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page 3: DOING THINGS WITH DAVENPORT
HORSES
Endurance
We've
had several emails about Davenports in endurance competition. Obviously, Davenports
enjoy this sport.
From Jay Wilson of Las Vegas, Nevada: Just a note to tell you that the
Davenports did well. This week-end Gwen Farmer and a young friend of her's
and Chris Leombruno and I went to Gunnison, Utah and participated in the Hells
Kitchen endurance ride. We all completed and the horses did great! At the
vet checks Bah-Rani, our stallion, HF Sir Edwin our gelding, Persephone CF,
and Dekadas LF all received an A grade from the vet. He said our horses were
outstanding nose to tail. ...
Unfortunately, we have learned that Dekadas passed away this winter. Her dam,
Persephone, was still competitive at age 19 and after a number of foals. What
a mare! Our sympathies to the Farmers on the loss of Dekadas. Too soon, too
soon.
Gwen & Persephone
From Linda Sherrill (who recently moved to New Mexico from Michigan): Artemisia
and I finished the Paso del Norte 30 mile ride yesterday along the Mexican
border. She is now officially a bandita! ha ha. She did an awsome job. Looks
great this morning and actually ended up doing a 34 mile ride since someone
(me) missed a turn and rode into Mexico... oops. You would have gotten such
a kick out of her when she encountered her first longhorn steers on trail!
Took her 20 minutres to go a mile because she was so scared of getting too
close to them. Anyhow, we had a great ride. I am so happy with this horse!
Thank you so much for the privilege of owning her.
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From Mermaids in Lake Michigan... |
to Banditas in New Mexico! |
A later report:
In a nutshell, Artemisia CF gave me the ride of her life last Saturday
at the Indian Springs Ride in New Mexico. It was the toughest ride I've probably
ever done. I know it was the toughest one she's ever done. We went from a
saddleback ridge down into a rock canyon complete with a creek, aspen trees
and pine tree groves. Rode the rocks and the creekbed approx. a mile and a
half in between the canyon rock walls and went down switchbacks (very steep)
into the canyon. Getting up was equally as tough! Beautiful scenery—south
of Socorro, New Mexico and north of Truth or Consequences on a private cattle
ranch. We barely finished the ride in time (everyone was gawking at the scenery)
and still tied for 5th place! I have NEVER been prouder of Artemisia. What
a gal! She dealt with the rocks all day including hills and arroyos. Acted
like she had always done rides out west! Michigan certainly does not have
terrain like this, although we learned to deal with deep sand there! Every
state has its own endurance ride challenges.
And still later:
Just thought you'd like to know, Artemisia did back-to-back 35 milers
on Saturday and Sunday along the Mexican/New Mexican border for a total of
70 miles for the weekend. She won on Saturday and also got Best Condition,
and came in second on Sunday. Not sure if she got Best Condition or not for
Sunday yet. We had to leave before the awards banquet. I'll keep you updated,
but she is doing awesome! I'm sure it's because I'm able to ride so much more
down here. I can take 60 degree weather in January at an endurance ride! No
problem! Or, as they say down here, No problemo! I am so proud of her!
<PS: She was Best Condition on Sunday, too!>
from Jeanie Miller: Fin [Fin deSiecle CF, now owned by Bobbi Hinckley]
is now at my barn and she and Rowdy [Rubato CF] are best pals. She is a mare,
that is for sure, but she cowtows to [Jeanie's old mare] Maggie who has been
the boss for 12 years so she isn't going to mess around with the old boss
mare! ... She will be 6 this spring and I suspect she isn't going to be done
growing until she is 8. She has to bulk out yet and I am sure she will get
some more height, too.
Bobbi and I have great training rides on the two Davenports. Their spooks
are in unison and we are always amazed that we are still in the saddle!! Fin
has learned to go thru water, how to go up hills, and her trot is beginning
to lengthen. Bobbi loves her canter. I have a new digital camera so once the
sun goes out and it isn't so gloomy out, I will get some pics and email them
to you so you can see....
Fin and Bobby join Nathan on Rowdy and Aaron on his Quarter Horse for a stroll in the park.
Parelli Play Days
From Debbie Mackie: The type of natural horsemanship taught by Pat Parelli has become popular here in central Illinois. People attend his clinics, read his books, study his video tapes, and apply what they have learned in actual hands-on horsemanship. Some of these afficionados are Davenport people: Debbie Mackie, Kirby Drennan, and Nancy Becker are among them. On May 9, 2004, a group of ten of them gathered at Kirby Drennan's with their horses to enjoy a potluck and then to have the fun of letting the horses become accustomed to a bunch of weird obstacles.
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They encountered: a tarp held down by buckets of water, an umbrella, some
twirly things, a plastic bag full of soda cans, a big plastic tarp to "wear,"
a big yellow rain poncho, milk jugs and a shredded shower curtain both hung
from some trees so the could be squeezed under, poles to squeeze over or lead
through, a gate and a narrow area to back through, barrels to go over, a paddock
to practice sideways along the fence or to ride in if people wanted a small
paddock. Everybody loaded into strange horse trailers. There was a pond, and
they practiced sending horses out into the water. The horses all did fine.
People had a grand time. In addition to the fun, $120 was raised for Illinois
Al Khamsa.
Mounted Shooting
From Aida Schreiber: I just wanted to let you know that Mystic and I participated in a Mounted Shooter's practice, and he is now a very good Mounted Shooting horse. He turned some (all) heads and surprised just about everyone. We shot a 47 second round, all balloons hit, on our 3rd and last round. We would have been faster, but I put away my first gun after only balloon four, had my second in my hand when I realized my mistake, holstered it and tried unholstering my 1st one, which was stuck. I had to use 2 hands while galloping round the barrel to get it out and hit the 5th balloon. We got applause for that one. Arab has a new ring to it for the folks at the practice, and Davenport is a new word! We want to see this!!
How the Wounded Arab Sheik Got Back to the Tent
We heard about an
extraordinary story with a horse which Stephanie Parlove had experienced,
so we wrote to ask her about it. This was her reply:
I broke my wrist last
month and although the cast is off, I am still recovering. There is, of course,
a wonderful horse story attached to the pain and frustration of the entire
event and I thought it might be one you would enjoy.
The story can get confusing so it helps to know we run all the "big boy"
(technical horse term) stallions together in one large area. Currently there
are three of them rooming together—Hasan Shammari, Rasan, and Nahar.
We are fortunate to have some of Roger Armstrong's horses here for what I
call an extended sleep over. One of Roger's kids is Rasan, a 12 year old Cinnabar/Boomer
baby. [DDA Rasan, by Letarnad out of Cinnabar CF] Now Rasan loves to be groomed
beyond what is reasonable and if you are anywhere within his sight with a
grooming tool of any kind, he will good naturedly "encourage" you
to comb him pretty much until your arm comes out of the socket and falls to
the ground. So I had just grabbed a brush after cleaning stalls and had combed
Rasan into oblivian and moved on to giving a quick comb to Hasan Shammari.
Hasan is a timid boy and we are working on his confidence level. He was enjoying
his grooming experience when Rasan realized there was still a gooming brush
within three miles of him. Rasan calmly and without malice was walking toward
us to see if there was the slightest chance he could wrangle an extra stroke
or 50 out of me when Hasan saw him coming and became nervous despite a total
lack of aggressive signals or behavior on Rasan's part. Anyhow, Hasan Shammari
stepped on that little tiny area between my foot and the end of my shoe virtually
pinning my foot to the ground as he tried to get past me before Rasan arrived.
Then, while making his retreat, he bumped me with his side at the same time
his foot came off my shoe and I fell backward like too many pounds of something
scary and hit rump first followed closely by two wrists. Unfortunately I was
on an incline and my right wrist took a tremendous impact and broke the radius
by my thumb.
By this time Hasan Shammari was beginning to act a bit like Chicken Little
doing "the sky is falling" number. Fortunately, as sure and steady
as the passing of time itself, Rasan arrived at where I was sitting on the
ground. He looked at me and moved slowly where he was centered in front of
me and Hasan could not accidentally create havoc. I looked at sweet Rasan
and I said to him "big boy come down here and help me up, these old bones
can't do it today, and that baby boy lowered his big old beautiful head, looked
right at me and offered me his neck and his mane. I tried to get up that way
but couldn't—no grip—so I said to him "thank you", sweetie,
just give me a minute and I'll get up. And I did, but it wasn't pretty and
involved rolling and awkward balancing and images too frightening to share!
Rasan waited and when I did get up we walked side-by-side over to the side
of the corral and he stayed there while I gave him big kisses and praised
his mighty spirit. I told him "You do your Mama and Daddy proud, Rasan,
and I knew them both.... Everyone should be blessed with a "Rasan"
experience just once in their lives, just once...