Charlotte Dujardin and Valegro - Olympic Gold Medallists Kur London 2012

THE GREAT VALEGRO COMES ACROSS THE OCEAN

The 2015 FEI World Cup for Dressage will begin in Las Vegas starting April 16 and the star-studded cast is arriving for the red-carpet treatment. Already adjusting to the dry air is the brightest star of all...VALEGRO! This magnificent horse was a double world champion in 2014 and has already been immortalized as a Breyer horse (that's my goal!) He was the Grand Prix Special and the Grand Prix Freestyle Champion at the World Cup last year. In fact, I don't think he has been beaten since he won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics. He wore gold for both the team dressage and the individual dressage with a score of 90.089%!

This Dutch Warmblood gelding was born in 2002 and stands at 16.2 hands, smaller than most of the big-name dressage horses, even shorter than my Jazz. He is ridden in competition by the British rider, Charlotte Dujardin. He was in the stable of Carl Hester when Dujardin joined his stable as a groom. She was given the opportunity to bring Valegro (called Blueberry in the barn) along to get him ready for Hester to show. What a lucky girl! Of course she deserves it. She is a fabulous rider.

So, pay attention to the results of the World Cup in Las Vegas this weekend. I'm putting my money on Valegro but I wish our U.S. riders the very best as well.

You can keep up to date by checking this link: http://www.worldcuplasvegas.com/

MY BLIND HORSE-HE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE AGAIN WHEN HE BECOMES A UNICORN!

Kit in the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, CO

Kit at Fox Run Regional park in El Paso County, Colorado

My precious thoroughbred, Kit, is now 24 years old. I found him in a pasture in northern Colorado as a barely trained six year old. I began training him in dressage and on trails. I competed with him through 2nd level in dressage and he was the RMDS champion twice before I retired him from competition and just used him as my main trail horse. He is the cover boy of all three of my "Riding Colorado" trail guide books. I love this horse with all my heart.

On Halloween, 2014, I was on a trail ride with my friends and Kit ran into the horse in front of me. "Weird," I thought. Then,  on another ride last fall, he ran into a tree. "Weird," I thought. Then on the trail ride at Fox Run pictured above, I was standing beside him and he ran right over me! I knew something was very wrong. I started swinging my hand toward his left eye and he didn't flinch or even blink. I called my vet, Dr. Marc McCall and told him I thought Kit had lost his vision in his left eye. Dr. McCall said it was probably just a cataract and he could remove it, making his as good as new.

When Dr. McCall checked him, he discovered that it wasn't a cataract, that it was optic nerve damage and that there was nothing we could do. Kit would be blind in that eye for the rest of his life. I was heartbroken for him.

So, I started re-training Kit to get used to half a world. At first, he appeared to be super sensitive to sound and they would spook him, but now he seems to be adjusting and coping much better. I ride him knowing I have to be his left eye. I have been riding him with a slight flexion to the left in order to center his right eye more. When I approach him from the left (the "near side" where we equestrians do most of our work) I make sure I talk to him so as not to startle him.

Kit, like all of us, needs to be allowed to accomplish all that he can. None of us is perfect so we just do our best with what we have.

I found this youtube video of a completely blind dressage horse being competed at 2nd level dressage. The horse is in Oregon, my old home state.
Click here to watch it:
https://youtu.be/NS0TqVafEeI

Horses are healers for people but people can also be healers for horses!

I'VE BEEN OUT OF TOWN

Dear Readers,
Sorry that I have not put up a blog post. I have been out of town. I took my horse, several friends and lots of books down to Tucson for several days of riding and to sign books at the Tucson Festival of Books. We had a great time and I loved signing books for kids and adults. Here are some pictures of our fun trip.


Signing North Mystic at the book festival:

 Signing The Mist Trilogy at the book festival:

Riding in Catalina State Park:

 Riding along the Arizona Trail:
The High Jinks was the old mine of Buffalo Bill Cody.

I'll put up a new post in a few days!!!

Meanwhile, Read The Mist Trilogy. Available in print or ebook. Autographed copies make great gifts and are available on the website:

www.themisttrilogy.com

FALL IN LOVE WITH FELL PONIES

Last year I was doing a book signing in Loveland Colorado. At that event, I met Jenifer Morrissey a fellow author and breeder of Fell Ponies. I had fun visiting with her about her love of Fell ponies. She breeds them at her home in the Colorado Mountains. She calls her home, Willowtrail Farm. She mentioned that she became interested in Fell ponies as a way to help with her husband's logging business. It turns out that at 9,000 feet and very rocky terrain, the ponies were perfect for pulling logs off the mountain in areas that trucks could not go.

I went to the Fell pony society website to learn more about these ponies that have so captured Jenifer's heart. I learned that these ponies are some of the ancient breeds that come from the north counties of England and have probably roamed through hill and dale in that area since pre-historic times. From the iron age, onward, Fell ponies have been work animals for mankind, hauling logs, mining materials, fabric and everything else from the north to the markets in the south. The vikings (that I wrote about in one of my fantasies North Mystic) used the ponies for draft horses as well as for riding. 

Since the 1950's when horses became primarily 'recreational vehicles' as I call them, the ponies have become increasingly popular for their dependability and sure footedness. That makes them great for trails on rough ground. They are also loved for driving and even jumping. 

Black is the predominate color for fell ponies but they also come in brown, bay or gray. They do not exceed 14 hands in height. 

If you would like to learn more about Jenifer Morrissey's breeding program, you can go to her website and see all the fun things she has to say about Fell Ponies. Click here: http://fellponiescolorado.com/html/contactus.html  The pictures are from her website.

Have fun reading the award winning series: The Mist Trilogy. It's about the noble and great horses that are chosen to become unicorns when they die.

THE SPANISH MUSTANG

It is a cold snowy day in Colorado. Fortunately I was able to ride Jazz this morning (in 10 inches of snow) before more snow started falling from the light gray clouds. So, I decided that it was a perfect day to send out a new blog post.

THE SPANISH MUSTANG
I live just north of Parker, Colorado. The entire area from Parker to Elizabeth and Kiowa is horse country. If you love horses, this is the place to live!!! We have horses of every kind and every discipline here. If you don't live here, you should be jealous of me because I get to!

I have just finished writing a Young Adult novel about a wild mustang that bonds with a troubled teen and they end up saving each other's lives. So, in honor of the story, "In the Heart of a Mustang", I want to tell you about the Spanish Mustang.

Elizabeth, Colorado is the home of the Sunflower Ranch which breeds gaited Spanish Mustangs. (See, I told you, you could find any thing horse-related here!)
On their website: http://sunflowerranch.com/ranch.html, is a cute story about one of their mares, Sorpresita.

It so happens that this flatbed trailer was left out in the pasture. One day, out of curiosity, the little mare decided to climb aboard. In so doing, she discovered that her hooves could make a great drumming sound. She proceeded to "make music" for a couple of hours a day for several days, until the trailer was removed! Isn't that a great story!

The Spanish Mustang is a direct descendant of the horses brought to the new world by the Spanish. These are different than the feral horses managed by the BLM and about which I wrote "In the Heart of a Mustang". Columbus started bringing breed stock, horses, cattle and sheep to the new world on his second voyage. Breeding farms were set up on the Caribbean islands and, eventually, Mexico. 

Catholic priests bred the horses and gave them to natives who converted to Christianity. The Apache Indians never converted to Christianity so they acquired the much desired horses by raiding the breed farms and stealing the stock. It appears that they traveled as far south as Mexico City to acquire the much desired horses. They are responsible for bringing the Spanish horses northward. Eventually, these horses numbered in the thousands. Some were lost or escaped and became wild throughout the west. They managed to both adapt to the demands of nature and mix with the native american's horses.

Today's Spanish Mustangs are being bred and controlled by the Spanish Mustang registry. They are being used for endurance, rodeo and ranch work as well as pleasure riding. 

If you are coming to Denver for the National Western Stock Show Jan. 10th to Jan. 25th, I will be signing books at the Colorado Horse Council's Booth each day until 2:30 except Sundays. Stop by and say "Hi". 

THE MIST TRILOGY HONORED WITH NATIONAL AWARD

 I received fabulous news! The Mist Trilogy: Behind the Mist, Mists of Darkness and The Rising Mist were selected to receive the Mom's Choice Gold Medal Award.

I am especially honored to receive this award because of the stringent evaluation that the books had to go through to be chosen. The Mom's Choice Award judges follow a strict evaluation process. Entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost. The judges look for books that help families grow emotionally, physically or spiritually: are morally sound and promote good will; and are inspirational and uplifting. (according to their website: www.momschoiceawards.com.

The gold medal is awarded to the books or products that receive the highest scores. I am so grateful that the panel of judges felt that my work adds something good to the world.