Just for leap day/leap year

Quantico arrived this morning and I got some laughs--zen/calm mamma, Isa, was in no hurry to stand up after her daunting task of foaling this big colt. Even though the birth stall is rather spacious, Quantico decided best to go over mom than around her. Future eventer? Whatever his future, this colt is wondrous--mom's calm, with a hint of humor in his personality, long legs, nice bone and hopefully all that Wanapum is adding to his other offspring.

Being born on leap day, I considered naming Quantum but no, I just know his name is supposed to be Quantico.

Was fun to welome a colt after having 4 fillies in a row. Congrats and thanks to Hernan who bought Hipolita's foal in utero. Boy, talk about hitting the lotto! Hipolita's bay Gitano filly is spectacular. Leggy and looks like will be quite a special mover with lovely neck and head, very upright. A wow filly for sure. The owner chose the name Querendona which I think is lovely.

Next additions should be out of Dolly and Gentileza. Not getting flooded with Q name ideas so you all get to work!

Principe is on the van right now on his way to far into Canada and the Aussie girls leave tomorrow on their big adventure.

A gorgeous day so I am off to delight further in the newest male in my life. Special, special and what we look for in our men: funny!

February, 2012

How fast the last couple of months have gone! The last month complicated with moving mom into an assisted living facility and getting all the transition worked out. Hopefully, as time passes, the home will feel like home and she'll be safer and this move the best thing for her.

Paladin shipped to his forever home and thank you so much Susan for choosing our gentle giant. We are getting the international travelers ready for their journeys: Padma and Odalisca leaving in next two weeks to start quarantine to ship to Australia and Principe to go to Canada. It still boggles my mind how 20 years ago, I just wanted one andalusian and here I am, and with horses heading out all over the country and even to other countries----who would have ever figured?

This morning, our angel, Karateka, had a Gitano filly. Quimbara is her name and she will be tall, grey, big boned and she carries on the Estepa/Karateka/Marengo magic personality. This morning she laid in my lap and was breathing little foal breath like a baby snore. If there is anything better than the first few days of a new baby, I haven't discovered it yet!

Names starting with Q will be challenging this year so any name suggestions will be welcomed!

Thanks to Hector who bought Niagara in utero a few years back and now is buying Pippa to add to his breeding program. That I am honored by so many repeat customers is mind-blowing, too.

And special thanks to Melinda for the amazing and wonderful journey she and her horses and I have been on for many years. When Melinda took a temporary hiatus from horse business, I was fortunate enough to buy Karina. Now Melinda is back to having her own horses and place, and it is only fitting that she have Karina back. So this spring when the new barn is finished, Karina will be heading back to her other mom. To have had this mare over the years and experienced so many births has been a privilege---what a noble mare!

As I continue to figure out a plan to simplify and modify that is best for the horses and I, I am considering giving Dolly, the big belgian draft, away, only to a very special home. My mare page has info about Dolly and videos of her 3 babies so far. Dolly had a horrible start to her life and is NOT an easy mare and NOT for everyone. If someone did not have experience with horses, she would not be a good fit. However, I have enjoyed and had many laughs over her and been VERY happy with the babies she has had. I pretty much rescued her in 2005 so best guess is that she is about 11 years old. She does not have papers.

Dolly's first Gitano colt was Kobe, whose owner reports he is a love and a joy to be riding. Next, she had the gigantic Maghnus, one of the most outgoing colts ever, who looked like would finish over 17 hands. Last year, she had Gitano's Octavia, who is a pasture favorite and purchased by an excellent rider who sees her potential. Of course her foals by Gitano or Chulo have been registered as half-andalusians and eligible to show as such with the IALHA.

My plan is to wait until Dolly foals in March, I will keep and sell the foal. Then I will get Dolly back in foal so that when the March foal is ready to be weaned, she would be ready to go if a perfect new home popped up. If someone that has patience would take in this giant mare who does not want to be caught! We leave a loose neck band on to catch her. We keep her in a routine of coming to the gate to get fed, and then once in the gate, she lets us come up to her to turn her out after she eats. Once caught, her ground manners are fine, she loads and trailers and is easy to breed. She is happy living outside year round with all the other mares.

The foal she would be carrying when she would be ready to leave here in early summer could be the start of a half andalusian breeding program for the person willing to make Dolly a permanent part of their family. The baby would be the "reward" so-to-speak for adopting Dolly. If you know someone who may be like me in terms of getting the most pleasure in taking in horses that are a challenge, have them email me for more details. I honestly do love this mare after her 7 years of being with us. If she is meant to stay here forever, is okay with me and I'll know is what is meant to be if the perfect owner doesn't manifest. But in cutting back the number of producing mares I have, it seems as if she might be one that might be destined to go to a new home?

Hope you all had a happy valentine's day and enjoying the nationwide mild winter. Hipolita's and Isabelina's babies will be coming next. Will post then!

Kairo's arrived

Here is Kairo who arrived two days ago and is so quiet and calm, he is surpassing my wildest hopes for how I expected to receive him after his the long trip from Washington state. For me, a breeding stallion absolutely has to be easy to handle and be around and no doubt, this guy will be very Gitano-like in his sensible, people loving and pleasing way. It doesn't hurt to have this great mind in such a smooth package where all his pieces seem to fit magically together---wide chest, big bones, substance, and a long, long neck in what looks like will be a blue-black package. I am so grateful to Ami MacHugh, Kianto's and Wanapum's breeder, for entrusting me with this wonderful colt.

Ami previously won National Championships with Kairo's full brother, Klickitat and his full sister, Doña and hopefully, we will do the same in coming years with Kairo.

New and charming

Last night, my brother, my niece, Sara and her friend Kristen were spending the night and we were joined by Bielsa's new filly, Pippa. Photo'd here at 8 hours old, she is so gorgeous, calm and outgoing, we all were immediately enchanted. I let the girls choose her name and they chose Pippa, as in sister of Princess Kate. Just as the human Pippa took everyone's breath away when she appeared at the Royal wedding, we believe equine Pippa will also cause people to gasp and draw alot of interest.

Grey and the image of Wanapum, only with a much bigger and prettier eye than her sire has, Pippa has played with the girls, let newish dog, Myrtle, figure out the first foal born since her arrival, and laid in my lap forever in the stall. Bielsa is, as always, a calm and wonderful mother.

If there is something more fun than having foals, I would like to know what it is!

I am all wound up as my new black colt is in a trailer right now en route from Washington state to Denton. I thought nothing would be more exciting than his arrival, but now will be going back and forth between his stall and Pippa's and getting not much else done for the indefinite future.

I hope Habana will give me a few days before she has her Wanapum foal!

Fall update

At long last, it finally seems a little like fall and are we ever enjoying the lovely mornings.

We had great luck at the IALHA National Show. The first class of the show was PRE 2 & under fillies and our Niza, pictured here, won! On Sunday, under a different Spanish judge, Niza again won the 2 & under filly class and best overall young filly competing against the weanling, yearling and 3 year old winners and reserves.

Macanuo also had a good show. 3rd in the PRE 3 year old stallion class but first in the ANCCE 3 year old class and best overall young male against the weanling, yearling and 2 year old winners. He also won the 3 year old futurity class so I won $1,971.00 which sure helps on show expenses.

Wanapum got a mind-blowing 86 on his functionality test which is part of the 4, 5 and 6 year old PRE championship. He was therefore crowned Nat'l PRE Junior Stallion for functionality and ended up Reserve Nat'l Champ of the overall class.

Lots of other happy news, too. Welcome to Lisa and our new boarder, Chistoso. It is amazing that I just asked aloud that the right owners and horses would come for boarding and I've been so fortunate to have several people and horses that blend in beautifully. Perfeita headed last week to New Jersey and her lovely new owner called to describe how after her long trip, Perfeita unloaded to snow such that she must have thought she was arriving on a whole other planet! I am excited that Paladin was chosen by a fun sounding owner and will ultimately be heading to South Dakota, so he'll get to experience snow also!

Great friend Lesley Harrison was here after the show for a few days and then had a short visit with Sherry and Henry from Australia and Malen which I enjoyed.

Big news is that we today had Macanuo gelded. He is related to too many of my mares to justify leaving him a hormonal stallion not being bred often. All of the serious inquiries I have had would want a gelding so perhaps this will aid in his finding his perfect permanent home. He is such a dear personality with so many great conformational attributes that it was a tough decision. I think what tipped the scales was that now we have a few riding boarders, I can just imagine the fun Mac and Valente can have trailering and heading out on trail rides and schooling shows that just seem impossible with the stallions. So hoping to make a much better life for Mac, I took the veterinary step---my vet kept asking me if I was sure as he raves about how great Mac is! So a few weeks to heal and then under saddle he goes resulting in no-doubt a great riding horse.

The other big news is my new weanling colt from Ami MacHugh is heading my way this week. I haven't seen video, only a couple of snapshot photos and haven't met in person but I have no doubt I'll be in love before he even gets down the trailer's ramp. His name is Kairo and he is black, the son of Kianto and Alegria AK. His full siblings are awesome, including IALHA Nat'l champs, Klickitat and Doña. I have huge dreams of what he'll produce with some of my mares, including my Gitano daughters, Niza and Otamisia.

As if I needed anything else to look forward to, we are starting to watch Habana and Bielsa who should be foaling in the next couple of weeks.

Happy halloween to all and best wishes for your fall and beginning of winter to be mild and beautiful.

Is this Texas or Africa?

Somehow, these poor horses survived July but August is unrelenting--last month I posted was one of the worst summers ever and now statistics prove it is THE worst summer since keeping records.

Thanks for all those who wrote with ideas about hay. If all those who have promised deliveries come through, I should have enough hay for the winter--some from Iowa, Mississippi and Florida. I have my little map showing all the states where my babies have found homes--perhaps I'll get another one showing where our hay is coming from....

Due to the cost of the hay that I normally can produce myself and so not in my budget, I sold this once-in-a-lifetime colt, Palisandro. Thanks to Karra for saving me from a nervous breakdown about how I was going to pay for hay and for the peace of mind of my knowing Palisandro couldn't be going to a better home. If there is a nicer colt anywhere, I'd like to see it---this guy has size, movement, color and most of all, temperament that is what I would make every time if I could control such a thing. I will cry many times over about this colt leaving but at the same time, can only be grateful that he and Karra came to my rescue when I needed to take care of all the horses here.

Welcome to Sarah and new boarder, Lamir, a lovely grey arab who settled in immediately and seems to be enjoying his herd and freedom outdoors. I am ultra picky about what people and horses I allow to join our horse paradise/my home and so far, Sarah and Lamir are pleasures.

Will see if enough sales between now and October to cover the expense for nationals---we are hoping to show Niza (Flama x Gitano 2 year old), Macanuo (Destinada x Gitano 3 year old) and Wanapum, assuming they aren't all so sunburnt and unready---even considering the horses or Valente to be working in this unspeakable heat is out of the question where we are usually working with the halter horses by this time of year. Will see how the next couple of months go.

I know so many places are having tough summers--droughts, heat, floods, dust storms--seems we all have something to overcome. I hope for all of you the pleasure of the horses outweigh what we all go through to have them as it does for me.

Dreaming of cold

I am trying to remind myself that it does really get below 100 degrees in Texas!

Like most of the country, we've had one of the worst summers on record. The heat is something one expects in Texas, but the grasshoppers (I've been told 30 grasshoppers eat as much in a day as one cow?) have wiped out our overly dry pastures and it is going to be dicey as to how I'll find and afford hay this winter. If you are in a state with hay and have any info as to semi's that transport, I'd love to hear from you. We put up square bales from our first cut but I'll need equivalent to 100 or more round bales so the quantity is daunting to get it to us from out-of-state. Help!

Thanks for all of you who wrote with great name suggestions. I've saved some of the names you wrote with for the fall babies and thanks to Karra, the last wonder colt is named Palisandro which I think is such a beautiful word. It means "rosewood" and suits as I keep thinking he looks almost black some places (probably will end up black/bay like Gitano) and reds and beautiful browns other places.

When last wrote in June, had finished up breeding--just too hot to contemplate having babies here much past early May. Our visitor, Galerna, confirmed in foal to Wanapum, Flama back in foal to Gitano and Boarder but feels like my Cachaca in foal to Urucum. Destinada didn't settle and we didn't attempt to breed Karina so late in the year so we'll catch them in the fall when we start breeding again.

My marketing came to a screeching halt as the thought of making any horse move if they don't have to on rock hard ground in this heat is more than I can stand. Everyone faded, itchy and our time in the morning and evening pretty much spent on squirting off sweat and salt and filling waterers. Weaned Picasso, Prisca, Perfeita and Padma but then felt too hot to start weaning the other 5 boys--will get to that eventually to and then maybe get some video of the other boys still for sale.

As usual, loveliest people ever came into my life--thanks Kay and Bill for choosing the one-of-a kind Oaxaca. Another dream home. The pasture will feel like it has a big hole without this friendly girl that was always present and attentive but she'll have a great life in Iowa.

Lets all hope August flies by as July did and send any extra rain or hay you have my way, please!