We are currently sharing our lives with 5 people of the equine persuasion. Almost all of them were rescues in some form or another. However, we prefer to think of them as very much wanted but lost souls. Unfortunately, we have also had our share of losses, and you will find them on the Rainbow Bridge page.
While I love and admire horses of all sizes, colors and breeds, I have found that I particularly enjoy the very unique and rare breed, North American Curly Horse. I have had the pleasure of being owned by four such horses over the past few years, and I think that I will always have at least one Curly in my life.
About 10 years ago, I read an article in Horse Illustrated, and the cover photo was of this gorgeous palomino stallion with the longest curly dreadlocks hanging down to his nose. He looked so gorgeous and exotic, and I thought that I would love to meet one some day, but never thought I would have the pleasure to actually ever be owned by one. When I read the article, it seemed as though Curlies would be a fantastic breed for me. They are very people oriented, calm, quiet, intelligent, playful but sensible horses, exactly what I was looking for! I had often said, that if I could find a riding horse with a temperament (more like personality) similar to April, my mini, then I would be in heaven with the perfect horse. You'll read about April in a bit below.
One day I was reading a Yahoo group chat list called EquinesNortheast. I had only recently started reading a couple of Yahoo groups, and didn't really know anybody there yet. One post came through mentioning something about Curlies. I responded to that post with something to the effect of "I love Curlies! I've always wanted one!!" And the response was "Oh yeah? Well, there are Curlies right in Vermont, you know." Well, I hadn't known, and immediately performed a Google search, and there they were!!!! That someone was Adria, who has now become a dear friend, and her farm in Vermont is call Green Mountain Curlies (what else?)
Adria wasn't breeding at that time, but I did find Betsy at Top O' The Hill Farm in Springfield, VT. I went up for a visit, and fell in love with *Wind Traveler . Ironically, *Colonel's Reuben, the stallion featured in the Horse Illustrated article all those years ago, was Travelers sire. So, of course, I was in love, the arrangements were made, and a palomino long-yearling colt made his way from Vermont to Connecticut.
The rest, as they say, is history.
If you're interested in learning more about Curly horses, I highly recommend Denise Conroy's Curly Horse Country site, and the International Curly Horse Organization website
*Lakota Gem, or Lakota, is a coming 12 year old mare. She is grulla in color, with an Appy blanket and roaning. She is "my gal" through and through. Lakota's breeding is nothing spectacular. Her sire is 1/2 Appaloosa and 1/2 Curly, and her dam is 1/2 Tennessee Walking Horse and 1/2 Curly. Lakota's history is somewhat blurry. All I have for a history is one photo from when she was 3 years old purchased by the seller I bought her from. The Curly community is rather small, and after doing some digging around, I learned that Lakota's breeder was not very informed in current horse care practices. From what I can gather, they were not fed nor taken care of very well. I don't know at what age Lakota was sold from that breeder, as he disbursed his entire herd, it was definately before age 3, and I suspect possibly earlier, as you will read about Jen and her history from the same breeder.
The breeder I bought Lakota from also was getting out of breeding and horses, so I bought Lakota as sort of a "fire sale". Lakota had been bred twice to *Dusty Sunrise, who shares *Luka as a sire with Lakota. This resulted in two foals. The first was *Star, a red dun extreme filly, foaled in 2001. *Star was sold to Sharon Williams at the same time I purchased *Lakota, in April of 2003. Sharon had such a sense of humor, that she renamed her *Spanky. *Spanky had a fantastic temperament, but Sharon thought she was too homely to be breeding material. She sold her to a woman who she said adored her. Unfortunately I don't know who that person is, and have no idea how *Star/*Spanky is doing. In 2002, *Lakota gave birth to *Rocky, an extreme red dun colt. He still lived with Lakota's old owner, the last I knew. I don't know if he has a new home or not.
When *Lakota arrived, she was a very scared mare. She was underweight, and uncatchable. Lakota also had never had her hooves trimmed, so she was pretty unsure of how to handle that. I kept a breakaway halter on her, and worked on her catching skills (or more aptly, her "being caught" skills). It took quite some time, well over a year, until she was reliable. She also has left ear issues. Trainers, vets and farriers all agree that she was most likely "eared" at some point, to submit. For those of you that don't know, being "eared" is when a handler firmly grips a horse by their ear, and twists it, to get them to submit and not fight having something done to them (usually vet work, farrier work, or deworming). This causes a horse to become head-shy.
So for the entire year 2003, I did nothing with Lakota but work on catching. I accomplished this by leaving a halter on her at all times, so getting one on her became a non-issue. I used a breakaway halter so if she got caught up in something, it would break instead of her neck. Every day, twice daily, she learned to be caught in order to eat her bucket of grain. At first, I only clipped a lead to her halter and tied her to a post to eat. I gradually increased the amount of time that she was tied so she wouldn't get upset and pull back. After months of that daily, I bought an oversized breakaway halter, and attached it to the lead at her feeding post. I slipped the oversized halter over the one she wore, so that she would get comfortable with the sensation of a halter going up and over her head and face, and associate it with postive, pleasant things (eating). After many months of this, I worked on catching her at other than feed times. I would go out and catch her and just let her go again, and not do anything with her. Sometimes I would catch her, give her a treat, and leave. Other times I would catch her, give her a scratch in her favorite spot, and leave. It took quite some time for Lakota to even let me know which spot was her itchy spot. She wouldn't relax and allow herself to enjoy it. Now she begs for attention, gets all "camel-lipped" and wobbly kneed, and even grooms me back (it tickles!)
In the late summer of 2004, I began round-pen relationship work with Lakota. This did not entail running her around until she was exhausted and sweating. I use the methods of Dan Sumerel , which employs much more use of body language and thought. There is no running the horse around, unless it chooses to run. Some do, some do not. Through the end of 2004 and earily 2005, I did more basic handling skills with Lakota, including working on her right side. Lakota was extremely one-sided and always puts you on her left side. She was also introduced to a rope halter, a bridle, a saddle, and various other objects over, under, on and around her body.
In June of 2005, I sat on Lakota's back for the first time. It was a complete and total non-event for her. The illness of Turbo , family obligations and weather kept me from any further work with Lakota in 2005. In the spring of 2006, I started working with Lakota again, very basic walk, whoa and steering. We had decided to attempt to sell our house in the summer of 2006, in order to find a nicer property in a quieter, more rural area. We had a lot of repairs and upgrades to make, so I sent Lakota, Joe and Whinney to Emerald City Farm for a month. I asked Stacey to start Lakota, tune-up Joe, and Whinney went along for the ride. I kept April, Spirit and Tally here, as they would have less manure impact while showing the property. Lakota (and the others) came back home in August of 2006 and with the constant house cleaning and showing, I didn't get much time to do anything with her for the remainder of the year.
We never did get our house sold, and lost out on a couple of nice places we had deposits on. On 12/30/06, my husband was in an ATV accident, and shattered T7, and his leg (tibial plateau fracture). He was in the hospital for 2 weeks, and our future was very uncertain. It wasn't until after surgery that we knew he wouldn't be paralyzed. So we had taken the house off the real estate market and given up on those hopes.
So once the weather broke in 2007, I started working with Lakota again at home, in the roundpen. She was doing so well at home that I took her out to the State bridle trails a few times. It became apparent that I had skipped quite a few steps in her training! She was great the first time out, I only walked her, in hand, in April. Then in June my daughter and I went out, she with her pony, Whinney, and myself on Lakota. I led her for about a mile, then climbed aboard for the ride back to the trailer. Everything went well. She was a little "up", but not spooky or resistant. The third time she really dragged her feet moving out, but suddenly became very forward on the way back, and the third time I took her out, we barely made it 100 yards, and I decided to end on a good note (actually walking forward), and called it a day.
I brought Lakota to Roundtuit Ranch for some work in September of 2007. I wanted Jenn to work on Lakota's confidence under saddle, and some trot work. My roundpen is rather small, and we had only worked mounted at a walk, though she is free-lunged at a walk, trot and canter. Lakota appeared to do well while she was away, though it was quite an adjustment for her. She is used to living outside 24/7 with free access to a stall. She has been in a stall from time to time, but never for extended periods of time. She did go in a stall at night, and in inclement weather while she was away. She was fed the standard 2x/day, and at home she was used to being fed 3 to 4x/day.
When I brought Lakota home in October of 2007, she had regressed. She didn't want to be caught again, didn't even want to be brushed, and was completely herdbound (which was never a problem before), and was resistant to leaving the paddock. I did treat her for ulcers with Vitaroyal s Nutrient Buffer, and she was back to her sweet self again. She was still a bit tense about haltering and leaving the paddock, though. I think that she lost confidence in me, when I sent he away, and was afraid I was going to send her away again.
Lakota is a very, very sensitive mare. She quite literally reads my thoughts. I can point my finger at her from across the paddock, and she does as I ask. She knows what I'm thinking before I'm even aware that I'm thinking it. I also have NO experience starting a horse, at all. I haven't ridden since I was a kid, and that was just hacking around on the trails with no moral lessons. Not until I bought my first horse ( Turbo ), and realized I didn't know anything!
So here we are again, winter of 2007/2008, and I'm building Lakota's confidence up again, and working on being caught <big sigh>. I have taken her out to the roundpen a couple of times during the winter, and she did better each time she realized she was not leaving. I hope she doesn't give me a hard time getting into the trailer the next time, but we have to do it to get her over her worry about leaving. I may just lead her on the trails a few times again this year without riding. I also plan to ride her out of the roundpen and around my yard (which isn't very big, but still....) as an intermediary step between the roundpen and the trails. She worries about what she can't see. If she sees something, she is fine, and doesn't spook at objects, other horses, people, dogs, machinery, buildings, cars, trucks, airplanes, none of it scares her, but she can see it. What she doesn't like is that she can't see whats coming up around the corner, and that is what makes her nervous. So we are going to need to do a LOT of this, to build her up. Wish us luck!
Jen is a Bay based blanketd roaned Curly Appaloosa. She is an extreme curly, which means that she sheds her mane hairs, and tail hair. Jen has no mane to speak of, just some little whisps of hairs if you look closely. She sheds the top half of her tail and leave a "brush" tail for the summer, then grows very short hairs back for the winter. She is extremely curly, and has very tight corkscrew curls on her body. Her coat is incredibly soft, it feels like rabbit hair.
Jen's story is quite long, and very sad. She first became known to the general Curly community in the fall of 2000 at about the age of 3, when a Curly breeder came across her. The person had rescued her from someone that fed her nothing but bread. She was skin and bones, but very friendly despite being unhandled. This breeder (Dayna) purchased her, and after asking around and putting 2+2 together, it is very highly suspected that she is a full sibling to *Lakota Gem. The color, size, dates, and area all match, and with the two of them here together, I would not be surprised at all if they truly are siblings, as their build, features, and temperament and mannerisms are extremely similar.
Jen spent less than a year with Dayna. She sent her for some training, then sold her to the person I bought her from. The person I bought her from owned her for almost 6 years. Jen was bred when she bought her, and foaled at her property. She was then bred 2 years later and for 3 successive years. She was also starved during this time period, and admittedly abused and neglected. She was ridden poorly, in ill-fitting tack with uneducated hands and far too much weight for her size and build.
In January, 2007, Jen came up for sale in a desperation situation. Despite having a recuperating husband at home and a very reduced income, I could find nobody that would purchase an emaciated, pregnant mare for $1500. But I was just the idiot to do it. And it was not easy, either, the seller was very difficult to work with, didn't return emails or telephone calls, changed her mind numerous times, it was a nightmare. Eventually, Jen finally arrived on March 15, 2007. Her recuperation story is rather long, you can read about in on the blog that I made up specifically for this purpose.
On May 17, 2007, Jen gave birth to a beautiful little bay filly. Her name is *Huyana , which is a Native American word for "rain falling". It rained for 2 days, then cleared up and she was born that night, then it rained for 2 more days after. Her barn or call name is "Ana". Unfortunately, Ana shattered her pastern on February 28, 2008, and was euthanized.
Jen has gained over 100 pounds over the past year. She has a lot of muscling to build back up. She has a scar on her nose where she wore a halter until it grew into her head. Jen has many emotional issues, as well. She is (or was) a very shut down little mare. Whenever you would handle her, she locks up her body, braces her neck, and turns away, waiting for you to be done. I didn't see that mare lick or chew until she was here for almost a full year. She is now learning that she can express herself. She has become very expressive, to the point of overdoing it. I suspect that she will normalize eventually, once she realizes that bad things don't happen to horses here. It is going to take a lot of quiet, consistent handling, but she does respond to it. Her first reaction is still to brace or zone out and go to her happy place, but if I speak soothingly to her, and stroke her neck and face gently and quietly, she will relax, let go of the brace, soften her eyes, lick and chew, and drop her head by about 3 feet.
Jen is supposed to be a riding horse for my daughter. We will see if that ever happens. She is very resistant and will not take a bit in her mouth. We will work on that this year, and I intend on starting her in a Dr. Cooks Bitless Bridle , so that she will not associate it with having her mouth yanked on. My plan is to start her on some gentle, quiet, calm in hand work over ground poles, using clicker training as a reward. The hard part for Jen, is going to be figuring out that its not all about the treats. She is very, VERY food motivated, to the point where she can barely even think when food is around. She needs to let go of her old habits of worrying about where every bite comes from. I'm not sure if that can happen, considering she has been starved for almost all of her life. But we will give it our very best shot.
Back in the new milennium, a friend of mine (you know who you are) called me and said: "Hey Shell, so-and-so has sold the barn, and is moving to Florida. They have a few ponies left, and if they don't get homes they're sending them to auction." So of COURSE I had to go look, being the fat, hairy pony addict that I am.
So that friend, who shall remain nameless, dragged me to a back lot on that farm, where there were two fat, hairy, sassy ponies, one red, and the other a sort of dishwater color. I said I would take whatever one that my friend (ok, I'll say it, it was Jan, its much easier to type "Jan" than "my friend", I'm lazy, so shoot me). My *ahem* darling husband said he was "putting his foot down", NO MORE HORSES (mind you, at the time I had two, Turbo and April). I was ticked, but, OK, whatever. So Jan chose Whinney the Pooh, the dishwater colored 11.2H Shetland pony, who supposedly had done everything under the sun, including jumping, polo, lead-line, flat work, etc. Well, Jan lives in a "neighborhood", about, hmmm, 1/3 acre, I would say. and needed some place for Whinney to live. So of course, being the wonderful friend that I am, told Jan that she could keep Whinney here, and just pay her cost, feed, supplements, dewormer, trimming. A perfect plan (muwaaahahahahaha!!!) Seriously though, it wasn't even a plan, it just happened that way, I swear it.
Jan was pregnant at the time, and of course hoping for a little girl to ride like her dear old momma did. But of course, that child happened to be of the male persuasion, and far more interested in things with motors than with tails and hooves. Along came the second pregnancy, and another gas & oil loving creature came forth into the world. So, Whinney then became the property of a little girl who already loved her.
Whinney is, by far, THE most bomb-proof horse I have ever met in my life. I saw this mare spook once in the 8 years we've had her, and that was a couple of months ago when I snapped her picture at dawn and the flash went off. Her entire spook consisted of a little shudder and her snapping her head to look at what flashed in her face. I've seen that pony walk through a pile of brush that was past her belly, get her legs tangled up in the brush, and spend 20 minutes thinking, trying different things, and figuring her way out of the tangled up 
branches (while I stood closely by, ready to jump in if need be). My daughter learned to pick feet, groom, tack and untack with this pony. While Whinney has been known to yank her foot back from adults, slam them with her head, knock into you and step on your feet, she has never, ever put a single whisker wrong around a child in all the years we've had her. She is absolutely the BEST pony out there.
Whinney was a little sour when my daughter first started riding her seriously, i.e., asking her to actually move. Whinney dragged her feet so badly it looked like she was ready for the knackers, an I thought she would wear the toe right off her hooves. She bucked, and did the "drop your shoulder and dive to the center of the ring to make the kid fall off" trick. Well, my daughter is more stubborn than a crotchety old pony (heaven help me!) and Whinney never did get her off. We decided to go to Plan B, and started clicker-training with Whinney. Well, food was just the ticket to get that old fart interested in working again. Whinney is now so excited to work, she comes running to the gate when she sees tack come out, nickers for her saddle, opens her mouth for the bit, and nickers when my daughter climbs on her back. She will do anything for my daughter, including stand stock still while she stands on her back and picks a leaf off the tree to feed to the little hairball.
Whinney is somewhere around 25 years old now, and as ponies go, she'll probably be around for another 25 years :-)
Back in March of 1998, I purchased my first horse, Turbo . Turbo seemed to do just fine living on his own, but I noticed that he spent a lot of time standing in the back corner of his paddock, where there were construction workers working on the neighbors house. It was then that I realized Turbo was lonely and bored, and needed a companion. He had lived along before, at his old home, but I'm told he always broke out of the fence to go visit the horses across the street. I had tried a goat living with Turbo, but the goat was aggressive (toward humans), and that was a bad plan. So it was decided (by myself only, of course) that Turbo needed a companion.
Of course, since I was the only person riding, there wsa no need to get a full-sized horse companion, that would eat and poop as much as a riding horse. So we (meaning, I) decided that a pony or mini would do quite well in keeping Turbo company, and keeping expenses down.
So early in 1999, I began my search. My daughter was 2 years old at the time, and I thought a pony she could leadline on would be great. I looked at a lot of very rank ponies. Ponies that kicked, and bit, flattened their ears and snaked their heads. Ponies with the most horrid hoofcare I had ever seen. I was in no position at the time to take on any sort of rescue, with a small child to care for, and only just getting into horses myself.
Finally, after a lot of dead-ends, I found April. April is a palomino mini who is 36" tall. She was not registered. I registered her with AMHR, which was an open registry at the time. I had no need for papers, but though it would be cute to have her in my daughters name. April was 2 years old at the time, and she has been here ever since.
April was a great companion for Turbo. They became fast friends, size differences notwithstanding. April was also small enough, that my daughter could brush her and pet her without feeling overwhelmed. As they both grew, my daughter wsa able to ride April a little, but as my daughters skills grew, so did her size, and she was soon too big for April. In 2001 when I was pregnant with my son and not riding, I broke April to cart. I have done nothing with her since then <she says, sheepishly>.
April still is a fantastic companion. She is a sweet little horse, who just adores attention. She has no qualms about the larger horses, and even will chase Leroy off. She has walked under the larger horses, and has kick-fests with Lakota. She also, however, loves to stand on rocks. She is always climbing up on a huge boulder, or ledge outcropping, and standing on it, as if she is the queen of all she oversees. April is the first one to get into whatever you are doing. She likes to knock over my bucket of tools, and swipe them. She has also stuck her head into vet's bags, and my farrier's carry-all. After on such instance, after April had spread the contents far and wide, Judy (my trimmer) called me the next day, asking if I had found a check she was missing. Unfortunately, I had not, and we can only imagine where that ended up.
See, April will eat anything. Anything. Maybe she is trying to live up to her old goat mentor. Or perhaps she is just very undescerning. April has stolen juice boxes from childrens hands, bread, calzones, and even a roast beef and cheese sandwich, as well as stolen the barn cats food. Yes, she ate the entire contents, roast beef, cheese, mayonaise, and all. April always makes me laugh
