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Curly Horse NewsNote!New horses for sale March 04, 2008!!! We now have News in German!!! Wir haben jetzt Nachrichten auf Deutsch!!! Please also see our new page on Registration! Old Updates
We would like to say hello to all our visitors from all over the world!! We are very excited that our webpage is a regular for many people from as far away as Australia, Russia, Japan, and of course all over Europe! We are very thankful for your visiting our website. We have fun with it! Latest updates!07.05.08 Ahhh...it is good to be back online! A lightning bolt struck the telephone lines here at the farm and the charge affected both the network box and also Karen's network card on her computer just prior to Erwin having to go away for a week. Karen is now back online! So very much has happened, it will take a few paragraphs to get everyone up to date. We would like to thank our faithful readers, like Ines (hi Ines in Steyermark), for contacting us to ask if we are OK? We're fine, very tired, but fine. Karen will explain why! We have loads of nice things to tell you and exciting updates, new images and just a bunch of things to relate to you. So, relax it will be a long update day today, Karen will instead of posting everything at once today be posting a paragraph at a time. So, check back often today as the day goes by to see if a new paragraph has arrived! Moon the great white whale. Warrior White Moon, we call her Moonie, looks more like Moby Dick than she does herself! Huge, we mean really huge, with vast amounts of belly spanning fast amounts of space. Karen has been on foal watch for days and days, Moon already has her milk, she is just taking her sweet time getting around to popping that foal. We can't wait, but have too! Poor Karen has gotten very little sleep lately. Erwin has taken pictures of the mares just the other day, we'll have some shortly online for you as soon as Karen find where Erwin hid the camera! OK, Karen went out and took a couple of shots of Moon with her own camera, here you can judge for yourself if Moon looks like Moby Dick or not!
Rescue Me the cradle robber. Last year Rescue Me had a very big foal, Ribbon. She decided not to move very much, and toward the end of the six months of lost muscle and weight. Because she had such a hard time we did not breed her again last year, giving her a year off. Well, everyone will be glad to know that Rescue Me now looks absoultely fabulous! See for yourself!
She has gained weight put muscle back on, is loosing that hay belly, and has a lot of energy. She is feeling good. We have her on grass for a while now, and the transition from hay to grass went really well. We are using a special diet supplement of ground lineseed with lineseed oil that she gets daily. It has helped tremendously, her coat shines and she's a very happy lady. So happy in fact, that when she came into heat (which she showed no sign of previously) at the end of the day while Karen was putting the horses in, she allowed Rocky to breed her. Duh. This was unplanned, unstoppable. So, we began Rocky's breeding training lessons, and we let him finish the week out breeding her twice more. He got a lot of lessons in when it was appropriate and when not. That he is not allowed to talk on the line, and so on. We will not be breeding Rocky to any other mares this year, so Rescue Me will have the only Rocky foal in 2009 if she took. Rocky will instead prepare for his inspection next Spring. Once he is inspected he will be allowed to breed additional mares. In fact, we already have our first reservation for him for 2009 from an outside mare!!! Rocky the Rocketman, aka Rocky Balboa! Yes, well, Poplar's Comanche Knight, nicknamed Rocky, has had A LOT of learning to do. He's been catching on though, and is starting to be a well-behaved boy. He has learned to longe in the roundpen (3 minutes in one direction at the trot, then a minute walk, and repeat in the other direction). He's also learning to stand quietly, put his head down, and get scratches for good behaviour. Occassionally, you really have to make a lot of noise and be over demanding to get his attention, but that is getting less and less, and with the routine he is really willing to learn and loves when he gets it right. He's actually going to be one of the best trained stallions! Rocky is looking really good, and has grown white spots all over, roaning out. We are curious just what color he will end up to be. His lower legs are a beautiful chocolate brown, and his mane and tail are dark black, he is getting some white frosting in his tail. Here are some new candid images for you!
He is a big boy too, although still looks a lot like a baby. He is not quite as tall as Rescue Me, but is taller than all other mares on the place. Keep in mind, Rocky turns two years old this month of May! His birthday is May 14th! We will hold a little birthday party for him. St. George's Ride! The Georgiritt (St. George's Ride) was held two weeks ago! Karen and Lark joined the parade of horses for the ride and the church mass. It was a gorgeous day, and Lark was the perfect horse. She followed every command with a light touch. Was a quiet mount despite the Warmbloods dancing about her. Of course, she stood next to Steffi's Haflinger who was also a good girl. Lark and Karen remained most of the afternoon, as is traditional back out West (one remains the whole day with their horse) and gave several children rides. Karen would like to say a little thank you to the Seidels who held Lark when Karen went to get something to eat and drink. They were a great help, thanks Karin and Peter. The weather was so great that a short stop to Kiesselleiden was in order, then back home. Lark now has begun to fill her udder and will be foaling soon. Here's a picture of the grand lady taken today enjoying grass and maternity leave.
20.03.08 Joe Mead is gone. we received this news today from one of the Curly lists we read:
Joe Mead was one of the last old-time breaders of Curly Horses. He bred his Curlies on the range in the traditional ranching way. His horses were something different and carried on the legacy of Benny Damele and the Damele herd. Joe was a great talker and full of information. Sadly, we were never able to meet the great man, something we had planned on our next trip to the Americas. His children, Kyle and Carol will be continuing on with the horses, raising Mead bred stock. We were told the following:
13.03.08 Catching up! We are still catching up with news. It's been very stormy here though, and so there has been extra work to do. Repairing the fencing that the wind storms blew down, and repairing the stall boxes that the horses slowly dismantled while they were locked up during the storm. Moon's belly is getting big again, we see the baby kicking all the time now. Lark is getting there, but she's not nearly as big as Moon is. Magic and Jo Jo are also showing now. Spring is slowly on its way, although we have another wind storm today, and the horses are back in the boxes. Hopefully, tomorrow they can go out again. Breeding Warden!? Karen has been attending courses to become a Horse ´Breeding Warden. What's that you might ask? Well, it is more like a judge. They are trained to do inspections of stallions and mares for breeding approval. She has completed two courses already and has three more to finish. After that, she will have to take a test. Karen will also be helping out this year with the Stallion Inspection taking measurements. She is very excited about these developments. The stallion inspection takes place on March 29th in Krems. For more information please visit the VPPÖ webpage. Visit from Christian Mayer! A couple of weeks ago we were delighted to be visited by the trainer, Christian Mayer. We know Christian from the different fairs we attend and we wanted an assessment of the stallions. Sadly, Karen was so sick for such a long time that she had to pospone the visit several times. With the help of our friend, Marion, the visit was finally realized. Chatting with Christian is always great fun, and he really liked our black stallion Billy Jack, who he had to saddle almost immediately and ride! Christian has been riding since 1975, was a student of Jean-Claude Dysli and still has close contact with him (having just been to Andalusia to visit Dysli! Christian is offering clinics and we hope to be able to host some in the near future. To see Christian, please visit his website. Menorquins and Andalusians? Well, Karen has been doing a lot of chatting with a friend from the fairs, Karin Oberbichler. Karin rides Vaquera style on her Spanish Arabian, Shaman. Karin and her boyfriend Stefan have become very involved in Spanish Baroque horses, specifically Menorquins and Andalusians. They are presently offering some very nice horses for sale. In addition, they have an arrangement with the training center, Zentaurus. We will be looking into Zentaurus in the future, in the hopes of possibly training Rocky in this direction. Karin also does horse photography. Have a look at their websites for some fun! Karin will also be attending our Open House in July to demonstrate Vaquera riding! Open House? That's right! It's been two years since the last one, and it is time again! On July 19th we will be having another Open House with a small show program, country music, and of course good food and drink! And guess what? Mitch Wilkinson is going to be there! If you missed our friend Mitch demonstrate his Comanche Riding, then you will have the chance to see him again! Stay tuned for more updates. In addition, we are planning to have an EU PowWow at the same time, so we will be gathering Curly owners and breeders for a get together! Stay tuned for more details. 05.03.08 Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello! Yes, we're here! After taking a break from updating we are back. Karen and Erwin had a hard winter due to the influenza epidemic here in Austria and also because they were again this year the Prince and Princess of Carnival. Carnival lasts about three weeks and gets more intense toward the end. They have now done this for two years running, and this was their last year. They had a great time doing it all, but of course it is tough work, and they needed a rest afterwards. We have some fun updates for you today and some news! For Sale Page! The for sale page has been updated, please have a look at what we have to offer!
*Jay Myr Pepperoni! Well, after spending two extra months with us, *Jay Myr finally made his way to his new home. Robert and Stefanie are great new owners for *Jay Myr, and he is now making friends with his new pasture buddies in Bavaria at Five Star Ranch. We wish them luck in the future. *Jay Myr was a very good boy getting into the trailer, and Robert tells us that *Jay Myr loves to cuddle him. New Direction! Curlies Austria is slowly shifting toward a new direction. In order to obtain our goals some of our fine horses will be offered for sale to qualified homes. We work personably to match the right horse to the right home. If you would like to take advantage of our changing direction and obtain one of our beautiful, breeding approved animals. Please contact us. It is a rare opportunity to obtain some of the best quality Curlies in the world. Foals! Don't forget, the first of our foals are coming soon! Moon and Lark will be foaling next month, and Jo Jo and Magic in summer! We are expecting four foals this year! 04.01.08 Updates! Happy Horses has been updated, and the news has been archived from January-June, 2007 to make things shorter here! The German update for Happy Horses will be following shortly. Next up, the sales page, so stay tuned. 02.01.08 A New Year! We hope that everyone was able to enjoy their holidays, and we wish you all a successful coming year. Our holidays were very exciting. It started all with the visit from Eva from Finland with her camping van! Totally unexpected, Eva gave us a call from Germany where she was working for a month at a stall. Eva travels the world working in stalls and enjoys riding. She's over 60, and a very interesting and friendly lady. We enjoyed a lovely visit with Eva who came by before going on to her next stop, Vienna. We would like to thank Eva for stopping by and sharing some of our holidays with us.
The Christmas Ride took place again, and this time Kerstin and Julia joined Karen for the ride. Kerstin on Lark, Julia on Rescue Me, and Karen on Peppermint Twist! We'll try to see if we can get some pictures for you from Nici, the organizer. All in all it was a great ride, and everyone enjoyed it. Christmas was fun, quiet and family oriented. And, then came Jurgen Bauer with his family to visit the Curlies. Visiting relatives in Austria from England, it was a short stop by to make a successful allergy test! Congratulations Jurgen! We are so excited to hear from some of our "children" as well! Magic's Early Mornging Rose sent us a lovely email telling us all about the training she was undergoing, how her life has changed, and how happy she is. Just look at Rose now with the Fröhlichs! We'd like to thank Rose for sending this new picture :)!
13.11.07 Imports We are very excited to announce that Austria will be gaining a new Curly mare! And, this special lady is from Sweden. Curlies Austria would like to congratulate the new owners, the Bauer Family, on their purchasing *Granbodas Aya! We would also like to thank Sandra Bergman in Sweden for letting us help with the sale of her horse. *Granbodas Aya is distantly related to our own mare *RR Rescue Me and looks just as fabulous with a very baroque style body. *Aya will be starting her trip to Austria shortly.
We are also very excited for the Wolf family as the mare *Tamzara is on her way from Washington State to Germany for their son! Sad news. We have sad news that Andrea Hempl has passed away. She was a very active Curly Breeder and supporter and worked very hard to help educate both breeders and judges in Europe on the wonderful attributes of the Missouri Foxtrotter Curly. We will never forget Andrea's first visit to Curlies Austria in the Spring of 2004 when she was just starting with the idea of getting a Curly. Andrea leaves behind her husband and two lovely children. Our condolensces go out to her family and friends. 09.11.07 Picture Day As the weather turns toward winter, and we can do less and less outside at the moment until the snow comes, it is a good time to get caught up with our news. We have a lot of pictures that we should have been putting online over the months, and now is a good time to get started. So, below we will be updating a list of picture pages throughout the day. In other news, we had a great weekend with Fam. Lendl who brought their daughter who is allergic to horses. We tested all of the horses with Julia and found she wasn't allergic to any of them. She enjoyed riding lessons on Rescue Me, while her sister took lessons on both Lark and Rescue Me. Congratultions Fam. Lendl! We also had a family stop by announced to test the Curlies, they also have a daughter allergic to horses and in a short test with Peppermint Twist we saw no evidence of allergies! The Man from Maylasia makes it! Our visitor has arrived in Paris. Pictures:
A lovely picture of Jo Jo all grown up. The girls, Kerstin and Julia, took the camera one day after giving Jo Jo a bath and took this shot. Jo Jo is a red dun and shows a dorsal stripe in summer.
25.10.07 The girls go to their new home! Sad, our girls are gone. They were picked up today by a transporter from Vienna and brought to their new home with the Family Pass at their new home near Hollarbrunn. Congratulations to the Pass Family on their new additions! We wish *Cee's Winning Ribbon and *Warrior Vaquera Noche all the best in their new lives. We were so happy they could go together as they are inseparable. Have fun Manuela!
18.10.07 The Man from Malaysia! Last evening just before the sun went down, our friend Horst was working with Clooney in the roundpen. Horst holds Clooney's feet for the ferrier and Clooney has been acting up a little lately, so he was getting retrained for giving his feet! Well, while Horst and Clooney were in the roundpen a bicycle turned off the main road and down our road to the farm house. It had a strange flag on it and Karen called in English, hello, where are you from? The man stopped, took off the scarf over his face smiling, and said Malaysia! He was very friendly and asked about camping. Karen told him he was welcome to camp here. As it turned out, the man's name is Meng and he is on a route from Beijing to Paris. He has been on the road 6 months! On the 15th he was in Vienna, and headed to Linz and then somehow decided to go through the lake district of Austria. This morning, Karen offered him a Chinese tea and soup, and attempted to help with tools to repair a part of his bicycle. In very cold temps and a head wind, Meng went on his journey in the direction of Attersee. We wish him well and hope he makes his destination of Paris. To read about Meng and his trip, you can visit his blog at the following address: http://beijing2paris.blogspot.com/ Apropos Pferd! We enjoyed ourselves very much at Apropos Pferd this year, and hope to have images for you soon. We appologize that we arrived later on Thrusday as planned, and if you were looking for us and missed us, we are sorry. (We understand some people came by before we arrived). Stay tuned for stories and images. 03.10.07 Quick Notes! We've got some fun and quick things to tell you!First, our fillies *Warrior Vaquera Noche and *Cee's Winning Ribbon are now weanlings! They were gently separated from their moms two days ago. Both are doing fine, as they were already getting independent and Ribbon was used to Rescue Me going out on rides. They are together, and are happily munching away. The fillies are getting ready to make their way to their new home in the Hollarbrunn area of Austria! We are very excited for them, and also their new owner's, Fam. Pass! In preparation for the fillies delivery, we had the Breeding Association out for a visit! All our foals were taken up into the Studbook - Foal Book and are getting their papers. While the representatives were here, they also inspected our Ponies! *Kachina Doll and *Peppermint Twist EB both passed their inspections and received scores that entered them into the Studbook - Mare Book for breeding! We are so excited! So, both ponies are now approved for breeding in Europe. Christine had to go back to her studies in Vienna, so we are missing her a lot back here! She's studying aggriculture and we are very happy that she learned so much at Curlies Austria and also helped us with making things more efficient around here! Thanks Christine and good luck with your studies! The fair "Apropos Pferd" begins tomorrow in Wiener Neustadt, see us there! 26.09.07 Hello China? We would like to welcome our new readers from the East! We are not quite sure if you are in China, but those of you visiting the website from favorstar please find yourselves welcome! It's great to have you here! The weather is not very nice, so we are waiting for the sunshine to come out for new pictures! Karen has some from hay making this year though that will be online shortly! We are very excited to be holding a visit from our breeding assocition on Friday! The foals will be inspected and be getting their papers, as well as the ponies and Rocky! We look forward to a pleasant day and will be bringing pictures of the inspections. OK, well, the weather held out this morning and we have something VERY SPECIAL for you today. An inside look at Clooney's training! Here is a picture series with text explaining some of how Karen works with her horses, and Clooney demonstrates all the examples. Have fun and enjoy this unusual look into our training methods! 20.09.07 Autumn Picture Day! As promised we've got some great pictures for you. We think you'll enjoy a lot of these!
02.09.07 Catching up. Please read through all our news, there are lots of rumors and crazy things happening! Hey all! It is so nice to talk to you all again! You know when you have waited too long to update the website when your parents start writing emails to you asking if everything is ok, because they haven't seen an update on the website for a month (and they live very far away and are still reading!). So, appologies all around here's the scoup! You know how our days have been going? Well, the weather has been not very helpful, so on those nice sunny days like today that crop up, Karen is in the saddle. It goes like this, as soon as Christine is finished feeding and mucking out the stalls (YES! We have an assistant this summer, and she's doing a fab job of it! Christine is a aggricultural student and knows all about running a farm, and she's learning how to handle horses with us! She's also Eva's sister, Eva spent a great deal of time here with us!) we prepare for riding out. Brushing the horses, and getting the gear organized, as like today! Two reasons for this. Rescue Me, our lovely big mare, had a very heavy pregnancy in Spring. She had a BIG foal, and carried water too. She has been with her foal, Ribbon, along with Moon and her gorgeous filly, Noche, on a very steep pasture building up her muscles over summer. Still, she has lost a lot of back muscle, and really needs rebacking. Hard work, as she is doesn't like being longed in the roundpen, so the alternative, a light saddle, a good pad and hacking out!. Karen is working on building back Rescue Me's condition, and today was no exception, with a 3 hour ride. First to the riding arena to do some gymnastics, and then a quiet hack about to the old pasture where we first started (some of you remember that old pasture!), and around. And secondly, Christine had Lark as her mount, and this keeps Lark in condition too! Lark is pregnant, that's news you'll hear about below! Well, of course, there are more horses to work, and after the long wonderful ride out in the autumn sunshine with the leaves beginning to turn colors, it was time to get more work done with the other horses. Peppermint (the little pony) and Jo Jo (our gorgeous red-dun mare) were put through their paces under saddle, and on the previous sunny day, it was Peppermint, Kachina, Billy Jack and Clooney. Billy Jack and Clooney were ground longed before being ridden with the double-longe. They did a great job and it is helping them to keep those voice commands in their heads. Karen is putting nearly 6 hours in roundpen and saddle work, and loving it, when the weather is dry. Makes for one sleepy Karen of course! Foals for next year! We are so very excited. We had our vet out, Marek Tartar, to do the ultrasounds on the mares last week. We waited a while because our breeding season was somewhat long this year. We covered four mares this year with our two stallions, and all four mares took. We are so proud to announce that the following wonderful mares are expecting foals next year:
Wiener Neustadt! The Curlies will be at "Apropos Pferd" at the Arena Nova in Wiener Neustadt between October 4-7. Come see us there, we would love to meet you! We will be bringing the Curlies, and you may even get to see Karen riding Peppermint! Keep in mind she is still in the training stages! Pictures! Of course, what would be the Curly website without pictures, we've got a ton for you, and will be updating them today. Also, we will be updating our sales page again. We even have new pictures of the ponies, one of Kachina western style!Rumors! Rumor has it that we may be getting a visit from Mitch, our Commanche friend, next year in July and that another Open House is planned at Curlies Austria! Keep a watch out here for more infos as they come in. We may even have a wonderful surprise in memory of Walter! And, we may like to time this with a big Curly meeting here in Austria for all our friends in Europe and the Americas! (Hey, you guys in Australia are welcome too!) We're thinking to call it a Curly Pow-Wow. Let's see where it goes, eh? So, stay tuned! And, that's not the only rumor, can it be that Erwin and Karen might actually be involved in an American Curly Event! We'll be posting more on rumors shortly! 23.08.07 Sad News. This week, our good friend and trainer, Walter Lukas passed away. Walter has been instrumental in the development of Curlies Austria, the formation of our philosophies, trained our horses, and provided us with good solid advice. He had a kind heart, which he used not only in raising his three girls, working with his wife to maintain his farm and the horses, and helping his parents, but also to protect horses from the often seen abuse of inexperienced riders. Walter's legacy is a long career in Western tournament riding, specializing in Trail and Pleasure, culminating in the title of Austrian Western Trail Champion twice running. We will miss Walter very much, and every evening after the last horse is worked and we're sitting on the bench as the sun lowers in the sky, and we pop that beer, we'll be thinking of you, Walter.
In other news, we've brought the hay in, and have new pictures coming. Stay tuned!
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07.07.07 Rain leaves for new home! Well,
it was a two year long wait for Astrid! Leaving Rain here to grow up her first two years, Astrid came
to visit her several times over the years. No one realized just how fast the time can go, and yesterday
Karen and Astrid laughed and were a little teary-eyed as her trainer came with her to pick up *ZZ Diamond
Rain to take her to her new home in Nurnberg. It was happy and sad, happy because we know
how much and how long Astrid, a Curly supporter and fan for years and years, has waited to have her
own horse, and now her dream has come true. Sad, because we will miss Rain who is a very mild-tempered
and sweet young horse. We wish Astrid and her family and Rain all the best in the world. We have some images for you
of Rain making her way to her new home.