Go baby go!

I was nervous the day of the futurity, trying to see if all of the personal one-on-one training I had done would pay off. RRF hadn't had a futurity winner in quite some time and I knew if we ever would, it would depend on me. Our hired trainers were good, but they just couldn't tailor the horses's training programs the way that I could. Looks like I was going to have to get out of the clinic more and into the training barn.

"Baby"

We only had one contender for the futurity this year, Baby. After little Lola was injured, she became our main hope for any chance of a futurity title. She wasn't as strong or flashy as Lola, but Baby had a sweet disposition and an amazing will to learn. I thought maybe, just maybe, she could accomplish something great.

I stood by and watched Jamie grooming and tacking her up for her classes. She was entered in Halter and Western Pleasure, two events she was hand selected for by me. I patted the big bay filly on her neck and wished her and her rider well. It was all up to them now.

I sat in the stands nervously and watched as Baby stood proudly in her silver accented show halter; her mane banded, showing off her sculpted neck. She didn't have the typical halter physique, being a pleasure horse, and lacked the massive hindquarters and tiny hooves that the world champions had. Still, she had that competitive look in her eye and the arena lights sparkled off the copper accents in her coat. I took a look down the line-up -- attendance was poor this year. Typically in the past, the open halter class in the futurity would have 20 or more horses. Now there was only 4, Baby the only Quarter Horse, two Appaloosas, and a Paint all in peak physical shape, proudly displayed by their handlers. 

The scores were tallied and I waited nervously for the results. The judges started handing out ribbons, 4th place to the paint, the appaloosas took third, and then second... could it be? Could Baby have actually won? I held my breath as the judge put the large blue ribbon on Baby's halter. First place! Amazing! With a score of 76.25! My jaw hit the floor as I realized that not only had she won, but her score was amazing!

I barely even saw Baby come out for Western Pleasure, my brain was still so stunned at the last win. Four horses again in this class all trotting around the arena with silver tack accents flashing in the lights. Again the line up. Again the ribbons... first place! I couldn't believe it! I jumped up from my seat and cheered loudly! Baby had become our first futurity winner in decades, and she swept both of her classes!

As I started down the bleacher stairs to congratulate Baby and her rider, Julie I hear them announce the special awards.

 "...and lastly, for High Point Earner of the  196 E-R Annual Western Futurity, we would like to congratulate Jamie Sullivan aboard horse #354,  Glow Baby Glow, of Red River Farms for her high score of 76.25."

Amazing! HPE! I ran down to the arena as Jamie was accepting the trophy and prize check and threw my arms around Baby's soft neck. 

"You did it girl, you WON!" 

She wickered softly and flicked an ear in my direction. I couldn't have been more proud.

Congrats Indy!

Congratulations to Indy (Get Your Own Pint) for earning his beginning championship in Western Trail this morning! Indy is a 189 chestnut quarter horse gelding sired by the late Pint of Guiness and out of our own hometown sweetheart, ICh My Own Redhott.

"Indy"

Poor Lola...

Hand training has been going great so far and the babies have been shaping up nicely. I've started training a total of 5 of my 2 year olds, and one filly, Baby, has already completed all of her under saddle work and is shaping up nicely as a western pleasure futurity baby.

Sadly, last month while training, I was working with my best filly Lola on some walking exercises. She was doing so well that I thought maybe we would work on trotting a bit. Poor girl was such a strong horse she never even let me know she was tired! Before I knew it, she had collapsed in exhaustion and I was thrown into the dirt. Fortunately my truck was nearby and I was able to get a catheter in and some fluids running quickly. We hosed her off, dried her well and got her back to her stall. As she stood there trembling, I cursed myself for working her so much! I was just so happy to see her progress, I didn't even notice the subtle signs of fatigue. Her vitals quickly normalized but I could tell she was exhausted and would be out of commission for some time. Sadly, she will miss the futurity, but we will continue her daily massages and grooming with light exercise to keep her muscle tone up. What a loss!

With Lola out of running for the futurity, I've decided to see if I can get any of my other 2 year olds caught up in time. I highly doubt it, but it will still be fun to see how their fitness shapes up and how quickly each one learns each exercise. The other babies in training are: Annie, Roxie, Pal, and Birdie. They've only had one month in training and with only 20 minutes a piece for me to spend with them, I'm not very optimistic  Hopefully next month I'll be able to take more time away and give them each 40 minutes so I can incorporate some lungs and grooming. We shall see!

Babies are Here!

With some of the new changes in staffing, we've cut way back on the breeding we've done this season. Only bred two mares while we work with all of our youngstock and determine who will be kept for breeding/showing and who will be sold.

Sundance surprised us nearly a month early with her little bay colt. We could see the little hairs of gray around his eyes and muzzle so we think he will turn gray like his mama. We were very excited for this breeding as we had only one breeding dose left to the late Royal Asset in the tank. Fortunately, Sundance took on the first try and this colt is the result! He has nearly every horse in our hall of champions somewhere in his pedigree. With his amazingly sweet disposition, we hope he'll be the next in a long line of champions from RRF!

"Apollo"

The second and last baby to be born was right on schedule. The filly fairy finally came to visit my mangalargas and we are in desperate need! I only have 3 Mangalarga broodmares and they are all in their late teens and 20's, I will keep any filly I get just to have some youngstock for breeding! We selected our imported mare, Estrela to breed as she is difficult to get in foal and naturally 5 gaits. Her little filly is pretty although not very nice tempered, which is a bit of a surprise considering her sire, Spirit . But we love her little white ankles and we will likely use her in the breeding herd if she doesn't train up nicely for show. We've named her Estrelinha which is Portuguese for "starlet" to reflect her diva attitude.

"Starlet"

Training Lola

Well today my favorite filly of the GY 193 foals, Lola, turned 2 years old. I've always had a soft spot for little Lola and was impressed at how easily the hands taught her her ground manners. She was a sweet filly with a very good temperament and today on her 2nd birthday I was delighted to see what a pretty and correct filly she was becoming as she was starting to fill out and build muscle.

I had some time away from the clinic at lunch and I decided to work with her myself so I could give the new training system a go. As my only 2 year old (until next month) I could use all of my sessions (10 total) on Lola as needed. My plan was as follows:

Exercise as a warm up for 10 minutes (lunge or hotwalker depending on the day)
Work on walking under saddle for 50 minutes
Groom for 20 minutes after cool down

It took about 10 days before I was getting her to walk out with confidence. On the 11th day we started working on turning left for 10 minutes, then right for 10 minutes, for the total 50 minute time. You could definitely tell when Lola was having her off days. Some days we would get the total 50 minutes of saddle work, some days only 30. It really depended on her mood and it didn't seem to matter which warm-up exercise I chose. By the end of the 30 days, Lola was starting to get the hand of right and left, taking a few steps here and there. What surprised me the most though was how strong she had become! We started the month with only fair strength and ended with what I would consider to be very good. I'm very thrilled with Lola's progress!

Next month, if I have the time to train her again, I plan on continuing my training schedule, alternating right and left until she's proficient and then working in a little discipline training at the walk.

It's been a fun experiment and I can't wait to see how Lola trains up. Next month some of the other foals will also be turning 2, so it will be interesting to see how I can divide my sessions with the group.

Welcome!

Pardon our dust as we finish the site construction. I'm so happy you are here! I plan on using this site as a showcase for our stallions and show horses, as well as a resource for information about the breeds we have here at the farm. For now please take a look around and don't hesitate to comment if you have any ideas or suggestions! Thanks for stopping by!