Wow, time does fly

It was one year ago that we were watching JC drive. That's all he did for months was drive. There was never any thought of showing him. He was a lanky 2 year old who could barely lift his legs and was really good at tripping over them. In February, I finally said it would be interesting to see him under saddle once again.

Terri Anne (my trainer) said fine and rode him. Jimmy (who had been training him) said there would be no more thought of him showing in harness as he was much prettier under saddle. Showing??? Huh??? a three year old under saddle. This would be a first. We talked about it and decided we would aim for the middle of show season. Then April came, and I was told he was going to show in May and then go to Midwest etc.. He did better than I ever could have hoped. Thank you--Jimmy and Terri Anne.

Well now it is November and show season is behind us. more

Considerations of Breeding Part IV

Other Considerations

When the foal reaches about 6 months old, the baby is going to have to be weaned from it's mother. Do you have enough room? How are you going to separate them? They will yell for each other. It is easier if you have had the mare and foal out with another mare and foal. This way you can turn the babies out with each other and the mares out together in a separate field. You are going to have to learn to ignore the noise. If it bothers you,get some ear plugs. read more

The Thrill of Breeding

When we first started riding horses, we never realized what an important part of our lives they would become. We started when my sister was 12 and I was 4. We started spending more time at the barn. We learned to groom horses, clean stalls (not a fun job) and tack the horses. Eventually, we learned to exercise horses, give lessons and take out trail rides. The trail rides were fun to do because we would always have guys come out trying to impress their girlfriends. We asked who were experienced riders so we new which people to put on which horses. Invariably, the young guys would say they were very experienced and there were two horses we knew very well. Each of these horses had their own tricks. One would always stop at the creek and duck his head. Experienced riders would catch him and there wouldn't be a problem. Inexperienced riders would end up in the creek. I can't tell you how many of these "experienced" young men ended up in the creek. It was a hoot. The other horse would turn and go back to the barn. Again, experienced riders had no problem just turning him back and he would continue to follow the group. Most of the girls of these "experienced" guys ended up finishing the trail rides by themselves as their boyfriends were back at the barn.

As time went on, my mother bought us each a horse. Our first horses were killed in a barn fire which destroyed most of the horses. A man started the barn on fire. That is my worst memory of our beginnings. Once the barn was rebuilt, mom again got us horses. Through the years we have had the good, the bad, and the really ugly. But, we have learned from each and every one of them. One horse my mother got my sister was a mare who got hurt at a very young age and was never able to trot sound after that. We didn't know what to do with her. The trainer we were with suggested we breed her as she was a mare out of Status Lovely who was a daughter of Status Symbol. That was the beginning of the rest of our lives.

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