Another Creekside Filly

Well, we had another new arrival here, *C-C Heartfires Spark....barn name Sparkle..was born Saturday morning, March 28th another 7am baby. Sparkle has loads of curl and is a bay, her color was a bit of a surprise, I just had not pictured getting a bay from her Palomino pinto dam...but, as we all know...anything is possible when breeding horses. Sparkle is getting along well, and as soon as this miserable/cold/wet weather looses its grip on us, we will get her outside for some pictures..right now she is enjoying the comfort of a nice warm blanket and the dry footing of our arena...a luxury indeed!

HB's Sweet Kyna aka..."Sugar"

Well, since she is a week old today, I thought I had better get in gear and blog about the arrival of our first 2009 foal! When we returned from our trip last week, we knew we were mighty close to foaling time. Emmy was quite uncomfortable, she only stayed in one spot for a minute or two, then off again...pace, pace, pace....I usually do the early part of the night for foal watch...Since Mike is an early riser, he takes over duty after he gets up.....Emmy continued her uncomfortable state all night, Mike started checking her at 4am and beyond. At the 7:00am check that Mike did she was standing all nice and quiet, not a bit of uncomfortable about her. Mike checked her and returned to the house...after he poured himself a cup of coffee, he ventured to the window to see what Emmy was up to. Imagine his surprise to look out, and see Emmy already back up and licking her baby dry! The whole labor and delivery could not have taken more than 5 minutes, and she never even broke a sweat! When I heard him head back out, after just coming in I stirred....something was up....I dressed in a hurry, and found him admiring his new member of the herd family, still with coffee cup in hand ;-) Emmy has presented us with a unique and stunning filly. She is covered in curl, and would be considered a "barely pinto" LOL.....one white spot on her neck, a white tail ( with the end dipped in black ) and high white socks...she is also as sweet as her name implies...congrats to Emmy and HB on another stunning foal.

Our last spring break

Matthew and I at the famous "Las Vegas" sign

Well, after 20 years of taking "spring break adventures" with our kids, during their school years, we come to our final spring break opportunity....Our youngest son "Matthew" is in his last year of College, and this is our last spring break with kids in school...future spring break trips will have to wait for future grandkids I suppose ;-) That will be awhile though, as we don't have any grandkids yet!

The kids often get have a voice in our trip destinations...as they got older, the more voice they had...younger years we spent fishing, freezing our fannies, while fishing on Prineville Lake, later years we danced in the rain while visiting Seattle, and this year...a WARM destination, and one made to match Matthew's college education ........We visited Hoover Dam, near Las Vegas, NV....Matthew will be graduating in May '09 with his degree in Electircal Engineering. Hotel Rooms in Vegas this year are ridicously cheap...less than $25.00 can get you a really nice room with a really comfortable bed! So, we stayed in Vegas, and did our tourist trips from there.

Hoover Dam was amazing...the history, the crowds of people, the dam itself....it was a very fun and educational day. We also visited many of the Las Vegas attractions...the Pirate Battle at Treasure Island, the Volcano at The Mirage, the fountain show at the Belligio, and the Freemont Street Experience...a light show of unique and spectaular quality......Walking, enjoying the sun, looking over the busy town...we did it all. Matthew and his fiance' Lauren out walked, and out touristed us...they visited the Wax Museum, the Flamingo preserve, the Lion preserve, to name just a few spots that they visited in addition to what Mike and I saw.....it, simply put, was a wonderful week....though we had day of driving to get there and home, it was an easy drive...no bad weather at all. I also got to practice my new skills with my camera, and snapped some wonderful shots, using all my camera settings NOT on automatic.....A wonderful. memorable trip..and some weather I would have liked to pack in my suitcase and brought home with me...sigh....suppose it will be a long time to the next spring break trip ;-)

Goodbye Hunter

Well, Hunter has left our lives, and headed to a new life in Eastern Canada....I am always so amazed at how much each and every horse that comes into our lives, teaches us..and Hunter was no exception. His mind is great, he learns quickly and gives an honest days work....that is something everyone can strive for ;-) His new life will include representing the curly breed....something he will do a mighty fine job at. As things sometimes do, the shipping schedule for Hunter went a bit awry...he was due to leave here on March 7th, but instead left our area on March 19th....Hunter should be to his new home soon, if not already. He is a stellar guy, and we wish Karalee Bell and her family the best with him.

Packer arrives in the UK

Earlier this month, *C-C Hells Canyon" Packer" completed his long journey from Creekside Curlies in North Central Idaho, to England in the UK. I had not seen Packer since we dropped him off at the Montana quarantine facility, just before Christmas, it now seems like so long ago. Due to a few glitches, ( from other horses on that trip ) he stayed in North American a bit longer than planned...but with the pics and comments from his new owner, his time was not wasted. He continues to grow, and his personality shines through.
Here are his new owners comments "we are delighted with him - a credit to your breeding program." .....and a comment too, about how much that guy can eat! He is looking mighty fine...check out Jannette's website to see more about her farm. http://www.jjayscolouredcollection.co.uk/ We look forward to seeing how this guy grows and matures..congrats Jannette!

Still waiting ;-)

Well, the foaling calendar says we are close...but..the mares say otherwise I am afraid. 11 months is a very long wait for breeders...it seems SO long ago, that we had mares preg checked. But..I suppose in the scheme of things it is really not that long of a wait. Emmy and Ally are our first mares due here. I would suspect, we should be seeing some new faces here by the first of April...if not a bit sooner. As always, a surprise will await us, we have so many things to be surprised about...colt or filly? curl or minimal? color or not? ahhh, so many choices the parents had to make...and soon, we shall know...keep holding ;-)

A moment of Legacy

Well, I have just completed my very first online class.....Denise Conroy steered a bunch of us, to a website that has online photography classes...always wanting to learn and practice, it was a perfect fit for me. In the past, all my pics have been shot using the automatic functions of my camera..head shots were done in Portrait Mode, Actions shots were done in Action/Sports Mode, and I used little else....but in this class, it was mandatory that we go to the "other" side of the camera and learn how to use ISO settings, Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority....so, off I went, outside to practice those functions...In order to practice though ( and at least try and be successful ) I had to LEARN what each and every function does, and how if effects the other functions. I have been trying to learn this since I bought my camera, but until I totally immersed myself, the words on the pages of books/websites and other places just did not sink in.....

I have to say though, I think those words are starting to sink in, and I am finding some success shooting pics while adjusting those settings....YEAH !!!

I headed out the other day, to do some head shots, and found our herd of mares lounging by our seasonal pond. Legacy was off to the side, not in the big bunch of legs/noses and ears that make it impossible to pick out just one subject, so I concentrated on practicing on her. I was mighty pleased when I returned to the house and found this shot among my accomplishments for the day...I have to say..the soft feel of this photo just really strikes me...and.......I just LOVE digital...!

Great Day for a bath!

Great day for a bath, at least the weather report had predicted it so...but, alas, the weatherman was wrong again, and my chosen day to bath "Hunter" in prep for his trip east, was a little cooler than I would have preferred....

But...In one of my horse related magazines, I had read a section about winter bathing, and this was the prime time to put this plan of action to the test....the article has told about washing your horse in sections/vs washing your horse by sides, as we do in the summer...once you wash, you cover the section with a nice cooler, and then work on another section. We scrubbed mud balls off, shampooed his tail, and completely scrubbed him..This plan went quite well, Hunter seemed pretty unfazed about the whole thing, and really seemed to like having the cooler over his neck and withers, while we worked on the hind end....pretty soon, he was all clean ( well, as clean as you can be this time of year, in Idaho ) and covered with that nice warm cooler while he dried.

I deeply bedded our stall in the big barn ( hay barn ) where he was away from a draft, gave him lots of good groceries, and the next morning he was bright and shiny , and CLEAN !!!

I will not be afraid to use this method again in the future....Hunter seemed to be quite comfortable the whole time, and he sure looks nice now ;-)