20 posts tagged “links”
So the Welsh Pony & Cob Society has discovered Zazzle.com and has a bunch of fun Welsh pony merchandise available on this page. Magnets, shirts, bumperstickers, mouse pads, coffee mugs... Lots of fun stuff for reasonable prices. I have an intense urge to buy something, though I know I oughtn't be spending the money.
The Arabian Horse Association should really look into setting up a Zazzle store. Right now, the only things on their official merchandise page are The Hat Lady and Bennet Fine Jewelry. Nice stuff to be sure, but pricey and not the sort of things the average, dare I say grassroots, Arab enthusiast would buy to wear to the barn/around town. Wonder who to suggest it to?
ETA: I'm going to see if I can get my mother to open a Zazzle store. She could have coffee mugs, mouse pads, etc with her paintings on them. I think they also produce prints, so she could sell prints of her art, too. I will post a link here if she does it.
Cornell University is conducting a study on Lavender Foal Syndrome with an eye to identifying the genetic markers associated with it and developing a diagnostic test to identify carrier breeding stock. They're looking for samples from LFS foals, family members of LFS foals, and the general Arabian population (registered Arabians).
The article on the study is here at the USEF website and includes contact information for the researcher heading the project so that you can find out how to participate by sending samples.
Looked Annie up on the Pedigree Online database; her pedigree is here. Several of her ancestors have photos and info on them, which is quite interesting to read.
Here's Myfanwy's dam's pedigree, and her sire's is here. (take a look at the photo for Louisiana Lagniappe - gorgeous!)
An finally, the pedigree for the stallion Annie's in foal to.
One week from tomorrow, and I'll be headed into Wisconsin to pick up my ponies. There are some new pictures up of Annie's filly from this year on this page -- she's the second one listed. She's a full sibling to the one I'll have out of Annie next summer, and she's gorgeous. I'm getting very excited about my ponies. Can't wait to bring them home!
I went out to meet my friend Bonnie's new pony, Rocky, today and ride him a little. He's a Welsh/Thoroughbred cross in a distinctive red roan. She has pictures of him on her blog. He's in his late teens, so far as we know, but he's got that pony spunk despite being overweight and out of shape from being little more than a pasture ornament for the past few years.
I brought out my hands measuring stick and my bit fitter to get his measurements. He stands 14+ hh, and needs a 4.5" bit, so you can definitely see the Welsh pony part of the cross in his size. He's got a bit of a naughty streak to him, too, which just says 'pony' to me. (I love ponies, but they do like to poke and taste, investigate and test everyone and everything.)
He's very sweet & friendly, if a little disgruntled about having to work for a living again. He's quick to forgive, though, when treats are offered. ;)
Bonnie & I both forgot our cameras, so I don't have any pictures of him in my saddle (which I brought out to see if we should be looking for a wide tree saddle for him or if regular would be okay -- my wide fit him nicely). She thought he looked cute going around in it; you'll just have to imagine a little strawberry roan wearing a caramel hunt saddle (with a tartan pad).
Rocky's got a ways to go before he's back in shape and able to go on long rides, but I know Bonnie's very excited about getting him there and will have fun with the process. Then they can have lots of fun together.
Congratulations, Bonnie!
While, um, browsing for horses that I'd like (but can't really afford right now) to buy, I discovered a neat site. It's called All Breed Pedigree. While their database is far from complete, they do very well on Arabs and Thoroughbreds (though it's still by no means complete).
They've got all sorts of tools available to those who purchase membership, but the basic pedigree report is available to anyone for free. I pulled up Merry's pedigree for fun. Quite a few of the horses in his pedigree also have photos to view on the site (denoted by the asterisks), which is nice. I'm going to have to pick a nice photo of Merry to add to it.
I just got around to reading my weekly USEF newsletter and found out that Theodore O'Connor (Teddy), the 14.1 hand TB/Arab/Shetland eventer pony & 2007 USEF Horse of the Year, was put down on Wednesday. He suffered an accident at home - spooked on the way to his morning workout and slipped as he ran back to the barn, severing tendons & ligaments in his hind leg.
How typical is that? It's always that stupid shit that you can't anticipate or do anything to prevent that gets you, it seems. As much as I love watching Merry get revved up and run and play, I'm always worried that he'll slip or trip and hurt himself (he can be a total klutz at times).
The news about Teddy has made me very sad. He was a very special pony - absolutely amazing to watch. They always talk about racehorses having heart, but this little horse had the biggest heart I've ever seen.
If anyone is interested, there is a memorial obstacle being planned for the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and contributions can be made here: https://www.usef.org/_auaiframes/disasterrelief/teddy/teddy.aspx
The MAHA general membership meeting this spring is going to be held at the new Leatherdale Equine Center at the University of Minnesota. After the meeting there's going to be a guided tour of the facilities, and since it's an open meeting, we're invited to bring friends. I haven't decided if I'm going yet (I have to r.s.v.p. by April 7 -- the meeting is on the 12th), but it's certainly tempting.
One of my favourite hobbies is to torment myself by looking for horses I would like to buy, but can't right now. (I really need to be focusing on improvements to the farm, like better footing in my arena, more fence, an indoor arena etc, before I even consider another horse.) I've been looking at new ones tonight, as well as some that I've coveted before.
There's this cute 2007 ATA filly over at the ATA website. Her dam's sire was a successful eventer (Amethyst), and she's a well-built little thing.
Then there's my beloved Tanzbrise, who is looking fabulous under saddle ... and getting further out of my price range by the day. I don't qualify as a show home, so there'd be no special consideration given to me. I'd love her to bits, but I can understand that, with a daddy like Windfall, they want to see her compete at a higher level than the sort of local events I'd go to (if I could even ever find the time and money to compete again -- eek! it's been ages). Think of the pretty babies she and Merry could produce, though. ::sigh::
They also still have this cute Arab-Trakehner mare, who is $5,400 to the right home. I see her more as a potential lesson horse than broodmare. She looks sweet, but doesn't seem to have that "spark" of personality that I like. I wouldn't mind having a sweet, innocuous creature around as an extra riding horse & companion for another mare. I just don't think I'd breed her.
It was pointed out to me a few weeks back by Bonnie that it's been quite some time since I've posted anything here. She also tormented me with a link to the MN Hooved Animal Rescue. There is (was, by now?) a cute little black Arab mare as well as some other nice horses for adoption, but I've imposed a moratorium on getting any new animals until after winter is over, so there are no new additions to Crickhollow. I'm sure everyone who knows me realises that I'd adopt them all if I could, but one must concentrate on taking care of the critters one has and knowing when to quit.
I think my next equine acquisition is going to be a good quality mare/filly anyway. There was a really lovely two year old filly at the MN Arabian Horse Breeders Fall Fest that I & my mother quite liked. She was brought up from Iowa. My mother spoke to her owner, & while she's not really looking to sell her right now she promised to keep us in mind if she changes her mind in the next couple years. Of course, I'm also going to be keeping an eye out for Trakehner mares, too. I still have that non-Arab breeding to BlacklordFalkahnn, after all...
And for those who haven't seen any of these yet, here are some photos family friend & photographer Pat Nau took of Merry (& myself, sadly) this summer. I'm going to upload a few others later on, but I don't have the disc at hand so you only get what I have on my harddrive. Click on the pics to see them bigger.
