New Brand of Coffee at the Dollick Home....

In between rain showers we got the break needed to bring Coffee to his new foster family in Ramona. ha, ha, ha... a Coffee break!

All of us looking like drowned rats, couldn't have been happier than to have this sweet horse meet his new family. It was blustery out with a hard wind, cold temps and rain, but so worth it for the smiles on the family's faces when our trailer pulled in the yard.

One of my long time dentistry clients, Cheryl was recently over at our ranch and I told her about Coffee and she immediately said "I would love to have him as a foster companion for Rocky", her late teenage quarter horse. I spoke to his sponsors, Dawn and Clint, and it was agreed that it was a wonderful situation since Cheryl hadn't wanted another riding horse, but one to keep her riding horse company while we continue to look for a permanent situation for Coffee.

Rocky was glad to see another horse at the house too... While they are in separate enclosure till they get used to each other, Rocky made no bones about the fact that he wanted to get to know Coffee better. Rocky was frolicking around as if to say "come play with me". Poor Rocky hasn't had a herd mate for almost a year...

Hanna was excited to finally have a once wild, but now very tame and loving, mustang at her house. Most kids (and many adults) dream of one day having a wild mustang and now that dream has come true, at least for a while . Like his other Carter Reservoir herd mates, Coffee has a very calm demeanor and loving nature. Hanna put her hand under his nose so he could sniff and he licked her hand like a dog - a sweet way to get introduced.

It is nice of people to step up to help while we are trying to find a permanent placement for Coffee. In the meantime he will continue to get daily love and attention he so deserves.

Details about Coffee and his past can be found on his page at

http://www.gentledmustangs.com/Coffee_anyone_.php

It has been a BEAUTIFUL Day!

Spending the day with Coffee

What a beautiful day to spend getting to know our newest addition. With this warm weather the long winter fur the horses have starts shed big time. The perfect way to get a new horse comfortable with us is through a relaxing grooming session. It also give me the opportunity to see if there are areas where the horse doesn't like being touched or has some fear issues.

Today we didn't have any issues at all. Not only did Coffee enjoy getting brushed, but he loved having his ears rubbed, all the crusty's around his eyes cleaned away and what must have felt like a nice body massage with the brushing. He liked it so well when I would walk away, he would follow me for more.



After a nice relaxing brushing what better than to move out to the round pen to stretch his legs. He moves just like Manzanita and Red Ryder. I had to stop myself from calling him Manzanita several times. He readily understood some basic commands and has a very nice whoa. What I liked the best is that he would turn to face me and not move off until told. He even walked over to me when asked to come.

I got a real opportunity to see all his dun factor striping all brushed with the sun shining on him. The pictures don't show great detail, but he has slight cob-webbing on his face, points on his ears, big and bold shoulder strips which makes it look like his mane hangs on both sides. His dorsal strip is nice and wide and has striping coming of that from his withers half-way down his back. His legs also have striping and also some white with lots of feathering. Like Bizzy, some of his striping is red (like you would see on a red dun) and much of it is black like his mane.



His BLM freeze brand has pretty well faded and looks like just a few white hairs sprinkled under his mane on his left side. With the long winter fur, they were hard to see, but as his coat shortens we might see some detail.

Coffee settled into the round penning nicely and seemed to be enjoying himself as if to say, "look how handsome I am now that I have been brushed". Lary came out to introduce himself to Coffee and they got along just fine. Since we know that Coffee has been shy or slightly nervous around strangers, we assumed he was going to be as friendly and loving as Manzanita and Red Ryder and he responded as they would have. He look was almost to say "how come these people know me so well when I have just met them?".

After letting him relax and graze in the round pen for a while, I brought Bizzy down to introduce the two to each other. A little bit of snorting, tail swishing and a squeal or two and then they acted as though they have known each other for a while. I can see that Coffee is not a dominate personality so we will be sure to boost his confidence before putting him in the pasture with the other horses. But he should fit right in.

I am looking forward to Tuesday when Dee Howe (trainer/body worker) and Dawn Fletcher (equine Chiropractor) come out and we assess his body for any pain and work him under saddle without a rider to see how he does. Later in the week I will do his dentistry. For now, I checked his incisors and canines, all of which had tarter build up that he let me removed by picking with my finger nail. He had no issues with me working with his mouth which will make it so much easier to do his teeth.

He is enjoying the grass in the round pen, the sun on his back and the company of a beautiful Carter mustang filly. What more could a guy ask for?????

Equine Body Pain Evaluation Clinic - Feb 5th

Saturday, February 5th, we will be sponsoring a clinic by Dee Howe of "Helping Others With Equines", www.DeeHowe.net that is the first in a series of three teaching you how to enhance a horse's vitality using integrative body work, that we will be sponsoring at our ranch.

This Stage 1 clinic - Evaluation/Body Work. You will learn techniques to tell if your horse is uncomfortable and what is needed when unwanted behavior happens; such as bucking, biting, rearing, throwing it's head, kicking, pawing, pacing, hard to catch, cross firing, turning one way better than the other, etc. By releasing the tension and addressing the root of the problem the horse can then concentrate, making training/riding easier and more efficient.

Since this is a hands-on clinic and each student will get some one-on-one with Dee, attendance is limited to 10 and reservations are needed. Cost is $100 for this full-day clinic and lunch and snacks are provided. For reservations contact Lauren at 951-566-7217 or horseluverlns@hotmail.com. Credit Cards are accepted.

It's a sunny winter day and the temperature outside is close to 80 degrees. Not bad for January when the rest of the country is cold and snowy and perfect for a short ride from the ranch. So today is Chance's turn for her first real trail ride.

Tabi has been working with Chance on and off over the summer. You guys may remember the bad injury Chance got to her lower jaw just as her training was being started last April. While it healed quickly (thanks to the Ox-E-Drops 2% solution) it was a few months before she went back to Tabi for training. Chance got about 2 solid months of training mostly in the arena and within the fenced property of the training ranch, but no real riding other than that.

Chance has been back here since September and we were just letting her be a horse. She is only 2 1/2 years old so there is no reason to hurry training along. She is too young and her body is still growing to put too much stress on it with athletic riding - which is exactly what she is built for.

With that in mind, today is the first day that anyone has been on her or even worked her in the round pen since last September. Much like we expected, she acted like it was just yesterday that she was worked and picked up right where her and Tabi left off. Ten minutes in the round pen and ready to ride.

Bo (Triton), Tabi's horse, was not too happy that his mom chose Chance to ride instead of him, so he ran the entire fenceline keeping up with them. Then he whinnied while there were gone. Boy was he glad when they got back.

No fuss, no muss. Lary and Tabi rode past the cows, along a busy black top road, across the road to ride behind our friends cattle dairy. There she got to ride through grazing cattle, up and down hills and short ravines, over and across some water and even took the lead when Houdini didn't want to stay in front.

This filly is going to make someone an AWESOME horse. She is level headed, smart, an eager learner and just no fuss no muss. We measured her height and she is 14.2hh today and we know she is going to be another 4-6 inches taller at maturity.

Chance is available for adoption. Her adoption fee is $1000. Right now she is green and needs trail miles. She is also at the perfect age to train for competitive trail riding because she has no bad habits, no fears and is willing to try anything. When she gets a few years older and her bones are complete, she will make a great cow horse, ranch sorting, or other things require good athletic skills.

Chance has been handled since birth and loves people. This is a very "aim to please" you horses that will bond with rider and LOVES to have a job. So please spread the word. If you know someone who wants horse that will be a great, solid trail horse, competitive trail, eventually (in a year or two) work with cows, etc. She's the one. Help us find a good home for her.

Christine
760-703-4860

P.S. Chance's mother was saved from slaughter and was adopted earlier this year and it is clear that Chance got her demeanor, brains, build and abilities from her mom. So we have pictures of her mom and can tell you all about her mom too.

Bizzy is available for Adoption

Well this has been a very busy past few months. I am taking 20 college units this semester going to school 4 nights a week and boy is that keeping me busy. That is in addition to working and doing all our horsey stuff. So it has been a while since I made a post.

But now I have exciting news for you to share. Bizzy is ready for adoption. Many of you may remember that we went all the way up to the northern California/Nevada border to pick up her and her sire - Red Ryder last June.

I have given Bizzy her own page on the web-site so all you need to do is follow this link and you will see pictures and get the information on her. Please share this with others because Bizzy has great training already and is a sweet, good natured filly, just waiting for someone to take her home, train her and start to have fun.

Here is the link:
http://www.gentledmustangs.com/Bizzy-for_adoption.php

Help us find the perfect home for Bizzy.

New Workshop with Poppy Phillips-Mehlhaff

INTEGRATED KINESIOLOGY
Exploring Possible Impositions & Imbalances in you & your Horse!

Equine Well-Being presents the first in a series of educational workshops on Alternative Care for your horses*. Whether you are an owner, trainer or equine practitioner this series is designed to bring you the latest in therapies available for You and your horse.

Poppy Phillips-Mehlhaff

Poppy has dedicated her life to learning about Applied and Integrated Kinesiology and creating a system applicable to the animal kingdom. Through the influences of great equine chiropractors, Equine Alternatives was born in 1998 with an emphasis on bone alignment. Seeing repetitive issues, Poppy observed that bone alignment was a secondary concern to other insults to the body and was determined to develop a non evasive safe technique that allowed the animals to be healthy on all levels. The Kinesiology offered a modality to the animals in which they could voice their pains and concerns.

Poppy has successfully treated me and my animals, both dogs and horses. Her sessions were life changing and gave me new hope outside of traditional medicine.


Friday Oct.29th

10:00am – 1:00pm

Registration $75
Seating/participation is limited so there is one on one time with Poppy.

Location: Rockin LC Ranch
1984 Equestrian Trail
Ramona, CA 92065


CALL 760-703-4860 or email christine@EquineWellBeing.com
For information Poppy go to http://www.equine-alternatives.com/

*All presenters are members of Professional Horse Services of S CA http://www.phsosc.com/
Copyright cGriffin 2010 All Rights Reserved

Trusty Needs A Home ASAP 7-13-10

Beautiful Roan Gelding needs a Home!

I am dispersing some of my horses due to economics, mostly broodmares and their foals, but I have a 5 year old has been a training subject for a horse-training student who only has been working him on whatever weekend days she can get out here. I want to move him to someone who has the time to continue his training.

He is a roan with a very good disposition has had groundwork in the roundpen, carried a saddle and starting bridling, had his feet worked with, is barefoot and been bathed.

He is about 15.2 and may grow more, photos are from when he was younger he is taller now. He comes from Palomino Valley BLM and I have his adoption papers. I am only asking his original adoption fee of $125. He has never been aggressive, does not strike or kick and likes people.

He is located in Ramona, in excellent health, no bad habits. $125 is negotiable for someone who will continue his training and give him a job. Adoption contract will be required.

Kay Cox-Evenleigh

Contact Christine @ 760-703-4860 or christine@GentledMustangs.com