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Curly Horse NewsNote!New horses for sale June 26, 2007!! 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! Older updates, January - June 2007!28.06.07 It's a small world! Karen was reading the "Curloosa" newsgroup when she saw a posting from Joan Collins (the breeder of our colt, Rocky!). It said: "Hi Karen Z, I have been away and so not up to date on what's going on with the lists or you. How is Rocky behaving these days? Anyhoo, I was gone last week helping out at a VERY remote horseback riding camp for kids and on my way home I stopped at a fossil bed overlook near John Day and the only other people there were speaking a foreign language and when I asked them where they were from they said Austria. And so to make a long story short, I met your neighbor Susanne P.! I was a long way from home but she was even further and here we meet in one of the remotest areas of Oregon. Austria must be a very small country or maybe it is truly a small world! Her companion or aunt possibly took a picture of us both so hopefully she will email you with it. Life is interesting! Joan"Suzie is a long-time friend and supporter of Curlies Austria and lives about 5 minutes away! Way to go Suzie and Joan, is that not just plain eerie? And for those of you who have never been to Austria, it is small, but not THAT small! 26.06.07 Picture Day! Well, we've got a pile of pictures in the backlog to put online, so today is going to be picture day. throughout the day, you will see more links going up under this heading for various picture pages! Enjoy a quiet day browsing our backlog of fun!
Well, that's enough photos for today. We'll need to save some for next time! And, hey wow! It looks like we may have both Noche and Ribbon sold and Jay Myr is now officially sold. Our foals go so fast! If you've been wanting a foal from Curlies Austria, you may consider reserving one. We have begun our breeding season (a little late this year) and have covered Magic and Moon with Billy Jack. Breeding will continue for the next couple of weeks. We are considering producing more foals for next year as the demand is so high. 22.06.07 European Pow-Wow! Better late than never! On the 2nd of June, Karen was invited to attend a European gathering of breeders, registries and Curly Horse fans in Germany! Petra and Tom Wolf called the meeting to help everyone get to know one another, and also to help form a working group that unifies the presence of the Curly Horse in Europe. The meeting was a full success with people from Sweden, Norway, Austria and Germany in attendence. Karen gave to Powerpoint presentations that were very well recieved (even she was surprised!), "Myth & Mystery: The History of the Curly Horse" which covered the origins of the Curly, breeding practices, bloodlines and the modern Curly, and "Curly Horse Genetics" which discussed, coat-curl, bloodlines, blood-percentage calculations, allergy test results and breeding for type! Other talks included a presentation by Claudia Sirzisco on what is required for an EU studbook, the history of teh ABC and ICHO by Lene Jensen, and also information on working toward breed status in the States by Lene. The Wolfs put on a fantastic meeting with excellent atmosphere, and the discussions went well on into the night. We would like to thank the Wolfs, and enjoyed meeting everyone there! Here is a picture and a list of participants! We look forward to the next Curly Meeting. It is wonderful to see us working together.
Marianne Bornemark Please note: there was a mix-up in how Karen did the archive from July-December 2006 on the English pages. This has been corrected! The present news should load shorter and faster now. We appologize! 20.06.07 Where is everyone?! Where are those updates!? Well, Karen did a dumb thing and while sharpening the scythe to mow some grass, she sliced her index finger pretty good! Needed stiches and everything. Thank goodness her mom and stepdad were here, and thanks to Erwin's uncle Egon, they could get her to the hospital quick enough. But! That means typing the stories in is rather slow! Nevermind! Boy do we have a lot to tell you. The Bruno's came to visit with their granddaughter Lisa. Lisa is allergic to horses, Karen went through the usual test and although Lisa reacted to Rescue Me and Jo Jo, she didn't react to Peppermint! This was a great thing because Lisa is about 11 years old and Peppermint was exactly the right level for her. Karen then taught Lisa over the next two days basic roundpen work, and introduced Natural Horsemanship concepts to Lisa all while having fun! Peppermint did a great job too! While Karen's parents were here, Magic foaled too! Karen was cooking a late dinner, and while waiting for the meat to bake spent time with her mom in the atrium chatting. At about 10 pm, she checked Magic and all was quiet. They went in to eat and chatted after dinner, her parents decided to go to bed so she said, goodnight and went out to see Magic. Low and behold! A new wet foal was there trying to stand up! It was just minutes after the birth! Magic gave birth to a very lovely black or grulla colt with lots of curl and the longest legs a foal from Magic has ever had! Of course, Karen ran in to tell her parents, and then observe the foal. It was the easiest foal we've ever had! He found the milk with hardly any help and never needed to be reminded again. Next day, Karen had a visit from Robert in Bavarian. He'd called to stop by on his way driving back to Salzburg and chat Curlies, since he had heard of us. No problem! And, in an hour Robert was there with a collegue from work. Robert got a tour of the Curlies and the farm, but he was most facinated by Magic's new foal. He had been hoping to find a colt that he could train in later years, and this seemed perfect to him. Robert called the next day saying he want's Magic's colt. We must say, that is the fastest we've ever found someone for our foals! Well, except for Jazz who was sort of pre-ordered! We are so excited about Robert wanting Magic's foal, they already have a Curly and his wife does Hippothearapy. You couldn't find a better home! Magic's foal has a name too! It is *ZZ Jay Myr Pepperoni! Here are some new pictures for you:
Well, as if that's all the news? No! Yesterday, Manuela came by to see the curlies. They were at the Wels horse fair this year and are interested in adding Curlies to their horse farm. Manuela is very interested in Curlies and was thinking about getting a filly to start with. Well, they fell in love with the two fillies we have this year and decided they really like Noche. Although we had not planned on selling her, we can hardly say no. So, it would appear that Noche may have found a new home in the future. We will keep you posted! We still owe you pictures of the Wels Horse Fair! We know, we're getting there! 07.06.07 Birthdays! It is the 7th of June and it is Karen's sister's birthday, Happy Birthday Jennifer! It was also Geenie's birthday! Geenie is one of our foals from Glory and Clooney who now lives in Germany with her family Claudia and Klaus. The Kochs were so kind to send us new images of the two! Wow! Are we doing something right or not! Geenie is an extreme Curly which means she has a short mane and tail, and Joe is a minimal curly which means he has minimal Curl. Have a look at just how gorgeous these two are! Klaus tells us that Claudia will bake Geenie a cake, adn the Joe is very much a baby still and has a very good personality and is not studdy at all. We want to share the images with you.
We have so many stories to tell you, and so many pictures to share, of Wels, of Karen's parents visits, of successful allergy tests and of big meeting in Germany. Hang on to your hats, because we're going to do a lot of catching up with our readers! 24.05.07 Wels 2007 We had a great time this year at the Wels International Horse Fair. First off, we had special guests who had to put up with all our slow preparations for the show, Karen's Dad and his wife, Melinda! They got to see all the behind the scenes craziness here at Curlies Austria. From watching the stallions working in the roundpen, to looking at the baby foals, watching Erwin and Karen building fencings, and the mundane work of the farm, they got an intense course on the whole program (it's not exactly like going site-seeing!) Both put up with the delays, and waiting around very well, and we really appreciate their coming all the way here to visit. Karen's dad, Ed, fell in love with *CCG Warrior Billy Jack and has practically forbidden us to sell him, we'll have to reconsider maybe. In any case, attending the Wels Horse Fair was very exciting. So many different breeds and shows to see! And, us Curlies too! The Curlies had 4 presentations a day to do, that's a lot, running 4 days. We missed only two of these presentations (the stallions broke out at home!) and in total did 22 presentations! We would like to thank the following people for helping us this year: Britta Steinlechner, who worked all four shows on Thursday, doing a great job leading *Peppermint Twist in the program. Britta is only 13 years old! Great job Britta! Kerstin Kraler who worked the shows on Friday and Sunday (Saturday night was Eva's birthday party and Kerstin got no sleep, but still was able to help the whole Sunday! Amazing!). And, we would also like to thank Eva Baumgarnter for assisting on Friday leading *Kachina's Doll! Thanks also goes to Erwin for leading *Kachina on Saturday. We would also like to thank Gunther and Hilde Wokurek from the VPPOe who organized the group going to Wels. These two very dedicated people organize the Wels Fair every year, and it is a tough job trying to keep everyone happy and getting everything done. Great job! We appreciate it. At the fair this year we took *Grulla Vaquera Lark, our seasoned mare. She was a bit naughty this year though! Although well-worked before the show, this year she really didn't like the small arena with the loud speaker boxes in the middle, and a couple of times chose to want to leave! Oh my, well, it happens. We also took our two ponies, *Pepper and *Kachina! They did a great job at the show and were very calm. We had lots of people inquiring. One thing we noticed this year was the big difference in awareness of the people about the Curlies. When we first started and went to the Wels Horse Fair in 2004, no one had heard of a Curly Horse. People said things like, "What is that?" and "Horses for allergy sufferers, yeah right!" This year, however, everyone at the show knew about the Curlies, and often we heard people saying things at the stalls like, "Oh look, there are the horses for allergy sufferers!" and "Hey there are the Curlies, let's go look!" After the four days, Erwin turned to Karen and made a comment about it, and Karen agreed that she too had noticed the difference. And, Erwin said to Karen, "You did that, you know? You made people aware of the Curlies in Austria." Karen was surprised to hear this, but Erwin is right, after all the shows, the articles, the website, working with the breeding associations, and the movie with *Rescue Me ("The Doctor from Woerthersee"), the advertising, and just talking to people - it seems it paid off, and now people know what a special breed the Curly really is. And, Karen felt really good after that! Karen's dad took some pictures of the horses at the Fair, we are hoping to get some sent to us so we can put them online for you! 04.05.07 We have updated our sales page. We are offering a stallion, a pony, a foal, and a foal reservation in Austria! We have also added Import horses from Sweden and North America! Have a look! 02.05.07 Curly Ponies arrive at Curlies Austria! They speak French! Or should, because that is where they came from. Of course, before that they were in America, so they probably still speak English too! *Peppermint Twist EB and *RBF Kachina's Doll arrived safely thanks to the help of our friend, Herbert Spiessberger-Pesendorfer who transported the ponies to Austria! We have some nice arrival pictures of the ponies with Herbert taken yesterday. And, we have some new images of the ponies taken today after Kerstin and Eva gave them thorough baths!
One of these ponies is for sale, if you would like a Curly Pony please contact us. *Peppermint Twist is a red and white tobiano, with white mane and tail. She has a pretty head and eyes, and has stepping trot. She's quite cute, looks very similar in shape and size to a Shetland Pony standing at 125 cm. Kachina's Doll is a sport pony type, with golden fur that shimmers in the sunlight. She has darker areas, and also lighter areas, and has roaning spots. She has high white socks and very nice sport gaits (good for hunting and dressage classes). *Peppermint Twist has been under saddle. Wels Horse Fair! It is getting close to the 17th of May in which the Wels Horse Fair will begin. We will be there with one stallion and the two ponies. So, come on by and see us! The Foals!The foals are growing nicely, and are looking very beautiful. We have two new images to share with you.
Jo Jo! Jo Jo is under saddle! She's been doing an excellent job, much more so than we expected! We expected her to be a right pain, but she is enjoying her work in the roundpen and is working very quietly. She learns well. We hope to have her fairly well along in summer time. 19.04.07 First day out! The foals were out on the pasture today, and we have some nice images for you to see! A perfect day, as the little ones stretched their legs and a couple of times got the full gallop in! Here's Noche and Ribbon with moms. The sales page is getting an update, new horses will be added, some from Sweden! Also, Troy is sold! We want to congratulate Armi in Finland, and also Wendy Snell the breeder. 18.04.07 Doing Good! Oh dear, we are doing well. We are just very happy that everything is going well. On Sunday is the St. George's Day Parade. Karen is so looking forward to a ride out. This year, instead of a show program, there will be a Trail Course to go through. Maybe Karen and Lark will do well! It doesn't matter really, because the happiness that the two new foals are doing well is such a relief. Of course, that they are are both just wonderful fillies is icing on the cake. The sales page was updated, and new updates will be coming soon to the sales page shortly. Most important is to decide who is now for sale and who we will keep after we have gotten such nice fillies!!! Next. Maybe we should really tell you. Karen's parents are coming for a visit. Her dad and her mom are coming, of course at separate times, since it is 30 years ago that they were really together. Dad comes with his wife Melinda, to tour Europe and see the farm. And mom comes with her husband, Jim, to go on holidays with Erwin and Karen. We couldn't be more happy, as it has been years since we have been able to travel to America. (Inge you are asked for!) 17.04.07 Lots of News. We have lots of news for you which Karen will be updating all evening! We have had a very exciting month which has kept us very busy. First off, we would like to announce the arrival of two new foals at Curlies Austria! Our two mares, Warrior White Moon and *RR Rescue Me gave birth to two lovely fillies only 3 days apart last week. Both moms and babies are doing fine. And, we have some first day images for you!
Belgian Visit. While the foals were coming we had a wonderful visit from Therese and Oskar and their two small children. It seems to be tradition at Curlies Austria to have guests while the mares are foaling, and it is usually a nice experience to see the new babies just after they have arrived! Therese and Oskar spent the week enjoying Webersdorf having great weather, and also seeing some of the sights in the region. Oskar attends a conference this week in Vienna, so they combined their trip with a visit. Therese is allergic to normal horses. She was not allergic to our mare Lark, and she and Oskar took riding lessons during the week. Therese worked on her seat, and light singals as well as gaining confidence as a rider. Oskar went on board having a very scary experience once before on a vacation holiday ride! They both had great fun, learned a lot, and told us that they thoroughly enjoyed their lessons and visit. Thanks for coming! Frost! We were so excited to receive Easter greetings from Brigitta Sperlbauer. As you may recall, Brigitta came to us and tested allergic to our Curlies. We spent nearly a year helping her with her search. After about 30 hair samples from America and Canada, we found a horse for Brigitta and it was Frost! A gelding with Foxtrotter bloodlines and a very tightly curled, brillo pad like coat! Brigitta tells us they are both doing fine, and she is riding all the time. Here are some images of Frost with Brigitta on board, and also with her daughter!
This is what we do best, bringing people and Curlies together. We have experience since 2003 in matching allergy sufferers and Curly fans and breeders with the right horse, we pay careful attention to bloodlines, your speicific allergy pattern, and also the quality of the horse and of the transport. We've imported for or sold our own horses to customers all over Europe, including Germany, France, Finland, and Switherland and we have had visitors from all these countries and: Denmark, England, Italy, Slovakia, Czeck Republic, Belgian, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, and of course Austria! We provide very specialized service and work hard to cater to your needs. We have helped place over 20 Curlies in Europe since we began. A list includes (using their barn names): Monty (Woolly Bully), Rose, Joe, Geenie, Lady, Rain, Jazz, Glory, Frost, Sky, Levi, Tes, Jourdon, Sparkling Lady, Oscar, Moonlit Day, Twist of Mist, Talisman, Breezen, Carmalita, Mae, and Jessie. Ponies! Rumor has it that ponies might be coming to Curlies Austria. Stay tuned for more info, one might even be for sale!
14.03.07 Large Import. We have a large import beginning next week. Horses will be picked up from California, Washington State, Oregon and Montana. If you are interested in horses in any of these areas, please contact us immediately, we can include the horse on this transport and save you shipping costs. Back in the Saddle Again. The weather is great and the horses are back in the roundpen. Lark is working well, and the two stallions, Billy Jack and Clooney were on yesterday. They both did a great job and were happy to have something to do after the boring winter! Karen took new pictures of Billy Jack, and they will be going online shortly. Jo Jo has also been started, and she accepted the saddle without problems. We are working on backing her first though before she carries the saddle while working. Neele's Visit. Neele came from Hamburg to test the Curlies and learn all about horse handling, management and riding. Neele is allergic to horses, and does show some allergies to Curlies too. We are confident though, that she will find the right horse for her. We saw that she was less allergic to some Curlies as others. Neele did a great job learning how to work a horse in the roundpen using Natural Horsemanship methods, and also learned how to ride Western. She learns quickly and has a feeling for the horse. We enjoyed her visit very much, and her parents enjoyed vising Austria, hiking in the mountains, and eating "Schweinsbraten mit Knödel" (Baked Pork with dumplings) from Agnes' kitchen at the Hufeinsen Inn.13.03.07 Swedish Curly Horse Mother Registry accepts ICHO affiliation! In 2006, the Swedish Curly Horse Association applied to the EU in Brussels to become the mother registry for Curly Horses in all of Europe. The EU accepted this application and gave the Swedish registry official "Mother Registry" status. On March 11, 2007, the Swedish held their annual general meeting and agreed to become an affiliate of the International Curly Horse Organization. The Swedish registry has always held close contact to the American Bashkir Curly Registry, and this is the first time that the Swedish registry will have also close contact to the ICHO. This is a wonderful thing, as Curly Horses in both the ABC and the ICHO stem from the same sources, and are the same breed. The Swedish registry also approved a Curly-Cross studbook. Curly-Crosses will be regulated through the registry. This sets the tone for all of Europe! We are all so very excited about this development as this means that horses that were split in America into the two registries (ABC and ICHO) are now reunited in Europe! This ends a long-standing political struggle between the two registries and sets a tone of acceptance and friendship in Europe. We would like to congratulate the Swedish Registry on their foresight and thank them for leading the way! What this means is that ABC and ICHO registered horses are officially accepted for breeding in Europe, as are Curly-Crosses that are approved by the registries. 27.02.07 We are in Curly Fever! Why that you say? Because all of Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland at least have discovered the Curly in full force. Karen is working currently on about 7 different Imports, with at least 20 horses in the selection phase. It's been quite amazing, and it is keeping Karen jumping on her toes! She's been talking to just about every breeder under the sun to get the right horses for her customers. A lot of fun actually! Keep watch here as the imports develop and see who is coming to Europe! Rescue Me the Film Star! We just got word that Rescue Me can be seen in the film "The Doctor from Wörthersee - Shadows in Paradise" on this coming Friday at 20:15 on ORF 2. Please watch for her, she plays a small but pivotal role. Warrior White Moon is slowly preparing to foal! She has started the last stages of pregnancy and we expect our first foal sometime in about a month! We are so excited. Jazz leaving. Jazz will be picked up on Saturday for her new home. With all that is going on, Karen is also working with Jazz on her training. We will try to take pictures of her before she goes so you can see what a big beautiful girl she has become, she's got a big huge fuzzy buffalo mane! Curlies Austria Summer School. Yes, that's right, we have a new summer school program for Curly Horse enthusiasts. Want to know everything there is to know about Curlies, then join us this summer. A new page with all the details is going online tonight! Courses will be for 4-8 people and will cover various topics important for Curly owners and breeders. This is a week long course where you can also enjoy a holiday in the Lake District of the Alps. Stay tuned, and prepare to book early! Billy Jack for sale. With the arrival of Rocky, we are now offering this fabulous, well-established stallion for sale. Billy Jack has very rare and unusual bloodlines, is well proportioned, has good movement, and produces fabulous foals. He's a good boy under saddle, and one of the very few and rare inspected and approved breeding stallions in Europe. He is a black stallion with white blaze and two white feet. Please see his pedigree page for more information. We welcome inquiries. 06.02.07 Well, the snow didn't last long and it is green and mucky out there again. Actually, it is an awful year weather wise, and the Curlies love the snow, and with all the muck and wet weather, things don't drain off. We're looking forward to an early Spring and getting the horses out onto grass. This last weekend we had a surprise visit! Anna from Denmark, who also owns Curlies, called us on the phone and said she was in Styria and could she come by for a visit! We said, sure, come on down. We talked Curly Horses for hours until it got dark, and she got to see our horses. Her colleague had to get back though, as they were a group of 20 Danes skiing in Styria and he had to drive the equipment back up to Denmark the next day! Thanks for coming by Anna! Karen's Dad reads the website regularly. How else could he keep up with what's going on with her and the Curlies?! He wrote Karen and Erwin to share a story of his own after reading about Jo Jo's antics in tearing the stall apart. Now, this particular story is familiar to Karen! She has told this story to friends before, but this time all the details which she couldn't remember are included! We would like to share this story with our readers, we hope you don't mind Dad!? Here is Karen's Dad's original version, straight from the horses mouth: On the first farm we had in New Jersey, when Sonny (Karen's father) was 10 years old, he had a pony named "King" who was a rather large Welsh pony and very stubborn as well as intelligent. King loved to eat apples when they fell in the fall and got slightly rotten on the ground making hard cider. He would get roaring drunk and come staggering back to the barn cross-legged and thoroughly swelled with colic. Sonny's dad would call the Vet and have King pumped out through the nose to relieve the overloaded stomach each time. One year Sonny decided he would not let King get to the apples and placed him in the barn in his stall with halter affixed to a chain instead of a rope (which he learned to chew through). Sonny locked the barn door with a padlock and put the key in his pocket; it was a large rolling door about the size of a single garage door mounted on large steel rollers that rolled on a steel track. It was a very heavy door of three layers of one-inch planks. Next morning Sonny arose at 6 AM to check on "King". Sonny met "King" staggering down the orchard road walking cross-legged and drunk! The halter was left hanging on the chain fastened to the stall front; the barn door had been lifted off its 6-inch roller on one end opposite the padlock and had been pushed open by King. Horses are ingenious about extricating themselves when they want to get out. He would even work on a post-and-rail fence by grabbing the top rail in his teeth and pushing it back and forth loosening it. If that didn't work he would back up toward one post and push it with his rear to loosen it and give the top rail more room to flex. He taught Sonny a lot about horses. Sounds like our Curlies to us!!!! Thanks Dad for sharing the story. 24.01.07 It's snowing! We can't beleive it either, but it is cold and snowing, finally. They say though that it might not last. Let us hope it does. Here is a picture of the storm damage!
As usual, while we are repairing the outdoor shelters, the mares are getting into mischief in the box stalls. Jo Jo and her two culprets, Rain and Jazz, are slowly tearing the boxes apart. They somehow got the stall door off its hinges, and the two hooks that keep the doors to the manure pile closed, off their hinges, and even had the one door open to the manure pile. Thank goodness they didn't run out! They are also working on trying to pry open the wall between them and Rocky. Aren't Curlies just a pain in the butt! But, that's typcial for Curlies, smart, curious, and heaven help you if they are bored! We now have our results from our website statistics for 2006! Are you curious how many visitors we had? Well, here you go! Totals for the year 2006: Not bad! We have distressing news, our trainer is seriously ill and in hospital. We would like to ask everyone to say a prayer for him and his family. Karen will be updating pages all day. She will update the Happy Horses page, which is missing some very happy horses, will update Clooney's page (his color is wrong! Thanks to Jazz we know his coloring better), and will be working on updating the Our Herd page which has old data and needs to be corrected. We may have some new announcements for you soon. Also, we wanted to mention the visit we had from the Schoppers! Angelika came to visit the horses and make an allergy test. She spent the afternoon with the horses and told us afterwards that she had no reactions! We are very excited for Angelika, congrats! She will be returning to do a brushing test, brushing our Curlies and going for a ride! We are looking forward to it. 22.01.07 The Storm It started two days before, when the weather report began warning us of severe winds heading our way. A massive storm, which they named, "Kyrill," was out in the northern Atlantic and it was heading toward Europe. It was heading southwards and eastwards at enormous speed. Because we are located on the Northern side of the Alps, which run east and west, when this storm hit the mountains, they would block the winds from going southward and instead funnel them, concentrating their speed, east. This would create an amplifying affect. And, so they warned us to get ready. Erwin was in Innsbruck, and had appointments, but was driving up to the farm midday on Thursday. The winds were due to hit full force at midnight. He called our friend Thomas to ask for help, who agreed right away. In the mean time, Karen spent the day moving things out of the barn, taking the heavy pallets out, and shovelling hay and straw rest out, clearing a place for the new box stalls. Erwin hit traffic jams, and Karen stood waiting hoping to see him soon. The mares were still outside, and the wind had begun. The stallions were in the regular box stalls. Until there was a place to put them the mares couldn't come in. At 4 p.m. Erwin arrived, and shortly thereafter came Thomas. At first, Karen had the idea to use cross-ties to put the stallions in the barn, and build box-stalls around them. So that the mares could come in. So, the stallions were cross-tied, and Karen ran to start getting the mares in. Rescue Me came in first, then Lark and Moon, as they were all in the upper shelter which was the most exposed to the wind and had the highest risk of taking damage. The cross-tying didn't work, as the stallions were worked up and kept working the cross-ties to try and get at one another. In the mean time, while Karen kept the stallions apart, Erwin and Thomas brought the rest of the mares in. Magic and Rain, and then Jo Jo and Jazz. All the mares, and Rocky were in the stall area! We'd never had so many in at once.In the mean time, it was decided impossible to build the boxes with the stallions in the way. Billy Jack was let loose in the inner garden of the farmhouse (it's like an atrium, with the house build on four sides all around, so he could just run free and eat grass in there. And, Clooney was temporarily brought to the upper shelter. As the winds began to build, everyone worked as fast as possible to finish to get him out of there. Thomas' neighbor, Mathias came too, and began helping. After about four hours, at just before 8 pm, the box-stalls were finished and the stallions rushed in. As Karen went out to get Clooney, the wind was so strong her coat was whipped about, and the plastic tarp on the shelter made a horrible noise. Clooney was worked up, and tried to run toward the barn, but listened to commands. With the horses in, Thomas sped home before the worst hit to watch over his family and home there. Mathias also left, and the horses were fed and watered, and Erwin and Karen went for shelter into the house. As the storm built, the wind roared and roared. In the night, there were noises but one couldn't see a thing to tell what was going on. In the morning, they announced that our area near Gmunden was the worst hit of Europe. With winds on the local mountain, Feuerkögl, measuring 207 k.m.h. before the measuring devise was destroyed. At first, we underestimated the damage, but as we looked more closely we saw that the upper shelter lost sections of the roof, and sharp torn boards from the roof lay about, even in the inner garden at the farmhouse. Sections of covering and heavy cement plates and been all thrown down into the paddock. The fencing at the lower shelter, where the mares were, lay down in sections. We realized that we were very lucky, that not more damage was done. Also, we were very glad to have brought the horses in, if the mares had been out and with the fence down, they would have ran away. And, if the stallions had been out, or any one of the horses in the upper shelter, or in the inner garden, they could have easily been injured severely by flying spiked splintered boards and broken glass, not to mention heavy materials dropped down on their heads in the upper shelter! So, we are happy to announce that all the horses are well, and we are working on repairs. Special thanks go to Thomas and Mathias for helping Erwin save our horses. 10.01.07 Happy New Year everyone! As usual, we had a very intense couple of weeks which includes several traditional days here in Austria. Now, everyone is settling down into their routines, that is until Carnival time starts in a couple of weeks time, but let's not get into that here! We are very excited to say that we heard from Evelin! Evelin is a very special person for us, she is our first customer and visitor, and lives in the Salzburg area. She came to visit us back in 2003, and although the horses we had on the ranch didn't work for her, we were able to find a horse that did! It wasn't just any horse, but the half-brother of our own *RR Rescue Me! He is now called Monty (his original name was *RR Wolly Bully!) and Evelin sent us a wonderful update. Over the years, we have been able to watch how she and Monty progress. She wrote to tell us that her horse allergies have all but deminished since owning Monty and that she can now go into the stalls with normal horses. She still reacts to dust when she brushes Monty, but all other allergies are now gone. She recently went to a friends to do some training, and you can see how great her hands are on the reins, and how Monty is collecting! Since owning Monty, Evelin has changed a great deal, and has grown with her horse. We are very proud to have been a part of helping these two individuals find each other. Evelin was kind enough to send some images, and we want to share them here!
We received many emails and photos over the holidays from our friends and acquaintences. Karen is working on replying to them all, as we had some internet problems too which slowed us down. What this all says to us though, is that Curlies Austria, although a business, is also a family. This may sound cliché, however it is the truth. What we all have been through over the last four years has been both a wonder for us, and for our customers. We have had ups and downs that our friends and customers have shared with us, and together we can be proud of our accomplishments. Should we give you an example!? Well, we could mention the time Tanja and David came to visit, and Astrid too, but she had just left with Nando after a fabulous camping week at Webersdorf visiting *ZZ Diamond Rain, when Claudia (owner of Joe and Geenie) arrived with friends and children in tow, and Jo Jo foaled! Jo Jo's milk took a while to come in, and we were in desperate need of mare's milk. Tanja and David drove to Wels to get it, while Claudia and co. kept Karen in good spirits. Of course, the result was Jazz! How many stories are in each story!? We cannot say enough, how pleased we are to help each and every person that we placed a horse with, and to this date we have never had a complaint. We are very proud of the quality we are producing, and this is shown by all the new owners, and we are very pleased to have helped all the folks importing Curlies all over Europe from America and Canada! When we see Evelin, we see ourselves too, and how far she has come, and how much we can contribute. Thanks Evelin, and to everyone that has made Curlies Austria what it is. It's about time for Jazz to go to her new home! Time has gone so quickly, and it still seems like Fall, since we still have no snow, and the temperatures are so warm! The horses are already shedding, can it be Spring? No, we cannot believe it. Stay tuned for more news, we have even more fantastic things to tell you soon.
Rocky, or Poplar's Comanche Knight, is a black-brown snowcap blanket curly colt. The snowcap means he is homozygous for the white blanket and he should be able to give the blanket or at least appaloosa coloring to all his foals. Rocky will be bred to our mares Lark, Moon and Magic, and also any fillies that we chose to keep from our black stallion, *CCG Warrior Billy Jack. We are very excited about his addition. Rocky was bred by Joan Collins, an expert in the Curloosa.
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