Bluewater Rangerbreds

The Appaloosa Horse and it's registry problems

2012-01-30T10:14:00.001-07:00

Seriously for those of you who don't have Appaloosas, you might not want to bother reading this. I love my Appaloosas but honestly I'm totally sick of the main registry for Appaloosas. Over the past few years I'm sure some of you have seen my posts about different issues that have come up.
Things like giving a registration status to a foal who's sire was a registered paint in Violation of the Breeding rule "No paint or pinto breeding" and the issue of allowing a person suspended from two other associations for abuse become an ApHC member and ride in the the World show. Those may seem like some pretty major issues but both were just swept under the rug. Now they have one more seriously major issue that also violates their own bylaws. Last fall, The ApHC held an election for the Board of Directors. The election process was completely ILLEGAL yet complaints from membership were also ignored.
Some of the complaints include the following:
1. First of all the election was held 100% electronically in violation of the rules in the hand book that state each member must be MAILED a ballot. We were supposed to vote in the bylaw change with this vote, but as written, the bylaw still said a paper ballot must be mailed.
2. The election was supposed to be conducted and results compiled by a third party. The ApHC contends that the software program used to calculates the votes counts as a third party. All the Data and results were pulled out by members of the ApHC staff instead of being handed over from a third party company.
3. Individuals were supposed to be notified by e-mail and regular mail on how to vote. Problem is that some people didn't even get that information until AFTER the vote was closed.
4. The rules for the vote stated that the voting would end at midnight on October 20th. They also stated 12AM. Problem is they didn't specify WHICH midnight/ 12 AM. So what happened is that the ApHC closed the vote at 00:00 am on the morning of October 20th while a large number of people were trying to vote because they thought it was supposed to be midnight 24:00 at the end of the day on the 20th. The ApHC refused to disclose which "midnight" they were referring to and they used ambiguous language that confused many of their own members.

http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/times.cfm
Is midnight the end of a day or the beginning of a day?
When someone refers to “midnight tonight” or “midnight last night” the reference of time is obvious. However, if a date/time is referred to as “at midnight on Friday, October 20th” the intention could be either midnight the beginning of the day or midnight at the end of the day.
To avoid ambiguity, specification of an event as occurring on a particular day at 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m. is a good idea, especially legal documents such as contracts and insurance policies. Another option would be to use 24-hour clock, using the designation of 0000 to refer to midnight at the beginning of a given day (or date) and 2400 to designate the end of a given day (or date).

One interesting thing to note is that the ApHC had more than 15,000 total members at the time of the vote. The total votes cast were less than 1000 in number. The most sickening thing of all is that some of the members actually think that the vote is legal and that anyone who didn't vote was at fault. Individuals couldn't vote because they didn't get the information through no fault of their own. Individuals couldn't vote because the ApHC didn't appropriate disclose what time the vote was supposed to close.

I decided to not renew my membership with the ApHC over this because I cannot support a club who is so unethical that they can't follow their own bylaws.

Catching up

2012-01-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Finally it was nice enough to saddle up a horse and go for a ride. The ground is still a bit slick and we still have snow and ice in some places. We had to take the ride slow because of the conditions, but Dream did good. We rode 4 miles and practiced a bunch of obstacles including a walk over the tarp and the bridge, the pin wheel, open gates and we even literally went and picked up the mail. We are getting ready for more ACTHA rides this year. There are two planned for February, two planned in March, two planned in April and a single day ride in June so far. Dream is currently the only Appaloosa in the state that is in the top 10 horses and I hope to keep her in the top 10 for the ride year.

Topper is fighting off hoof abcesses in both front feet. She's been in the 'sick' pen for almost a month now. She's getting better slowly and soon she'll be back in the main pasture with the rest of them.

Ladybug and Booger Butt are doing fine. I'm thinking of taking BB on some of the up coming ACTHA rides to get him used to being tied to the horse trailer and get him around other horses. I've also decided that maybe I'll be selling Booger Butt. He's such a cute guy, but if I'm going to be breeding Appaloosas, I can't keep all of them. I want to breed Topper this year for a foal in 2013. I can't keep all of them and Booger is doing well in his training. He's ready for someone to take him to a higher level of training.

Snow Day

2011-12-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

It looks like this at the house.

And it's still coming down.

Jazzy is to lazy to get out of bed while Buddy has been out running around in the snow.

Catastrophy is attempting to confiscate my crochet.

That's my snow day!

Stolen Horse Trailer

2011-11-25T16:21:00.004-07:00

One of my friends had her horse trailer stolen from her boarding stable in Gallup, NM recently. Amazingly her horse trailer was specifically the target because multiple other horse trailers right beside this one were all left alone AND hers was the only one with a hitch lock on it. They took her trailer with the hitch lock and all.  The trailer was taken over night between November 11th and 12th.  

2- HORSE WHITE CM ODYSSEY ALUMINUM BUMPER- PULL

VIN #49THB112421058097

REWARD

CONTACT JACKIE AT 505-870-4671 Or Gallup Crimestoppers (505) 722-6161

Things I've learned from my garden

2011-09-05T18:31:00.000-06:00

Okra flowers are AWESOME!

July ACTHA Ride

2011-07-19T19:44:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday I took Baby Girl to her second ever ACTHA Competition. She did really well for her limited training and competitions. There were 64 total entries in my division, 2 riders either didn't show or didn't complete any obstacles. Three riders were disqualified for what ever reason so that left a total of 59 competitors earning points. Baby Girl completed all the obstacles but still finished 21st out of 59.

Our first obstacle was this huge white bridge and then we were to walk between two wooden long horn cows. Baby girl just wasn't sure about the white bridge. She hesitated a few times before she waked across the bridge, but she never really even looked at the wooden cows on the other side.

The second obstacle we needed to dismount, pick up a big white stuffed toy. Place it on the horse and remount the horse and then ride over to the assistant and give them back the big stuffed gorilla. Baby Girl did well on this one and didn't hesitate or spook.

The third obstacle was the vine simulator. They used a long white shower curtain that had the little magnets at the bottom of the curtain. It was a bit windy when we got there and baby girl was a bit spooked at the "vines", but she eventually went through both times within the time limit set for the obstacle.

We then rode over to the Slicker and hat pick up obstacle. This one we had practiced many times at home, but baby girl spooked a bit when I went to take the slicker off the tree limb. She settled well though and then we picked up the old hat with a stick and finished all in good time.

After that we had a log drag. We also practiced this one regularly at home, and things worked out well until I tried to get the rope hung back up at the end. I missed the branch and had to drop the rope, but we still scored pretty well.

The next one we had never actually practiced before, but it turned out to be our best obstacle of the day. It was the Rope gate. We had to ride up to the gate, open it walk the horse through and calmly drop the rope and continue on. We got perfect scores on this one even though it was the one I was most concerned about in the beginning.

The last obstacle was a trot weave through cones. They had two silhouette cowboys at the start and one at the end of the cones we had to trot through the opening between the two, trot the cones and around the single one at the end and then back through the cones and the two cowboys. They set this obstacle up on a hard packed pea gravel road right next to a large open softer dirt area. Never figured out why they would set it up on the pea gravel when there was more softer dirt area beside it. Baby Girl wasn't to keen on trotting the gravel so we broke gait and didn't gain good scores on it.

Overall I'm quite proud of my Baby Girl. She did well for her second competition. We do need more work, but that only comes with more time.

Then on Sunday we attended a training clinic for another 4 hours and I got tips on working with her and practicing obstacles as we went along. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for the next ride!

Busy times here on the farm

2011-07-11T21:50:00.000-06:00

Up until this past weekend we had not had any rain so my garden was looking pretty sad. I've been busy watering almost every day because the wind would blow and dry out the ground faster then the water could soak in. Now that the rains have started, I'm not needing to water every day. I've also been harvesting a few things here and there. We finally had some fresh lettuce for salads, the dill is ready to pick and dehydrate the leaves for dill weed. We had cooked Kale for dinner tonight. But the biggest thing is we finally got our first ripe tomato. Only one so far and it was a cherry tomato, but at least we did get a tomato. The rest of the garden is just barely getting going. Even the Rhubarb has been lagging due to the hot dry conditions. You know it's bad in the garden when even the weeds aren't growing well.

I've also got duck, geese and chicken hens all setting on nests. I've had one crop of young chicks and ducks that are at least two months old now and I've also got a new set of one gosling, three ducklings, and 4 Turkey chicks. The hens on nests have nearly 30 eggs between all the nests. The vast majority are all duck eggs, but one hen has her own set of about 8 chicken eggs and there is at least one goose egg in the bunch. I'll have to wait and see what all hatches, but if I do get over-run with ducklings, I think we will have duck for Thanksgiving Dinner. I'll also have to wait and see if I have any turkey hens in the batch of turkey chicks. I'm hoping for hens because I already have two Toms. If I get more Tom's then I guess it will be Turkey for Christmas dinner.

The horses are all doing well. I hauled Baby Boy and Dream Girl over to the vet for some wolf teeth removal last week. Then I'm off to an ACTHA ride this weekend, but Keith had some work stuff to do so he couldn't go. I got a new saddle for Dream because of her wide shoulders, but I haven't had a lot of chance to use it because I've been busy in the garden. Now with the heavy rains and thunder and lightning each night when I get home, I'm also not getting much riding done. Pretty soon though I need to get Baby boy started on the trails. Until then I'll be in the house crocheting or reading books on my new birthday present.

The Experiment

2011-06-08T21:27:00.001-06:00

Poor Baby Girl doesn't have much of a tail because of her Appaloosa genetics. I was wondering how I would be able to help keep her fly free this summer because there isn't much that I can tie into her tail that won't fall out.

Here is an example of how short her tail really is.

I've already tried tail bags with fringe, but she doesn't have enough hair BELOW the tail bone or enough hair to braid to help keep the tail bags in place. So I needed to try something different. Then it happened, recently I was searching stuff on the internet and I found this website called Colorful Manes and Tails. They have synthetic hair extensions for fun shows, parades, and just dolling up your horse. But I got to thinking that these little extensions might help Baby Girl, So I sent off a request for more information about the product. The people were so friendly there that not only did I get more information, I got a sample to test out on Baby Girl.

Here is the "hair extension" as you can see it's not very big, but originally these were intended for fun decoration not for semi permanent tail extensions.

However they easily clip into the hair and pretty much hide at the clip when put in.

It's not much, but it did extend her tail just a bit. If it holds for a few days and not fall out right away, I'm going to order a few more and try them in several different spots on her tail.

And you can also put them in your horses mane. Here is a shot of her short mane and that one long streak of black is the extension.

I'll post an update on how these things work in a few days.

Welcome to the Top O the World

2011-05-19T22:01:00.001-06:00

Here is what happens in the middle of May when you choose to live on the Continental Divide.

Sunday ACTHA

2011-04-14T22:57:00.001-06:00

Sunday's ACTHA competition was a bit better than Saturday as far as the wind goes, but it was WAY colder. Sunday I had on a t-shirt, a long sleeve cotton shirt, a wool vest and my lined canvas duster and I was still cold.

Many people decided not to show up because of the wind or the cold, but I rode anyway.

Our first obstacle was a sidepass. Ladybug is still learning that one but she tried and even though it wasn't very good she did get a score on it.

The second obstacle was to open and walk through the gate. If you kept control of the gate, they suggested you would get a better score. Problem was the wind was so strong it pretty much ripped the gate out of your hand anyway. Here we are opening and coming through the gate. Thanks to Lisa from Lauging Orca Ranch for the photos.

The next obstacle was a walk up and back down an embankment. It was a short fairly steep rocky hill and a pretty easy obstacle for Ladybug. She scored well on it.

After that it was on to the Pinwheel. That is a 2x4 board laid across two barrels. you pick up one end of the board and keep the other end on the opposite barrel as you walk around the two barrels and then place the other end of the board back down on the barrel you got it off of. I still need to work on that one. I dropped the board again.

Then there was a jump trot up to a rail road tie and hop over. I don't think Ladybug actually jumped but she didn't hesitate and went over the tie instead of going around like some horses did. She scored pretty well on that one also.

The next obstacle was the bridge. I don't know if she stumbled a little or slipped off the bridge with one foot, but she came off one side and I just rode back around and lined her back up and went back over it. There wasn't any hesitation and she wasn't spooked about anything so I'm not sure why she went off the side.

Our last obstacle was by far the best. They called it the mail carry. They had a small mailer box with a wire handle on it sitting on a barrel. Then an L shaped obstacle and a second barrel. you were supposed to walk up and pick up the box from the first barrel ride through the L and place the box on the second barrel. We scored perfect 10's with a plus each.

Ladybug was again the only appaloosa spotted horse at the event. Everyone is starting to recognize her now since she's been to 8 local events and she's pretty hard to miss. Keith didn't get to ride this time because he had to go to a work related convention in Nevada. Maybe at one or more of the rides in June, I'll be able to take both Keith and one of the other Appaloosas.

And for those interested my new horse trailer is quite comfortable for sleeping in. We haven't fully insulated it and I didn't have the heater hooked up to the electric but I didn't notice the freezing temps Saturday night into Sunday morning. Ladybug's water in her tub froze over night, but the extra water inside the trailer never did. The only thing is that I didn't completely follow up on my check list and ended up leaving a few things behind. I'm working on stocking up the trailer before the next ride. Can't wait!

Saturday ACTHA Ride

2011-04-11T22:59:00.000-06:00

Well I decided to brave the weather and take Ladybug on her first competition of the new year. I swear sometimes I think I must be crazy and this was one of those days. Even with the predicted high winds, I decided to ride sidesaddle in a dress. Yea buddy let me tell you, riding six miles in 30 mph winds sidesaddle in a dress sure tests you and the mentality of your horse. Ladybug did totally AWESOME especially considering the overall conditions of the ride. We did miss a few obstacles but that was mostly because I had not practiced reaching down from the sidesaddle much before.

Our first obstacle was a trot over unevenly placed logs. Ladybug did fairly well at that but she didn't go straight and missed a few of the logs. Part of that I'm sure was because of me leaning the wrong way due to the winds and pushing her off balance.

The second obstacle was the curtain. The curtain is basically a tarp or banner cut into strips hanging from a roper over your head. This is one of those spooky obstacles even on a good day. Ladybug has already seen this one, but the winds had the strips blowing flat out above our heads. After a small hesitation Ladybug went right on under and spooked slightly at the end when the wind slacked for just a second and then picked up again so the strips popped out straight again. She jumped a little at the noise, but settled soon after.

The next obstacle as seen below is the drag the two stall balls from post A to post B. We didn't finish that because I hadn't practices the correct way to lean over and pick things up from the side saddle. Thanks Christy for the advice on leaning forward, I'll remember that for the next time. So here we are attempting the ball drag. I'm sure if I had been in the western saddle, we would have completed it because we have been practicing. I just couldn't get a hold of the rope.

And here we are at the end of that obstacle on our way out on the trail again. Thanks to Lisa from Laughing Orca Ranch for taking all these great photos.

The next obstacle was the turn on the forehand. we had not practiced that much with me giving cues from the sidesaddle so we didn't do so great on that, but the more time I spend in the sidesaddle I'm sure we will get that cue down pat.

After the turn on the forehand we came down to a trot weave through some cones. Ladybug did great again, but missed one of the cones. Again I think that one was my fault for being off balance in the wind.

The next to last obstacle was a slicker tied up with a boot hanging off each end. You were supposed to pick up the slicker off the first barrel and place it across the horses neck with one boot on either side and ride to the second barrel and place the slicker back down on the barrel. I skipped that one because I didn't feel comfortable with the reach down from the sidesaddle. We have practiced the slicker quite a bit before and Ladybug walked right on past without a problem so its one of those things that I need to practice more from the sidesaddle.

The last obstacle was supposed to be a tarp tunnel, but they couldn't keep the tarp from flying away so they improvised and created a walk across the tarp between the uprights with the flags blowing. Ladybug didn't even hesitate. We started walking back where the judge said to and just kept on going. She didn't even look like any thing here was spooky.

Here is one of my riding buddies for the day and I posing at the end of the last obstacle before we headed back to the trailers for the end of the ride.

So here is the end of our first day of riding in the Gone with the Wind CTC at Walkin N Circles Equine Rescue Ranch.

Goodbye

Spring!!!!

2011-03-19T22:07:00.000-06:00

Spring has sprung! Things are growing in the garden. None of it is stuff I've planted yet this year. It's all come up from last year.

Elderberry

The garlic I actually planted in the planter

The garlic that escaped getting dug up last year in the old spot.

The lettuce that reseeded it self from last year.

Keith's favorite chives also survived the winter.

Spearmint I think. It and the peppermint are running together. Not exactly sure which one is which yet.

The walking onions. Nothing short of a nuclear blast right on top of them seems to kill them.

Parsnips. Must have reseeded themselves from last year. I thought I dug all of them up??

Rhubarb!! So totally excited. All three plants made it through the winter.

Spinach totally suprised on this one as the entire plants wintered over in temps as low as -20 plus degrees.

Swiss Chard plants also survived the winter. Not as suprised on this one as they are pretty cold hardy.

And finally I've been busy building raised garden beds from recycled lumber that we didn't use up when we replaced the front porch. So here are my raised beds that I'm getting ready to plant other stuff in soon. I've got three of them this is just the two I already got settled in and partially filled.

I'm so looking forward to gardening season!

My new home away from home!

2011-03-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well my new horse trailer arrived last weekend and we got around to starting to stock it up and getting it ready for spring and summer competitions. I've got a whole new list of things to get over time to make it even better. The biggest thing on the list will be a newer truck to pull it with.

Here you see the back end where the black panels are actually removable plexi-glass. Removal in the summer allow for more airflow over the open stock type bars underneath.

And on this side we have the drop down feeder door with windows for the horses.

And the inside of the horse area

And the inside of the 'camping/living"area from the corner where we are going to put in an upright corner water storage tank. ( another wish list item)

And the view from the sleeping area where we want to put in a 2 or 3 inch memory foam covering the entire area. (another wish list item). The horse trailer I've been borrowing has a mattress stuffed up in this area and if you roll off the side of the mattress you get stuck. so we figured that completely filling the space with a memory foam pad would make it more comfortable.

And finally the Biggest selling point of all, a relatively new rarely used Heater/ air conditioner combo. That alone really got Keith interested in the whole trailer. Now we have to find a small generator to operate it when we are out camping. (one more wish list item).

The trailer was an awesome deal and I'm so glad I had a friend who thought enough of me to save it specially for me! I can't wait to start taking it out on the trails and having fun with Keith and the horses! It will make it's debut appearance at the April ACTHA rides hosted by Walkin N Circles Ranch. So if you don't recognize me because of the new trailer, you should be able to recognize me by the horse tied to it.

She's a little hard to miss don't you think? See ya all out on the trails!

Can the ApHC survive?

2011-03-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Based on the American Livestock Breed Conservancy website they list the "Parameters of Livestock Breeds on the ALBC Conservation Priority List" that includes the following:

The breed census satisfies numerical guidelines:

    * Critical: Fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.
    * Threatened: Fewer than 1,000 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 5,000.
    * Watch: Fewer than 2,500 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 10,000. Also included are breeds that present genetic or numerical concerns or have a limited geographic distribution.
    * Recovering: Breeds that were once listed in another category and have exceeded Watch category numbers but are still in need of monitoring.
    * Study: Breeds that are of genetic interest but either lack definition or lack genetic or historical documentation.

As of right now ApHC has been registering around 3500 horses per year. A 1000 horse drop in registrations just might put the Appaloosa horse on the watch list. Some members of the ApHC have developed a plan that would bring in more members and more registrations to a "half" or "color" section of the ApHC. Unfortunately several members are in opposition to this new portion of the registry because it would allow horses of unknown breeding with Appaloosa pattering to be registered. The new section would be run in a manner similar to the Pinto registry in that any horse of Appaloosa patterning would be eligible to be registered. This new section would bring in new members and new registrations and just might save the ApHC from the steep decline it's been in the past several years. The strangest thing is that the vast majority of individuals opposed to opening up a "color" or part bred registry of any kind within the ApHC are the same ones who actually approved of the registration of a colt who had a Paint registered sire.

The ApHC is losing ground fast and some of it's own members refuse allow it to go forward and gain some of it's former popularity back. If you are one of the few members of the ApHC left, you need to get in contact with your BOD member and let them know how you feel.

Testing

2011-02-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys I'm testing out a new lay out and design. I've been told my old one loads really slow and people seem to be having problems getting the blog to load. So please leave me some comments here on how this design loads for you. Thanks.

Welcome to the Quarterpintaloosa Horse club

2011-02-08T22:16:00.001-07:00

ApHC wants to allow dual registered Paint and AQHA horses for breeding to Appaloosas. Yet a Paint breeder is intent on creating a significant number of dual registered horses. The ApHC Registrar, who just happens to own breed and raise Paints, has recently decided that a dual registered Paint/Quarter horse, that happens to hold not one, not even two, but three PAINT reserve world championships, is NOT a Paint by bloodlines. Here we have below is a Paint breeder intent on breeding dual registered Paint/Quarter Horses. ApHC will currently allow those dual registered horses to be used as acceptable crossbreeds for the Appaloosa horse. Yet here we see a Paint breeder discussing how those minimally marked bloodlines are what he's using to create colored Paint/Quarter horses.

How can AQHA papers mean Quarter horse breeding, yet somehow that set of Paint papers doesn't mean the horse has Paint breeding? According to the ApHC registrar, Seriously Secure a three Time Paint champion isn't really a Paint just because he's got a set of Quarter Horse papers.

http://www.higbeefarm.com/gq.html

A Paint Horse breeding program can now be engineered-using a double registered stallion and a single-or double-registered Quarter Horse mares- to potentially produce 100 percent registered Quarter Horses. With the right set of double registered mares and/or single registered Quarter Horse mares with overo markers, that same program has the potential to produce 90 percent double-registered horses."

“And the Paint Horse breeder has now been given the opportunity to build a breeding program that’s totally free of Breeding-Stock horses, and with the potential of appealing to a 300 percent larger sales market”, Reisinger says. What would you do?”

Some one please tell me how any of this can be "GOOD" for the Appaloosa horse.

Memories and Dreams

2011-02-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the day. It's been four full years since I last saw him. I'm not quite so depressed as the last three years and I suppose in time it will get better. Even though I really miss my best buddy, I've got things to look forward to this year. The Dream that morphed into reality is out in my pasture waiting for me now. I've got plans for riding and hopefully showing and competing this year.

Sometimes when one dream dies another begins.

Blog Give away

2011-02-01T19:01:00.002-07:00

One of my favorite Blogs Adventures in Self Reliance moved to a new page and had a name change. It is now Food Storage and Survival. And to celebrate the move, They are hosting a giveaway as well. If you are interested in all the neat stuff Like some of those really cool Tatler Plastic Reusable canning lids then check out this link and see what they have to offer.

Operation horse trailer in progress

2011-01-25T21:15:00.005-07:00

One of my New years goals was to replace my 2 horse Bumper pull horse trailer with a gooseneck that has a dressing or living quarters in the front. Well I have found a nice gooseneck that is suitable as the replacement.

It has a nice dressing area and that white box on the top is the AC/Heater unit that can be run from a generator or an electric extension cord. The plexiglass in the horse area is removable for times when you need better air flow.

So I have my old trailer for sale. It's a 1988 Hale and is an open sided stock type trailer not fully enclosed. Floor has been replaced and is in good shape. I also have a 1/4 inch thick floor mat for it. Totally rewired with new lights and light covers. Also wired for light in the interior if you have one of those night blind appaloosas that needs a little help in the dark. Totally repainted but does have some minor body damage that won't affect anything. It does NOT have a center divider and it has a stock horse back door. I normally use it to haul only one horse or a mare and foal at a time. I don't normally pull two adults in there unless they are small. Title is clean and it has permanent NM plates so once you transfer the title (in NM) you won't have to pay to re register it again. The title says it was silver or gray, but it really was mostly pealed paint and surface rust so we sanded and repainted it hunter green and black with a white interior and white roof. We also replaced the little plexi glass windows as well.

It has a lot of DOT approved reflective stickers and can be seen from all 4 sides in the dark when you shine a light on it. I'll be posting photos later today. But If you are interested it is located in Thoreau, NM and I'm asking $2000 slighly negotiable.

I'd be willing to haul it to locations within about 150-200 mile radius so that includes locations like NE AZ, SW Colorado, or SE Utah If you know anyone in those areas.

Updates on ApHC Ruling

2011-01-24T10:38:00.001-07:00

Last year I posted this message about certain rules violations for registering a colt who was sired by a Paint registered stallion. The ApHC decided that the stallions Paint papers and Paint background essentially don't exist. For the moment, the protest filed regarding this colt has been denied.

The ApHC published a Notice of Decision that basically states that there is " No persuasive evidence that the horse in question has Paint breeding".

The Issue at hand is the VIOLATION of THIS Rule:

205 C. No horse shall be registered with the ApHC that has draft, pony, Pinto, or Paint breeding.  

Well here is MY evidence of Paint breeding.

1. The stallion in question Seriously Secure, was born in 2002 and at the time of his birth he was NOT eligible to be registered as a quarter horse because his dam Powerful Elegance who was born in 1994 had to much excessive white on her belly. Additionally she also produced 9 foals with excessive white. The stallions' sire also had to much excessive white the the AQHA and was registered as a Paint.  The ONLY reason this stallion got AQHA papers was because the AQHA changed their ruling on excessive white.

2. This stallion was registered with REGULAR paint papers not breeding  stock papers. And he's been shown as a Paint and earned three Paint Reserve Championships. 

3. This stallion has produced Paint marked foals.

Just wondering how these facts are not "persuasive evidence of paint breeding"?

Additionally I have several other problems with the way this protest was handled. 

1. The registrar who originally accepted the Colt in question for registration owns and breeds Paint horses and she is also responsible for making the decision on the registration protest filed against the horse in question.

2.  According to internet chat and scuttlebutt, the colts owners were told by ApHC office staff to ONLY submit a copy of the AQHA registration papers for the sire when they sent in the registration papers for the the colt in question. Basically it appears that ApHC staff don't care if a horse is dual registered.

So according to this, A registrar who breeds and raises Paints certainly should be somewhat familiar with Paint bloodlines and breeding. Having a registration for an Appaloosa that contained Paint breeding within the pedigree should have raised a red flag when the registration was first sent in on the colt. 

Second, The individual who made the decision to allow the registration to be processed in the first place should NOT be the same individual who evaluates and reviews the decision if a protest is filed. A judge is not allowed to preside over a case where he might be either the plaintiff or the defendant, so how can a registrar evaluated and review their on decisions? 

Finally the last problem I see is that although the ApHC has a limit on non appaloosa white markings on foals from Appaloosa to approved cross breed horses, the do NOT have any limit on excessive non appaloosa white markings from Appaloosa to Appaloosa registered horses. So by continuing to allow horses who have the genetics to produce Paint/pinto markings is not going to help the breed. A pinto marked Appaloosa has already been shown in ApHC shows, and several others have been registered. Without limiting pinto markings in ApHC bred horses we will soon have more pinto marked horses showing up in the breed. 

A breed STOPS being a breed when you can no longer identify multiple  individual horses as belonging to that breed. That means either by bloodlines or by what ever characteristics they have. The ApHC is  basically the perfect example. You now have a solid non characteristic  horse crowned as the National champion weanling halter colt sired by a  stallion who was not even eligible to sire ApHC registered foals until  after the 2004 AQHA rule change. The Colt now represents the Appaloosa  breed but no one can recognize that he's even an appaloosa. On the other  hand I've got a very nice loud leopard mare sire by an ApHC stallion  out of a mare sired by an ApHC stallion who cannot get registered  because that mares dam was not registered or identified with the ApHC  back in the 60's. People don't understand why my obviously appaloosa  looking mare can't be an Appaloosa when that solid non marked colt can.   The ApHC as a "breed" registry is dead because you can't tell what  horses belong and what horses don't. ApHC is nothing more than a blood  line registry with no breed standards and no breed identity. 

Ouch!

2011-01-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

About a week ago now I went out to feed and saw Poor Ladybug with her eye almost swollen shut and excessively draining.  She managed somehow during the day to either bump her eye or get something in it that scratched her cornea. 

In horses there are certain injuries that I'll easily treat without getting a veterinary opinion. Eye injuries are NOT one of those things. I do keep antibiotic eye ointment on hand all the time for those cases when something happens and I'm not able to get in to see a vet right away such as on a weekend when the vet is out of town, but I ALWAYS have the vet look at eye injuries as soon as they possibly can.  

This is what it looked like just before I loaded her up in the horse trailer to take her to the vet. 

We had to flush her eye and stained it with the fluorescein stain to see exactly where the problem was located at. She had a small corneal ulcer up there in that bluish area of her eye. We caught it really early so it has been healing quite well. We are still putting in an antibiotic eye ointment but after just one week you can't even really tell that there was a problem. Her eye now looks like this. 

The blue color is gone, the weeping eye is gone and she's feeling much better. I think one more week of the antibiotic eye ointment and we should be good. Since we were already at the vet, I had him go a head and pull the new coggins test for 2011 so now Ladybug is good to go hauling around to all the competitions I want to go to all year long.

New Years Goals

2011-01-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well the new year has rolled around and it's time to set some goals. I have goals for the horses and goals for the house this year. The following goals are for the horses. There are quite a few so I think the house and garden goals will take another post.

I would like to enter many more competitions, but we have a few obstacles to overcome first.

1. My poor old truck either needs a complete overhaul of both the engine and transmission or else we need a newer, better truck to haul the horses to the competitions. So the first goal of the year is to make one of those two happen.

2. Currently I'm borrowing a friends horse trailer to attend all my competitions. I've got a smaller two horse bumper pull trailer without a center divider that works well when you have to only haul one horse somewhere, but it doesn't have a dressing/camping area and you can really only haul one horse in it. So my second goal of the year is to get that trailer replaced. I can still use my friend's trailer so I still have that as a back up when I need it.

3. Open show points programs to track my horses points earned in competition is also another issue to look at. All but one of the horses are currently registered with the ApHC and are allowed to enter the ApHC ACCAP (open show points Program). All of the horses but one are also registered CRHA (Colorado Ranger Horse Association) and are eligible for CRHA open show points programs. The difference between the two programs is a matter of cost. ApHC has an initial fee and then once you reach 10 events/judges you have to pay additional fees for each event attended. If I want to increase the numbers of events I go to that means in the end I could end up paying double or triple the fees to the ApHC. CRHA has a flat fee that covers all events entered in a year. So I will have to decide which program is better for each horse at this time.

Once I get those three things figured out, I'll have to decide what events I want to attend and how many of each I can go to.

I will continue to compete in ACTHA competitive trail competitions through out our area as they become available. Ladybug and Baby Girl already have some experience and can only get better as we work more on the obstacles.

In addition to the ACTHA competitions, I believe that Ladybug is ready for some tougher and longer competitions in the form of either AERC or NATRC distance competitions. We will start with some 25-35 mile rides at first. Baby Girl won't be ready for any of these competitions this year. She will turn 4 this year and will be eligible for the shorter distances based on her age, but she's not been ridden long enough distances yet to be in condition to try them. So she will get some of the conditioning rides with Ladybug, but won't go on to the competitions yet.

Keith also wants to get back into the Cowboy Mounted Shooting events now that he has his saddle to ride with. So we are looking at starting back with one of the sort of local clubs and attending practice matches at least once per month. Ladybug has already been trained to have shots fired from her back, but we don't have any of the other horses that far advanced yet. So a goal of getting horses used to gun fire from their back is also in place.

And I found the American Stock Horse Association with affiliates here in New Mexico. They are looking at hosting a few competitions here in NM this year and I'm interested in attending them.

In addition to all of the competitions goals, I'm also considering breeding on mare Topper this year for a 2012 foal. I'm trying to find her the right stallion and that has proven quite difficult with the criteria I have set. I have found one stallion within a driving distance that fits several of the criteria but not all. The remaining stallions would all have to use with shipped semen. The problem with using shipped semen is I would have to take Topper to a reproductive specialist more than 100 miles away for the insemination. So I'm looking at weather shipped semen or live cover is the way to go with Topper as a maiden mare. The local stallion is one I know about since he's the sire of my other colt Bright Snow Eagle. The remaining stallions have only been evaluated based on photos, pedigrees and competition records. I have until about mid April to make my final decision because I'm not going to have a foal born here until late spring due to all the bad weather we have here.

I have quite a few competition goals for the horses and I hope we can attend a few of each type of event. It will all depend though on getting a good and reliable truck to get us to and from each competition.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well what a way to start 2011 It got down to minus 20 last night and even with the water running we have frozen a pipe somewhere. The cold water still runs, but the hot water isn't working. Sure good thing we haven't planned on going anywhere this morning. We spend the day trying to find the right pipe to unfreeze and as of right now still no luck. We at least have water just cold water so we can boil some up for warm water for baths and stuff. but I hope that pipe unfreezes soon. It did get above freezing here today, but the hot water tank and pipes are on the north side of the house so I'm sure it didn't get very warm over there.

The horses are doing well in spite of the cold weather. We have a water tank heater out there for warm water and they have plenty of hay to eat.

Meeting a Hero

2010-12-16T21:57:00.001-07:00

Keith got to meet a Hero today. Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura a Korean War Medal of Honor Recipient is selling personalized framed photos with replicas of his Medal of Honor as a fund raiser for a scholarship program. Lasting Gifts from a Hero is the title of the full story and can be found at the Gallup Journey website.

Keith's father and brother are associated with a VFW post in MA and their post donated money for this scholarship program. Keith also added some personal touches to one of the framed photo displays. Here are some photos of Keith's photo display and his meeting with Mr. Miyamura.

Winter ACTHA Ride

2010-12-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

Well this past weekend was our last ACTHA ride of 2010. Keith since he finally got his own saddle that fits him also decided to come along. We took Ladybug for Keith to ride and I took Baby Girl on her first ever competition. Ladybug now has quite a bit of experience with camping over night, being tied to the horse trailer over night and riding out with a lot of different other horses.  Keith also got in a few firsts since this was his first competition and his first time out to any of the events. 

Baby Girl however got all her major firsts all in one shot this past weekend. This was her first time to ever be tied to the horse trailer over night. We put her on the side closest to the dressing room door just in case something happened and we needed to get out to her fast. Well she stood perfectly all night long and she's now banned from being on that side. Her present to us for taking her along was to nicely deposit all her manure right in front of the dressing room door.  She is now banned from being on that side of the trailer. Ladybug is nicer about depositing presents away from the door. 

This was also her first ever experience being blanketed. It got quite cold overnight in the mid 20's and even with all the hay we fed she would have been cold standing tied to the trailer. The only time the blanket bothered her was the first time she had to lift her tail to relieve herself. 

Another first was that she had never been out on a trail ride with more than two other horses. She was not used to having horses behind her and horses in front of her. We spent the first couple of miles checking backwards and forwards. Once she got used to horses coming up behind her and passing her she was fine with everything. 

Her final first was that this is her first competition of any kind. I believe she did extremely well for a young green horse and all those first experiences to deal with.

The obstacles went like this.

1. Canter a large circle. I didn't make Baby girl do this one as she was still really nervous and as a young horse, we haven't really worked on cantering yet. I've only been working her training mainly in a walk and trot so we trotted the big circle. Keith and Ladybug also trotted I think mainly because Keith hasn't had much time to get used to riding Ladybug and just didn't feel ready to canter.

2. Jump a small log. For the pleasure division we had the option of trotting or cantering to the jump and then jumping. Baby Girl trotted up to the log, but got distracted by the judges. Once I got her attention focused, we ended up stepping over the log. She didn't jump and we also haven't practiced that one. Ladybug followed and she also kept looking at the judges before she stepped over the log. Most of the other horses in our group ended up going around the logs completely instead of going over them. 

3. The Gate. This was a big metal gate with a heavy chain that made lots of noise. Baby girl didn't mind the noise as much as Ladybug. Both the girls got through the gate, but Ladybug acted up more than Baby Girl. I think Ladybug was flexing some muscle to see how Keith would react. He did good and made her work like she should. 

4. The Log drag. Since we had been practicing this one both Ladybug and Baby Girl did really well on this one. There was no fussing at all. I hope we each get scored really well on this one.

5. Garland on the Christmas tree. This obstacle was quite a challenge for many horses. We were supposed to ride up to  a person holding a coiled strand of garland, pick up the Garland and ride over to a small tree and string the garland around the tree. Baby Girl did fairly well. She did get a bit goofy at the tree because she wanted to rub on something so she walked right into the tree. After she was done her rubbing we finished decorating the tree. She wasn't spooked by the garland though and that's a really good thing. Keith did well with Ladybug also except for one thing, she slowed down and got behind the garland and spooked a bit. Keith had to drop the garland and come back around and pick it up and continue. 

6. Side pass to Santa. We were to step across a log and side pass over to the Santa (real human) standing on top of a water tank. Baby girl did well but bumped a log. We are still working on her side pass so my cues were pretty obvious, but she did it and did it calmly. Ladybug is not good at sidepassing in the first place and Keith doesn't really know how to do the cues to try and make her either. But she wasn't scared of the Santa and walked right up to him for the candy cane. 

So that was the last ride of the year. Both Keith and I need to work on things but we had fun, and did well for all those first time experiences. Poor ole Beastie (the ugly blue truck) is really in trouble though. We had some major difficulty just getting up the 9 mile hill into Albuquerque. I don't think Beastie will make it much longer unless we prolong his life with a replacement engine and transmission. It's either that or buy a complete replacement truck which is currently out of the budget range. We will have to see what happens for the rest of the winter and decide soon what we want to do. If we want to keep competing, we will need to do something. 