For I have said goodbye to Stella. We tried 3 seperate times to breed her to Cash, with no luck. We had palpations and ultrasounds before and after each attempt, several successful covers each cycle, etc. and still no embryo. Stella was tested, etc. for breeding soundness and everything looked & came back normal. We decided that if it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be. I decided the best choice was to sell her to someone who would DO something with her. With the babies, I've had my hands full with trianing, and have only found the time to hop on Stella once or twice a week for a leisurely stroll around the field. As much as I'm sure she enjoyed her "retirement", I felt she had so many more years of usefullness to give to someone, and she is so laid back and forgiving that it is such a waste for her to stand around and get fat. She is the epitome of beginner horses, and I thought she would be a wonderful horse for someone learning the ropes, or someone who needed to build confidence. She'll forgive tight hands or the occasional bump to her mouth. She'll put up with poor position or a bouncing rider, and nothing phases her.
I ended up selling her to a couple who do medieval games on horseback. They had one horse, who happens to be a massive draft who belongs to the wife. She is an experienced horsewoman, and her husband is not. After several huge falls off of her draft mare, she decided she needed to find a suitable beginner's horse for her husband who was also large enough. Stella fit the bill, and they even decided to keep her name.
{Stella's New Rider}I am very happy with the new owners. They even threw a bunch of kids up on her and she went like a pro. She seemed more excited and perky than she ever has here. You could see it in her eyes when she stepped into the big boarding barn, and when they were riding her in the indoor arena. The showpen/barn was her life and I think she is very comfortable and happy there. They even showed me a video of them "jousting" on her at a trot at a medieval games practice meet.
The babies are growing and growing. Its hard to say they are babies anymore, especially Romeo. He is 14.2 and is now 17 months old. I'm guessing his final height will be 15-15.1 hh, but I could be off. I'm never good at guessing. Calypso is considerably smaller. I have a feeling she'll take after her father and finish out at about 14.2, which is a perfect height for my new reining mount (hopefully.) She still shows so much promise in the maneuvers she makes in the field and in the round pen/arena. Unfortunately, she is starting to lose allot of color on her face, leading me to believe she is varnishing, and not at a slow rate. Which means she'll lose her blaze. (Sigh).
I want to do some dressage with Romeo and later on, when he is more mature, start him over low fences. If he turns out 15.1 he'll be the perfect height for that as well, and he can sure jump fences. He shocked me by jumping our solid, pretty tall fence with ease a while back (and then a dubious amount of electric wire was promptly installed.) I am not fond of the giants towering at 16 hands or higher, and I'm not looking to do something on a high level in regards to jumping.
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Beyond that, I thought I'd start adding things that I think are just dumb, like stupid CL ads. (CL stands for Craigslist.) I am in NO WAY attempting to copy Fugly Horse. I know it is her domain to pick apart poorly conformed horses and stupid horse owners, but I honestly differ quite abit on some of the things she has to say. For one thing, I am pro slaughter and feel we need it back in the USA. HOWEVER, we need to revise the rules and procedures and install a serious system to moniter these. We can not have slaughter in the USA if the ways the horses are transported, treated prior to slaughter, and the way in which they are slaughtered are inhumane! We need to make sure plants in the USA don't dare to break the rules.
In any case, she also always goes on about how she hates natural horsemanship. I must disagree. All of my basic groundwork is Pat Parelli. I play all the games. I mix it up and figure out different things to do with them. No, letting a foal hop over a log once or twice isn't going to hurt it! No, getting a horse to do odd tricks like place all four feet on a pedestal isn't useless! It might seem silly to you, but that is just being close minded. If the only answer to some of the pointless looking things natural horseman do is to keep the horse guessing, thats a good answer. A horse's mind needs things shaken up a bit to keep them thinking, to keep them from being bored. I DO agree that RADICALS are ridiculous. You can be a natural horseman and not go over the top. There are allot of people who take natural horsemanship to a ridiculous level in which they put themself and their horses in danger. A horse is still a huge animal with a wired in fear response. Riding your stallion bareback and bridless through a field of mares is not a good idea, no matter what level you at in the Parelli system. That is just a good example of stupidity. And yes, Parelli should be ashamed for some of the idiocy her promotes. He should discourage things that are just plain-ass dangerous.
That, and natural horseman who are "pure", bug me. They refuse to use any "modern" techniques, or most modern tack and training devices because its "unatural". Come on! When I get in the saddle, the natural horsemanship just about ends there. I switch to traditional mode. When you are in the saddle its about mechanics, its about your hand and body position and your communication with the horse. Its not about putting a string on your horse's nose and magically getting it to not run off with you on its back. You get the respect on the ground with "natural" techniques, and you already have it once you are in the saddle. And yes, all the "natural" equipment people try to sell for an arm and a leg...that is stupid. It is just a bunch of greedy people seeing how they can take advantage of a craze and make money. Its the same with allot of crazy "certified" trainers. They are like insane hippies! They usually don't know their left lead from their right, have awful seats and have completely ignored any traditional training in favor of "being one with the horse." INCORPORATE natural horsemanship methods, but don't make them the extent of your horse training. Allot of these crazies are just trying to rip you off and take your money as well.
In any case, here is a CL ad in my area I have seen several times:
Here is the text. I AM taking one from Fugly and adding my own comments, in PINK to the ad. Actually, I am taking this technique from millions of blogs, but its easiest.
Ad Text:
Arabian stallion 3 year old lotsa flash
-Really, he looks rather plain to me. No chrome, no special color, and his conformation doesn't even say pretty...-
Long Legs, nice gate, could go dressage.,endurance or whatever you desire. We got his first colt this year and he is magnificent. Also available.
-We "got" his first colt? You mean you bred a mare to this thing, and she gave birth to a foal right? And DAMN IT, its GAIT, GAIT, GAIT. Not "gate". A gate is something you shut. Its a piece of a fence. It keeps your should-be-a-gelding stud in your field! Learn to SPELL, or else NO ONE will take you seriously as a horse person (Actually, people probably won't take you seriously as an intelligent person in general.)-
Would be awesome Stallion
-NO, he wouldn't! Do you want to know WHY? Look at that NECK! His body seems decent in this photo, but he has an upside down neck (ewe-necked). It is severely unattractive, and he is probably heavy on the forehand. In a breed where typey-ness is important, this is a big no-no. His neck should arch (the other direction, BTW) to truly be a stallion quality arabian. Nothing about his head says refined, typey, or pretty in any way. Furethermore, the arabian is a breed known for it's elasticity of movement. With a neck tying in like that, I doubt his movement is spectacular. Another strike against him as a stallion prospect. He needs his balls cut off. Pronto.-
Just needs to go to a new home, we have to many horses
loads, leads, ties, clips, trims,
(Sire) is Black Endurance Stallion with bloodlines to Champions,*Gdansk,*Adem,*Montecito and Aladdin.
cant go wrong with this guy
loads, leads, bathes, trims,
easily 16 hands when mature
will be registered at time of sale
-So he isn't registered now? So that means the colt you just "got" from him isn't registered either, and probably never will be. Way to be freaking lazy...-
500.00
-If you are selling him for $500, he is NOT stallion quality. Really, quit breeding everything with nuts just because you like his color and he has a couple of greats in his pedigree. Its stupid. And I'll bet those greats were 5 generations back, which means nothing considering how many horses have Gdansk & Aladdin in their bloodlines! Its like saying my 5th cousin is Trace Adtkins. So? That doesn't make me some wonderful, famous country singer!-
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