Archive for February, 2012

2012 Futurity

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

It’s that time of year again to fill out futurity paperwork. I love participating in the futurity programs. I love the challenge that comes with matching bloodlines together and seeing if they can produce an offspring that carries on the desirable qualities from both parents. Futurity programs are also a way to measure a breeder’s program as to how successful it is according to the breed standard and the direction that breed is taking. Often times when the line-up is called for all the Futurity winners and you look at them together, a consistent type will emerge. It’s an impressive sight when you can actually see the type reproduced from various programs across the country. Hats off to all the breeders who are dedicated to supporting the ASPC/AMHR Futurity programs!

We have produced 2 Futurity Champions here at Outlaw Miniatures & Shetlands and both of those AMHR fillies were sired by our stallion, D&S Tom Collins, who was himself a Futurity Champion. We also have other AMHR horses who have consistently placed with Top Ten Honors the years they were shown in their respective futurities. So we feel our breeding program is on the right track to continue the growth of AMHR.

This year we have sustained all of the AMHR horses we had in the program along with 2 Classic Shetlands in the ASPC Classic Shetland Futurity program. We will be nominating our stallion, AE Bey Star, in the Classic Shetland program and 2 of the mares he has bred for this season. We feel it’s time our breeding program was beginning to show itself stronger in the ASPC division.

Good luck to everyone participating in the AMHR/ASPC futurity programs! I look forward to seeing the results of your efforts!

 

 

Training continues….

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

We are continuing to work on breaking the classic shetland gelding to ride. This past week we introduced a rider in the saddle to him. Ummm, not too crazy about that idea at first! After some time he became accustomed to the rider and no catastrophes happened. But the gelding is confused about what is expected of him, naturally. So now it is just going to be repetition day after day for awhile. Need to contemplate a bit to decide the best way to go about teaching him to rein. He’s a smart pony and has a great personality so I want to make sure we do the training correctly. After all, he is going to be carrying around very important cargo!

Happenings

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

We got our first taste of winter over the last couple of days. Not too bad considering it is the 1st of February and we only got about 2″ of snow preceded by rain. It is welcome moisture and will help make spring greener.

Finally, after talking about it for the past 4 years we have started our classic shetland gelding, Outlaw’s Just Wanna Lil ‘MO, (known to us as Bucko) under saddle. It’s time he had some designated work to do and since we have a grandson who loves horses and wants to ride, it’s time Bucko was broke for that purpose. He has been a quick learner and has taken to the saddle with no problems at all. We’ll see how the next step goes. Our son Ethan has been doing the training with guidance from Ray.

Our plans are to start bringing show horses in later this month and actually get some conditioning started this year. We have a 3 year old AMHR mare and possibly 3 shetlands that we would like to show this year. We’ll get them started and then see as we get closer to spring how it looks like our schedule is going to work out for horse shows. I’m looking forward to show season already! We have some awesome yearling AMHR fillies that deserve to be shown so if you are looking for a show prospect, be sure to check them out!