Ontario Reining Horse Association - Spring Thaw

Our first ORHA show of the season was a blast. Here is a video of our winning run from Sunday. Dunnit and I won the Rookie Professional class on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the Limited open class on Sunday. This puts us in the lead for Ontario for our class. We're hoping we can hang onto it! Thanks to everyone for the good luck wishes, brainwaves and vibes!

 DW Equine Photography did some beautiful work both on the video and the photography (unfortunately the video doesn't have sound online- my mistake not DW's, and once the photos are reayd we will remove these samples and replace them). 

Triple C Spring Clinic

We had beautiful weather and a GREAT group of participants in our annual Spring Clinic with the Tripe C Saddle Club.  We worked on Showmanship, Rail Classes AND Pattern Classes from 9am-3:30pm.  It was a long day for some of the horses who had never been off the farm, and a long day for some of the horses that were getting off the farm for the first time this year.  Thanks Triple C for giving your time and energy to put this together, and congratulations to all the horses and riders on a sucessful day!

More babies!

 The last of the expecting mares delighted us with two more fillies! Lena gave birth to the filly pictured above all by herself in the middle of the night without much warning at all.  She's a pretty sorrel with a very laid back attitude.

Nic waited for us to arrive in the morning to give birth to this bay filly.  She's got one white sock like her mom and a spunky attitude!

Happy 9th(ish) Birthday Sofie!

 It was a momentous occasion celebrated with lavish gifts, balloons and a trip to Petsmart.  Yes, it was Sofie (the dog's) birthday!
Sofie's day started out with a trip to Petsmart to find her favourite thing in the world other than everyone she knows and tuna; a rubber chicken.  She selected a pink flamingo from the wall of toys with a bathing suit. 

 She brought it with her on our daily route from barn to barn to show everyone!

 Weekly lesson student and friend, Brooklyn, surprised Sofie with "Happy Birthday Princess" balloons, a bag of gourmet dog treats and a doggy frozen yogurt. 

Happy birthday Sof and thanks for bringing so much joy into our lives!

This is What it's All About

Kaitlyn THRILLED with Wyatt going through the cones when they were so close together.  The best part? They got even closer than that! Congrats Kaitlyn and Wyatt!

Horseback Riding Lessons in a Nutshell

Kaitlyn Jekyl (above with Wyatt at her holiday ride in December '11) rides with Nicole on Wednesday nights. Kaitlyn presented us with this beautiful book she made about her riding lessons and we thought it ought to be shared!

Kaitlyn's brother Cole is also a most excellent artist and helped Kaitlyn out together these treasures for Wyatt.

Congrats Foxy!

Easter weekend Foxy had her first foal, a filly! Everything went well and both are happy and healthy!
Foxy's registered name is Definitely a Fox. Her sire is Define Good. The foal's sire is Chic Please.
So far the suggestions for names have been: "Definitely a Foxy Chic" and "Chicken Please".

The buckskin mare is now four weeks over due and looks like she could foal out at any time.

Genzanit

Genzanit, fondly known as "Dunnit" or "Donut" around the farm, and I participated in our first show together over the Easter weekend. Dunnit is Coco's dad, for those of you who recognize the name. He has been shown numerous times as a 3, 4 and 5 year old, and has spent the last 7 years breeding. This past weekend was his first show in a long time and his first show, hopefully of many, with me. We went to Michigan State University and competed at a Michigan Quarter Horse Show in the Open Reining. We schooled on the Friday night in the show pen, Dunnit came alive in the show pen, as aged horses do. Saturday we loped through our pattern quietly and ended up third out of twenty-plus entries earning 2 AQHA points. We're looking forward to a fun show season!

Mom Team 2012

We are looking forward to a promising year for foals this year! Above is "Smartie" who is a amaiden mare and is in foal to Genzanit.

This is Nic who is also a maiden mare and in foal to Genzanit.

"Bucky" or "Hollywood" above, has had two foals previously and is in foal to Chic Please.

Foxy is a maiden mare in foal to Chic Please.

Can you guess which one will foal out first? What colour the babies will be? Fillies or colts?!

Can-Am Equine Extravaganza

The Can-Am Equine Extravaganza proved to be a lot of fun last weekend. We brought horses for the Ontario Quarter Horse Association and for the reining demonstrations with Gary Yahdijan. "Horse Power", was a special event that pitted one breed against another for a barrel-racing and pole-bending challenge.

Here you can see Genzanit, fondly referred to as "Dunnit" or "Donut", representing the Quarter Horse breed, about to run against a Curly Horse. There was also an Appaloosa, Gypsy Vanner, Spotted Draft, Percheron, Miniature Horse, Freisan and a Thoroughbred.

Gary did a great job explaining job of the reining horse to the crowd. There was a beginner rider or a mid-level trained horse, a skilled non-pro rider on a well-trained horse and Jessie and I as the Open riders on another couple of great horses.

Jessie did the demonstrations for the Quarter Horse breed with this colt, "Whiz", a grandson of Topsail Whiz.

Thanks for having us Can-Am! Hope to see everyone again next year!

Playing Catch Up!

It has been a busy couple of months for us, hence the lack in posts. We're hoping to make up for it with some great shots of what we've been busy with!
J-lo was a superstar at the Western Fair District Sport and Rec Show in February. She was part of several grooming, saddling and riding demonstrations where some lucky participants were chosen from the crowd to participate. The picture above was selected for the front page of the London Community News and the picture below includes our new friend Brooklyn who was chosen from the crowd to try grooming for the first time.