MAY 2007
Ride-A-Curly (RAC) Adventures
Boy, we had some eager beavers out on the trail for DAY ONE of the Contest! Love the shirts you guys!
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| Laura & Billy |
Mike on his trusty curly, Chevy |
Cara & sunny enjoying the day |
| Note from Cara: Sunny and I had a fun start to the contest today. I worked him in the pasture for awhile and then did what I have decided to call a roadside amble, since we don't exactly have any trails around us! Sunny did really good. It was a perfect day for a ride, overcast and a slight breeze which kept the temp. down a bit. We were passed by quite a few vehicles including a big noisy truck, and he was good as usual. |
| Note from Laura: Billy and I headed out to the trail. It was sprinkling rain, but Billy was eager to go!! It was his first time out completely by himself. Usually, my dog Dude goes with us, but Dude stayed home tonight. Billy acted as if he knew we were on a mission. He was awesome!! This contest is an awesome idea Denise!! I think there is going to be so much more that we all get out of it this, than just riding! |
| Note from Sophie: I began the Contest the 1st may and i'm so happy ! My dear boy, Tony, had had a very bad injury at a leg in March... I can't ride him since two months... The injury is not in full healing, there is a big "hole".... But it's just a cut in the muscle and Tony can move without risk now, if not too much. Then yesterday, i was really happy to ride him again and begin the contest with you all ! We just walk and trot, and work with the bit. Not a long time but what a joy to be on his back again ! My first Contest day was the most beautifull !!! |
| Erin and JJ a.k.a. Joker's Jackpot, did their weekly barrel practice yesterday and had a family ask if JJ is a curly hair. They said that they have heard about the breed but had not seen one up close. They thought his coat was very soft, and curly. They also asked about shedding out, his back and buttocks are slick. I told them that he would slick completely off, from a light chestnut to a liver chestnut. |
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| Erin & Joker's Jackpot |
Sue driving Gunsmoke |
Erin & JJ |
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Note from Mendy: Mike... rode Chevy first while I rode Mamma, and then she gave me some trouble, took my first tumble but didn't get hurt, and so then he rode her a little for me to get her tuned in, and then went back to Chevy. We had an audience, LOL. Two different friends stopped by and took pics, so I will get the pics loaded when they send us some. I didn't get any myself, cause I was riding, and I need "both hands on the wheel", while I ride and so didnt take the camera, LOL. Mike is really enjoying this :) Thanks bunches for setting up something we can enjoy together :) |
| Note from Cara: Sunny and I enjoyed a nice long ride, and conquered the blowing Dorito bag, bicyclist, and curious cows! |
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| Cara & Sunny - cow encounter |
Erin & JJ |
Harold & Curly boy |
Note from Harold: It was a beautiful day and we seen a lot of ducks and geese and deer on the rice fields. |
| Note from Mendy & Mike: Mike & Chevy had LOTS of new experiences today! First, MIke did a fence check on horseback (30 acres in the part of the pasture we keep them in), and found a corner down, and Chevy, not seeing it down, touched it, got zapped, and ran Mike into a crab apple tree. Mike got all scratched up there. He was able to stop Chevy in time not to get knocked off, but not before he got a face full of tree, OUCH! Chevy also got to encounter a snake, of about 3 foot long(non-poisonous). This made him jump sideways. After Mike saw what had scared him, he had Chevy walked up to the snake, and he was ok with that then. They jumped several creeks, which is normal around here, tons of them around, and Chevy mostly likes to jump over them rather than to walk through them. Another thing they encountered was an old stone wall, which for some reason scared him, though he has seen it before. He tensed and didnt want to go by it, but once they passed it, he was ok again. The next challege was a bunch of guys sawing and splitting some wood along the trail. Chevy was very nervous about the noisy machinery, but did very well for a such new and noisy experience. And last but not least, they had all but gotten home, about to cross the road by the barn and some nut with a loudly revving car started zooming toward the stretch they were on. Chevy couldnt see the car as he hadn't crested the hill yet, but it was so loud, that he spun so fast to get off the road and back the way they had come, that both he and MIke hit the pavement, as he slipped during the spin/skid. Neither of them was hurt, thank Goodness! though Lord knows how they managed that. You can actually see the hoof skid marks on the road there still, and as Chevy stood up, he looked down at Mike, it seemed like he was looking to see if Mike was ok. What a wonderful boy! They saw many different kinds of birds today. MIke says that besides the normal ones, like the wild turkey and hawk, he has seen more different kinds of birds this year, by far, including the comeback of some pheasant, which we have not had around here in many years, (my aren't they noisy!) Mike, WOW, is all I can say, You should see his eyes after all that, like it has lit up his soul. |
| Note from Mendy about Mike: Mike took his son David then, instead on Mamma. Well, David isn't an experienced rider, so he took it very easy today, nothing too exciting, LOL. Mike taught David a lot about riding on the trail. David had a blast, and I'm sure he will want to be going with him again. (Note from a few days later) David rode again with Mike - They managed to get that one tree cleared that was blocking the trail, and went a LOT further today, past the swamps, to the big pond, where they saw geese and the pair of white cranes, and all the way to Fairbank Sportsman's Club, where they had a huge audience, LOL. During one part of the ride, they saw some children at the park and they all enjoyed petting the horses. He also climbed hills steeper than they ever have climbed before, and went further than they had ever gone before, and Chevy seemed seemed to enjoy himself. Needless to say so did Mike. Mike was surprised that even after such a long day on the trails, Chevy did not seem worn out in the least. Awesome Boy! |
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| Sophie @ Curly show - France |
Sophie @ Curly show - France |
Sophie @ Curly show - France |
| Note from Sophie in France! I send to you some pictures, it was a curly show at a friend's farm (Emmanuelle Leboucher, écuries de Quily// Quily stabbles) in french Britanny. Nice weather, around 200 people and 3 curly breeders ! Best wishes ! Sophie |
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| Note from Cara: I was very proud of how Sunny did yesterday. After the first class, halter, where he was really excited, he settled down and got used to being with other horses again. He was doing very well with holding his foxtrot. In one class we didn't place, but there were 14 in the class and so many good Curlies- so I didn't mind at all, and Sunny was so well behaved that I was super thrilled with how he did. In the gaited class there was only one other Curly, and we got second in that one. Then we got a fifth in the Curly walk trot out of eight horses, and that was really exciting, since I consider competing against other Curlies the greatest challenge. In the open walk/trot we got sixth out of eight horses. I know we would have placed higher in that one if he had kept on going, he was practically falling asleep! It had been a long day for him and in the heat and dust I was getting a little tired myself, and he had to lug me and a heavy saddle around. I knew how he felt. In each show we get better and better. We got our first blue ribbon in the halter class, but since he was the only one in the class it doesn't count for me. Stay tuned, hopefully this summer we will get our first blue under saddle. But... even if we don't, I still know I have the best horse... too bad we're not judged at home where everything goes perfectly ;-) P.S. This was specifically an Arab show, and someone who runs it lives near the Davis'. So there were quite a few open and specifically Curly classes. It was in Bethalto IL,and there were a bunch of people there who had never been introduced to a Curly before. Some of the comments were amusing, like the lady who thought for sure I had used a curling iron on Sunny's mane AND frosted sections white. I heard quite a few positive comments about the breed, how calm and versatile they are. It was a very good opportunity to show them to a predomintely Arab crowd, plus some people who came who wanted to learn more about horses in general. Cara |
| Note from Mendy about Mike: Well, Mike says today he took new trails a quad could not even negotiate. There were lots of swamps, creeks, steep hills, and thickets and "paths unblazed." Chevy is not keen on crossing creeks he can not jump, and so Mike found himself knee deep trying to convince him to cross a wider creek, LOL. It was a hot day, and so Mike, the nut, thought he'd wear shorts, DUH! And to put this in perspective, he never wears shorts, not even in the summer, except in the pool, cause people tease him that he has chicken legs, LOL! "I said to him, honey, you know cowboys wear chaps for a reason don't you?" He is so dang scratched up he is gonna need to bathe in peroxide, but I had to laugh. Gotta love him though, because he is creating trails for us to enjoy together, beautiful areas others don't get to see, which can only be reached on horseback. One area had a swamp on both sides and path which had an abandoned overgrown railroad way down the middle. They did a lot of backing up and trying again to blaze their way through the thickets, and Chevy did a lot more backing up today than he has ever had to before. He also climbed hills steeper than they ever have climbed before, and went further than they had ever gone before, and Chevy seemed seemed to enjoy himself. Needless to say so did Mike. |
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| Tunnel is an old rail road grade from 1880 - Custer Park (Harold) |
Harold Fairchild & Curly Boy |
Buffalo in the Black Hills, SD - Photo taken By Harold Fairchild |
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| Wildlife in the Black Hills - Photo taken by Harold Fairchild |
Buffalo again, of course! - Photo taken by Harold Fairchild |
Harold Fairchild, Black Hills |
| From Harold: Here is Curly and I in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Been there for the last week and half. We also saw but not pictured were mountain goats and prairie dogs and hundreds of deer what a great ride me and my brothers had in Custer Park and various places in the Black Hills. The tunnel is an old rail road grade from 1880, if you ever get the chance ride the Custer park trails. Harold Fairchild - all photos above are from Harold. |
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BACK TO MAIN RAC PAGE
May's Special Interest Topic!
*What is the most unusual animal you have encountered on the trail?
Cara: 2 geese with their goslings :)
MIke: Pheasant, Hawk, Wild Turkey & a Snake! Deer, Hen Pheasant, white cranes
Harold: Buffalo, Mountain goats, deer, Prairie dogs
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