What's Cookin'?

I guess we haven't really talked about what's in the oven for 2015 foals yet, have we?  Well, I'm expecting 3 foals from my very special mares next year from Ritchie. 

The first bred is my incredible Standardbred mare, Promise.  I had bred her in 2013 and did not have a foal from her this year so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll have something for me in the spring. I love this mare because I love Standardbreds but her specifically even more for a few reasons.  Firstly, she's such quality.  She's beautiful, much like a tall Morgan, over 16.1 hh, patient, so well put together with a huge trot (obviously) she's sosensible and she's from the same stud as my boy Jose Jalapeno.  Having a foal from her is like bringing together both Ritchie and Jose and my lost heart horse Sam all in one. I'm not going to let this foal go easily.
  

 
 
 



Second, I bred our big buckskin QH mare.  Yes, unconventional, but she's produced consistent quality to Arab studs and I think what we're going to have out of this one is a substantial powerhouse of a sweet, kind and level-headed eye catcher.  Something that would look a lot like an Irish Draught.  Nix has produced me two fantastic half-Arab offspring, both buckskins out of Bay (or grey born bay) stallions.  Tex has proven to be a bit of a late bloomer, but at 4 years old, she's certainly coming into her own now.  Unfortunately we'll never know what incredible things Monty would have gone onto. 

Pyrotecnix SE at 4 years

Monty at 2 months

Lastly, I'm expecting our first warmblood x warmblood!  Yes, I did something traditional too!  My Gervantus x Tango Selune mare Lilyana should be producing us her first foal.  Lana is a substantial mare, loves attention, with big jumper lines.  Obviously that foal is going to need to find a home with someone who likes air time!  It's a different sort of Grand Prix!


If you're interested in reserving one of these foals in utero, please feel free to contact me to set up ultrasound and details.  All foals will be registered with the RPSI.  shimmere@live.ca

Happy Horseing!





 

Hallooooo!

Still here!  Yes, yes we are!  How about you?

What's new?  Well, miss Tex is currently at the barn, has been for 4 days getting ready to meet some new people interested in looking at her.  I'm not a fan of Tex on a good day, not because she's a bad horse.  In all fairness, she's a pretty good girl considering her lack of experience and education as a foal/filly.  She and I just don't click. 

Anyways, so she's been at the barn for 4 whole days and I've been riding her getting ready to show her to potential buyers.  And you know what?  I'm actually enjoying her!  Every day she's getting a little better.  Her attitude has been fantastic and she's getting stronger and rounder and more forward. 

This is her 4th ride back with my lovely friend Andie aboard.  She'd never met her let alone ridden her but did me the favour of taking her for a quick round so I could video her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMDU7f83hrA
Here's a clip of her from a month earlier with my good friend Craig Hodgman aboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp1QjA_q6bw  see?  Cute over fences!  Like her as a hunter.

LePremieur SE owned by Renate Price

Today, the colts also got gelded!  L'Image SE and LePremieur SE are both now geldings.  The procedure went easy as pie and now the rest of their lives will be too!  I know weaning and gelding is a rough time for the little guys and we always feel sorry for them.  But today, coming out of their sedation, I had to take a video of the boys.  Oh my lord, laughed and laughed! 

I know you'd be disappointed if I didn't share that so it's here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGD1y8sW364

Now, our beautiful Jasper colt (L'Image SE) has been through the RPSI auction and unfortunately hadn't received bids BUT I'm a big fan of what the RPSI does for programs and they have continued with the un-sold colts in a sealed-bid sale this week!  How cool is that?!  Here's a promo I put together for Jasper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRNF9os_ub0
If you're interested in talking with the RPSI about him, please feel free to contact them.  They have his vet paperwork, his inspection scores and comments and bloodlines all available to you there. 
www.rhpsi.com

Now, if you've made it through all of that, then you should have your fill of us now.  Hope you have a great day and lots of Happy Horseing!

Grumble Grumble

I started out with a bad day.  It seemed that today I had more than my fair share of (forgive me) stupid people.  I've had frustrations in selling some of my horses, people being noncommittal, changing their minds last minute or asking questions that have very obvious answers if they just look.  Just argh! 

My little girl had gone to her best friend's for a sleep over last night so I decided to leave all the frustrations at home and go get my girl.  The mom of her best friend is a lovely young lady, she's helped me out having Ali over a few nights so I could work, in addition to sleep overs.  I wanted to do something for her so I stopped in and bought her a Visa gift card to say thanks. 

I've learned that the only thing I have control over in my life is me.  That's it.  On days like today, when I keep banging my head against a wall in frustration, I need to make a change.  The best way I've found to cause change is to create a new chain, one of POSITIVITY!  Doing something small, something kind for someone else changes the "vibration" around me to something positive and usually grows in several directions from there.  And today was no exception.  Although my Ali girl seemed a little over tired, the rest of my day was actually quite lovely and relaxing. 

Never forget, the only one who has control of your life is YOU! 

Happy Horseing!

LICENCED AND APPROVED!!!

Well, the trip to Okotokes for the RPSI inspection at Bri-Mel Farm this September turned out to be a little wetter and a whole lot whiter than we'd anticipated with the area getting over 30 cm of SNOW dumped on them on the inspection date! 

Fortunately the foals were quite easy to load with their moms, once we figured out our game plan.  Renate purchased herself a lovely 4-horse rig and we christened it with taking both broodmares and their foals all the way down to Okotokes for inspection.  They travelled well and Ali, Ritchie and I followed a couple of hours later.  The drive down was quite good, a little wet with drizzle, but nothing exciting.  The horses all settled in well and we were treated to a delicious dinner with top-notch company (thanks Deb!) before heading over to my favourite adopted family's home for the night. 

Up and at 'em early in the morning and the snow had already started!  Heavy, wet snow!  The colts and dams were not happy and were shivering when we got to the farm, but got into the hay well in the shelter once we arrived.  Ritchie's sheet had soaked through so we changed him and fed him up.  They were all a little better with a belly full.  We got registration done in a cold barn as the power had been knocked out at Bri-Mel.  Poor Brian was working his tail off trying to get things in serviceable order with a generator for the registration office.  The hospitality there, as always, was top notch! 

All in all, the horses did well.  Ritchie came in and seemed relieved to be out of the weather for a bit.  He was cold and honestly didn't give me as much movement as he can, but he still did very well.  He went through the jump chute and gave us a glimpse of a brilliant bascule at 3'9".  He scored an 8 for his canter and an overall 7. For a 4-year-old colt in the COLD AND WET, I'm very pleased with that. 

The colts came in and each scored 7.2 for silver premiums.  For half-Arab colts, I'm ecstatic with those results! 

Ali and I ended up staying over another night in Okotokes due to the snow while Renate went home with the mares and colts.  She kept saying something about taking her new horse out cross country schooling... what people do to jump their horses over solid objects...  I will never understand.  But they all went safely, she got to the cross country, bought herself a new mare and today won a championship derby on her.  So all in all, she's golden!

I am interested in having Ritchie approved with a Canadian registry now, but haven't committed to either yet.  I think it will depend on what mares come in next.  In the mean time, I have x-rays and a phenomenal vet report.  I've actually never heard of a horse flexing 100% sound and having flawless x-rays, but Ritchie does! 

I'm off to ride now, happy horseing!

Opportunity of a LIFETIME!



Photo: Cam McGregor cam.mcgregor@shaw.ca
 

 Jose and I had a thrilling weekend with the RCMP Musical Ride at WELCA.  We started out with a trail ride through Edmonton starting at WELCA and ending up at the Cross Cancer Clinic on Saturday morning.  It was the wrap-up ride for the Wild Pink Yonder.  This was Jose's very first trail ride and, although he was a little impatient, he handled the whole experience extremely well!  Lots of media was present and we later saw ourselves on the morning Global news. 

Saturday evening saw our first performance in the ring.  Jose had already had a big day and he didn't give me his all although he did still perform well for me.  The crowd was enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy what we offered. 

Sunday was a fantastic day.  We took extra time to warm up before our performance to make sure all our movements were solid.  A few photographers were behind the scenes and one snapped a few fantastic pictures of Jose and I including the one above, which is on its way to becoming a wall hanging!  I was simply thrilled with how Jose performed for this show, every trick was perfect, people laughed at my joke and cheered well for us! 

Photo Cam McGregor  cam.mcgregor@shaw.ca

 After the RCMP ride, we had a quick photo op.  Unfortunately I had had a nasty cold and laryngitis and I missed the announcement to have him ready and in the ring with the RCMP until almost too late.  Fortunately, we still got this incredible shot:

Photo DevLynn Northy

As for the RCMP horses and riders, they were all just lovely!  I really enjoyed spending the weekend with these wonderful men and women.  They were very similar to the military family that I have learned to love over the years.  We all joked that Jose could fit right in on the trailer with their horses as several members had to take a triple-take when I walked Jose out before they got familiar with us.  One rider had joked that I should upgrade to one of the RCMP horses.  I told him there was no upgrading, this horse is the best there is.  After the second show, he agreed too :) 

All in all, hats off to the WELCA for setting up a wonderful show, to all of the volunteers and other performers who came to the show and to the members of the RCMP musical ride.  Thank you for an opportunity I will never forget! 

Happy Horseing!

Jose Jalapeno and I at the RCMP Musical Ride!

I got some fantastic news today!  I received an e-mail from the Whitemud Equine Learning Centre inviting Jose Jalapeno and I to perform at the pre-show for the RCMP Musical Ride next weekend, August 30 and 31.  Holy Hannah I can't say no to that, what a great opportunity!!!

So with just over a week to prepare, Jose and I will be performing our tricks on both days to provide entertainment and education to the public before enjoying the Musical Ride.  It's such an honour to be invited to participate, it means the world to me to be able to share my special boy in this arena. 

So much work goes into training these horses to perform and Jose loves it.  He feeds off the energy and thrives on it. 

It sounds like the Wild Pink Yonder ride will be making a trek from WELCA to the Cross Cancer Institute on the Saturday morning so we aim to be part of that as well. 

If you're interested in taking in the show, tickets are available at www.welca.ca

We're looking forward to seeing you there! 

Happy Horseing!

And Sometimes Life Happens to Good People

Unfortunately for the lovely young lady who was intent on purchasing our Jasper colt, life has happened and she is unable to commit to him at this time.  I completely respect and understand that. My first priority is our horses and would rather have them with us then sell them to a home that's just not 100% ready for them. 

So, once again, L'Image SE (LaBamba SE x DTD Fancy That) is available for purchase.  He is RPSI (can be inspected for premium status this September and branded or registered and branded next year) and can be registered with the CAHR as well.  I highly recommend both.  My asking price is $4000 CAD with both sets of papers and gelding.  Of course, the right home is my primary concern and I will happily work with the right match.

Please feel free to contact me to come out and meet our personable and handsome little man. 

Happy Horseing!