Our day

Mexicali, Polly & Peppy

Got all the bikes, outdoor furniture etc stored up in the barn for the winter. Got an acheing back as a "thank you sir". The day started out in a gray and drizzleing twilight. Your average Swedish autumn day. Later in the afternoon the sun peeked out and it got pretty warm for a late october day. I got the cutting machine, Norsten, up and running and gave Brady a pretty good workout. He just loved it! He hasn´t seen the pro-cutter since before the bulls arrived this spring, but he was really getting after it. Not the most athletic moves ever witnessed, but he tries. And he really wants do dominate that "cow".

Cat & Molly
Gave the fillies a run too with some groundwork. Molly is like a sponge and just wants to learn and please, really makes you feel good working her. Cat made some serious progress too in todays workout. The main thing there is keeping her calm and focused. After some inicial "babyism" she simmered down and we actually learned something today. She´s really smart too but as I said before she needs a little more time and patience. When she´s healed up ok she will be really fun to ride and feels like one of thoose horses you can control with your pinkies. She´s got lot of action!

Polly
The little fillie Polly has got some moves aswell! We had a bit of a disagreement tonight and when I firmed up somewhat she showed a ton of action. Sorta like her 2yo brother P.J. but quicker and with more explosion.

Bosals

Thinkin about starting a couple of new bosal projects. One really soft 3/4", "all day on the range" type with an old reata core. It will have latigo sides and, hopefully, a rawhide nosebutton. The other one will be a 5/8" fairly stiff bosal with a twisted rawhide core, roo sides and a raindeer rawhide nose. Also on the agenda is preparing a hide for a new reata. Will probably be a sequel here on the blog and my hair is likely to turn gray or get pulled out in frustration.

The Peeka Peps are still doing good. Peekin at the Cow won the Kansas CHA Non-pro Derby, Peak Easy placed 2/3 and Peeka Bunny placed 2nd in the Open Futurity.

Thirdc Cutting

Third Cutting and Boyd Rice won the PCCHA Classic/Challenge last night setting a new personal record scoring 231pts. I´ll say it again 231pts! That´s 77:s all around!! He had been solid in the go´s and made the finals without drama, but not really as spectacular as we´ve seen him. But when it mattered he sure delivered. The performance earned him $14.000 but LHR Smooth Jamie May have unofficially secured the Horse of the Year title by advancing to the PCCHA Stake finals this Saturday. I´m sure they´re pleased with the performance though and made the race interesting to the very end.

Tuesday drills

Me and Ida were at it again tonight. We got home at 6.30pm, went right up to the barn and got the horses in from the pasture before saddling up and heading out on a ride. We stayed in the arena tonight as it was way to dark for any trailriding. We worked on some collection drills and Ida & Elton worked on some leadchanges. Pretty cool to break it down for her and have her start with simple changes before progressing to flying. Elton already knows the drill, but I want Ida to know the mechanics behind changes. She did a lot of figure 8:s at the lope and had to bring him down to a trot at the middle of the figure, collect him again and lope off on the new lead. They did great!

Me and Brady worked on a lot of weight shifts, leg placements etc. I have a drill I like that´s really good for keeping him with me and listening to my weight changes. After our regular warmups I drop the reins and trot in figure 8:s, sidepass and move haunches. This keeps him supple and listening. I then speed up by leaning forward and bring him back by exhaling and sinking deep in the saddle. If he keeps speeding up I whoa! him and make him back brisk circles. If need be I lift the mecate a little and get after him with a little more leg. This is usually enough to bring him back to planet earth and pay attention. Then we try it again. Speed up by leaning and getting assertive in the saddle and slowing down by exhaling and sinking deeper, not stopping posture, but getting heavy, if you know what I mean. Steering I do by looking in the direction I want to go and som pressure from outside knee and leg. Really good stuff for us both. It´s really helping him understand the spades signals better, and it´s really beneficial when working a rope and carrying 2 miles of unsorted coils, romal and mecate in your hand.

Wright On Time

I´ve been asked what happened to Doug Williamsons Wright On Time

(Lenas Wright On - Shiney Tari - Shining Spark) in the Idaho Cowhorse Futurity. As far as I can gather he broke his leg going down the fence in the finals. He was leading the event and was by all accounts heading for victory when the accident happened. He´d made a first, powerful turn along the fence and was setting up for the second when he pulled up lame. He was taken to a nearby equine clinic where they found the injury irreparable.

Cold and rainy

It´s cold and rainy, dark and windy, just love it! NOT!

Got some good rides in this weekend though. Dispite the pouring rain and chilly weather me and Ida toughened it out both Saturday and Sunday with some arena work, Ida & Elton jumped some fences with me and Brady cheering them on between missed loopes in the other end of the arena. We even got out on the trail Saturday.
Ida & Elton
Ida´s confidence is growing and it´s a delight to see her horse Elton answer when she asks him for collection or shows him an obstacle to fly over.
Worked some with Cat too.
Molly & Cat
She´s turned pretty high strung and annoying and needs to be handled with a ton of patience and silk gloves. She´s got alot of action though and If her leg holds up she´s gonna be electric!

Speaking of electric, the run for Cutting Horse of the year seems to come down to & Third Cutting & LHR Smooth Jamie May. The third runner up, Dont Look Twice "zeroed" in the PCCHA 5/6 Classic/Challange and did not advance to the second go Tuesday. Third Cutting and Boyd Rice is second, trailing Cats Full Moon and Tim Smith by 1.5 pts.

LHR Smooth Jamie May gets going today in the PCCHA Stake.

In the cowhorse futurity Jon Roeser and Smart Lookin Cat, came out on top and can title themselves Champions of the 2010 IRCHA Open Futurity. On a sad note, Doug Williamson and Barbara Hastings lost their great futurity horse Wright On Time on Sunday.



Derby was won by Lena In The Starlight & Dale Clearwater.


Found me some cowhides, so now I hopefully will get some bosals braided this winter, but more on that when they actually get here.

SNOW

The snow is here!
Now, lets watch as the traffic turns to caos and people who shouldn´t be out driving, gets stuck and causes accidents. It´s the same deal every year. People acts as if it never snowed before in this part of the world! Gee people, We live in Sweden, hello?!

Looking forward to an exciting weekend. Money´s tight right now, but there´s alot of action on the showfront viewable over the web.

The PCCHA is where Cutting Horse of the Year title will be decided, starting Sunday. Heading in to the event LHR Smooth Jamie May leads the race for the title by 3 pts over Don´t Look Twice and Third Cutting, should be fun to watch!
Third Cutting

Don´t Look Twice

The conclusion of the Idaho Futurity and Derby also offers some excitement. My personal favorites in the Derby, Nabisco Roan & Moody Blues Brother is right in the thick of things another, Picka Patcha Pepto is 5.5 pts behind heading in to the cowwork.
Nabisco Roan

Moody Blues Brother

In the Futurity, "my horse", Dos De Lucia also trails by 5.5pts.



After two events:

Futurity


Derby

Getting cold

It´s getting really dark & cold here. The forecast promised a couple of inches of snow yesterday, none came though. Seems like the day is over before it begins now. Dark when you get up and still dark when you head off to work, a couple of hours daylight when you´re stuck at the office only to be pitch black when you step out of the car in the barnyard back home.

Gotta get the lights fixed by the arena too, or ride with a "blindmans-cane"I guess...

Idaho Reined Cowhorse Futurity:

After the Open Derby Herdwork the leader board looks as follows,


The Open Futurity after the Herdwork:


Heading south this weekend to look at yet another ranch. Probably our last "look-see" before we shelve the moving plans for the winter.

Fixing to shape some bosals tonight. Got a shipment of really nice working type bosals for the upcoming Hackamore clinic. Thought I´d provide affordable, good quality gear for the participants as it´s pretty hard to come by over here. Need to get them shaped alittle better though.

Ashado

Hey, we had a winner last Friday! I forgot to mention Ashado Bokos victory at Örebro Racetrack! She raced 5th outside (handicap, she started 20 meters behind) for the first 1000 m and followed an advancing horse three wide for the last 1000 m. When they reached the home stretch she just pulled away for a fairly easy 1/2 lenght victory!



It was her 2nd victory in 10 starts. She bosts a record of: 10 starts 2-1-1 and cool 102.500 sek in the bank ($15.300). She´s probably cost us twice that though, last month she won apr. 20.000 sek and the bill from trainer/vet landed on 24.000!!!

She´s apretty nice little filly albeit somewhat limited. Her sire Yankee Glide is one of the premiere stallions available and her dam, Monkey Ride was europes leading 3 yearold back in -99, she stated out with 11 straight victories before an injury slowed her down.

Hopefully Ashado can continue to develop and hold her own against the competition this fall.

Tuesday

Been busy, busy around here for awhile, so sorry for not taking the time to keep you all updated. Lots of work, dogs and kids lately but also some horseplay inbetween. Also been asked to host a hackamore clinic up in Leksand come November. Should be pretty interesting and I´ll do my best to make sure people get educated and have a great time!

We still have some Futurities to keep our eyes on, The Golden Hills PCCHA Futurity Oct 21-31 in Paso Robles is alway´s a great event with a ton of great horses in the Futurity, Cutting Stakes & Classic/challenge.

Starting today we also have the IRCHA Futurity, Derby & Horse Show in Nampa, Idaho, with the likes of Sheza Roo, Picka Patcha Pepto, Nabisco Roan, Moody Blues Brother & Shiney And Very Smart in the Derby. Futurity field includes horses like Wright On Time, Ill Be In Reno, Sheza Dancingdiamond, No Chic Flicks, ARC Chic Digs Summer, Dos De Lucia and Heart of A Remedy etc.

Weekend fun

A weekend full of Gizmo and the ponies. This dog is just wonderful and everybody loves him to death! He´s aclimated very well and seems right at home. The cats are terrified of him though :))

Ida & Giz



Got some time to work Molly today. She´s such a pleasure to be around. She, just like her brother P.J., are so attentive and easy to work with.

Molly in the bosal.













The mares went on a total rampage this afternoon. Just a blast watching them tear it up in the pasture.

Cat seems to be healing up allright too

Peppy gone wild
You can see where all the foals athletisism comes from in the above pic. Peppy´s got all the moves and then some!



Peppy again

Polly hitting the afterburner



She looks great, does she not?

Gizmo!

He´s here! Finally, the day long awaited by various members of the family (me included) Annelie brought home our new pup Gizmo today. He´s a 9 week old Border-Golden-Poodle cross. Dad is a Bordercollie and mom is a Golden Retriever/Poodle cross. After checking his new home out with the grand tour, he just felt right at home and got busy with his rawhide bone by the front door. He´s such a cool customer, just observes everything around him with that "so what?" attitude and goes about his business. I think we´ll get along great and he gets to be part of our daily life with horses, bunny´s, cats and a cow or two.

I Forgot...

I don´t know why, but I absolutely forgot to touch on a this when it happened a few weeks ago.

You know how I´ve been pouring on about the lack of succes the trainers and Swedish bred horses have had showing in cutting and cowhorse, well finally a trainer steps up and produces not only a European Futurity champion, but a Swe-made one at that!!

My sincere congratulations to Jocke Pettersson and Hotroddersquixote for the win in the European Cowhorse Futurity! He is by our friend Styrbjörns stud Pablo Quixote and Klassy Little Jewel? Some praise and congrats also to owner Marita Larsson and rider Jimmy Flores!

This is, in my opinion, what makes a good trainer. The ability to start a colt and take him all the way. I don´t know Jocke personally, don´t think I ever met him, so I can´t really have an opinion on his training methods or anything else about him. But the man must´ve done something right. You don´t win the Futurity on pure luck alone now do you? So again, congratulations on your win and hopefully this spurs the rest of the cowhorse comunity here in Sweden and we get to be regular contenders!

Busy weekend

We had a really busy weekend over here on "Devils Island". The Swedish Trotting Kriterium (Futurity) was held Sunday, but races all through the week Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and The 3 yearold Kriterie & Oaks finals on Sunday. Work, Work, work all weekend.

On top of that we had a friend and her horse stay with us last week as they came down to Stockholm to race in the V75 Finals (nation wide trot series) held Saturday. She gave the driver one specific order on how she wanted the horse drove, -"do NOT race inside and get stuck, we havn´t traveled close to 800 miles to chickenrace, I want the horse tired after the race!" The horse was in excellent condition, super fit and had a great chance at the 200.000 Sek ($35.000) check. What do you know, the catch "driver?" raced third inside and never saw the light of day!! The horse looked great and didn´t even get a chance to show his stuff!! Needless to say our friend Kia was steaming after the race!
El Sueco, (nr 9) third inside at the finishline!

Winner in the 1.600.000 Sek ($240.000) Kriterium was the favourite, Raja Mirchi & trainer/driver Lutfi Kolgjini. The horse looked awsome and set a new Swedish record (1.13,8 a) on his way to the 1.600.000 Sek ($240.000) first prize.
Raja Mirchi crossing the finishline



On a less happy note, the prices at the yearling sales was down 30% from last year! Not quite as bad as I predicted but pretty close. Out of 624 yearlings, 85 were scratched (wonder why!), 125 were bought back by the breeder, 54 didn´t even get a bid and were thus unsold!

Didn´t get to watch the cowhorse finals as I was working more or less the entire Sunday but here are the results.

NRCHA Futurity result:

Cowwork?.....Not!

Thought I´d get a chance to get some cowwork done yesterday when one of the neighbours highlands broke out and stood munching in our pastures! Saddled up Brady and headed out with the reata tied to the horn. We got her moving and cornered but as I took down the lass-rope she took of through fences and another neighbours yard. I tracked her down to the waterline and pushed her out and she swam clear of the pasture fence that runs out in the bay a little. She rounded the fence and waded up on "her" side of the fence again. I´ll have to wait for the winter snows to slow these critters down and be workable I guess!