So it's mid-February. Our few bred mares are really starting to show, and we are busying guessing what our 2011 foal crop will be like. Winter coats are already letting go. Our Karma Farms clients have started the pilgrimage to the farm on weekends, catching their ponies and starting spring conditioning rides. Our trainer Jerry Hilligoss has gone home to Sand Springs, OK for a couple of weeks so Curtis, Tommi and I are holding down the fort with the help of the Karma Kids, esp. the Crumbies. Lots of newly trained youngsters to ride, coats to be brushed, and a few 3 and 4 year olds to be started, so if you are in the neighborhood, drop in and lend a hand!
Meet Annette. Annette Grogan started riding with us a few months ago and has fast become part of the family. Annette and her mom, Teresa Smith, have a lovely B&B, the Old Mulberry Inn and Cottages in Jefferson, Texas, and she loves to escape to the farm when she needs a break. She is game to ride anything she can handle and has enjoyed giving
Building A Mystery some extra miles when the weather has allowed this winter. BAM was full of himself in the shot above--and he's telling Annette what he thinks of going slow. BTW, BAM placed 3rd in NATRC's Region 4 in 2010 and 6th in Open Heavyweight for the entire nation. Score one more successful CTR season for Tori's great grullo!
Another of Annette's projects is Choctaw Candy's Diamond Star Dancer, the little bay mare with the BIG name. "Star" has been a rather successful broodmare for most of her life and has one AIHR/HOA National Halter Champion Original Gelding to her credit, Karmelita Farms' (and mainly Collen Halupa's) boy Don't Mess Around with Jim, a lovely dark bay appaloosa by Born To Run. But with the current economy, she is much more likely to get that new home that she needs as a riding horse. So Annette is learning as Star is re-learning. Here they are as Annette coachs Star in opening the pasture gate:
When folks tell me that they'd like to have a Colonial Spanish Horse but just can't afford one, I like to point out that our horses come in all price ranges. Some really nice ones can be purchased for a lot less than you might think. Star is a great case in point-- here's a little mare that has AIHR "O" and HOA papers, is trained and easy to catch in the pasture and gentle for any competent rider, and she's priced under $1000. Her last owner is no longer breeding and has enough riding horses so Star is on the market. We want her to have a good home where she can promote America's First Horse because that's what she deserves. And since she's not kin to
any of our stallions, it would be very easy to make this a package deal and send her home bred when March rolls around. Okay, so she's not one of our Karma Farms bred champions, but if you breed her to one of our boys, she could sure produce another champion just as good as
Jim (or even better). And she's a nice riding horse, too, and getting better every day Annette rides her. I'll use her on our dude string until she's purchased. Come and try her. Annette will keep her exercised until you get here.
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| Annette Grogan rides "Star" in the pasture, enjoying her nice, easy trot. |
