Hi HOA members and friends:

   I am getting several e-mails and phone calls about the meeting, and more reservations daily.   Feel free to ask away with questions.Here are a few of the answers to some of the questions asked. 1.) Do I need to pay ahead for food or lodging?     No, we  will keep a tab for food and lodging and you can pay when you get ready to leave.  The camping and cabin rentals go back to camp, and the food income goes back into the HOA fund.  2.)  If you are planning on the Saturday evening meal I will need to know ahead how many and if you prefer chicken or pork loin (it is awesome)  as the Archery club is cooking and they need to know how much of each to purchase.  You will need to pay that night. 3.)  If you have a special diet need, let us know, we will try to have food for everyone. 4.)  If you are renting a cabin or staying in the lodge please bring a blanket and pillow or sleeping bag as they do not provide bedding.   If you can not bring them let me know I will bring extras for you to use.  Also remember to bring your own soap and towels, there are 2 shower areas for you to use. 5.) If you are bringing a horse from out of state remember to have a Coggins and Health Certificate, the camp does not check for

them but you might be stopped at the state lines and I would hate for anyone to be fined. 6.) If you are bringing a horse, we have several hitching posts, and a barn with tie-in stalls, and we will have a few panel gate stalls if you need them, let me know so we can set up more if needed.   Please bring a bucket and hay, if you want us to bring hay to purchase  let me know that too. You may also use electric fence and posts if you have them. 7.)  We are having a fun show starting at 12- 12.30 on Saturday, please come join us, it is all in good fun, and no one will be allowed to make fun of us who never show!!!  Plus we have prizes!!!  If you are not riding, come cheer for us rookies. 8.)  The camp has offered to provide a lunch stand for us on Saturday before the show so please plan on purchasing something from them, it will save us time between clinics and the show.  

September 2011

Volume 9 Number 3

Horse of the Americas Newsletter

Breeder’s Listing Information"If you find that your breeder's listing has been removed from the HOA website, it is likely that your dues are at least 2 years past due. If you renew your membership, your listing will be returned to the HOA website. Hope to have you back soon!"

FAQ about the 2011 HOA Meeting, cont. - by Kathy Peacock

9.)  The camp director asks If you are riding, that you sign an insurance  waiver, it states you are riding under the protection of your own insurance.   10.) Don't forget to bring an item or two for the auction after the meeting.  11.) If anyone is coming  by plane we can  pick you up, we need to know so we can arrange that.  12.) Dogs are allowed, but they need to be on a leash. 

13.) Potluck supper Friday night, If you can't bring food don't worry we always have plenty. 14.)  If you have anything you would like to discuss at the meeting let us know. 15.) Bring a lawn chair if you have room to sit around the campfire. 16.) Questions Yet??  email me at kmhranch@netzero.com or call 319-350-4897                                       Come meet new friends and visit with the old ones, Most of all just have FUN!    -Kathy

Sept. 2011

We Asked for Wild Horses, Not Elephants! -Karen McCalpin

 On April 7th, I had the opportunity to testify before a

Congressional sub-committee in support of H.R. 306,

the Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act.

The bill, introduced by Congressman Walter B. Jones,

would allow for a target herd size of 120 – 130 with

never fewer than 110. The current herd size is 108

but the current management plan calls for a

maximum of 60. DNA testing in 2008 by renowned

equine geneticist Dr. E. Gus Cothran of Texas A & M

University, indicated that the Corolla herd had one of

the lowest levels of genetic diversity anywhere and

that there were high levels of inbreeding at a herd

size of 90.

Sub-committee Chair, John Fleming (R-LA) said in his

opening statement:

“I find it curious that the Fish and Wildlife Service

feels these beautiful horses whose ancestors arrived

on the shores of North Carolina nearly 500 years ago

to be “not native to this ecosystem” and “pest

animals.” Yet the same agency has spent millions of

dollars trying to protect, restore, and save the

population of such listed species as the Delhi Sands

fly, delta smelt, Kangaroo rats, New Mexico ridge-

nosed rattlesnakes and Texas blind salamanders. I

suspect that more than a few Americans would find

these species to be “pests.”

Testifying in opposition were Greg Siekaniec (Asst.

Director, National Wildlife Refuge System) and

Michael Hutchins, Executive Director, The Wildlife

Society.

Testimony and video can be viewed at http://

naturalresources.house.gov/Calendar/

EventSingle.aspx?EventID=232175

Both Mr. Siekaniec and Mr. Hutchins testified first. Mr.

Siekaniec testified that the wild horse range had

recently been reduced from 12,000 acres to 7,500

acres because of development. He used this

statement to justify his claim that this forces more

horses onto the refuge property. I could not address

this statement directly in my testimony because I

was not given his testimony in advance, and

witnesses can not interact with one another. We are

asked questions by the committee members.

Mr. Siekaniec was dead wrong. The map was revised

by USFWS staff in 2009 because it was incorrect. The

12,000 acres included areas that were inaccessible to

the horses. The revised map showed actual

accessible habitat. No habitat was lost what-so-ever

by development. It was merely a more accurate

representation of the wild horse range. Mr. Siekaniec

also referenced $100,000 that was spent by USFWS

on horse management this year. WHAT? He

mentioned a horse trailer and darting equipment.

That equipment was purchased in 2007 through a

cooperative grant between USFWS and the Corolla

Wild Horse Fund and did not come out of their

operating funds even then. It was a one-time grant.

Their current exclosure study (which includes the

impact of feral hogs and deer, not just horses) is part

of a $50,000 grant in partnership with NCSU.

The best statement award though goes to Michael

Hutchins. He said, “It’s all about values. Do we want

to protect our native wildlife, or turn our national

refuges into theme parks for exotic animals?” Theme

parks for exotic animals? Come on now.

These horses were on this land long before we were

and certainly long before USFWS purchased it. The

maximum number of horses ever counted on their

2,500 acres is 35 - and in 2009 – there was a

whopping 0!

We are not asking for hundreds of horses. We are

asking for the same target population that was been

successfully managed at Cape Lookout National

Seashore with acceptable impact, for the last 13

years, on half the land available to the Corolla

horses. We don’t want elephants, or cheetahs, zebras

or any other “exotic” animal – just a healthy and

viable herd of critically endangered/nearly extinct

Colonial Spanish Mustangs. I know that the

Department of Interior defines wild horses as

“invasive,” “nuisance,” “pest,” and “exotic” animals

but that’s a whole other debate for another time.

Let the members of the Natural Resources

Committee know that YOU strongly support the

passage of H.R. 306. http://

naturalresources.house.gov/About/

Members.htm

- Karen McCalpin, Corolla Wild Horse Fund Director

The American Indian Horse Registry

2011 marks AIHR’s 50th year of preserving and promoting the horses of Native America. Formed in 1961, the AIHR continues to dedicate itself to this endeavor.

In celebration of this milestone, we are recognizing various of our “sister” organizations who have been dedicated to these horses descended from the Spanish stock brought to the New World by the conquistadors and colonists.

To the left is a KEEPER OF THE FLAME certificate which is given with gratitude for your association’s dedication to these horses.

Wolakota,

Nanci Falley, President AIHR

The American Indian Horse ~ An Original

TobianoLook into the eyes of a tobiano and look back at seven thousand years of unbroken color. Linked to both the Celts and the Indo-Aryans, the tobiano may well be the first color to appear after the horse was domesticated in central Russia between 7000 BCE and 5000 BCE. It may well be the color of the ancestral stallion that all 64 chromosome horses descend from. Eradicate it and you lose that link to the past. It is the color that tracks human migrations, the movement of the Celts through the Europe and the arrival of the Kshatriyas in India and Nepal.

No color has been as honored or as damned as the tobiano. Lady Wentworth of Crabbet stud thought spotted horses were a sign of inferior breeding and within a generation the tobiano was banned from all the registries in Great Britain. It appears in the old Kerry Bog pony but none of the other old Irish horse and pony breeds allow it. The Gypsy Vanner, created when Clydesdales were introduced to Ireland, does carry the tobiano gene, but it is of recent origins.

The Icelandic pony, one of the oldest breeds in Europe, only comes in tobiano and solid colors (no, I’m not forgetting palominos in this breed). The absence of the sabino gene in the Icelandic may well indicate that the earliest Celtic ponies may have also missed the sabino gene.

The tobiano’s fate Asia was much better because of its association with Buddha. Buddha’s famous steed was named Kanthaka, pure white horse with a solid red head. Like many magical boy and his horse stories, Kanthaka was born on the same day as Prince Siddhartha, Buddha’s real name. When Siddhartha renounced the world and passed over

the Anoma River, the horse died of grief but was reborn in Heaven.

A document on the oldest Sanskrit words in Chinese mentions the supernatural jisi horse with its red mane, golden eyes and a pure white body. Said to be the king of the horses, the jisi had 84,000 strands of hair in his long and luxurious mane.

This horse first appeared in the (2nd century BCE) Huainanzi records treasures given in ransom for King Wen of Zhou to King Zhou of Shang in 1103 BCE. The inscription Keshi or Keśī could be the earliest Sanskrit word known in Chinese;

But if you want to start an argument with Arabian breeders, mention that old Arabian horsemen considered pintos deplorable. A pinto was considered laughable as the brother of a cow in one of their sayings. This no doubt influenced Crabbet stud’s bias. It is irritating that one of the last peoples’ to even get the horse had the most influence over what was acceptable and what wasn’t.

The tobiano is the Celtic pinto, although it is also the favored color of the Kshatriyas of Northern India. I’ve often pondered this

exchange as all tobianos descend from one ancestral horse. Either the color appeared in the horse when it was first domesticated, or it was traded when the Hittites and Mittani had contact with each other. And when you realize that there was a time when no one had horses but a handful of IndoEuropean/Indo Iranian horse tribes, this means the tobiano was once found in all horse breeds.

Among modern Spanish horse breeders the tobiano is the peasant horse, although they are bred in numbers in Spain to support the movie industry, and ranchers in Patagonia keep the tobianos alive in their horse herds in spite of the Argentina Criollo Registry banning them. Other South American Criollo breeders don’t discriminate against the tobiano.

Queen Margarita on a royal tobiano probably of Alter Real breeding. The Alter-Real eliminated the tobiano color from the breed in the twentieth century.

In America the tobiano is found in all breeds descended from the Spanish Colonial horse, although the Spanish Mustang Registry refuses to register them. This did not prevent them from registering the descendents of several tobiano mares whose names appear in most Spanish Colonial pedigrees. It has been a long

argument that there are no photos of tobiano horses among Native Peoples. Here is one of the best pictures I have found of tobiano Indian ponies.

Crow women on matching tobianos by T.A. Morris.

!

The Southwest Spanish Mustang Registry, American Indian Horse Registry and the Horse of Americas are the only Spanish Colonial organizations that register tobianos. There is one tobiano in the SMR that survived the purge, a gelding owned by Gilbert Jones who was a part of the legendary Nathan and Elly Foote ride from Patagonia to British Columbia in 1973. When one of their S. American criollos died in Texas, Mr. Jones gave them another horse from his southwestern Oklahoma herd.

Nathan and Ellie Foote on their South American criollos With permission from Elly Foote from their book Riding Into The Wind.

If you would like to see Mal de Oro, the Oklahoma Indian pony that joined them on their journey. Check him out at the Frank Hopkins website.http://www.frankhopkins.com/scrapbook1.html

Due to the success of Samber, a bay tobiano Dutch Warmblood, the tobiano is coming back into fashion among European horsemen. German Warmbloods, Oldenburgs and more recently Hanoverians have reintroduced color into their breeds, and a number of pinto Trakehner enthusiasts have located their missing tobianos and may try to get them back into the registry.

With supporters like Dr. Phil Sponenberg and the writer John Fusco, and Spanish Colonial breeders adding the Celtic color to their herds, the tobiano is reappearing in the Spanish Colonial horse, not that it ever went anywhere. I mean if you think about it, nine thousand years in an unbroken line is about as impressive as you can get.

Become an Offsite Corolla Breeder The herd of Colonial Spanish horses at Corolla is one of the most threaten historical herds in America. They teeter on the brink of extinction. In an effort to provide a safety net, not a substitute for a wild herd, several HOA members are working diligently to promote and breed these horses domestically. Thus far four foals have been born and adult breeding age adults are available for placement.

Participation in the offsite breeding program is simple. If breeders acquire a colt or adult stallion they agree to maintain him as a stallion and to provide free breeding service to other members of the offsite breeding program network. Owners are free to charge any stud fee that the market will bear for horses outside of the breeding program. (1/2 Corollas seem to maintain the Corolla disposition and extraordinary teachability of pure Corollas.) Breeders that acquire fillies or mares are urged to raise at least four foals from those mares after the mares are old enough to do so. Mare owners are urged to only breed to

stallions that are in the program in order to insure the survival of the strain. All horses in the program and all foals born are to be promptly registered with the HOA.

Participants own the horses and resulting foals and are free to sell, trade, or keep any such horses. However, we strongly urge every participant to encourage new owners to continue the effort to expand the breeding population by continuing to participate in the offsite breeding program. It is important that these horses not become lawn ornaments. They are athletic, intelligent and have endless endurance. (e.g. Swimmer, who 20 days after her capture from the wild completed a 46 mile ride with an adult rider, or Tradewind a 12.2 stallion that completed over 200 hours on the trails in one year with a rider who weighed well over 200 pounds.) Breeders should plan to train and get their horses in the public eye.

At press time several great horses are available. Edward Teach is a stylish stallion that has now had several trail rides with other horses while being ridden bareback and guided with a rope halter. Two weanlings are available from Mill Swamp Indian Horses and the Corolla Wild Horse Fund has several horses available for adoption.

To learn more about the off site breeding program see www.msindianhorses.com or contact Steve Edwards at msindianhorses@aol.com.

There is a lot of Spanish blood in Quarter Horses and my last one showed it in his gaits, conformation, and personality. The Spanish breeds have great talent for classical dressage, which is my chosen discipline. When I had to replace him, I decided to investigate the Spanish breeds.

Unfortunately, I quickly found out that I could not afford to buy an Andalusian, a Lusitano, or a Lipizzan. When I discovered Spanish Mustangs, I obtained information about them from Marye Ann Thompson and looked at the ones who lived closest to my home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some of them looked to me like excellent dressage prospects.

In the fall of 1995, Jane Greenwood and Wes Thomsen went out to Horsehead Ranch in North Dakota to look at a filly that they had bought for her bloodlines. They took videos of Kim Kingsley’s horses and called me when they got home. I looked at their videos and fell in love with a little black colt. I liked the way he looked, moved, and behaved. He was the son of Chief San Domingo and Foxy Little Chick.

At that time, Kim had already promised to sell him to another buyer. He tried to talk me into

buying one of Domingo’s other foals, but I only wanted the black one. He looked like he could be the horse of my dreams. Later that fall, Jane called me at work to tell me that Kim’s buyer hadn’t come through with any money. As soon as I got home from work, I called Teri Goenner in St. Cloud. She contacted Kim just as he was about to sell that black colt to another buyer. That was his first lucky escape.

For several months, all I could do was watch his video and study his pictures. After Christmas, Jane and Wes drove out to North Dakota to pick up their filly and my colt. My colt tried to get back to his dam by jumping a gate and got his right hind foot caught on the way down. He just hung there until Wes pushed his foot out of the gate. Only a mustang could be that sensible. That was his second lucky escape.

For many years, I had trained my own horses, but they had always been old enough to ride. The first time I saw my colt, he refused to come near me or any other human. As I watched him racing around the corral, I began to realize what a monumental task lay ahead of me. I finally took a week off and spent hours every day with him until he got brave enough to come up to me and eat out of my hand. The picture story of that event is in his book, A Marvelous Mustang: Tales from the Life of a Spanish Horse.

I named my colt, Skan. He quickly showed me that conventional training methods were not going to work with him. The lack of written information on taming and halter training shocked me, but I did find some useful material in the fields of classical dressage and natural horsemanship. I made some mistakes, but did find or figure out some techniques that worked well with him.

At each step of the way on our long road together, I asked myself what was he thinking or feeling as he interacted with me and decided to keep detailed notes of our experiences. To help me understand him, I wrote these notes from his point of view. These records turned into the “Marvelous Me”

The Evolution of a Book - by Janice M. Ladendorf

stories that were published regularly in the SMR Annual.

I have been writing for publication since 1966. Eventually I decided his fascinating story could be of interest to all horse lovers and turned my records into a book that describes our first four years together. Like the “Marvelous Me” stories, it is told from his viewpoint. Since I did not want to make it discipline specific, I stopped at the point where Skan had learned to enjoy the riding game.

Skan and Me

Ten years later, this book had been re-written over and over, but still had not found a publisher. Nobody wanted to believe that a non-fiction memoir could be successfully written from an animal’s point of view. In June of 2010, I decided to try self publishing.

In this new field, the author keeps the copyright, but has to invest money to produce the book and hope to re-gain it from the higher royalties. In standard publishing, the author has no control over what his publisher does with his manuscript. In self publishing, the author does have control. After many battles, I did get the layout and photographs done the way I wanted them done and the book came out just before Christmas. I was especially pleased with the cover designs that were based on my suggestions and created by my publisher.

In standard publishing, most of the marketing is done before publication. In self publishing, it is done afterwards and often by the author. One of my

first goals was to set up a website. To find out more about A Marvelous Mustang and my other publications, you may go to www.jladendorf.com.

Various experts, including Marye Ann Thompson and Lucia Roda, have sent me favorable comments on Skan’s story. Other readers have also told me how much they have enjoyed it. Several have entered favorable reviews on Amazon. A surprising number have bought it as a gift for a horse loving friend or relative.

Skan is now semi-retired and still lives with Jane and Wes, the Zen Cowboys, near Lonsdale, Minnesota. In our sixteen years together, I have often seen him enjoy making friends with people. Recently, he just had his first visit from a fan and had a great time showing off for her. Others have already asked if they can visit him. My marvelous mustang always does a great job of convincing his admirers, young and old, that he really is a very special horse.loving friend or relative.

Skan with a new friend and fan

Skan is now semi-retired and still lives with Jane and Wes, the Zen Cowboys, near Lonsdale, Minnesota. In our sixteen years together, I have often seen him enjoy making friends with people. Recently, he just had his first visit from a fan and had a great time showing off for her. Others have already asked if they can visit him. My marvelous mustang always does a great job of convincing his admirers, young and old, that he really is a very special horse.