Vaccination day

My oh My! I am gonna hate to see that vet bill...on 2-10-09 we had vaccination day here....All our horses are vaccinated based on need/circumstances. We did vaccinations of 5 way ( Flu, sleeping sickness, tetanus, rhino ) West Nile Virus, and strangles, and Seleinum. Each horse has its own schedule, but in the spring, we can do the majority of our vaccinations at one time. We also did a couple teeth floats, some general question and answer sessions on a couple current subjects ( EVA, CEM ) all pertinate information a thriving business must keep track of. Legacy, a Skookum Buck daughter, has inherited several traits from her sire. The most unusual trait though, is her capability to snore....We had Legacy's teeth floated, and her wolf teeth removed, and a couple of caps pulled off as a precusor to her going into training soon. Legacy amused us all, by snoring through the whole process! It was not a "quiet little snore" either..but rather one of those snores where you wonder just what is making that racket! After an afternooon of work, we were all done, our horses safely vaccinated and properly cared for and out again enjoying the hills of Idaho.

Thank you Horses Incorporated!

First of all, I must say....THANK YOU , THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Thank you to "Horses Incorporated" for the article on the Curly Sport Horse, and our farm!

Get your copy of the February issue of Horses Incorporated, "The Northwest's Premier Sport Horse Magazine" to see an article about the Curly Sport Horse that also featured our farm...Creekside Curlies! Get your copy now!

Late last year, Maya, the editor of "Horses Incorporated" contacted me about writing an article about the Curly Sport Horse, and our farm...and I willingly obliged. I knew the article was to be published in February's issue, and when I saw the issue in my mailbox, I could hardly contain myself. Imagine my delight, to see "Sport Horses with a Twist" right there on the cover, as a lead in for the article...See our lead in line, right there at the riders knee? Besides the cover, there was a head shot beside the article listing, a mention of the article in the Editors remarks, and then the article itself...in addition, I bought a stallion listing and one classified ad to help with promotion also.

"Horses Incorporated" has done a wonderful job with the article, layout and presentation. It is another great representation of the Curly Sport Horse, to a target audience.....sport horse enthusiast. Maya also told me that the gals in the office, just LOVE the pics I send in of my foals... HI offers each year, a chance to send in your foal pics , for a free publishing. That is a really great service, and we are always ready and armed with cute foal pics for that issue.

All I can say is...THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...... and please pick up a copy for yourself ;-) HI is available at finer tack stores everywhere, in the great Northwest!

Everything + the kitchen sink

This time of year our ranch chores consume most of the day....by the time I feed in the am...take a ride in the afternoon, work with babies, young horses ( older than babies ) do some barn chores in prep for springtime and foaling/breeding season, then do feeding again, there is not much time left in the day....

So on occasion, I will get a chance to sit at the barn, listen to my horses eat their breakfast, give the barn cats a little attention and plan my next project. Yesterday, while "on break" I noticed an area of the barn that had been untouched for awhile...it was behind a couple of round bales, and needed some tidying up now that the bales are gone. I also came across my "sink" ...years ago, probably close to 10 years ago, I bought one of those sinks designed to be used in a garage or shop...but....only after I bought it, did I realize, where I wanted to put it, there was no water source, and most likely no chance of getting a water source any time soon...so, it kind of went into storage. Well, yesterday, when I came across the sink, and all the supplies to complete the project ( sans the water source ) I got to thinking.....could it go somewhere near my arena now?

My first thought was to put it near my horse bathing area at the front of our arena...We have a wash rack, I keep one of those deck benches there also,to store bathing supplies.....but, as I thought on it, I decided to put it in back of the arena, where I more frequently work ( it tends to be cooler in the summer, than the front, which can be blistering hot ) . Every summer, I wash all my supplies in that area, brushes, halter and lead ropes, rags, tools, I like to keep things clean. I don't drag them up to the house anymore like I used too, and what a great spot for my outdoor kitchen sink! So, with a few tools in hand, an idea of how I wanted to set things up, and in a few minutes waaaa laaaaa, my very own kitchen sink, in a highly usable area that will make my summer chores a little handier. I did have to modify my location a bit, to make it unreachable by the horses in the arena, basically I moved it from flush against the corral panels to the outside of the main post....now it is bolted down, has its own hose to the all weather waterfaucet, and will be a real helpful addition to my arena.....esp.. compared to taking up storage space in the barn...now...if I can just do something with all those model car kits Matthew still has stored there!

Dermal day

Today is "Dermal Day"...I use the product "Dermal Aid" to help and enhance the growth of the curly manes and tails of our horses. In 2005, my friend and fellow curly owner, Denise Conroy, started research into how to help keep our horses lovely manes and tails. Many curlies go through a very itchy stage, and frequently rub out all or part of their mane. Denise's research found that the use of "Dermal Aid" on a regular basis, would not only enhance the mane's health, but keep our horses from rubbing out all the lovely curls!

So, today, I gathered my herd, and applied Dermal Aid to all of them! Reactions were varied, my worst offenders ( itchiest manes )found the Dermal Aid to sting a bit. It of course felt cold to them, and wet..but the treatments really went quite smoothly :-)

In another 3 weeks, I will treat again, see if I can keep up the regiment this year...I treated one mare last year, "Ally" and was pleasantly surprised how well the single treatment did...can not wait to see how doing it as advised will work this year!

Last summer I purchased several bottles of Dermal Aid from Smart Pak, when I ordered supplements for HeartBreaker...it is always easier to do the treatments when you have supplies on hand ahead of time....we shall see the results soon!

Oh, LOL....I also had to do the treatment on Legacy. She never has had any mane shedding, but she kept following me around, not happy at all, that other herd members were getting attention instead of her!

My 2 horse day

Friday was an absolutely LOVELY day here, and I had my first lesson on Hunter on the schedule. I always feel more comfortable, when riding a new horse for the first time, if I do it under an instructor. My favorite "first ride instructor" ...one of my mentors, in both horses and photography, Virgil Wicks. Hunter has been in tune up training, ( at Virgil's indoor arena where he currently is residing ) and now that is complete it is up to me to help him advance his training. Virgil and I saddled our horses, he took a test ride on Hunter, in my saddle ( I was pushing the limit for a cowboy here ) and then we got on our own mounts and did our riding. At first it seemed like Hunter was a bit "loose" but...as he got used to me, and I relaxed it did not take long for Virgil to put us right to work. We rode lines, circles, turns on the forehand, haunches, shoulder in, shoulder fore, and also worked on relaxing and standing. I knew I was in for it, as I had not been working all physically hard riding Krinkles. She is more advanced in her skills, and has a little better idea of what I want. Hunter and I worked hard for about an hour, and I was off and headed home. I was very pleased how quickly Hunter adapted to me, and me to him. He tries so hard to please, what a gem! and DUMB me! I took my RAC shirt, and a shirt to wear under it, thought I would have Virgil take my pic, but I forgot my camera! I remembered it after I was out the driveway, and did not want to take on the snow covered driveway in our dually PU more than once...it is always an adventure.

I was so inspired by my first ride, I had a quick lunch and saddled my old reliable mare, Krinkle Clown. We followed alot of the same plan, in my second ride of the day, and Tyler was less of a bother, as he was busy playing with his 1/2 sister. I knew my legs would be SORE today, and they are....so, tomorrow we hit it again, same plan and another 2 horse day ;-)

Breakthrough with Legacy

About a year ago, we had a situation here...Legacy had decided that the small animal that was visiting our pasture, was certainly like her favorite cat, and would LOVE to have its back scratched...wrong! it was a porcupine! and Legacy ended up with a nose full of quills.....ouch!

Well, ever since that incident, and the pain involved ( even under sedation ) of pulling out those quills, Legacy has been a bit fussy about having her nose handled. Since she will be going into training soon, I have been slowly working with her, to build her confidence back again...after all, how can she learn about bridles and the bitting process, if no one can get near her nose!

After this first happened, she was even scared to have a halter put on...She remembered the halter was involved in the pain, so, most of last summer, on every herd check that I did ( while they are out on pasture ) I took a halter and quietly haltered her, building back her confidence that there was no pain involved. I also tried to work with her nose, but there just seemed to be a block between Legacy and I, something we could not seem to overcome.

Per my agreement with our trainer, I am to work with Legacy for a month before she heads out in March. Ground work, into to bridle and saddle, teaching her to lunge, all these are things I need to start doing, but.....how can I start, if I can not get near her nose?

Faced with a Feb 1 st start date, for my portion of the training prep, I knew I needed to get over this hangup, but every time I tried, I just ended up frustrated, and Legacy was not advancing with this issue.

One day, while surfing RFDTV, I saw that one of the clinic guys was working on a horse with head shy problems...ears especially....so, I recorded it..to see if I could learn something that would help our progress....Chris Cox was working with a paint mare, that had serious head shy issues, and as a result, reared, backed up, would throw herself over backwards...could his training in this matter help us? Well, long story short, it certainly DID ! In the past, I always went in with the idea of getting Legacy to accept my hand on her nose, Chris, did the opposite...he went in with the idea, that he would FIRST get the horses mind, then he would approach the trouble spot....and wow ! he made great progress with that paint horse, it was not easy, she pulled all her tricks out of the bag, but....he gave me some really great tips and things that would work for Legacy and I....and it DID work. First I sacked her out...she had always been so easy to work with, and I started the session by getting her mind into what we were doing....I sacked her out, I did a few turns over the forehand and the hindquarters, and then, when I had her thinking about what she was doing, I started gently on her face...giving a HUGE reward ( no not food ) of petting for the slightest attempt to handle the situation, and build confidence.


Many folks don't watch trainers of disciplines they are not interested in...Chris is a western trainer, but I certainly learned from him on this occasion. By the end of our session, Legacy was allowing my to stroke and cuddle the right side of her face...the left side will be an issue still, but I only wanted to accomplish this in very small steps....and end for good, her reluctance to have her nose handled...We had some so far, that I left things in a good spot, and as we progress, we will tackle that sensitive left side. I now can worm her again, that had become a problem, and she needs her teeth checked before heading out to the trainers. We are on our way! and I will be blogging about our training progress as we go...my very first HOMEBRED to start under saddle...yeah!

RAC contest participation

My RAC ( Ride a Curly ) shirt arrived yesterday...I had all but forgotten about getting one, and could not remember which color I had ordered, so I was pleasantly surprised to see "blue" .....The RAC contest ( ride a curly ) has a riding division, ( you record your riding time ) and a ground training division ( you record your time spent on ground work ) and it a great promotional tool for my ranch. I send a great big thanks to Denise Conroy of www.curlyhorsecountry.com for the sponorship and management of this contest...it is inspiring to me, to be able to compete in this manner, while promoting and enchancing my horses training and skills.