High Chaparral

Took a daytrip to High Chaparral yesterday. We have an annual, weeklong western show down there and the Open Cutting was what got me on the road.

Pretty nice event set in an amusement park with an"old west" theme. Some international guests took the chance to show in Sweden among them Texan Ralph Hull.
Smart Camolena & Ralph Hull

Had lots of fun and ran into a bunch of old friends and aquaintances too. Styrbjörn & Mona brought "our" colt Ima Peppy Pistolero along as a turnback horse and he looked really good. A little bigger and a bit thicker but the same kind eye and easygoing nature.

Mona & Ima Peppy Pistolero

Bumped in to Brody Fitch, Cowhorse trainer Todd Fitch's son took a trip over the pond just to participate here. Did pretty well too.
Brody

Winner in the Open Cutting; Nadia Reinholdsson aboard Solanos Sugar Doll scoring a 72 that brought the house down! Her 2nd show ever, and she showed the pro:s how it's done!
Nadia & Solanos Sugar Doll

Non-Pro champion, (as alway's) Torbjörn Johansson & Highstyle Calamity scoring 73.
Highstyle Calamity & Torbjörn

The horse I came away really impressed with though was Urban Gullbergs great working mare CC Freuline by Seven S Keota-Rocky Mountain Star. (Seven S Keota by the way is a Shining Spark stud on a Son O Leo mare.) She was super correct and never outa possition. Great stops and turns and should have a very bright future here.
CC Fraulein & Urban

Summing up the weekend

Weekend's over and everything back to normal,( well as normal as things get around here) Had a great weekend just kickin back, working horses and enjoing good food, family and friends! Had a fun episode yesterday though, we were moving some of the animals from Annelies school to summer homes now that school's out. A couple of billy goats and two miniature pigs were to be hauled to a summer camp next to our old place. First we had to get the pigs drunk just to be able to handle them. 3 beers later the one pig was a happy camper and really easy to handle. The other one Lotta or Lena can't remember wich, got a pretty severe case of "I don't think so!!!" Chased her around the pigpen for awhile, pig screaming and running over or through watever was in her way. Finally I got her roped, well not as sexy as it sounds, had to use a dogleash turned lariat, and got close enough to snare her. Man, now I know what the term squeal like a pig comes from! She sounded like I was butchering her with a dull knife and skinning her alive!
Thrashing, jumping, rolling all the while screaming from the top of her lungs! Pretty strong suckers for an 80 pound creature. Finally we got her dragged in to the trailer while the other one ofcourse busted out! Annelie snared her, dragged her back in, slammed the hatch shut and off we went. So now we got us two pigs in the dogpen out back. Anyone for BBQ this weekend?


Ida & Gizmo blowing/eating soapbubbles.

I'm aint gonna help You, Thats what happens when U roll in manure!


Annelie took Ritzy out for her first drive too. She's slowly starting to look like a horse again.


Tried a modified halfbreed bit on Brady. He didn't care for it much and we're back in the spade again.


This, my friends, is a horse picking up the bit!! Photo stolen from Bruce Sandifer ;), thanks Bruce!


This is a Chuck Irwin spade. One of the really good makers who puts function and the horses mouth first, though he really does an excellent job flowing the silver on his pieces. One of maybe a handful who really masters the flowing technique.

Midsummers Eve

Worked with Ida and Elton jumping fences this morning. They did really good both of them! Tried Norsten the cuttingmachine yesterday. Brady did good, far from perfect but decent enough. Couldn't really help him out with just the one hand.

Found a blacksmith in town who's gonna help me get my spadebits the way I want them. Great old fella with his shop on mainstreet, sitting his chair & workbench out on the sidewalk wheather allowing.


Midsummers Eve today. Spent it in town watching them erect the Midsummer pole, dancing (Ida & Annelie)and socializing. Home now for a BBQ dinner, sippin a cold one on the porch manning the grill! ;) Life is good!

Have a great weekend folks!

Horses, kids and cutting

Another great ride yesterday. The horse has taken a step forward and I can pick up the bridle reins and work of the bit a little more. I have no illusions of him being straight up in the bridle yet though, ad a fast cow to the mix and he'll probably need the support of the bosalita. We're getting there though.
We had us quite a scare yesterday when Ida and Elton took off full tilt down the road! A couple of minutes later the horsy comes jogging back with an empty saddle, mouth full of grass. Me and Brady took off to find Ida, Annelie and our friend Kicki quietly drinking coffe did the same, mugs & coffe flying! After reaching Elton I saw Ida running my way in the distance. Phew, she isn't that hurt, flew through my mind. When She finally arrived along with an out of breath Annelie, Kicki and two very excited dogs, she was all smiles. Seems she dismounted to pick some wild strawberrys and Elton saw his chance and took of for home! Man, heartattacks all around!

The draws for the Summer Spectacular is up at NCHAcutting.com
As always the best of the best shows up for the 5/6 yo classic and 4yo derby.

Third Cutting
Some of the horses in the Classic:
Gearge C Merada, Third Cutting, LHR Smooth Jamie May, Special Nu Baby, A Little Bossy, Dont Look Twice, Smooth Asa Zee, Boon Too Suen, Reys Desire, Toy Engine, Bet Hesa Cat

Man, that sure looks like a draw for the finals!
Reys Desire

In the derby we have horses like Peptolistic, Nievas & Reyn Maker, (top three in The Open from Tuesday), facing off the likes off One Time Royalty, One Rockin Pepto, Wiley Cat, Order Mia Smoothie, Raycy Moon, Sly Playgirl, Smooth By Design, Stylish Martini and Some Like It Hott.

One Time Royalty
Great horses all around!

We're getting ready for the Midsummer holliday's here with the usual cold, rainy weather. Hope we can get a few saddled too this weekend.

Back to basics....

A good thing that has come outa this broken hand business is that I've had to slow down a bunch when riding. The first week I just couldn't but take it slow, walk and maybe a few trotting strides here and there. This led us back to the basics a little bit. Worked a lot on being more correct in everything we did. Using more subtle cues and being a whole lot more patient.

During yesterdays ride I noticed Brady was a lot more responsive and listened to the slightest weight shift or movement of hand. Pretty cool really. He usually buldozes around in the drywork, something that's not really his forte (or mine I might ad) and can be a little sluggish. As a result of me being more particular and deliberate he's responded and really tries his hardest. Even when we pick up some speed he keeps his composure and sensitivity. Don't know if it'll last but if I can keep the same mindset, hopefully so can he.

Brady the dude horse

It's been pouring here for a couple of day's and we're sick of it, me and the horses both! Good for the regrowth I guess and not a mosquito in sight, but still......

Rode Brady again today. Actually we all did! Ben and his girlfriend Caroline wanted to ride, (a first ever for Caroline!). Good to see Ben mounted again, it's been a couple of years. And then Ida wanted to show 'em how its done and trotted around, spun, stopped and backed all over the place! She looks pretty cute up there, her feet dangling about a mile from the stirrups! Grandpa got on him the other day and Brady took great care of him too.

The fillies did really well yesterday also and Kick The Cat looks so much better. She'll still be confined to her pen for a couple day's though to be safe. Good to have a covered arena too in weather like we have now!

More good then bad I hope...

Well the mare seems to be improving thank god. The plates came back clean and we're hoping it was something minor. She's still confined to her sick pen and will likely have to stay there for another week or so. Don't know where this leaves us though as she seems to be somewhat injury prone and chances are she might not hold up as a using horse, time will tell.


We got the ponys from Annelies school back for the summer, cute little buggers.


A cutting note, we're hard at work creating a Futurity and Scandinavian Championship this fall. Hopefully things will fall into place and we can look forward to a great event come September. Another possitive, Dont Look Twice and Phil Rapp got their stuff together finally and split 1st with Sweet Barbie Doll - Matt Budge in a go of the NCHA Open at The Non-Pro. The duo scored a 226. Next go is Saturday.

Some Good Some Bad

Passed the checkup at the doc's the other day, only 11 day's left with this club! Kick The Cat's hurt again though. Did something in her stall while we were working another filly. We bring all 4 of them in and stall them up while working them one at a time. She seems to have got stuck while rolling, kicked or got her right hind hung up on something. Either way, she's lame again and will require a couple of weeks in a sick pen. Really unfortunate as she was doing great before I got hurt. She was really starting to figure things out and felt great and I was soo looking forward to getting on her again. :(

The panic surrounding the eq.herpes outbreak across the pond seems to be subsiding. The Non-Pro and Open are under way in Oklahoma and things are getting more or less back to normal.

Time for an uppdate!

I'm a bit dinged up right know as I broke my hand about a week ago. Typing is difficult, well actually just about everything is a hazzle with your hand in a cast! Annelie and Ida takes good care of me though and spoils me rotten! Anyway we keep working the fillies and fix up around the place. Yesterday we all went for a ride, me, Annelie & Ida. We visited with some friends over coffe and let the horses out in their paddock, saddled up again and headed home. Great day, great ride!


Maybe not exactly as the doctor ordered but it´s great to be horseback again!

Ida & Elton

Avenir gazing

Boy'z in pasture

The Mardueno/Grijalva spade I had made.

Grijalva used an old Mardueno pattern and chased the iron and inlaid the silver. Great workmanship and a really beautiful piece! Still not totally pleased with the mouthpiece though. I still think the braces are set a little to close to the bar. We'll see.....

Fillies

Premiere for the flag wednesday for Annelies birthday!

Welcome to Snösvad!

Ida & Elton

Let the fillies out to graze the other day. It's Ritzy's Dream, Annelies new 3yo trotter, Diva, a clients 2yo warmblood, Kick the Cat, my 2yo quarter & La Flor del Viento "Polly" my yearling quarter. The ladies got along well and after a few laps around the pasture they settled down and you could hardly get them to lift their snouts from the smorgasbord and look into the camera!
Got some work to do girls!









Ritzy's Dream

Ritzy showin who's boss

Polly & Diva getting aquainted
Cat leading the way

Cat & Polly

Happy Birthday Annelie!

Well she made it! All the way to fort......sorry, 28!
Happy Birthday my love and have a wonderful day.
Annelie & Nickan

Ida and I served her breakfast in bed this morning, though Annelie and I had been up allready to feed an let the horses out. Annelie climbed back in bed before I woke Ida and we tip-toed down to the kitchen, made breakfast and "surprised" Annelie.

Annelie on Speedy
Her family's driving down Friday, better get the house ready. Need to get us mounted today too and take a family ride.

Diva
Got a new horse the other day. It's Diva, who was born at our old place and coming back as a 2yo for handling and breaking. She'll be pastured with our fillies and worked and I´ll hopefully get 30 or so rides on her before she heads back home. I´ll also be working a 4yo gelding who needs breaking, so things are picking up on that front. Still have Cat to work and Brady to whip in shape so my dance card is pretty full here over the summer.

A couple of words on the FEI World Reining Finals

The FEI World Reining finals held here in Sweden last weekend has created quite a stir! A Dansish animal rights group, Epona, filmed the warmups and posted the videos on the web. Several of the participants are shown jerking, spurring and using pretty harsh methods getting their mounts ready. One of the less flattering videos are of Craig Schmersal, $2.000.000 rider and one of the worlds leading reiners, warming up Miss Lil Attitude, who won the CR4 and placed 2nd in the world finals. The rough hands & constant jerking in the bridle has more people than me pretty upset.

The thing is, if this is how it's done in full view of spectators, judges, event veterinerian, and show officials it must be the accepted approach in the reining world wich indeed would be sad. What goes on at home, when nobody's lookin?

In my oppinion the mouth is an inviolable part of the horse and must be treated accordingly. The lowsniffing headset is another aspect I, for the life of me, can not understand. For a horse to perform at his best, a rise in the chest and neck is needed and this "Daxhound on a deertrail" look will never do anything but create soreness and problems down the road.

Riders of Schmersals caliber are also looked up to by hordes of younger riders and if this is how "the champ" does it they're likely to follow.

Judge for your selves, here's the video:

Almost done with Adelsö

Gearing up for the biggest race event of the year, The Elitlopp. Races held Wednesday, Friday, Sat & Sunday. 46 races or something in all with millions in purses. About a million dollars in purses in the main event alone! Some of the worlds greatest trotters, flewn in from around the world will fight it out over the weekend, meaning I´ll be busy, busy taking pics.

Cleaned out the old barn over the last couple of day's, can't believe how much crap you collect if you have enough space! Annelie hosed down the stalls and all with a highpreassure washer while I concentrated on emptying the hay loft. Hopefully we're done at the old place now and can focus on all the projects that need our attention at Snösvad. More fences need to come up, arena panels put up and the general chaos sorted out. Somewhere in there I hope to find some time to ride the horses too! Cat needs a couple of more miles on her before summergrazing and Brady needs his work too.

I'm also involved in the efforts to get a Scandinavian Cutting Futurity in place this fall. A couple of us in the association are hard at work trying to get all the pieces in place. Ungreateful business I know, but gotta get done if we're to take cutting to the next level here in Sweden.

Monday

Lots of fenceposts to pull at the old ranch, just to pound em back in the ground at the new place! We´ve had great help from my dad who single handed has tore down pasture fence covering 30 acres or so. Ben helped me getting them in the ground at Snösvad this weekend too, thank's guy's!

I switched bosal on Cat to the soft one I made awhile back, for her 6-7th ride. She was more at ease with the softer, reata cored one and is starting to give to it better and feeling alot softer.

The new horse, Ritzy is starting to look better and shedding her wintercoat and looking happier.

The first NCHA of Scandinavia show of the year was concluded Saturday at Axevalla. I was supposed to go but had to go back to Adelsö unfortunately. Seems it was a pretty even but low scoring affair. A bunch of misses still, working out of possition and such and scores need to come up some. But over all I think it was a good first.


The Breeders Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was cancelled Saturday due to an outbreak of Equine Herpesvirus (EHV). Refunds and/or reschedule is currently discussed. It started with two affected horses at the Western Nationals in Utah last week. One had to be put down and the other is still being monitored. Some horses affected in Ca aswell. Many shows postponed and people are being asked to monitor their horses for signs of the infection.

Ritzy's Dream

After proudly culling our horse herd somewhat due to the move and all, I stumbled on to this sweet filly. Annelie´s been wanting a trotter to train for sometime and since her birthday is coming up I thought, what the heck, and made a deal with a trainer friend. Result being we´ve (Annelie actually) got a new horse in the barn!








Ritzy´s abit thin and needs some time to find herself. She doesn´t seem to enjoy life right now, but we´ll change that hopefully. She´s got a great pedigree (Dream Vacation-Ritzy Hornline, both great racers in their day) but papers don´t win any races though so Annelie and her groom Ida has some work to do!
Ritzy fit right in with the other girls, Polly and Cat




Peppy, or Pepsi as she´s called now is in foal at the new owners. She´s expecting with their reining stud Ruff Lil Banjo. She´ll give them as good a foal as she has for us I´m sure! Congratulations! She´s looking really good too!