Author: Kelly Hurd (Page 4 of 4)

Sundance Kid

In 1986 a beautiful colt was born and I was on my way to see him for the first time. I was trying hard to restrain my excitement on the trip to East Texas with my parents. They were ready to purchase an Original Indian Horse for me. I really did not think there could be another horse for me other than Apache, our AA colt who was previously lost in a tragic accident, but then I met Sunny. Sunny was nothing like Apache, they are two very different but both wonderful horses. Sunny’s dam, Penny’s Sundance and sire, the well known Choctaw Sundance, were bred by Leanna and Vickie. Born in March of 1986 just four days before I turned 14, Sunny started out as The Sun King. Unfortunately I had not yet discovered the Beatles and lacked appreciation for this name (don’t worry this issue has since been remedied). I always dreamed of having a real horse named Sundance. I played with a buckskin Breyer horse incessantly as a youngster which I called Sundance, so his name became The Sundance Kid. Since both his parents bore the name Sundance, I felt it fit.

The moment I met Sunny it was clear we were meant to be, at least that is how I saw it. Of course being an immature teenage girl I expected the “meant to be” to come easy. I was dead set on training him myself, even though I had no experience with horse training. Sunny really seemed very easy to train as far as the basics went. The first time I climbed aboard Sunny he just twisted his head around and looked back at me amused. He never gave me a hard time about it. Winning his respect was the goal I had to earn. I quickly discovered Sunny was a fast learner and I was the one teaching him some bad habits. It was not uncommon for him to out smart me. Sunny taught me a great deal. I had to work for his respect, trust, and friendship. He challenged me, and I must admit there were a few moments when I thought maybe we were not meant to be. I’m happy to say today we are best buddies and he follows me around like a love sick puppy. The work needed to bind our relationship was well worth it.

Initially Sunny’s training went easy. We had lots of time to spend together. However, heading off to college really set us back as I was in San Marcos and he was in Dallas. So I decided to take him along my second year of college. I soon realized working and going to school full time left little to no time for Sunny, even though I had him close by. Boarding cost was a problem as well. I got into one of my “maybe this is not to be” moods and I felt he really needed a person who could spend time with him. He deserved lots of attention, which at the time I was unable to give. Fortunately, the president of AIHR, Nanci Falley lived close by. Nanci could help me find a good safe home for him, as we would have it no other way.

Sure enough Nanci brought Sunny and the Scott family together and kept him at her place just down the road in Lockhart which meant I could visit him! I was also fortunate to see their son Josh Scott show Sunny at one of the AIHR annual events. Sunny looked great. I was pleased with his good home, but he was missed. As Josh grew older he also had less time for Sunny and once again Sunny was leading an idle life. I enjoyed visiting him at Nanci’s but my heart was aching to have him back, especially since I graduated and had time for him. Chris (my husband now) really encouraged me to ask for him back and had a place I could keep him. Nanci arranged for me to meet with Jesse and Ann Scott again and they generously offered him back to me for the same price he was originally sold. I was overjoyed, we were back together! We have enjoyed participating in several AIHR shows, pleasure trail riding, clinics, and just hanging out together. The Scott family visits with him at the shows and annual AIHR open house and are always welcome to come and see Sunny. Sunny has made a great AIHR model, he has represented the breed in the books 96 Horse Breeds of North America on page 38 and The Official Horse Breeds Standards Guide on page 17 and made an appearance in The American Indian Horse Registry documentary video.

Thanks for being my pal and teacher. Your buddy always, Kelly

Sunny is a striking overo dunn adobe paint with apron face, black mane and tail with auburn highlights, zebra striping on his front legs, three white stockings, a tear drop marking under his right eye, and up close you can see the outer edges of his eyes are a dark blue. As far as I’m concerned he is the most gorgeous horse ever. On top of his good looks he is a character and has taught me more about working with horses then anyone. He has an attitude that I love and respect. A smile on my face is always present when watching him throw his head and prance around like he owns the place. By the way he does own the place, and at age 24 he remains top horse in our herd hierarchy.

The AIHR Spotlight is on Timber Ghost. Thank you Vicki for sharing his story.

Timber Ghost was foaled in Sand Springs, OK to the famous old mare Little Corn, an older mare who I had loaned to a friend who was supposed to keep her for the foal she was carrying. Little did I know, he chose to abort the foal we had bred, sent her to Jerry and Gina Hilligoss’s stallion Beetlejuice in OK, and then never returned to pick her up. I had no idea that the friend had done ANY of those things until Jerry called me to tell me that she had foaled and was so weak from foaling that she went down. I was shocked, appalled and furious when I heard how Little Corn, then 22 years old, had been treated by the person to whom I had entrusted her.

When the Hilligoss family realized that I didn’t even know that Little Corn had been left with them, they set to work to save the little grullo foal and his dam. Jerry put the foal on his mare Chataqua (along with her own filly), and the dun mare happily raised both babies. Little Corn was kept in a sling for days until she regained her strength and I could pick her up. Because of all the work and time the Hilligoss family had put in to save Little Corn and her boy, I left the foal with Jerry and Gina (and Chataqua).

The baby was duly named “Timber Ghost” because Jerry wanted a ghost name to remind everyone that his sire was Beetlejuice. Jerry told me that the foal looked “just like a ghost flitting through the timber”. He was sold to Ed Lumley where he stayed and sired his first foals. Then in 2009 Ed decided to get out of the horse business, so he returned the young stallion to Jerry who offered him to me. I headed for OK and bought him as soon as I laid eyes on him.

So Ghost had come full circle. Karma is such a wonderful thing. On paper I was his breeder as I was the owner of Little Corn, but until the day I picked up the grullo stallion, I had never laid eyes on him. But once I threw a leg over his back, I found his gaits to be as smooth as silk. And though he needed lots of training to be finished, he was athletic, willing, tough and fast. I had aspirations of gelding him and selling him when I bought him, but once I’d set on his back, the thought of selling him vanished. If ever there was an older lady’s stallion, this Ghost was him. Watch for Timber Ghost and I in the show ring and on the trail. Some things were simply meant to be.

Fernando and his friend Tommi. Thank you Tommi for sharing Ferdie's story.

Fernando was born in the West Texas town of Monahan, bred by Las Remudas Ranch when Buddy Ice and his wife Wanda had Choctaw Sun Dance on leave from us at Karma Farms. “Ferdie” is out of Margerita, one of two well-known daughters of Broom and Pie. Margerita and her full sister Dainty Bess have produced numerous champions, but Ferdie is undoubtedly her best known foal. Today he is the Most Decorated Colonial Spanish Horse in the World. But what most folks don’t know about him is the rough start he got.

Ferdie was born the same year Wanda Ice was going down hill with emphysema. She was in and out of the hospital, and Buddy—who used to spend his days out with the horses—now spent them at his dying wife’s side. While lying on her death bed, Wanda asked that if Buddy could no longer care for the horses without her, she asked that the horses go to Vickie Ives of Karma Farms. After she passed away, Buddy honored her wishes, and Karma Farms inherited 47 head of wonderful mostly Brislawn foundation bred horses from of the Horse of the Americas foundation herd. One of them was a little black yearling with a big star and snip by Choctaw Sun Dance out of Margerita.

Unfortunately, while Wanda’s health had declined, so had the condition of the Ice horses. The hired help who were supposed to be taking care of the horses during a horrible and terrible time in the Ices’ lives weren’t, knowing Buddy wasn’t going to be there to check on them. Very few horses reflected the neglect more than the band of yearlings that included Ferdie who was too small and in need of deworming and with a case of popping stifles. Both back legs would lock up behind him, making it questionable rather he would ever be able to carry weight. But one should never doubt the strength of a Spanish pony. Ferdie grew out of the worst of it, and at 4 years old was ready to ride.

Enter a somewhat shy and scraggly 10 year old girl: myself, Tommi, who had been watching the teenagers working for us at the time learning to break horses all summer. I eventually worked up the courage to ask Mom (Vickie) if I could help break the horses, too. A few days later she brought me outside and introduced me to Ferdie, tied in the round pen with a saddle on his back.

That was the first time I rode The Little Black Horse, and the first time he was ridden. I’m sure we both knew our lives were changing that day, but there is no way we could have had any idea about the impact we would have on each other.

Fast forward, Ferdie has been under saddle for a few months and will do anything I ask of him. I can ride him all over East Texas—and do—and he’s more than eager to go, ready to see new sights and learn new skills. He was fast, tough, and willing. I couldn’t have been prouder: the first horse I ever broke and anyone could do anything with him. Mom had told me he was for sale, and that I got a cut of the money once he found a good home, so I peddled him to anyone who showed up looking for a good riding horse. And then, just as everything was going good, something horrible happened.

We sold him.

Okay, yes, selling a horse that is, in fact, for sale is usually the desired result, but I had no idea how attached I’d gotten to the little guy. The night after I turned him over to his new owner, who’d bought him for her grandkids, I cried all night long. Apparently, the feeling was mutual: Ferdie’s new owner Peggy had left him overnight in a stall, and when she went back the next day to take him home, she said he nickered. She said he wasn’t talking to her, though—he was looking for me.

Weeks roll on, and I missed Ferdie deeply. Mom still tells folks how I cried every night after Ferdie left right up until the night Peggy called. “Ferdie’s done too good a job, Vik,” she said, “I need one I can ride in NATRC. Can I trade him back for another one that you’ll guarantee sound for distance?”

The moment they unloaded Ferdie from Peggy’s trailer, I was on his back and hugging his neck. He was happy to see me, too. We played like that for a while, and I told Mom that Ferdie was never leaving again unless I went with him next time.

My Mother was horrified.

“Tommi, that horse can never do distance,” she said. Because even though he’d outgrown the popping stifles, he still had problems in the back end and was often very weak. She didn’t think he could carry even my weight for the 15-20 miles of a Novice ride in NATRC, much less a 20-30 Open ride. She begged me to pick another horse, any other horse we had, just not Ferdie.

But I knew better. I’d trained that horse, ridden him many miles, to the point where we were not just horse and rider: we were friends. I knew what my Little Black Horse could do, and had faith he could do anything I asked him to do, be it jump to the moon or swim the ocean. Riding a NATRC ride would be a piece of cake.

Ferdie’s first ride was at Angelina National Forest near Jasper, TX. We did Novice. Out of the five juniors who finished, Ferdie not only came across the timing line still fresh and happy, but had impressed the judges enough to earn first place. After that, Mom’s tune changed to, “What’s the next ride we can get Ferdie to?”

Some would say that the rest is history. Ferdie went Open his next ride, and after a few years earned his National Championship in NATRC. He now has over 1000 miles in NATRC competition. His accomplishments in AIHR are far too numerous to name, though he earned AIHR’s highest honor—the Supreme Hall of Fame Award—a few years ago. The parade and exhibitions he has done are ‘way, ‘way too many to name, including two appearances alongside Rowdy Yates at Breyerfest. But what’s really impressive is what he does for other people. Anyone can ride Ferdie, from a 4 year old to a delicate grandma. Even someone who can ride well can enjoy him. At this point in his life, he has probably taught over 200 people how to ride, and introduced some important people to Colonial Spanish Horses.

But I know my Little Black Horse well still. Now 17 years old (and me now at 23 and concentrating on other horses), we both know full well his days of winning are far from done. Anytime there is an event we are participating in at Karma Farms, our client kids will literally get into fights over who gets to ride Ferdie. And just as he’s done for kids since I was one myself, the kid that rides Ferdie usually takes home a ribbon. But no matter how many people ride him, or how many awards he may win, or how well known he is or will become, one thing remains true between the two of us: we are not horse and rider. We are friends.