Suri's foal is here!

Last saturday evening Suri's foal was born. I was there when the birth started and helped Suri to get this big boy out! At first she was not very interested in the foal and not sure what to do as a mother but this was ok very soon. I spent the first night out in the field with Suri and her foal, a beautifull buckskin tobiano colt! Within half an hour after he was born he was allready up and walking around. He was more interested in his surroundings than in his mother or drinking! He 'tested' the electric fence within the first hour and also had an accident falling in the water (bathtub with drinking water) I was glad I was there all the time to help keep him safe (and get him out of the bathtub and dry him off again). After 2 hours he settled and had a drink:) By then he had explored all of the paddock and was aware of the fence! Getting him used to the fence I helped to 'push' him back and have him go away from it instead of fighting against it.
It was such a special experience and he is such a brave and beautifull boy!

More on topic, with Voelie who is now 3 years old I have been practicing leaning on her back and having a saddle on her (without a rider). She is quite lazy, in the morning she is lying down in the paddock and waits for me to put the bowl of food in front of her. She eats it while she is lying down! This gives me the chance to sit on he back and get her used to it while she is lying down. I have never done this before with other horses and it seems a bit 'unconventional' but it seems to work for us and she is quite happy to have me sitting on her back and it is easy enough for me to get on:) Next step will be sitting on her while she is standing!

Here are some pictures of Suri and her lovely son, JB Missouri's Talisker (Tally)

Good Times

Took Kendahl to the Pend Orielle Game range  Monday 6/17.  This was he  first solo ride there,  as she was too young the last time  she was there with me and horses.. so it  has been some years.. the ride  I took her on takes  4 hrs  and we had a good time..  We took Rose and Sage  and they did great, altho I hope Sage will  develop  tougher hoofs  as she was pretty tender, so had to use an easy boot, FYI, the  old style ones are  not good!!  lol   I do not want to start  putting shoes on her..  Many more  rides to come!!  :)

A Really Great day

Nearly a month after the clinic where things do not go as planned, I took the driving lines again from the box...in other words..I drove today! 
It has been an educational month....from learning proper long lining methods to putting it in practice I found my horse getting in better shape, and myself too!  Long Lining a tall, leggy horse is a workout all on its own. Legacy can really walk, I love her walk, a nice swinging walk that she inherited from her Dam.....but it is a job to keep up with. We also spent alot of time on manners, and how is really the top mare in the herd.
After weeks of long lining, I hitched Legacy to a tire to pull.  I wanted to see how well she was pushing into her breastcollar and pulling a load...she passed with flying colors. Today, I hitched my carriage and we went for a very short drive...my nerves were instantly settled when she walked off  without a fuss, like the awesome mare that she is.
This coming weekend is a competition, I don't know if I will compete or not, but I will be doing lessons, and I hope to have lots of time to drive the beautiful grounds of Olivia Farms.

the paddock!

I am so happy!!!
I am feeling sorry for Bucky, his stable is 3x3..(normal pony size) so normally for him it is good.
but in my opinion horses can stay out and don't need a stable, i think it is said....to lock them up...
Cinderella's stable is 5x4 meters...so absolutly big enough....she loves it and loves to have some quality time for her one....afther beeing outside she wants to take a nape, she wants to sleep and needs her time alone.
in 2 months i get a big place with sand to ride in, the horses can stay there at night...if it is okay with cinderella...now they have to go in the stable because they will get to fat specually bucky when he eats all the grass.
i am scared theye get sick/ill...
so until i have my sandpalace.... (how do you call it in englisch? sorry don't know) but they have to stay inside the barn.
Bucky is not used to be in a stable so knocked out the door with his ass 3 times...hihihi :)
now my husband made a sort off paddock for Bucky so he can go out if he want to!
so happy!

Parades and other happenings

Hello all,
I have been riding a lot - pretty much every day, but it leaves me little time to get on here to read everyone's blogs, let alone post.
But, I decided that I better post about our local parade pretty quick, before I leave this afternoon for our next event, our first endurance ride of the season!
On June 1st Summerland has their annual parade and our Curly farm participated this year for the first time!  Even though technically I didn't ride..... I did have three of our horses (including *Patty Cake, the mini) participating!
My daughter Anastasia rode our gelding *Cuervo and my good friend Maryan rode my mare *Serenade - you should know that Maryan is 73 this year - she also rides and conditions *Serenade for me, so that I can take her to endurance rides (this weekend).  My best guy Warren did the honours of leading the horses with *Patty, Warren is 6' tall and wore his tallest boots and hat LOL.  I should ALSO give credit to Maryan - she made the little "saddle" for *Patty - looked great eh?
My good friend Sheral did the clean up for us and myself and another young friend, Jennifer handed out information on Curlies.  I also had t-shirts made for the occasion - my younger daughter Danielle designed the logo and we put "Curly horses are hypoallergenic" on the back - the shirts look nicer in person, they are steel grey with white lettering.  I will get better pictures of them one of these days.
So anyway, we are all ready for the upcoming Calgary Stampede where we are going to be in that BIG parade!
Shelly in Summerland, BC Canada

Bucky is becomming a kids pony

 Bucky is becomming a kids pony more and more and more......

Yesterday I went into the woods with Bucky and Maaike, it went perfect.

Bucky will be a real kids pony.... but now i can't let my kids ride him without me holding him on a rope.
Maaike never get horse ryding lessons because she was allergic
One time there was a big car...he was scared.....he wanted to jump, run, turn...he didn't know anymore....so I hold him and it was okay.

Beautiful summer night

Corky and I didn't have a whole lot of time this evening, but the temps were perfect, the sun was shining and I knew with the flies just starting that riding time was going to get more precious, so off we went.  Corky moved right out and along as we followed the roads.  The ticks are thick right now, so I was avoiding the woods.  I thought about going to this area where there is a bridge to see how he does with them, but we just didn't have enough time, but there will be plenty of more rides for that!  The light breeze helped keep the flies away pretty much and Corky was just real attentive to what his surroundings were, ears perked up, looking left and right, as we hadn't been down this road before.  We came to a neighbor's house that has a single horse.  She is unrideable and I kind of feel bad for her, all by herself.  She came to the fence and Corky called to her, but she didn't return the call.  Corky REALLY wanted to go meet her, but I gave him gentle nudges and he continued on down the road.  We were about to hit blacktop when I decided we should head back.  Not very far I spied these blackbirds.  At first I thought it was a mating ritual, but then realized they were picking up stones from the freshly replaced culvert. 

As you can see in the distance there is a nice white fence and a lovely centennial farm.  It's the Norton farm and it was established in 1881.  It's hard for me to imagine having something in the family for that long, as that has never happened in my family.

As we got closer to the driveway and fence, Corky turned to go up the driveway as if to say, "Let's investigate" or "Wouldn't it be nice to live there, Mom?  They have a nice barn and nice pastures and I bet the house is really nice too!"

As we continued on we came to a field that we had crossed leaving for our ride and there were at least 100 seagulls evidently hunting for bugs and as we started across the field they all went into flight and I felt like I was in a sea of beautiful white seagulls briefly and then they landed again to hunt some more.

The pictures didn't turn out of the seagulls as well as I had hoped, but the white blotches are seagulls in flight or on the ground and you can just see their heads.  I hope all is well in your world!

Janeen and Corky from the UP of Michigan

Never Say Never!

When I first got back into horses a few years ago, my friend Kathy invited us to the speed show and tried to get me to enter a horse.  I told her "I'll never do that.  That's too fast.  I'll get hurt!"  Well, I went to my second speed show.....and I GALLOPED every chance I got!  And I liked it and I think Corky did too!  I didn't get a chance to practice at all, so I didn't know how things were going to turn out, but it was all good!  There isn't alot to tell about the show, other than I tried galloping and Corky understood, so that's what we did!  A friend took some awesome pictures at the show that I'm sharing!


Pole bending



 All of this wouldn't be possible if Corky wasn't the horse that he is!  I can't stop saying that enough.  I wouldn't be doing this without him.

And then there was a picture that I'm going to frame!

Janeen and Corky from the UP of Michigan!

Sharing videos of good times with friends and Curlies at Golden Curls Ranch

Hello all,

Our wonderful friend and exchange student, Gina, has returned to Germany. I am missing her terribly. But, I can watch videos of Gina and our Curlies and it helps. Here are a few I 'd like to share too{:>

1. Gina and Curly Man Chester practicing Barrels
http://youtu.be/4q2nsojcJI8

Running Barrels was quite an adventure for Gina and our Stallion Chester was a wonderful teacher{:>

2. Rumor with Curlies at Golden Curls Ranch
http://youtu.be/EELTBDaW5-M

We had great fun riding to songs, she and Jett, Chester and I and our friend Rudy with Lakota. We are working on our speakers for our arena but for now blast out the songs on our Truck's radio{:>

3. O'Sparky and Gina enjoying a ride in the shade
http://youtu.be/GTQckiJ_I1s

Gina and O'Sparky our BLM gathered Curly Mustang Stallion really connected as you can see in this video

4. Gina and Denny, love the connection
http://youtu.be/pdo5zfn4RcQ

We were gifted with a wonderful colt, Denny, during Gina's stay and she and Denny were inseparable.

5. Yeehaw with Curlies and our Irish Dexter Cows
http://youtu.be/RpabCAkL5MI

Of course, herding cattle is must do in Texas so Gina and O'Sparky and Chester and I had great times moving our wonderful Irish Dexters into the next grazing areas.....

We were especially trilled to ride our Stallions together. Gina will be returning to visit for our convention in October and we have lots of cool demos with our Stallions planned on October 4th, a Golden Curly Ranch day. Hope ya'll can join us.

Angie Gaines
www.goldencurlsranch.com
Kaufman, TX, USA

we have reached our goal!!!

Today I walked outside with Bucky, he is doing great!
BUT.....With CInderella i went to the woods and ride her.....she is a verry sweet horse....she is always looking  a lot and it makes me nervous but i try to stay calm and let her look to show her there is nothing to be afraid...

 

Cinderella is getting blad whene a new season starts...now i gave her golden shine for horses.....look at her...just perfect and her coat is verry strong....not one bald space...before i gave it to her she looked like this:

so if any off you want to try...I will help you out!

greetgins marjolein overbosch, the netherlands.

Yep Angie, Got My Own German Foreign Exchange Student to Ride My Hoss

 

Well, I was so envious of Angie's German exchange student that I went out and got one of my own!  Here she is, Hannah, riding my handsome Curly boy Ah-D. 

OKAY, I will stop all the lying. Hannah is actually a guest of my friends Bob and Terry, and we went out on a group trail ride/drive on Sunday up in their neck of the woods.  Stoneham, Maine is beautiful country and there are plenty of back roads and trails from which to choose, all of which are surrounded by greenery this time of year. Very pleasing to the eye. 

This was a fantastic learning opportunity for Ah-D to be exposed to a team pulling a forecart.  Forecarts are somewhat noisy, with chain jingling and metal parts clanging.  At Acadia National Park, whenever we needed to pass a big team hauling tourists in a wagon, Ah-D was quite taken aback by the sight and smell, and I had to dismount for safety.  Now, we are better partners. Ah-D was definitely curious, but not shocked or scared. 

Hitching up

We humans talked it over and decided it was better to start out with the riders behind the team.  This worked out great, except that right near the beginning of the trip, the forecart tire ran over a discarded water bottle. Kabang! Swoosh! Ah-D spooked a bit, but who wouldn't? Even I jumped.  (Well, not counting Allie, who didn't do a thing - haha)

I eventually guided Ah-D on all sides of the team Pat and Willy, and when we stopped at a small clearing so Terry could take a picture for posterity, Ah-D reached out to Willy (or was it Pat?) to officially make his acquaintance.  My Curly is so friendly!

Love this picture of Willy picking at Pat.  Ah-D does this all the time to Allie.  And Ah-D friend Jax does it all the time to him, so what goes around comes around, I guess.

All of us had such a good time.  Ah-D was having fun, too, I know it!  He was all fired up to keep up with the team, and I think he was showing off because his head was higher than usual and there was a definite spring to his step.  Once in a while Hannah and I would hold our horses back so that we could canter to catch up.  Both Ah-D and Allie were right into it! 

Once I was sure that Ah-D was not frightened of the team pulling the forecart, I offered to switch horses with Hannah so that she could ride Ah-D.   Hannah is young, tall and fit, and language barrier aside,  I could tell from the first moment I saw her sit a horse that she could RIDE.  She has very correct and elegant posture in the saddle which belies her claim that she could ride "some." Yep, she and Ah-D hit it off!  She "hogged" him the whole rest of the ride, which made my heart a-flutter because I just love showing other people just how wonderful my Curly is!!!  Very rarely do I get to watch other people ride my horse.  Boy, is he CUTE! And, I had fun on Allie, because he was excited and determined to keep up.  It is so enjoyable to ride a horse who likes to get out and do something.

 As you can see, Hannah is much taller than me, so once we switched hosses, her legs were hiked right up from the stirrups, but my feet were just skimming mine.  Being too lazy to stop and adjust, I finally just let my legs hang.  It's good for your core muscles to do that anyway.  This morning, I can tell that I rode that way for an hour yesterday.  I bet Hannah doesn't feel a thing.

Bugs were not an issue and the weather was perfect for riding.  I didn't know where the heck I was, but it didn't matter because everyone else did, so I didn't have to worry about getting lost.  Bob was explaining to me where different trails went, but it went whoosh right over my head.  I just nodded and acted agreeable because 1. It's not very flattering to let on how directionally challenged I am 2. Bob likes to talk 3. What he was saying was interesting 4. Maybe the next time I am told, I will have an inkling of where I am in the grand scheme of Stoneham.  Once, as we passed over large culvert and I was admiring a beautiful good-sized pool of water below, Bob remarked that that is the spot where my husband and boys fished the other weekend (while I was getting a driving lesson).  So funny, because I was trying to spy some trout!  They were delicious, by the way.



 

 Lake Victoria was just a hop, skip and a jump from that nice fishing hole. One of the high points of the trip was experiencing Lake Victoria on horseback.  Hannah and I had fun letting our horses splash around in the lake.  Allie was very gung-ho about it, and once I even got the feeling that he was intending to lay down in the water, so I had to put the kibosh on that!



This from a pony who wouldn't even THINK of crossing a brook a few years ago!



Maybe it was just my imagination.   Thinking back, I should have ditched the cell phone, camera and saddle and let Allie go for it! At any rate, the scenery there was gorgeous.  It is on my agenda for next time.    

 

Hannah and Ah-D silhouetted against the view

Hope you enjoyed our trip to Stoneham.  Ah-D and I sure did!