Post by Zala on Dec 21, 2023 3:42:19 GMT -3
A cold spell hit Western Washington, covering grass, trees, and surrounding foliage in a frosty white sheen as the night time temps hit the mid to low 20s. Almost blinding in the sunlight, but so magical in its many sparkling colors as you walked from the house to the barns! Horses pranced friskily across the pastures, clouds of hot breath risng around the herd as they settled in to graze what frosted grass they could find, colorful blankets dotting the pasture side, pearly white fences almost camouflaged into the whiteness. Stablehands and riders bundled up in warm winter coats, mittens and hats bustled around the stable yard, preparing for just another day on the job at Cowhorses Unlimited. The show horses nickered and whinnied from their stall doors, awaiting turn out or a trip to the grooming area. The 2024 show season was only a few months away, but everyone wanted to get a jump on it early so all the competitive horses were ready to hit their peak and shine their brightest for their home farm!! We were all anticipating a very good year; or at least we all had our fingers crossed hoping for a really good year. You can never tell with the increase in competition in all disciplines, plus the added stress that I had 2 stables doing multiple disciplines in both English and Western AND Racing. Yeah, it was definitely going to be an insane year!! As far as the show horses go, we have several older competitors that will be leaving the show ring behind for their next career as breeding stock. We are excited to be adding them to our breeding herds and await the chance for their first foals to be born and carry on the Cowhorses Unlimited family tradition of greatness! I know I'm excited for the prospect of more show horses carrying the CU prefix into the show pen, and going out and winning and making a name for themselves as well as their parents!! We're slowly putting together the records to track each stallion and mares offsprings earnings and winnings. A few of our stallions have some very nice babies who are doing exceptionally well in the show pen, making their parents proud!! For instance CU GunnaJacDeezBoots; better known as Jac, is by our awesome boy Magnum Gun whom I showed to many great wins, and out of CU Jacs Boot Peg whom we only showed limitedly but she's already turning out to be an exceptional producer! Take Jac for instance, he's a super minded young stallion with talent for miles!! He's a quick learner and always tries his best for his rider and trainer! Sweet natured, calm; even for a stallion, level headed and one of the finest Reining horses in our string, he is going to go far!! He's a 2016 model and still showing the world what he's made of, he will continue his show career until he earns a high enough title to retire. But we'll also be using him for breeding as well, so he'll have a dual career of showing and breeding, and I definitely want some of his babies on the ground!!
Breeding season would soon be in full swing! Everyone was preparing for the arrival of new foals, breeding the broodmares back again, and stallion collections. We are expecting some really exciting babies this coming year from some of our lesser known stallions and mares! Even our small but growing bovine herds of Angus and Black Baldies are expecting offspring to grow our cattle herds that will be used exclusively in Cutting and Reined Cow Horse. We had recently added a couple Texas Longhorn and Pinzgauer cows to our herd just for fun! Yard ornaments is how the stable hands refer to them. Maybe the Longhorns, but the Pinzgauer's are actually meat or dairy cows, they are super versatile and very pretty!! I just thought they might look cool for Reined Cow Horse competition, but who knows. We'll find a place for them to fit in!! But until then, the Black Baldies seem to be the in thing especially for Cutting. We've even had a few Brahmas throughout the years. I always thought a cross between an Angus and a Brahma might produce a really nice Reined Cow Horse or Cutting bred cow that would be a great fit with the right horse. Some of the staff think I'm crazy for thinking it, but it was just a suggestion!! Both breeds are heavily used in both sports, so why not a mix?
Breeding season would soon be in full swing! Everyone was preparing for the arrival of new foals, breeding the broodmares back again, and stallion collections. We are expecting some really exciting babies this coming year from some of our lesser known stallions and mares! Even our small but growing bovine herds of Angus and Black Baldies are expecting offspring to grow our cattle herds that will be used exclusively in Cutting and Reined Cow Horse. We had recently added a couple Texas Longhorn and Pinzgauer cows to our herd just for fun! Yard ornaments is how the stable hands refer to them. Maybe the Longhorns, but the Pinzgauer's are actually meat or dairy cows, they are super versatile and very pretty!! I just thought they might look cool for Reined Cow Horse competition, but who knows. We'll find a place for them to fit in!! But until then, the Black Baldies seem to be the in thing especially for Cutting. We've even had a few Brahmas throughout the years. I always thought a cross between an Angus and a Brahma might produce a really nice Reined Cow Horse or Cutting bred cow that would be a great fit with the right horse. Some of the staff think I'm crazy for thinking it, but it was just a suggestion!! Both breeds are heavily used in both sports, so why not a mix?
