"Veiled Valentine", a Linda York small traditional (9" tall) ASB show gaited mare. Painted to a homozygous black and white tobiano for Nigel Watterworth of Canada.http://www.freewebs.com/neige1/
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Full Metal Jousting
I caught the first episode tonight! Great show. Gladiators on horseback make for some interesting entertainment. If you're a meathead with anger management issues, this sport is for you.....
http://www.history.com/shows/full-metal-jousting
http://www.history.com/shows/full-metal-jousting
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
February CREC Schooling Show
Today was the first schooling show of the season at the Columbia River Equestrian Center (CREC) in Irrigon, OR. This is the first show of the season, and there will be two more schooling shows at the beginning of March and April at CREC too. It was really good first practice show for Tommy.
A very dark photo that Craig took of the halter class. The indoor arena is really dark, and we were a long way away from the door (which has a little bit of light), so the halter photos didn't turn out all that well.
Warming up for the riding classes. It was a very cold day and foggy outside, but luckily there was a nice big round-pen available outdoors to practice in before heading into the indoor arena. Tommy was a real squirrel when we first got to the show, so I kept working on him consistantly throughout the day. It was a mixture of nerves and some juvenile green horse antics on his part. But he got the picture pretty quickly after about the 100th lap - that we were there to get to work.
He sported his new green saddle pad at the show. I purchased it for him last fall, but hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet. You can see by his breath how cold it was.... I'm hoping that at the next show it won't be quite so chilly.
We did the green horse walk/trot classes and he did really well. His lope is still a little bit too fast for advancing yet, so we opted not to do the western pleasure open classes. He performed very well under saddle today in a relaxed manner, so I didn't want to over-do it by pushing him even more. He was pretty tired by the time we left too. So the next show we'll give some more of the advanced classes a try.
He's learning how to hold a slow jog and stay collected up. He did really well, but the judge said that he would've liked to seen his hind-end pushed up underneath of him more. I told him, "thank you, and I'll work on it." The QH's and Paints that were in our classes were kind-of naturally gifted in that department conformationally - so Tommy and I will have to work extra hard to achieve that effect. It's not easy for him, since he has a longer back and frame, but we'll work on it and eventually get it down.
An abstract funky blurred shot that Craig snapped of us at the trot. The camera was obviously on a different setting at that moment....
The nice thing about a schooling show is that the judge will tell you what you need to work on, which is good. I always like to hear constructive critisism and find out what I can improve upon for the next time. You can bearly see us at the end of the line down by where the judge is standing.
It was a good day. Good enough for a few grins....
A very dark photo that Craig took of the halter class. The indoor arena is really dark, and we were a long way away from the door (which has a little bit of light), so the halter photos didn't turn out all that well.
Warming up for the riding classes. It was a very cold day and foggy outside, but luckily there was a nice big round-pen available outdoors to practice in before heading into the indoor arena. Tommy was a real squirrel when we first got to the show, so I kept working on him consistantly throughout the day. It was a mixture of nerves and some juvenile green horse antics on his part. But he got the picture pretty quickly after about the 100th lap - that we were there to get to work. 
He sported his new green saddle pad at the show. I purchased it for him last fall, but hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet. You can see by his breath how cold it was.... I'm hoping that at the next show it won't be quite so chilly. 
We did the green horse walk/trot classes and he did really well. His lope is still a little bit too fast for advancing yet, so we opted not to do the western pleasure open classes. He performed very well under saddle today in a relaxed manner, so I didn't want to over-do it by pushing him even more. He was pretty tired by the time we left too. So the next show we'll give some more of the advanced classes a try. 
He's learning how to hold a slow jog and stay collected up. He did really well, but the judge said that he would've liked to seen his hind-end pushed up underneath of him more. I told him, "thank you, and I'll work on it." The QH's and Paints that were in our classes were kind-of naturally gifted in that department conformationally - so Tommy and I will have to work extra hard to achieve that effect. It's not easy for him, since he has a longer back and frame, but we'll work on it and eventually get it down.
An abstract funky blurred shot that Craig snapped of us at the trot. The camera was obviously on a different setting at that moment....
The nice thing about a schooling show is that the judge will tell you what you need to work on, which is good. I always like to hear constructive critisism and find out what I can improve upon for the next time. You can bearly see us at the end of the line down by where the judge is standing. 
It was a good day. Good enough for a few grins....Saturday, February 4, 2012
Aladjas
I recently did another exercise in leather, and it was a very good learning experience. I did some aladjas for a couple of the Friends Of The Akhal Teke Award (FOTATA) participants. I'm the spearhead for the awards program, so I like to give out personalized gifts for participation. I'm definitely not the greatest leatherworker in the world (not even close).... but I hope that the two folks that get these will like them.
If you're wondering what an "aladja" is.....well, it's the decorative neckpieces that are generally exhibited on Akhal Tekes. Usually, they are given out to horses who have earned something or have some great importance. Generally turkmen race horses who have done well for their owners at the racetrack get an aladja.
If you're wondering what an "aladja" is.....well, it's the decorative neckpieces that are generally exhibited on Akhal Tekes. Usually, they are given out to horses who have earned something or have some great importance. Generally turkmen race horses who have done well for their owners at the racetrack get an aladja.It's reputed that the neckpieces are supposed to be "blessed" by a holy man in Turkmenistan when they are awarded to the horses - (but I'm not sure if this is a romantic tale, or a cold hard fact.) Unfortunately, I don't have any holy men lurking around my household, so these have to be a considered a couple of good ol' fashioned americanized versions.
I made these two out of heavy duty saddle skirting leather with some thinner russet latigo leather on the ends. I dyed the saddle skirting leather to an antique brown and saddle tan (to match the entrants horses), and then decorated them with silver and red crystal conchos and some matching silver buckle ends. A few of the aladjas that I've seen in photos of Turkmenistan have a rope or some yarn ends fastening the leather pieces together, but I had more of a "tougher" heavier duty idea in mind.
They aren't exactly the easiest things in the world to photograph.....(my landscape angle on the camera couldn't capture the lettering when they were laid out flat). So, I buckled them up and did my best to snap a couple of photos.
I hope to do some more of these in the future and add more stuff to them. I'm still learning how to stamp, scroll, and sew on heavy leather - so the more that I practice on smaller projects like this, the better I will get.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Basque Shepherds
As the snow gently sets in this time of year, I tend to fret just a tiny bit about my sheep. But in all honestly, there isn't a need for worrying. My fretting is fairly ridiculous considering how hardy these sheep really are. They have handled themselves for thousands of years on the harsh and unforgiving island slopes of Hirta, off the coast of Scotland. Much like the shetland ponies, these sheep had to survive and fend for themselves in deep blizzard conditions for months at a time with little to no food.
But still, being of the female gender - my instinct is to worry needlessly. I keep all of my sheep hog fat with an over-abundance of high protein alfalfa, and plenty of shelter to get out of our sloggy slushy winter weather. They don't have to work for anything around here, as they've got it made.
And alas, I will happily admit that I have a "lazy herders" flock. Soays are a tough, wild primitive sheep that do not require most of the modern tending of a normal shepherds flock. A list of their eases would include: no shearing, no tail docking, minimal castrating (most of my customers like the "rocky mountain" delicacy), no help in lambing (these sheep are like deer, if you mess around with a newborn lamb for too long they will abandon it), and no need to put them into a pen or barn for lambing either - they prefer lambing in the open outdoors, resistance to several varieties of parasites, resistance to hoof rot in soggy conditions, ect. The list of their positive traits goes on and on.
But the only negative pitfall is that they are indeed a WILD sheep. Sorting and handling has to be very quiet and kept to a minimal in order to avoid sending their stress levels through the roof. I've never seen anybody work them with a dog yet, (as it is reputed that they will scatter into a million different directions all at once if they are slightly pushed). I know from first hand experience that if anyone approachs them in too fast of a manner they will bounce off the fences, and sometimes over or underneath them. Most of the time the only way that I can coax them up close enough to take pictures is if I have a bucket of grain handy. These guys take a whole different approach than most domestic sheep operations.
Which brings me to some interesting pictures that I found at a historical site. These are some photos of Basque herdsmen and their equipment in Nevada. They herded the white wooly domestic breeds of sheep, ramboillet and merino - a much more difficult task to manage than my little primitive brown hairies. Above is a photo of a couple of wool wagons loaded up and ready to go to the market. The photo is from back in the 1920's when they still used horses to haul loads into town. I can imagine the amount of work it would take for herdsmen to shear that many sheep in order to make some huge loads like that. It makes me really glad that I don't have wool sheep....they are a tremendous amount of work.
Another 1920's photo of a herdsman who tended his flock through the harsh Nevada winters. The sheep wagon is the only shelter in sight. It's not uncommon for temperatures to dip to twenty below zero in the high desert, so it is a testament to the rugged tough herders who could survive camping for months at a time in the unforgiving land.
A desolate and lonely life. With only your horses and dogs to talk to, it had to be fairly difficult tending to the sheep year round.
Another photo from the 1920's. It's hard to imagine having everything you need in a little vardo wagon. I feel very fortunate to have a house that I can go into after I feed the sheep, and have a full cook stove to prepare my meals on and get my boots warm by a big blazing heater. If a shepherd ran out of supplies back in those days, that was just tough luck - you go hungry or do without. They had to make a go of what they had packed 6 months in advance. Most of the time they were miles away from civilization. In today's world, we'd just pick up the cell phone and hop into the truck and head to town for what we need.
A more modern photo of a herdsman tending to the flock. I honestly can't imagine looking after that many sheep. It would be a huge job. Cutting out the sick and doctoring, trying to keep them herded together, fighting off predators in the wide open range. It would be difficult. As a side note: See how the sheep are marked with red paint? I tried to mark my sheep in a similar fashion for the past couple of years or I.D. - but they smeared it everywhere all over the pen and fences. Not to mention my paint wasn't legible upon brown hair....
A vardo surrounded by sheep. I don't think that I could keep our little guys together like the sheep above, even if I tried... They would scatter on the range like the wind.
I found this very interesting. This is a newer photo (1970's) of a ewe sled. When the ewes are about to lamb (or have already lambed), the herder will catch them with the long hooked crook and load them up onto the sled. The ewes are then strapped down with their feet in the air to immobilize them. There is a little hole on the sled right behind the ewes head to put the lamb into, if she's already lambed out. From there, the horse will pull the sled over to a shed or a little pen so that the herder can unload the ewe and lamb so that they can bond to one another without the flock getting in the way. I had another photo of a lamb sled on here that better illustrated the hole for the lamb to set into, but I accidentally deleted it...rats.
But still, being of the female gender - my instinct is to worry needlessly. I keep all of my sheep hog fat with an over-abundance of high protein alfalfa, and plenty of shelter to get out of our sloggy slushy winter weather. They don't have to work for anything around here, as they've got it made.
And alas, I will happily admit that I have a "lazy herders" flock. Soays are a tough, wild primitive sheep that do not require most of the modern tending of a normal shepherds flock. A list of their eases would include: no shearing, no tail docking, minimal castrating (most of my customers like the "rocky mountain" delicacy), no help in lambing (these sheep are like deer, if you mess around with a newborn lamb for too long they will abandon it), and no need to put them into a pen or barn for lambing either - they prefer lambing in the open outdoors, resistance to several varieties of parasites, resistance to hoof rot in soggy conditions, ect. The list of their positive traits goes on and on.
But the only negative pitfall is that they are indeed a WILD sheep. Sorting and handling has to be very quiet and kept to a minimal in order to avoid sending their stress levels through the roof. I've never seen anybody work them with a dog yet, (as it is reputed that they will scatter into a million different directions all at once if they are slightly pushed). I know from first hand experience that if anyone approachs them in too fast of a manner they will bounce off the fences, and sometimes over or underneath them. Most of the time the only way that I can coax them up close enough to take pictures is if I have a bucket of grain handy. These guys take a whole different approach than most domestic sheep operations.
Which brings me to some interesting pictures that I found at a historical site. These are some photos of Basque herdsmen and their equipment in Nevada. They herded the white wooly domestic breeds of sheep, ramboillet and merino - a much more difficult task to manage than my little primitive brown hairies. Above is a photo of a couple of wool wagons loaded up and ready to go to the market. The photo is from back in the 1920's when they still used horses to haul loads into town. I can imagine the amount of work it would take for herdsmen to shear that many sheep in order to make some huge loads like that. It makes me really glad that I don't have wool sheep....they are a tremendous amount of work.
Another 1920's photo of a herdsman who tended his flock through the harsh Nevada winters. The sheep wagon is the only shelter in sight. It's not uncommon for temperatures to dip to twenty below zero in the high desert, so it is a testament to the rugged tough herders who could survive camping for months at a time in the unforgiving land.
A desolate and lonely life. With only your horses and dogs to talk to, it had to be fairly difficult tending to the sheep year round.
Another photo from the 1920's. It's hard to imagine having everything you need in a little vardo wagon. I feel very fortunate to have a house that I can go into after I feed the sheep, and have a full cook stove to prepare my meals on and get my boots warm by a big blazing heater. If a shepherd ran out of supplies back in those days, that was just tough luck - you go hungry or do without. They had to make a go of what they had packed 6 months in advance. Most of the time they were miles away from civilization. In today's world, we'd just pick up the cell phone and hop into the truck and head to town for what we need.
A more modern photo of a herdsman tending to the flock. I honestly can't imagine looking after that many sheep. It would be a huge job. Cutting out the sick and doctoring, trying to keep them herded together, fighting off predators in the wide open range. It would be difficult. As a side note: See how the sheep are marked with red paint? I tried to mark my sheep in a similar fashion for the past couple of years or I.D. - but they smeared it everywhere all over the pen and fences. Not to mention my paint wasn't legible upon brown hair....
A vardo surrounded by sheep. I don't think that I could keep our little guys together like the sheep above, even if I tried... They would scatter on the range like the wind.
I found this very interesting. This is a newer photo (1970's) of a ewe sled. When the ewes are about to lamb (or have already lambed), the herder will catch them with the long hooked crook and load them up onto the sled. The ewes are then strapped down with their feet in the air to immobilize them. There is a little hole on the sled right behind the ewes head to put the lamb into, if she's already lambed out. From there, the horse will pull the sled over to a shed or a little pen so that the herder can unload the ewe and lamb so that they can bond to one another without the flock getting in the way. I had another photo of a lamb sled on here that better illustrated the hole for the lamb to set into, but I accidentally deleted it...rats.The one thing that I will say about the Basque herdsmen horses, is that they had to be multi-functional partners. They had to be saddle broke to herd the sheep across the land, and when they weren't under saddle they also had to pull the wagons and the ewe sleds. There was also an array of miscellaneous supplies and other stuff that needed to be packed into camp as well.
A modern approach to herding. Using a lead goat for the flock to follow. I've personally used this method with an older wether goat to get the young yearling lambs to follow. It works great! Goats can be a great asset to have around, as not only do they direct the sheep, but if you have a nanny goat you can also have fresh goats milk every morning for breakfast.
As I stated before in the prior paragraph above, Basque horses need to be broke and willing to do several different jobs. I only own one horse that *might* *maybe* - be willing to haul a greasy, wooly, smelly, wiggling fat sheep around with only a halter for control. Needless to say, I'm not going to go run out and try it anytime soon....
But there are a few perks to being a lonely herder. Look at the beutiful places they get to ride! This herder went into town for supplies, and he's heading back to camp with groceries. The wildflowers and mountain meadows are simply gorgeous!
A shepherds paradise. If you look really closely, you can see the herder to the far right underneath the trees. It would be worth all the misery of a crummy winter just to see the beautiful mountain ranges during the springtime.
For more information on the Basque herdsmen, these sites have some interesting history:
A modern approach to herding. Using a lead goat for the flock to follow. I've personally used this method with an older wether goat to get the young yearling lambs to follow. It works great! Goats can be a great asset to have around, as not only do they direct the sheep, but if you have a nanny goat you can also have fresh goats milk every morning for breakfast.
As I stated before in the prior paragraph above, Basque horses need to be broke and willing to do several different jobs. I only own one horse that *might* *maybe* - be willing to haul a greasy, wooly, smelly, wiggling fat sheep around with only a halter for control. Needless to say, I'm not going to go run out and try it anytime soon....
But there are a few perks to being a lonely herder. Look at the beutiful places they get to ride! This herder went into town for supplies, and he's heading back to camp with groceries. The wildflowers and mountain meadows are simply gorgeous!
A shepherds paradise. If you look really closely, you can see the herder to the far right underneath the trees. It would be worth all the misery of a crummy winter just to see the beautiful mountain ranges during the springtime.For more information on the Basque herdsmen, these sites have some interesting history:
A great video of the mysterious and almost lost language of the Basque people, "Euskara":
An interesting family blog:
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Spring Is Almost Here!
We have our first set of lambies for the year! A little ewe lamb and a little ram lamb. Our older barbados ewe produced her third set of twins for us. I was a bit surprised to see that she lambed out this early in the year, but it also makes me very happy. These are the first little lambs from our big soay ram Titan. He was unproven when we purchased him from the valley, so I'm thrilled to see that he will do his job well as a flock sire. We have a few more crossbred lambs due in a few weeks, and one purebred soay that was bred to him as well.
Aren't they cute? I put these little guys in our old stock trailer to keep them warm during the night. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient baby lambs can be. The cold doesn't affect them too much if they have just a little bit of hay to cover the floor and sleep on. I wished that my baby chicks were this easy to raise!
They are curious about everything and will nibble on anything that's available. Hands, buckets, hay, the ewe's tail, ect.....
Even pants and shoes...... =:)
Aren't they cute? I put these little guys in our old stock trailer to keep them warm during the night. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient baby lambs can be. The cold doesn't affect them too much if they have just a little bit of hay to cover the floor and sleep on. I wished that my baby chicks were this easy to raise!
They are curious about everything and will nibble on anything that's available. Hands, buckets, hay, the ewe's tail, ect.....
Even pants and shoes...... =:)
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