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December 2008

Taking lessons is the best thing I could have done for myself. Paris is amazing.  The lessons give me order in my training.  I go home with homework and we get to see the progression.  I've also been riding Hollywood Cremella at home.  I had "started" her the previous 2 years after weaning her foals.  But I never really did much in the saddle.  Now we're getting serious.  It's fun to see her broodmare belly slowly disappear. 

November 2008

I've been taking lessons lately from a local trainer who herself is taking lessons from a NRHA trainer.  She's been competing this year in the Rookie Professional division at some NRHA shows and doing well.  She's had lots of experience with pleasure but she's really excited and enthusiastic about the reining.  I've been taking Lottie and, as she gets much heavier in foal, I'll take Paris, or the others. 

October 2008

Well, we went and we rode and were awful... well actually I was awful, Lottie's just trying to figure out what I want LOL.  Every day I ride her, it goes better... so there's hope.  She's a wonderful girl.

September 2008

Yay!  got "official" notification of Reinman+'s Legion of Honor!  This is my third.  Tokay being first with points in a couple different disciplines, but mostly reining. I owned and showed him to a little more than half his points.  Kala Kachina+'s was my second and all her points were in reining with me the rider for all her shows.  Reinman+ was bred by me, being Kala Kachina+'s first foal and all his points were in reining with me his only rider plus I did the bulk of the training on him...is that patting myself on the back?  oh well, I guess it is LOL!  I have to take them where I can get them at my age.

Halo got a bath today!  She's really looking good and I wanted to get a couple pictures before the winter hair popped.  Look what we got!

                                               Hollywood Halo (Hollywood White X SC Angels Star)  born April 15, 2007.

August 2008

Reinman and I went to an "amateur circuit" show (EAAHSC).  They don't have reining, but we've been practicing some for trail.  He won the beginner trail both days and placed 4th and 5th in the "regular" trail in large classes.... and I have never practiced jumping him over anything higher than 4 inches! Yeah!... and do you like how we coordinated our outfit to match the flowers!... LOL!

mid August... I got on Lottie!  Neat, neat, neat mare.  I've been free lunging her lately and leaving the baby in a small field about 30 feet from the arena.  So they've gotten used to this arrangement and baby quit running after a few times.   I got off after riding 20 minutes, or so, and called my riding instructor, Terry Ressler.  I said, she's way better than me, I think I need your help.  I don't want to mess up the training that's in there  LOL!!!!!

  August has started off with a bang.  Reinman+ (Desperado V X Kala Kachina+) won both East Coast Reining Championships (open and ATR).  He needed 10 1/2 more points to finish his Legion of Honor, so these 24 points are more than enough.

The 2 young boys were gelded.  I've never done them this young, but it seems to being going well.  Red was out the first day chasing Big Kenny at a walk... kinda funny.  (A week later, it's like nothing's happened... all but healed)

Lottie's confirmed in foal to Little Bo Badger for a May 2009 baby.  I just heard that her 4 year old son, Dancin On Diamonds (by Little Bo Badger) showed in his first serious reining to place 3rd out of 22. He's been doing the halter thing for a couple years, so now on to the next thing.

July 2008

                                    Practicing the bug eyed look for neighbor's fireworks tonight.. (oh goody)

June 2008

Mel's filly at 4 weeks:

     Adrienne showed Hollywood Lights (Hollywood White X Kala Kachina+) to wins in Auroa last week.  They won both reining classes with scores of 72 and 74.5, qualifying for Regionals and Nationals.  LB (from "Lightnin' Bug")  is owned by Barb Middleton and they're all in Alberta, Canada.  
 

              Filly pictures on May 31.  Lottie's is 30 days and Mel's is 9 days.  They're beginning to get acquainted, but not much.

May 2008

Good ole Mel did it again and surprised me with her foal being born 2 weeks earlier than expected in the pasture early May 22.  It's a nice grassy clean pasture and luckily she had it near a good fence so she couldn't roll under.  Mel's something.  John helped me get them in.  He ended up having to carry baby as she was just starting to walk and my efforts were wearing me out.  So once inside, we did the navel and discovered she hadn't nursed yet. Mel was too funny, as when baby would poke around the wrong area, she give her a nip and head her back to the right end.... did you catch that?  It is a filly.  But she's a dun, as grulla isn't possible with this color combo. She's showing the dorsal stripe and leg barring already.  Mel's sire (Hollywood White) carries the dun factor, so must have come from him.  She's very typey and I was trying to get a good head shot this morning but, really got nothing.  Here are a couple passable ones from 2 days of age.

                      She's by Darkhist (Klint Black++ X Windkhist), but looks like a Klint baby.

             Mid May, I had some "extra" time on my hands.  Check out the Saga in the Foal Pasture here

Lottie had her first filly late on May 1.  Here's a quick picture at about 4 days... I'll be back!!! fun fun fun

              and the boys: 

April, 2008

Name change????? We've made a big step in acquiring a top notch Quarter Horse mare, Uno Mas O Menos. AKA Lottie.  Many thanks to Marilyn and Gary Cottar of Cottars 2X4 QHs, Springtown, TX.  What a super nice mare.  Not only is she the sweetest most beautiful girl you'd ever want to meet, she's got the training, pedigree and production record I've been looking for for over a year.  She arrived mid March and is due to foal any day, now, towards the end of April with a full sibling to winning sons all over the world.  Please click on her name above and see pictures of some of her foals and sire.

February, 2008

I got the chance to go to Scottsdale with my friend, Julie Kitze, of Philadelphia.  She is way more experienced at travel than I, so it was neat to have her make all the arrangements and just follow along.  Her husband took us to the airport that's only 15 mins. from their house.  We had non stop flights out and back.  We stayed with friends of her husband about 6 miles from West World.  Very cool.  My big priority was seeing the half arab reining futurity on Thursday, as Lightnin' Bug was competing.  Officially known as Hollywood Lights (Hollywood White X Kala Kachina+).  He'd had a bad go on Tuesday, as Adrienne was caught off guard when there were a couple last minute scratches, and she had to go in the ring sooner than expected.  On Thursday, he upped his score by more than 10 points, but it wasn't enough to make the finals.  He ended up around the middle of the pack of about 33 entrants. Adrienne told me this is the first reiner she's trained basically from scratch.  I had started him under saddle, but she taught him the maneuvers.  She should be very proud of herself.  He's still a very happy and willing horse with no switchy tail or grumpy expression that you run into sometimes. His spins are very correct and much faster than mom. His circles and lead changes were spot on with really good speed changes. (his brother, Reinman, needs to watch those! LOL)  His stops were great, though not quite up to his normal standard at home.  I got to ride him on Sat.  I got a little frustrated with myself as it didn't go very smoothly.  The buttons are a bit different and my seat isn't what it was.  I've only ridden half a dozen times since my accident in Oct. Oh well.  Adrienne was very patient with me.  I got to meet and spend some time with Barb and Barry Middleton, his owners, as well as Adrienne's significant other, Chris.  All great people and a lot of fun.  See Adrienne's new website HERE!

                  LB and Adrienne warming up.               LB with Barry (holding hat box) and Chis afterwards.  It's good LB  grew upwards a good bit since he left, as Adrienne is 6'4" LOL. Someone (we won't name names) has taught LB what treats are and he thinks everyone is carrying some and it's just a matter of sucking up in the right way to coax them out of you.                

January, 2008

I just got notice that Kala Kachina+'s Legion of Honor is official!  She is the 2nd horse of mine who has completed this hard won award.  GT Tokay+ was my first.  She's the first who earned all her points with only me showing her.  Her oldest foal is Reinman and, should he complete his, he'll be the first one that I bred and earned with only me showing (10 1/2 more points).  She won all her points in reining.  Three East Coast Championships, one East Coast Reserve Championship, twice Regional Reserve Champion plus 3 tops fives at regionals and East Coast.  The remaining points would have been in class A shows.

Dec, 2007

Some sad news.  I just heard from Lee and Garvin Tankersley that they had to put down 2 of their old mares who are near and dear to my heart.

GT Maarsaala (Gamaar X GT Saale) 1981-2007

Maarsaala was the dam of 11 foals including my ole boy, GT Tokay+.  She's pictured above with Maarshal Dillon(now living in North Carolina), her last foal by Mara Reinmaker.  I borrowed her one year to breed to "Macon" and she grew me a heck of a colt... She was a very wise and sweet girl who knew how to get that extra attention.  That same year I bought Dancer's last foal and brought Dancer home for a couple months till we weaned baby. That foal was the filly GT Makin Music, also by Mara Reinmaker (Desperado V X Kala Kachina+).

Dancer's reg. name was Ima Dandy Reason 1987-2007, a QH mare.  She had 9 foals (in consecutive years!) including GT Rumba, by GT Tokay+.  Garvin bought Dancer for Tokay as she was such a big mare.  She had 3 with him.  GT Tango and Rumba were both WP champions, the 3rd foal died while in saddle training.  She had 2 QH's, both trained reiners, one has NRHA earnings of over $6600.  Then she had 3 foals by GT Gallatin, including GT Cat Walk who lives with me and GT Alley Cat who's owned, shown and loved by Sharon and Becky Oxenreider.  Cat Walk is 5, not a reiner, so hasn't been worked much, but I showed him in some walk trot as a 3 year old... and he's beautiful... repeating the white down his face and 4 white socks of his mother and Rumba.  Musi is here with me (4 year old).  I started her under saddle and she spent a month at the trainer's right after I broke my leg... and that prevented her from staying longer.  Again, she's not a reiner, but big and just beautiful.

When I returned Dancer and Maarsaala home 4 years ago, Dancer stood over Maarsaala protecting her from the rest of the herd and they've been friends ever since. I'm glad they were able to go over the rainbow bridge together.

October 2007:

I've just heard that Hollywood Cremella's oldest foal, Miss Mellie, (by the Arabian stallion, Cardsharp) won a 3 year old reining class in the Slide Out West reining show in Canada.  She's owned by Dusti Worbets and trained by Lynda Smith, both of British Columbia.  She was competing against mostly QHs.  Congratulations Dusti and Lynda!  And congratulations, Mel!  I believe that makes her a "producer" (as she frets about her latest production, since I finally separated them 2 pastures apart the other day)

August 2007:

So our big adventure is over.   Quentin is very close for us, so it's like playing at home.  I took Reinman and his mother, Kala Kachina, (home 2 1/2 weeks) to the Eastern Arabian Horse Show. I was hoping to qualify Kayla for the EC Championships and then possibly a Top 5, at least, to finish her Legion of Honor points.  Well she wanted the next day off, so won the open class to get her last point.  Reinman was 3rd and then edged mom for the win in the AOTR to win a point for himself, Kayla was 2nd by half a point.... oh, lots of money, too!  Thank you Kauffman Animal Health, Inc., Garvin and Lee Tankersley , Dr. and Mrs. Jim Meyer, and Mara Arabians for your sponsorship.

I only took Reinman back for the championships on Friday night and he won both the Open and ATR for 24 more points.  Still 10 1/2 to go.... darn that Region 16 nonsense LOL.  Oh well, guess he'll have to do it again next year.

July 2007:

Lots of big news.  The "great adventure" is almost over.  I'm about sick of the driving!  Region 14 was a bit discouraging. Reinman just would not give me a good ride.  We still got some ribbons and LOH points, but I was not too happy.  Ended up 3rd in the pre show in the open and won the ammy.  Reserve Regional AOTR.  So across to 15 we went.  On the phone to Terry, of course.  Still having trouble with that left lead departure and the changes sometimes.  A wrong lead is a 1 point deduction for every 1/4 (or part of that 1/4) circle we're out of lead.  Breaking gait is 2 points.  So with these kinds of problems, the scores can go down pretty quickly, no matter how good the maneuvers might be. So at Virginia, he got some schooling on left lead, side pass, left lead, change when I ask, not before, etc.  Had a real good go in the first pattern until the last lead change... darn.  Top 5 in the open.  Top 5 in AAOTR, too. I felt encouraged as he wasn't spooking, and seemed pretty agreeable.  Saving himself for 16, I guess, where he went off his rocker just because I used a spur for his left lead departure (I mean, can you blame me?)... and I think he still did one stride wrong... he bucked (5 points off) and went down hill from there.  The only saving grace was he had to go right back in for the AOTR class and he was better behaved.  So picked up 12 points in that class and some money.  I don't think he's going to have a vacation between now and East Coast.

Well on to brighter things.  BIG BIG news is Kala Kachina is coming back!  A couple weeks ago the owner emailed offering her back to me.  Loves the mare, but daughter is on to other things.   Kayla is in foal to Painted Peppy Doc, a black and white APHA  reining and reined cow horse stallion by Tejons Peppy Doc, a really great QH stallion. Kayla is Reinman's dam and LB's dam... though if she had called me after Reinman's latest performance, I might not have been so enthusiastic LOL.  Oh well, I can't let him be smarter than me, I'll figure it out.

Mister Mello and Juliette's palomino colt are heading to Canada in August.  I should be paying Hollywood Lights (aka LB) a commission, I think.  His new owner and trainer love him so much, they want more.  So now they'll have a horse for that Scottsdale futurity for many years to come!   LB is going to local open shows and being a star and doing flying lead changes and spins.  Adrienne's having a lot of fun with him.  Scottsdale in February, barring anything unforseen.

June, 2007

So Reinman and I went to Buckeye.  It was part of our "great adventure" of 2007.  I'd never been. Never even to the show grounds there at Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH.  It sounds like they had a real good turnout for the show.  I saw lots of big names, some from very far away.  We showed in the open reining class Friday morning.  I'm still dealing with a horse that wants to look around a bit too much and is a bit nervous about new noises and sights.... but he's doing better.  That first class was pretty ugly.  Too many penalties.  I was back hosing him off when they called for ribbon presentation.  I didn't think I had beat anyone, LOL!  I ended up 5th out of 8.  The ATR class went much better late the next night.  I used a different strategy and it was a great pattern (5).  No penalties, and a pretty good run for a 2nd out of 7.  So now he has about 5 weeks off till we hit the road on July 4th for Region 14, then across to VA to Region 15. He'll have one day to be back in the pasture at home before heading to Syracuse for Region 16!  He may have to try a practice show somewhere close before then and a couple lessons.  Thanks to Terry Ressler for lessons and letting me call and vent about my rides.  He gives me some great ideas to try.

SC Angels Star and Hollywood Cremella have both foaled fillies.  Angel had a beautiful buckskin filly by Hollywood White and Mel had a smoky black by Klint Black++.  Pictures soon.  The Klint filly is just huge and I call her my percheron, much to the chagrin of Klint's mom, who thinks she's just gorgeous.  Not saying she's not gorgeous!... just big!  This one I'll have to teach to lead before weaning LOL!  click here for Mel's filly photos

With mixed emotions I announce the sale of Hollywood Lights (aka Lightnin' Bug) to Barb Middleton of Alberta, Canada.  Adrienne Herron, young up and coming trainer of working western horses is taking him on and is very excited to finalize this transaction.  Adrienne and I have chatted on the phone several times and I know this will be a good match.  They're hoping the Scottsdale Half Arab Reining Futurity will be in his future.  Being 3, he'll have 2 opportunities as well as National futurities.  He's certainly a pretty enough mover, he could go on to pleasure, too.  Good luck Barb and Adrienne.  LB is the one that has sold me on Hollywood White.  Nicest horse I ever started.... and I've started some nice ones.

August 2006:  I had a pretty good showing at the Eastern Arabian Horse Show and East Coast Championships with the reiners. I'm still working things out with Angel.  We're getting along pretty well and the Clinton Anderson ground work that I learned at his place in May has done wonders.  This is a mare who came with serious issues from an old trainer and we weren't sure if I'd ever show her.  Well I showed her.  At the pre show she was a little fresh.  I zeroed the first class (got lost) and the AAOTR class she placed 3rd with a 68.  Reinman was a good boy and placed 3rd in the open in the pre show and got a 70 for the win in the AAOTR.  The next day in the East Coast championships, Angel gave a Yee Ha buck in the first run down for her stop.  Five point penalty for that.  Scored a 63.  Reinman was a good boy again and scored a 68 for the WIN!  Reinman dragged a lead in the ATR class for no ribbon, but Angel had fewer mistakes to beat him for the Reserve Championship.  So each got some achievement award points, ribbons, MONEY and Reiny got a cooler and a belt buckle similar to the one his mom won in the same class last year. Pictured below is Garvin Tankersley, Jr. presenting the ribbon for the AAOTR win of the pre show.  He's been immensely supportive of me and the reining at East Coast. He and his wife, Lee, donated a lot of the added money.  I bought Reinman's dam, Kala Kachina, from him about 12 years ago.  THANK YOU Garvin and Lee!

April 14, 2006:  Lots of new stuff lately.  We've jumped on the Hollywood White bandwagon since Hollywood Playboy won the Half Arab Reining Futurity at Scottsdale ($40,000).  His full brother also competed and was sold at the show.   We've booked both SC Angels Star and Mara Juliette to him and will breed them in a couple weeks.  We also bought Hollywood Cremella, a 7 year old perlino solid Paint mare by Hollywood White in foal to Cardsharp, winning arabian race horse, from Forgotten Lane Farm.  She foaled a big palomino colt today while I was at work.  Sneaky girl.  Both mom and baby seem to be fine.  She will be one of Darkhist's test mares next year.  The other exciting news is the building of a covered arena which is under roof now.  Plus we have an agreement to purchase about 7 acres from the neighbor and we've had it cleared and seeded.  Hope to have it fenced and usable this fall.

  Hollywood Cremella with Mister Mello           Hollywood White summer of 2007(Scott Gipson photo)

I'm  excited to announce the purchase of SC Angels Star.  We're anxiously awaiting her arrival by late March, 2006.  John and I flew out to Elko, NV to meet her at Suzie Creek Arabians.  Eve Roth, manager, and her husband Pat were gracious hosts and we enjoyed getting out of town and seeing the old west.  Very cool out there.  Angel is a 7 year old purebred mare sired by SC Buckaroo Bay+/ (Desperado V X Bay-Teza).  Buck was reined for 5 years winning Championships at Scottsdale, Region 4 and 5, US and Canadian Nationals as well as many Regional Top 5's and National Top 10's.  He died way too soon.   Her dam is Abbsolute Angel (raced and then endurance raced) by Monarch AH (well over $200,000 in race earnings and valued broodmare sire) and from a *Gondolier daughter (almost 1/3 of competition points earned by *Gondolier get have been in reining).  Lots of tough athletic proven horses through out her pedigree.  Angel has an admirable show record including US National Top Ten  Arabian Reining Futurity horse.  She was the only 4 year old to make top ten that year out of a class of 25 4 and 5 year old reiners.  Thank you Mrs. Dixon and Eve for making this happen.  She's to be bred to Hollywood White

                                               Angel about a month after arriving in PA                             Hollywood White summer of 2007 (Scott Gipson photo)

 Mary and John Haldeman, 1157A  N. Strickler Rd., Manheim, PA 17545

717-665-2288 house   717-371-3262 Mary cell       email