hmmm and you say this is the most scary obstacle of them all, according to all the other horses?? 

  I proof you wrong. I can do this no problem.

Soaking it all up in his stall for a couple of hours. 

 

Then we made him a nice pen in the grass. 

This is such a HUGE turn for this little brave OLDER (15) gelding.

I am so happy we can work together like this. Many times I wondered what did I got myself into taking all these horses in. Now a year later I feel like they are a blessing in my life. Great teachers each and every one of them.

Marion Huurman

Hidden Cave Ranch, Kentucky

Curly fillies at a show to Bordeaux

Hello Everyone !
I was going monday at a big show. 2 of my Curly fillies (born at home and sold) was showed to Bordeaux in France (maybe the name of Bordeaux means something to you, it is a big town in France, and the wine from Bordeaux is well know !). It is far around 500 km to my home and I was happy to go and see my fillies and give advertisements  and infos about curlies to people. Unfortunately the young girl forgot to feed them et and deworm since I sold my fillies 6 months ago and they was very tin. No really in a bad health, but poorly feeded... I was a little sad and ashamed, even though I tried to help the girl to care well her horses, I didn't know the matter. all her familly works with horses so I was thinking she was able to care. In the other hand, she did a good job with Handling and dressage.
Somewhere we was lucky because it was a day more for professional breeders, so they can see how beautiful is... the skeleton (not a joke really funny from me sorry) and maybe understand the errors of a young breeder. I hope the good grass and deworming who is ok for now will help my fillies to take weight again. I met presidents of sporthorses association and we have nice opportunity to work with them for promote the curlies (with healthier curlies I hope for the next time). Have a nice day everyone, Sophie

my sturdy nephew!!!

my nephew is afraid of horses and dogs.
this afternoon he visited us with his mother and maaike and anouk whined as long as it toke on his mind until he wanted to ride .... then sit on bucky ...!!!
when he finally told me and his mother he wanted to ride Bucky his mother laugh hahaha she did not believe that he really wanted ... but he said yes!
I saddled Bucky ... nephew put on his back, and he also wanted to trot ... he had fun!
great ... my cousin did not know what she saw but she was verry happy!
it's such a cute movie ... though it is very short!

enjoy the short movie.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4930087499295&l=1467406656921337348

Hope it will be good wetter soon....we have rain for days...just 24 hours....ahhhhh

greetigns marjolein

Something new!

Well, I'm very excited to report that Corky and I have started something new and we LIKE it!  I decided I wanted to try barrels, poles, et cetera.  We have a small speed association in our area and I've always heard good things about the group.  So I signed up and last week was our first lesson with a local trainer that has done that sort of thing alot.   As we pulled into her yard I wasn't sure how Corky would act with her horses out and about, but he came off the trailer and just looked around and remained calm.  He is such a gem!  We saddled up and went to the arena with the barrels in it and proceeded to receive instruction.  After a few times around she tape recorded it and here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkhpMei7Q2s&feature=youtu.be

Here is a still picture of us practicing.

Yesterday was the first show and I signed up in Novice for barrels, poles, down and back and pylons.  My intention was just to trot throughout the whole thing.  I don't think Corky and I will ever break any records but our own and I'm just out to have some fun!  The weather was absolutely awesome!  It was mid 70's and sunshine all day long!  I got quite sunburned on my face and hands.  Yes, I put sunscreen on, but remember we just came off snow a couple of weeks ago, so we haven't had alot of exposure yet.

When we got there I realized I had never had Corky with so many horses so maybe this was just going to be a socialization exercise to learn how Corky was supposed to act.  There were horses calling and the majority of everybody acted just fine.  A couple of horses acted up, but nothing their owners couldn't handle.  Corky was excellent!  I don't know if he's done this before, but he answered a couple of calls, but never thought anything of it.  He drank whenever he was offered water and if tied to the trailer he just stood there and ate.

When it was our turn for our first class, I started out trotting and after the first barrel, Corky wanted to canter, but I held him back, but then I realized the arena was bigger and he had sort of figured out what we were doing, so I cantered him on the longer stretches in all the events.  In pole bending I anticipated too soon when I should ask him to turn and he turned before the pole instead of the pole, but we still did okay.  Here's a video of that event.

http://youtu.be/VHkb-j0tNv4

Here is a still picture of us doing pylons!

We had a really good time and Corky never once acted up.  He just did what I knew he would do.  Like I said, he's such a gem!  I'm so glad I found him!  And we can't wait for the next show!

There were five in our class and we took 3rd in three of the classes and somehow took a 2nd in the down and back!  I was pleasantly surprised!

Janeen and Corky, Dafter, Michigan

Visitors

Today was the day...my old stable buddy's came to visit us at home...

I was thinking about it a lot and couldn't wait until the day they would come to visit us...

It was perfect...the horses where all verry happy to see there friends again ....everything went perfect...it looked like they still knew eachother....I believe so!

After they left...Cinderella has been calling her friends for 3 or 4 hourse...every 5 minutes....pffff so said!!!!
I will miss them, it was verry nice to see a couple of my stable buddy's again, we had a lot off fun!
I will go to visit them sometimes......

 

It was a perfect day but I am also a little said love to stay at home but also liked the stable, the buddys and our rides together...verry proud and happy that these people are my friends!!

ps...also the husband off the stables came on his motorcycle (iron horse haha)

to join our little party!!!!

 

thanks to all off my stable buddy´s !!!!!!!

will miss you

greetings

 marjolein overbosch

the netherlands

 

Usually and Not This Time!

It has been a while since I have blogged, my new job, the flu and an upper respiratory infection have kept me away!   One of the perks of my new job is that I get home much earlier, which gives me time to ride so last Thursday my friend Lara met me at my house.  We loaded up the girls (without having to chase them in order to catch them) and headed to Standing Stone park.  I gave her the choice of which one to ride and she chose Pickles this time.  We discussed what trail we should ride and if we should do the short version or the long version.  We both decided on the short version because my horses are usually more than content to just meander along, especially if it is just them.  We arrived, unloaded, tacked up, mounted and headed down the trail.  To both of our surprise, Shya and Pickles were VERY forward moving.  Usually they fight over who goes first, as in they both want to be in back.  This time Pickles took the lead and moved on down the trail.  We wanted to move out a little faster so I put Shya in the lead because I didn't know how Pix would respond to a new rider.  We started off at a trot and all I had to do was kiss and Shya moved into a canter!  And she was in the lead!  Usually I have to give her constant prodding when she is in the lead, and most the time she will just do her fast extended trot.  Not this time!  I asked Lara if she got to canter also and she said yes, that Pickles did a couple of steps in a trot and broke into a canter.  Miss Pix will do anything to stay at a trot and Mark will have to prod her into a canter, not this time!  We broke into a canter a few more times with Shya in the lead and then we changed it up and put Pix in the lead.  She was in such a forward moving frame of mind that she broke out into a canter of her own accord.  Who were these horses?  One of the reasons my husband doesn't like to ride with just the two of us is because the girls won't go.  We can't get  them into a canter and fight with them the entire time to get them to trot.  And the lead horse is always trying to stop and let the other horse in front.  Not this time!  Lara and I laughed because the ride was over way to soon and we had so much fine.  We kicked ourselves for not riding the longer version.  Sometimes just getting out and trail riding can change a horse, and we have done a lot of it in this past year with our dear friends, Rick and Lara.  I do have to admit it has been quite awhile since Mark and I have tried it on our own so we are going to head out today and see how they do.  I sure I hope I get to say this isn't what they "usually" do and "not this time". 

I love my Curly girls!