Camarguesa

I love baroque style saddles. Here is another recent acquisition, a Camarguesa (by Zaldi). I've always fancied one of these, and recently the opportunity came up. So I grabbed it.

Doesn't it look nice on a Paso Fino ???

This is Rev (Reverende de United (Imp.USA), Paso Fino stallion standing at Narrawin Stud), modelling the saddle, just before we went out on a jolly jaunt. He reminds me of a knight's charger in this picture :-)

tiger eye

I had noticed that several of our Paso Fino horses have very interesting eyes. Distinctly amber or lighter.

Here is a picture of Zara (AuSome Zarzuela by Don Cristobal Mako out of La Tentacion Mako), taken by Yvonne in December 2010:

The next photo shows Guajira (AuSome Guajira by Don Cristobal Mako out of Guanatanamera de la Raza). She was with us to be started under saddle a few years ago, when Yvonne took this picture. Guajira is now in NZ.

We have couple of other mares with similar eyes. It has always struck me as unusual and interesting. By coincidence (I was flogging google for other information), I came across an article about "Tiger eye" on a NZ website. It describes how "A researcher in the US has received a grant to study the genetics of "tiger eye" in Paso Fino horses". Quite interesting.

It is mentioned that tiger eye has a recessive pattern of inheritance. I have too small a sample of horses to draw any useful conclusions in that respect, but my observations agree with this this. Zara's sire Cali had dark eyes, so did her dam. Her full sister also has normal eyes. Two halfs sister out of another mare, however, have the tiger eye, and you can also see it in their dam. Some eyes are not as obviously yellow, but rather more like a dark amber, but close up, it is still pretty distinct.

I will see if I can find more photos with interesting eyes.

RIP Jorge

It feels like the end of an era to me. I received the sad news over the weekend. My friend Jorge de Moya passed away.

His uncompromising search for excellence, his vast knowledge of the Paso Fino breed and thorough understanding of the mechanics of gaited horses became inspiration and guidance for me. We were both too stubborn and opinionated to agree on everything, but from spirited discussions came better understanding for me. I had the pleasure of working for Jorge and taking care of his OliVaylle horses for several years. We always remained friends even after our paths diverged. He was generous to a fault. He was in love with his horses and even when his riding years were over, he never lost his passion for them. Paso Finos were in his blood from his youth, being a native of Cuba. However, he was never breed blind, and was able to appreciate and admire a good horse of any breed or colour.

Many years ago, Jorge did some ground breaking research into the gaits of the Paso Fino, and produced a video called "What is my Gait?". Unfortunately, not many good copies of this remain. This video is the best I have seen to clear up some myths and misunderstandings about the four beat gait of Pasos (and other horses). It was the first time I heard the term "isochronal" in the context of gait. Yet, it perfectly describes the ideal we seek for in a gaited horse: an even-timed four beat gait. Neither lateral nor diagonal.

He was an accredited judge for Paso Finos and wrote several articles about the gaits. His particular passion were the Puerto Rican Paso Finos. I understand that he was instrumental in bringing Alicante to North America, and he, together with Betty Klein, bred Paso Fino horses with the famous "Mako" postfix for many years.

Jorge was the first person to bring Paso Finos to Australia. He bred horses under the "AuSome" prefix. Aside from Paso Finos, he had Peruvian Pasos, Andalusians and Australian Stockhorses. We were of a like mind when it came to mixing the blood of some of these breeds to produce superior gaited riding horses, and both OliVaylle and Narrawin went down that road.

Sadly, when Jorge became ill, the horses had to be sold. I was able to help place many of them. I also acquired some of his Paso Fino and Paso Creole horses, which are now integral part of our stud.

The last time I saw Jorge, we picked up a float full of his best horses. He was happy to see them go home with me, but I could see it was breaking his heart.


Rest in peace, Jorge.

I will promise I will keep taking Chewie out for rides while he's fit and well. While I can no longer tell you the funny stories about Chewie's adventures, I will certainly be thinking of you.

 

A picture from happy times gone by.. Chris on RN's Carinita and Kim on Bachue Bravo

Due to ill health, a friend has to disperse his whole herd of horses. There are Paso Finos, Paso Peruanos, Paso Creoles, Spanish horses and some Australian Stockhorses on the list.

Prices have been dropped, as it is urgent that the horses are sold. Check out the listing here:

http://www.aeon-systems.net/ausome/index.html

There are a lot of beautiful horses there, many are well gaited. They represent many years of dedicated effort and are from outstanding bloodlines, whatever the breed. This is a unique opportunity to pick up some really good horses at total bargain prices.

Please. Look. NOW.

... not quite the horse whisperer

Paso Fino mare Esperanza. Having "a moment"...


Haha, I'll never qualify as horse whisperer. I go for functional horse handling. No frills stuff, for when a job needs to get done. I'll ask politely, sometimes several times. I engage and retain my sense of humour ;-) Around horses, a sense of humour is essential!

Riding Chewie

As I mentioned on my Narrawin blog, one of our new additions is Chewie, a 20 year old Paso Fino gelding. His proper registered name is Bachue Bravo and he originally hails from Florida, where he was shown in his younger days.

Chewie has lived at OliVaylle, in Victoria's far west. In 2000, he and a bunch of other Paso Finos came to Oz. When I worked at the farm, I used to take Chewie out riding. He was always a bit of a handful. The sort of horse you give to the visitor who brags about his riding skills (hehe, not for long...). But he could go all day, had endless gait, carried himself beautifully and was super-feather-light in the bridle. A horseman's horse, quirks and all.

Anyway, cutting a long story short, my friend Jorge is retiring and all his horses are going to have to go to new homes. I brought home a young stallion and will go back and bring a couple of mares, too. And Chewie, the white tornado, he came home with me as well.

We had grotty weather since coming home from the trip to the west, but last weekend, the clouds opened for a bit and I decided to see how Chewie was feeling. So here is the report of that first ride in oh, over four years:

I took out the white tornado today :-)

It was the first day of pleasant weather all week, and I'd been itching to grab Chewie and do a road test. So after harrowing a couple of paddocks and feeding up, I went and got him. He's quite friendly and walks up to me in the paddock, which is nice.

I tied him up the rail outside the shed. He looked at it as though it could turn into a snake any moment, and couldn't quite be convinced that the little puddle near it wasn't home to alligators. But he didn't pull back, although there was a fair bit of wriggling and at times he stood like a mountain goat, and with his eyeballs sticking out. Silly fool :-)

He looked at the saddleblankets with suspicion, and the saddle with disdain, and he bunched up and got all fidgety when I did the girth up. I did it up nice and slow, and he started breathing again. I walked him a few steps, but no explosion, so I tied him to the rail/snake again (with the alligators watching him!). Got the bridle out and decided to untie him to avoid problems. But he actually took the bit politely and voluntarily. Yeah, he fussed with it a bit, but didn't have issues. Got my hat and as I walked up to him he had that "oh-oh! I know what THAT means!" look on him.

I took him for a walk past the front of the house, past the stone lions and potplants (scary!), past Max and some haybales (NOT scary), then girthed him up again, asked if he was OK and got on. Surprisingly, although he had that glint in his eye, he stood still. Felt a bit like a stick of dynamite with a lit fuse as he walked off, but then sort of settled a bit. I was reminded just how light he is in the bridle :-) And then off we went.

He went really well. To begin with he was a bit cold and his step was very short and a bit choppy, but after a couple of minutes, he moved really well. The tracks around here are a bit sandy, so that's what he's used to.

And we motored along nicely. And because he's out of condition, I asked him several times to slow down and walk. And miracle of miracles, he did! Only for a minute maximum, before picking up speed again, but walk he did. On a loose rein, no less.

We did a round trip through the forest past Yvonne's place. She was just going out for a walk with her pup Nemo. I stopped and talked for a couple of minutes, and much to my surprise, Chewie was ok with that. He didn't even fidget. How's that??

Off we went again, past some heavy horses, two big grey part Percherons. Well, they had never seen a little grey horse move funny like that (though they have seen gaited horses, nothing that moves it's legs as fast as the grey tornado!!), and they got a bit stirred up. Chewie didn't dignify them with a more than a glance.

Down the road, coming home from the other direction, he was giving me hints that he wanted to go back, but must have realised we were heading in the right direction, as he suddenly picked up even more speed. Perfect gait. Sewing machine precision. Fantastic!

Then we came closer to my place, and Ramirez was moving about in the corner paddock. Suddenly, Chewie decided that something there looked awfully scary. Couldn't tell if it was Ramirez, the letterboxes on the corner, a treestump or the road signs. In any case, we had a Chewie moment: stop, turnabout, head off at high speed. Whoa! I had to correct direction and speed a couple more times, and then he figured all was ok and started hiking along again. All the while, I was laughing my head off, and calling him a silly old fool ;-)

But we did again manage to walk for a bit, in fact the rest of the way along the driveway. But not quite up to the scary tie up rail or the alligators in the puddle. So we compromised and stood a couple of metres away from it while I dismounted. The rail wasn't so scary after that, and he had no issues waiting while I brushed his (rather sweaty) coat, and then got his feed ready.

So there you go. First ride on Chewie in ages. Sadly, no photographic evidence. But we'll take some footage next time I take him out. All in all, I had the impression he actually enjoyed himself mostly. He was alert, forward, moving freely. Not fruit loopy at all. I really enjoyed the ride.

It's not often that I just go for a fun ride, mostly it's to work young horses. So this was like a special treat, especially as the weather was almost spring like. If he doesn't happen to have a "moment", he is a proud horse with capacity for many miles. He really carries himself well. He looks very different under saddle, compared to standing around in the paddock. Anyway, I'll forgive him a lot of "moments" for all the good sides he has. He's a fantastic horse, a bit like a highly tuned race-car with a a few quirks. And therein lies the fun. But I think I won't volunteer him for others to ride ;-)