Meet Zachary, Jacob, and our Curly Flock Farm

Hi!  My name is Zachary.  I love Lego’s, trains, ferryboats, chickens, and my curly horses.  I am autistic and allergic to horses, but not to curly haired horses.  I can breathe around them and they do not make me itchy.  Promise is my favorite horse.  I like to ride her. 

This is Jacob.  He likes Lego’s and chickens, too.  He isn’t allergic to horses, like me.  He loves Baby and wants to ride her, but mom said we have to wait until Baby is more trained. 

Hi!  I’m Mom, also known as Jennifer.  A few years ago, we enrolled Zachary in equine therapy for his autism, but after he broke out in hives and suffered severe asthma attacks from being around straight haired horses, we thought we were done with horses.  Then we discovered curly horses.  Now, we have five curlies: three Bashkir’s, one Fox Trotter, and one BLM mustang.  And we can’t imagine life without them.  They have helped our children in so many ways.  

            

Until fairly recently, we lived in San Diego, California, where we were blessed with multiple opportunities to share our horses with lots of other children, some with special-needs, some allergic, and all horse-crazy.  Now, however, we are living in a small community on a small island, and although we love it here, we miss giving other children opportunities to see how special these horses are. 

This year, because we love children and we love horses, and in the spirit of the Ride-A-Curly contest, anyone that visits our stand at Lopez Island Farmers Market this summer will be given free “Ride-A-Curly” rides.  Any and all donations will go to our local 4-H club and to Curly Horse Rescue.  Also this year, we plan to continue what we’ve been doing for the past two years: continue to learn from and about these calm, curious, friendly, curly-haired horses. 

This is Ed, also known as Daddy.  Ed makes all of this possible for us, and for that, among many other reasons, we love him.  And he doesn’t mind wearing silly hats J

Meet the Curlies!

Shalome:  our first horse; he is smart, funny, sweet, sometimes a booger, always first at the gate.  He will start under saddle this year.  If Shalome could come into the house or climb into the car, he would.  He loves people and has the most expressive eyes.  Zachary is looking forward to riding him one day, but in the meanwhile, he loves to pet him and hug on him.

Promise:  safe and sane but not always sound, Promise is our recessive-gene curly-haired Fox Trotter.  She is our special-needs horse, and we work hard to keep her sound.  She loves children and is patient and tolerant around them.  Last year, over sixty children were able to ride her and give love to Promise; I think she also loved them.  She will continue to do what she does best: provide children a safe and quiet ride. 

Marley:  unflappable, quiet, a thinker, but still a baby.  Our third horse, Marley, was captured in the Salt Wells Creek BLM herd management area in October 2010; he is a spring/summer 2010 baby.  As novice horse owners, we were nervous about adopting Marley.  The whole concept of a “wild mustang” really intimidated me, but I have always loved the mustangs, and this horse needed a home, so we adopted him.  Marley, however, was nothing like the “wild” mustang I imagined.  He was halter trained at the Wild Horse Inmate Program (WHIP) in Canon City, Colorado and they did a fantastic job with him.  He is sweet, gentle, patient, and will make an outstanding trail horse and mount for larger special-needs individuals.  He is still young, though, so we will continue exposing Marley to different things, and will do some ground work, but mostly, he still gets to play, be groomed, and be loved on.

Baby:  when I hear people talking about in your pocket, Baby is the horse that comes to mind.  She LOVES people, and has a heart of gold, but like some other extreme curlies, she can be pushy.  With her, this year, we will be working on ground manners and then she will start driving.  Baby is Jacob’s favorite horse and he can hardly wait to ride her.  When we still lived in San Diego, Baby lovingly gave herself to a few breast cancer survivors who loved to come and breathe her in.  I think Baby was born to help other women and children suffering from trauma or living with special needs.  This horse has a heart of gold.

Magic:  captured my heart when I first saw her, but she would not let anyone near her.  Skittish, untrained, and was closer to wild than Marley; to say I was nervous about bringing her home would have been a huge understatement.  But she had a kind eye that spoke to me.  I promised her that we would go slowly and softly.  We brought her home last year, in January of 2012, along with Baby.  I hand fed her for months and slowly she learned to trust me.  When I felt she trusted me, we hired a trainer to come and work with her and me.  She is soft, kind, and generous; she has an amazing spirit.  I love this horse. 

  

I love all of them.  And I love all children.  Besides helping my own children, my goal this year for the RAC contest, is to find a way, on this tiny little island, to bring my two loves together, horses and children, so they can grow and blossom J

It Just Seemed Right

      This entry will be a first from me, as I only recently joined Ride-A-Curly. No, I didn't recently start riding curlies, competing, or appreciating them... it's been years. But I've never owned or leased a curly horse in my life. Why should I when I have a great friend who's always had them to spare!? That friend is Denise Conroy who started this whole Ride-A-Curly, Curly Horse Country, and every wonderful thing that goes with loving and promoting the breed. Since I was a kid, I learned the ins and outs of Curly Horses, the temperament of the breed, how to take good care of curled manes and tails, breed standards and pedigrees.... you name it. I've ridden both at shows and on trails with Denise's various horses over the years. I've even kept up with the activities of CCC and RAC sort of like a child looking over the fence wishing I could go play with the rest of the kids. I used to vote on Curly Horse contests at CCC, and it is likely that I know more about the rare curlies than any other breed. But alas, I didn't own a curly. In fact, I own a dare-I-say-it straight horse, a 15 year old quarter horse mare whom I love like a daughter. Denise and I ride together quite often either on my horses or we are on her horses or a combination of them.

Back to the kid standing longingly at the fence....Denise and I finally decided that I should be an honorary-non-curly-owning-but-riding-and-blogging-about-it member of RAC and so here I am. It just seemed right :-) This kid has just jumped over the fence with her borrowed curly saying, " Wait up! I'm coming too!"

So today was the cyber ride. I was riding right along with you. I've ridden a lot of different curlies over the years that Denise has graciously shared with me. Many have been sold, and new ones have come in. I've tried them all. The one that's been here the longest is Zig ( Zigachtcee's Parader ) who is nearly 21 years old. His age might make you think that he's an old poke and you throw anyone up on because he's been there done that. Not Zig. He's very sensitive and always aware of his surroundings and his rider's mood. I'm pretty used to a sensitive horse with a little bit hotter blood, yet still safe and quick to learn and remember. Zig is Tom's horse, but doesn't get out much. He's always the same for every ride when Tom or I take him out. It doesn't matter if it has been 2 months of two days. One thing that happens all the time is at the beginning of the ride. He stands for mounting, but as soon as my right leg is over the saddle he begins our ride. Off we go! You better hope you get your stirrups adjusted correctly because there's no stopping to fix them. He just starts the ride with all the energy and enthusiasms as anyone could want At times he can get a little restless wanting to lead the group or get out on the trail as soon as he is mounted. Stopping to admire the scenery doesn't always go so well for Zig and I. "KEEP CALM AND KEEP MOVING." That should be my motto for riding Ziggy. He is fueled by his rider ( which is why he needs a confident and calm rider for those times he gets excited or antsy) so I just don't let anything phase me and then nothing phases him. What I love about him is that he's always fun to ride, never boring and always sure footed. He's also got a terrific running walk! But on this Cyber Ride today he was exceptionally slow (for him) and content. Today Denise and I went out riding, she on Reese and me on Zig, in the most lovely winter wonderland. We've gotten a lot of snow here in the EUP of Michigan in the last few days ( falling still as I speak). It was that kind of snow that falls in big flakes so quietly with no wind to speak of. It would have been perfect, except we had the brilliant idea ( it was too!) to get on large animals and walk around in the woods. So naturally all that snow left the branches and as our horses passed or our helmets bashed or our horses' noses poked them it began to cover our carharts and migrate down into our coats and boots. BRRRR. But is was still fun. Zig's coat is so completely curled as it is every winter, but you wouldn't know it because of all the thick white frosting covering him! He could have had an appaloosa blanket pattern from a distance. 

We left our trail and came out onto a small beach cove where we met a group of college student on a retreat at a nearby retreat center. They liked the weather as much as we did! Denise and I knew their leader so we stopped for a moment to say hello. Reese is a ham and in-your-lap friendly, Zig.......well not so much. I expected him to get restless and dancy and I would have to ride him away from the crowd and keep him quiet until everyone was done petting Reese. NOPE. Not today! Ziggy was a gem. Several student gathered around Reese and more came around Zig and they oooed and ahhhhed over his curls. They asked us all kinds of questions about the breed and about Zig and Reese which I was pleased to inform them of. I do know a fair amount of Zig's personality, history etc and as I usually prefer to ride him out of Denise's three horses I felt proud of us as a team today. ( Just in case my own mare acquires the ability to read or hears about this through the grapevine... "YOU are always my best friend and team mate") Mostly I was also proud of Ziggy who stood like a statue (without a hint of claustrophobia...you can see how surrounded we were)  and was friendly with all the people and got his share of glamor shots :-) He wanted patiently until the student began to move and both horses proceeded down the beach.

What a nice ride it was. I judge a good ride by three things when I ride with Denise: 1) the behavior of the horse 2) the weather or scenery 3) the conversation :-)  All three were splendid today.

Beautiful day , first ride in 6 months with Warrior Freedom

FINALLY sunshine. Still very muddy and wet every where so it was not safe on the trails going up and down the hills. I did not ride Freedom in at least 6 moths due to hoof abscesses. He had one huge one and it come out on his coronary band. He was in a lot of pain. When he healed two weeks later a second one blew out, yukk. So I gave him a lot of time to be sure he was sound and pain free. Just on a side note I used Oil Of Cajeput on it, worked fantastic! it drained quickly and no scary infection. If you need more info about it message me. This picture is when it just started to open up. (The crack on his hoof was already there when I bought him.)

Anyway I did arena work with him. I have been riding him in a Paul Dietz Clinic at our ranch last spring. he rides with Buck Brannaman. And we learned a lot. Later that year I went to a Buck clinic and learned a lot more. Today I did the exercises we learned and Freedom did great. After so many months being so good, he made me very proud. We did only walk exercises and a little trotting to get him back in shape. Don't want him to have muscle pain tomorrow ;-)

Because off the snow and smoothness we are not capable of riding but we just wanted to say hello to the other RAC team members.

My name is Marjolein Overbosch, along with my 4 year old curly mare cinderella we finally join RAC 2013, for years I wanted to participate and finally we can! Cinderella is not a long time under sadlle but is verry sweat and easy to handle! (and funny!)I am a little insecure about taking/making trialrides outside and my goal of RAC 2013 will be to take a lot of trial rides and with a little support of the other RAC members I do think this will work out just fine this year and it all will gives me some more self esteem.
next month we expecting a second curly, a new one, a pony for my 2 daugthers! so excited.
let you know whene he will arrive!
I wish everybody a verry nice RAC 2013~
greetings Marjolein Overbosch (the netherlands)

Snowy Cyber Ride!

I didn't get out as early as I wanted to today and then Corky had other plans for us initially by not wanting to be caught.  Little stinker!  Picture me all bundled up in flanneled lined jeans, carhart bibs over that, RAC sweatshirt on with wool lined jacket over that and winter boots, trying to chase (cough), more like follow, Corky around until he stood still.  I worked up a sweat and it was only 22 degrees out!  But I won and we started to tack up.  I was trying to remember the last time I rode him and it's been at least 6 weeks, so I was interested to see how he would act, especially after pulling his "catch me if you can" stunt and frolicking in the new snow with Rocky.

After I haltered him, he became the old Corky I know and love.  He waited patiently while I got the icicles off of him and I could tell he was enjoying the brushing.  I got a new saddle pad for Christmas and was anxious to try that out too!  After he was all tacked up we went over to the mounting block and he has in the past given me a hard time mounting so I was happy when he just stood still and we were ready!  FINALLY! 

Remember I didn't get out as early as I wanted so I knew this was going to be a shorter ride than I wanted, but I still accomplished something today, which is the whole point; right?

This is at the start of our ride.  You can see deer tracks ahead of us.

There was a rabbit running back and forth ahead that I think caught his attention.

Starting to snow hard!

We had a wonderful ride wading through the new snow we got last night.  To my knowledge Corky has never rode in this deep of snow, so I was pleased when he just stopped and looked at the first set of rabbit tracks he came to as if to ask "What are those?"  I urged him on and he did.  A couple of spots there must have been puddles from last weekend's thaw with a thin layer of ice on them, which he fell through, but he just trudged on and took care of me like he's done this all his life.  It was wonderful to feel the solitude of the woods and enjoy our brief time together.  The weather is supposed to get artic cold, but I didn't get cold today so I'm hoping that I get to enjoy brief rides again this week!

"Ride With Me" and all my curlys!

What a day! It was so beautiful today that i had to take advantage of the nice weather. I know the rest of the week will be pretty miserable so I got alot done today. I actually managed to get on all three of my curlys!

First i put in a good hour on Chuck doing mostly walk/trot  ring work and worked on doing rollbacks properly with good departures. He was a little stubborn about turning one way and likes to swing out his back end but by the end of the ride i managed to straighten him out somewhat and end on a good note. Afterward i walked him down our long driveway and we checked the mail together while cars and bikes drove by. Of course this never phases him but i'm sure if a horse and buggy went by he would have to look up from crazing and stare at it :)
Next i got out my young horse, Remi and started grooming him. There were alot of people out at my barn taking advantage of the nice weather and provided plenty of distractions but i kept him focused. My husband did distract me with a quick deliveey of some california rolls and Remi definitely wanted some too :)

Remi very interested in my sushi box.

We mostly did ground work under saddle ans i like to use side reins on my horses during some of the lungeing groundwork to develop good collection and keep up strong toplines. This always has good results for me especially when i go to get on. The horses usually are more willing to respond to riding aids and carry themselves more confidently. Of course this is over a long period of time and many groundwork/riding sessions. Remi was very giving today and at the end of our session i practiced just getting on and off him while he stood still. Afterward i took him out for a walk down the driveway too and we even visited my husband while he worked on my truck. There was a big scary tarp there too but to Remi this was nothing and he preffered to be on it and tried to check out what my hubby was doing. Curious curlys!

As the sun went down i managed to get a quick ride in on my mare, Stella. She was a bit forward today but i was firm in telling her what I wanted and did not let her get away with pushing me around or pulling on me. Once she realized that her subtle tricks wouldn't work on me, she settled in to more consistent movement and we did some very nice figure eights and bending exercises.
I've never worked with all my curlys in one day and its been a long time since i spent so much time in the saddle. I am tired now but it was worth it!

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. 

Ride With Me Down on the Farm!

What started out as a pretty miserable day ended up pretty nice in the afternoon! Just as well that I had to work this morning!
Linus was so full of himself today, I spent a good half hour or more doing groundwork to let off some steam! We did some free longeing, lots of backing up and circles and when he finally got to needing something new to occupy him we played some barnyard fetch! This consisted of me dragging around an old fly mask on a rope and him trying to catch it. It did the trick and he settled right into regular mellow Linus. Then I threw the mask around and all over him. Ho hum!
Time to tack up! It was too yucky out at first to bring out the saddle. It's not new or anything but is leather with a suede seat. So we bareback padded it! I love riding bareback! Linus is such a nice mover and nothing warms your bum better in the winter!
We did some trotting and just checked things out around the farm. The roads aren't the greatest right now so it's best to stay off of them.
I've posted some pics from today. From Linus rolling to us checking out the truck and tractor to enjoying our ride!
Hopefully everyone else got to get out and enjoy their horses today too. From the ground or mounted up!

Sent from my BlackBerry® phone powered by Koodo Mobile®.

Announcing "Ride-with-Me" Cyber Ride Today!

Hello RAC team (and any public visitors that want to join us!!),

I hate to interrupt the great introductions (please keep them coming!) but wanted to start this year off with a "Ride-with-Me" cyber ride! What is that, you say? Well, let me explain!

Since many of us can not physically get together to ride together, the idea of a cyber ride was born!

Here is how it works. We choose a time frame and we all plan to ride our curlies within that block of time. Typically, we would plan a specific time so that we are literally ON our curlies all at the same time, but considering we have riders overseas, that might not be feasible. At the end of the day, we all post here about our ride and adventures! Cool eh? What is even more fun is if you pick a few people and call or text them when you are ready to ride, during your ride and after your ride, you feel you are literally riding with them, just in another location. =]

SO, let's all plan to ride at some point today. If you can't, that's ok. We will do this again. =]
For those in the non-competitive group, if you want to do ground work or just spend time with your curlies that is just fine. But for those in the competitive group, I'd like to see posts that earn you points for the contest which means mounted or driving in a cart. But if you can't due to bad weather or your horse isn't warmed up for riding this year, just go and enjoy them and share with us!! The MOST important thing here is SAFETY. I don't want anyone pushing beyond their comfort zone.

Any questions, just let me know. Go, have fun and enjoy this beautiful day with your curly!!

~Denise Conroy & Reese =]

Hello!

My name is Janeen Radtke and I live a little northwest of Denise in the Upper Peninsula, where as we speak it is snowing, snowing, snowing.  We haven't had much of a winter the past couple of years, but it appears we are having a winter this year!  I learned about Curlys after meeting Denise when I got back into horses 4 years ago and met her on a trail ride.  I had never heard of the Curly horse before meeting Denise's Reese.  I had a quarter horse when I was a teenager, but hadn't had the opportunity to have horses as an adult until my late 40's.  I was just like a little kid the first night we had horses on the property and heard them through the window snorting and moving around.  I giggled every time I heard them!

After learning more about Curlys and their disposition, I decided to start searching for my very own.  My first one didn't work out due to his allergy to flies and I live in the woods with lots of flies.  I was heartbroken, but it just wasn't fair to him.  Then in December 2011 I ran across a recessive Curly in an online auction that was located in Ohio.  I never thought I would buy a horse that way, but when no one bid on him, I just did it!  He was going on 2 years old.  He is my Rocky.



Rocky

 Rocky had been very well trained and his ground manners were excellent and had already had a saddle on as well as a bridle when he came to me.  He is extremely laid back.  I'm hoping to start him under saddle this year as he is turning 3, but he is having teeth issues, so we need to get that straightened out first, unless I try him with a rope halter, which is an option for him.  He is a registered quarter horse and I hope to double register him with ICHO this year.  Rocky is already around 16 hands, so the other factor in riding him is his body mass.  I don't want to rush him, so if it has to wait another year, so be it.

My second Curly is Corky.  Notice that Rocky and Corky have the same letters?  Corky is 9 this year and I was going to change his name, because I wasn't real fond of it, but he knows his name and when I realized the two names have the same letters I kept it.  I bought Corky in August and he is green broke.  I have absolutely fallen in love with Corky.  He's only about 13.2 hands, but he rides like a 16 hand horse.  I have a couple of Tennesee Walkers and his ride is just as good as theirs, if not better.  He and I just fit!  Whatever I threw at Corky in the fall on the rides, he just did it, with some gentle prodding.  I get tears in my eyes when I think how much trust we have between us already.  I've had a couple of other green broke horses and they would have taken me the other way when I asked them to cross the line on the road or go in the water or go blindly through the trees, but not Corky.

Corky and I, Christmas day 2012

So my goals for this year are to ride and ride!  (Giggle)  Like I said, I hope to get Rocky started once his mouth heals and for Corky we're just going to enjoy our rides!  I do hope to widen Corky's horizons even more with parades and I've been kicking around the idea of barrels with him, but maybe a trail class at the local show is a better idea for me.

Looking forward to all of the incentive we'll give each other and reading the blog!  Now to read everything behind this post!  I'm a little behind already!

More and more comfort!

Today was another fitting day. I corralled the hubby to help me fine tune the fit between Legacy and our new Carriage. After an hour of fit time, hubby stayed to watch while we played in our covered arena...We have things fit pretty perfect now for Legacy and I got to spend an hour driving to make sure...tomorrow we get more driving time!  It sure is a joy to sit on the "box" (as they refer to it in Europe)  I strongly encourage anyone who ever thought they would like to drive, to try it out, and live out the dream! More photos soon!
2013 goals include lots and lots of hill work,  side hill work, driving forward through a creek or water hazard, dressage lessons, trot + canter work, and everything inbetween that makes all this happen on a safe and comfortable way for my horse and me.

Greetings from Pennsylvania!

Greetings from PA!!

Hello everyone! My name is Riana Barrington and I own and manage my own small farm ( Barrington Stables) in Lancaster, Pa, along with my supportive husband, Joshua.  I spend my days taking care of all the animals on the farm including my beloved curly horses! I run a natural care horse boarding program and incorporate more natural behavioral methods, based on my father’s techniques, into personal training sessions and lessons  .

I’ve traveled the world and have had the opportunity to see and ride many different horses but the curlies are by far my favorites! I first encountered curly horses while attending the Equine Affaire in MA when I was much younger. I thought they were so cool and unique! I finally got to work with my first curly horse years later when my father purchased a stallion, Warrior Lynx( aka “Trouble”), bred by Donna Vickery.  He was so impressed with the disposition of this horse after using him for a photo shoot for a book he was writing at the time. I loved working with Trouble and hoped someday I would be able to have a “barn-ful” of curly horses like him.

                                                             Warrior Lynx, myself, and Dad

Now I own three curly horses. Someday I’d like to have a few more but my farm is at its limit for horses right now L.  We have a Warrior Lynx nephew, Stag Creek Aren Daego, aka Remi who is over four years old now. I purchased him at yearling age and he has a wonderful personality. I’ve done a lot of ground work with him and he is a pro. We’ve done a lot of bonding over the last few years. I’m hoping to put more time in the saddle with Remi this year.

                                                       Stag Creek Aren Daego, aka “Remi”

My favorite curly horse on the farm is our stallion, KC Prince Charles, aka “Chuck”. He came to join our family last spring from Cozy Nook Curlys in WA. He was a bit chunky and had a nice couch potato belly when he came but I’ve done a lot of work with him over the last year and he’s turned out nicely. He has a wonderful disposition and is super people friendly. He has sired many foals like himself and I’m hoping to have some of our own foals from him in the future. This year I think we are ready to attend some local shows and maybe some expos later in the year. I really want to use this handsome fellow and my other horses to promote this wonderful breed.

                                                            KC Prince Charles, aka “Chuck”

My curly mare is Stella (Krinkles Stormy Star) and I used her for trail riding and some lessons. She is more forward moving than my other curly horses but still has that good curly horse disposition. I give some lessons to young children on a lunge line with her, some of whom are higher functioning autistic.
She is very patient with them and I am grateful to have a horse who is capable of behaving well with them. My husband is also a behavioral psychologist and is impressed with Stella’s therapeutic abilities.

                                                  Stella and myself on a trail ride in Fair Hill, MD

Over the last few years I’ve put more time and energy into the farm and teaching others than anything else. Other people ride at my place more than I do, even though I live here! This year I would like to spend more time on me and spend more time with my own horses.  I plan to change my business plan a bit to allow a little more freedom time-wise and financially to spend more time on my own goals and dreams. I am thankful that Denise Conroy has started up RAC again this year so that I have some motivation to keep going and get even more time in the saddle. I am also looking forward to meeting other curly horse owners and hearing about the journeys with their horses this year!

Brief Admin Interruption =]

Good Morning Everyone! (RAC team & Public Visitors)

First, I'd like to say WOW....it's great to have the RAC blog alive again! Thank you all for posting and introducing yourselves. I am sure there are many more to come.

Please note the additions to the column to your right.

• Curly Horse Information Links for anyone desiring to learn more about this incredible rare and hypoallergenic breed. 
• A map has been creating showing the general location of each RAC rider, click on the map to view. It's pretty cool to see how wide spread the RAC team is across the entire world! Together we can make a difference in promoting our curlies! 
• Further down you will see where you can enter your email address and receive a notification when a new post has been published on this blog. 
• RAC riders personal website links. Be sure to check them out! Many have Curlies for sale. =]
• Informative helpful link for successful riding. If you have a specific link that you found helpful, please email it to me and I'd be happy to add it.
• Advertising opportunities for Curly Breeders are also to the right. Contact me for details: curlyhorsecountry@yahoo.com

And last but certainly not least, the Curly Horse Rescue sends a HUGE Thank you to those of you that choose to donate the cost of their t-shirt to CHR rather than receive it. Due to your generosity,  $100 was donated to the CHR. Whooo Hooo!

In closing, PLEASE contact me if you experience any issues regarding this blog, both visitor and rider. It is important to me that this blog function well and correctly. Your feedback is vital and important to me.

Carry on and enjoy those curlies!

Sincerely, Denise Conroy

Comfort for my horse - a little "surprise"

 Horses are all about "comfort" comfortable in their surroundings make for a confident horse, comfortable in their tack makes for a happy horse..and comfortable in their carriage makes for a whole lot of fun for the horse and the driver (whip- is the proper term)

So,  Creekside Curlies is now the proud owner of a new carriage,  2 wheelers are easier for me to handle than 4 wheelers, and yesterday's RAC time (after an hour of fitting for comfort) driving in my NEW Bell Crown Phantom Carriage. My new "Phantom" is AWESOME !!!!  it is so comfortable for Legacy and for me! I still have some adjusting to do, one of the BC features is adjustable shafts, (forward to back, and close or far from the horse). One of my goals for 2013 is to compete in the marathon phase of a CDE (combined driving event)  and our new Bell Crown will make that happen in a whole lot of comfort for Legacy and I.

Hi from rainy WET Kentucky

Well here I am again, but now under Hidden Cave Ranch Curly Horses. We own a ranch and run a B&B and do trail rides with our curly horses. We also breed and our Stallion is Stagcreek Lydiker. This year we are expecting 3 possible ( not confirmed yet) 4 foals from him. It is a bit two sided...breeding on one hand ...rescuing on the other and honestly I am not sure what to do next year yet. But what I DO know is I am going to ride and train horses as much as I can, with as much different horses possible to get them all trained and well mannered. I am a little frustrated right now because we have so much rain rain rain there is no riding right now, to slick to muddy. Today actually the first dry day so maybe tomorrow at least I can start groundwork. We have Warrior Freedom, he is a beautiful gelding I trained myself. We had some "bucking" problems and he dumped me twice pretty bad, That hurted not only my ribs but also my confidence at lot. He is doing great now, but still we have problems with loping so that is my goal with him. Lope lope ......gallop and run LOL. WWW Blue eyed Jake. We went to get him for my husband, but honestly he was not as big as I thought he would be. However I felt totally in love with this boy he is such goof. My husband is very, big, tall and heavy, not allowed on a horse yet ;-). So I stole his horse. My goal with him is to start ACTHA competitions or other local competitive trail rides. He is still very green, when we got him he was only saddle trained for 5 months so he has still some miles to do before he is ready. He did enter the Christmas parade and he was super super, I could not be more proud of him. Sam, one of the K5. He is "saddle trained" but has a lot of issues. He is unpredictable and he "shuts down". My goal with him is to get his trust and his whole heart and not a little piece. My crown jewel Lydiker, our breeding Stallion. He will be 4 this year. I rode him only twice just to see how "trainable" he was before I used him as a breeding stallion. He needs to grow more in get more muscles. I did not wanted to push him to fast to young. He is awesome. He is very gaited and I hope I can learn how to ride him since I have no experience in gaited horses. If everything goes well I will show him at local horse shows. I am so excited about that, all we have here are Tennessee walkers, Rocky mountains and I don't even know what kind of gaited horses but NO curly horses...I hope we can steal the show with this black beauty. I can go on and on, but this is the start...many more horses at the farm who needs work, but lets begin with these horses. Freedom

Jake

Sam

Lydiker

ps I am from the Netherlands and moved 2.5 years ago to KY. So I am apologizing for my spelling ;-) Marion Hidden Cave Ranch, KY

Introduction true Curly Horse Rescue

Hello fellow RAC-ers. Some of you know me and some don't. We own a ranch and run a B&B in South Central Kentucky. I am a board member and foster parent for Curly Horse Rescue. We started with "Red" who has a great home now. Then the "Kansas 5" came along. I was suppose to take Woody in for Peter and Caren Schumann and have him halter trained for his trip to Germany. Cinderella was joining to keep him comfort during the trip from Kansas to KY and first the plan was she would go to another foster. Then I saw Sam his sad sad face and I could not resist so we came home with three "unhandled" horses. But after a couple of months the other two, T-bar ( Jim) and Two-Two ( George) where in urgent need for a new foster since there was no hay at the foster where they where at. Again we took the trip to KS and came home with Jim and George. I started with Woody ( the one who flights I call him)...Peter and Caren will tell you all about him. Then I started Sam..boy he is a handful, he is a Fighter.. literary he thinks he will be my next lunch and still after all the work he is not totally convinced people are not all bad. He is broke to ride now, with some help of a trainer because I had to much on my plate, but he is far far from being ready. Then Cinderella, she is a teaser, likes to play catch. Winks at you to come close and then takes of. But she is as sweet as they can be. We decided to Adopt Sam and Cinderella. So I will be talking about them as Marion at Hidden Cave Ranch. Jim and George are still here as fosters and I am hoping to get at least George saddle trained so he will be adopted. Jim I hope somebody just falls in love with him. This boy is extremely shy...but then so was Woody and look at him now. The big difference is Woody still had/have a lot of curiosity and is very "open" Jim takes of and gives you the look...up yours ;-) you are not going to get me. So you be seeing me for Curly rescue and Hidden Cave Ranch. Have fun everybody. Jim and George the next day they came in.

Jim and George happy and fat.

George

Jim

Glad to be a part of the RAC for 2013!

Hello all!

My name is Andrea and I live in western Wisconsin only a short distance away from the MN/WI border. I did not know about the RAC program until I happened to see a posting on a horse forum I frequent. I went to the link posted and read about what it was all about. I really liked how the RAC was open to all curlies - no matter what registry status or affiliation. I also like that it's a "team" effort. I feel a united front is a must when promoting a breed. So basically, I am a newbie to the RAC - but very excited to be a part of it! 

I like history, and the history of the Curly as well as other various rare - and not so rare breeds has long intrigued me. I love researching how breeds tie together also. That being said I will introduce my Curly. 

This is Accelerate - he is a pretty unique horse. You see he is a purebred Colonial Spanish (AKA Spanish Mustang) that is also a curly. Curly coated horses pop up in the CS breed from time to time. The CS breed, like the Curly is also rare. "Ace" as we call him will be five this spring. We acquired him last May from his breeder - Karma Farms in Marshall, Texas to be our herd-sire. My goals for him for this spring/summer are to get him working under saddle, hit the trails, and hopefully do an LD endurance ride in the fall. Admittedly - it's cold where I live and we probably won't do much with him until spring but hopefully after that I will have lots to post! 

I also need to work on getting better/more pictures of Ace - he really gets quite curly coated in winter! I also realized I don't have a single photo of him and I. Mostly because around my house I am the one behind the camera 99% of the time. I have a feeling a "photo shoot" day is in order soon. Here is a picture of Ace with my 8 year old daughter - Alexis. 

Good luck to everyone participating - here is hoping this is the best year for the RAC yet!