Stepping up down-under with Chrissy, the line-dancing horse

Have you spotted Chrissy, the line-dancing horse? No, she’s not a big, fancy Warmblood dressage horse, trained in classical exercises. But she’s no brumby, either.

This fancy-stepping mare is all about country music. She's won awards for her fancy footwork, and she’s gone positively viral. If you haven’t seen Chrissy, the line-dancing horse, they you ought to catch a glance.

Chrissy is owned by the Marshall family of Australia, where she often wows crowds with her rhythm.

The chestnut mare trips the light fantastic on the dance floor.

The Marshall’s Chrissy has even caught the eye of Bill Bader, the famous Canadian line-dancing choreographer and instructor. Bader is perhaps best known for creating the “Boot-Scootin’ Boogie,” founding the Professional Association of Line Dancers, and orchestrating several Guinness World Record attempts and successes in line dancing.

Lest you suspect we’re a bit around the twist, take a look for yourself at Chrissy, the line-dancing horse.

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Who’s got some tickle in their shoes now, after seeing such a sight?

OK, so Chrissy may not know how to half-pass, but we’d bet she’s not half-bad at the Texas Two-Step. What other horse knows line dancing?

Note to Jerry and Ann Moss, racing trainer John Shirreffs, and Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs: Maybe Zenyatta could try this, once the prancing princess of the paddock has weaned her little prince.  Of course, the Zen-girl's soundtrack would be considerably different. (Paging Sting, stat!)

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Chrissy, the line-dancing mare of Australia

Video Screenshot/Fair Use Photo

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A to Z horses – Working Western with Windy

Whoa! Look at that!

“She is an all-around mare,” Johnson said, describing her seven-year-old purebred Arabian horse Windy.

Registered with the Arabian Horse Association as HRA Windstar (De Strikit Rich x Barons Class Act), Windy comes from the famous Bask Polish Arabian bloodlines.

She stands 14.2 hands high. Johnson acquired the lovely 2004 mare as a two year old and started her under saddle at her home farm, where she has six additional horses.

Johnson has described Windy as a sensitive horse and a calm and willing learner.

“Windy is a sweet horse and very smart,” the Minnesota equestrian explained. “She’s too smart, in fact. She’s the first one to figure out when the pasture fence isn’t hot, or if someone forgets to latch the gate. Fortunately, she just heads out to the front lawn to graze.”

“With her beautiful floating gaits, Windy is great at Western Dressage,” Johnson added. The black mare is schooling in Western Dressage, but she also does well with trail riding. And Johnson’s daughter Kaija has been practicing barrel racing with the mare.

Based in Maple Lake, Minnesota, Johnson is active with Midwest Western Dressage, a regional group of horseback riding enthusiasts in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Incorporated in 2010, Midwest Western Dressage offers clinics and special events in this emerging discipline.

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Last year’s A to Z post: Watching and Waiting for Wonder

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Windy photos provided by Jen Johnson

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A to Z horses – Peek In! It’s Peaches!

Kathy Brost’s 2000 bay American Quarter Horse mare is a peach indeed.

Peach of an Asset (nicknamed Peaches) is Brost’s Western wonder. Standing 15.3 hands high, Peaches pleasingly partners with Brost in the riding arena and on the trail.

The pair has been spotted on bridle paths outside West Bend, Wisconsin, in packs and even alone. 

Rumor has it that Brost may occasionally be overheard, carrying a tune, while Peaches carries her for a happy outdoor excursion.

“She’s my soul mare,” Brost said. “Peaches has attitude, but I love it.”

Peaches lives at Western Trails Equestrian Center of West Bend. 

Recently retired after 25 years in the airline industry, Brost schools the 12-year-old mare in Western Dressage and Western Pleasure. Peaches even jumps in-hand with Brost.

“I’m a novice rider. Peaches is safe, with just enough challenge to keep me interested,” Brost commented. “She’s a smooth ride and a great friend.”

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Last year’s A to Z post: Petrifying Ponies

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Peaches photos provided by Kathy Brost

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A to Z horses – Gotta Love Guinness the Great

Guinness is a 1991 retired Thoroughbred racehorse, but he’s anything but idle.

This handsome bay, standing 16 hands high, is the treasured mount of Wisconsin equestrian and animal lover Sarah Ramsak and her whole family.

This handsome horse comes from prized pedigrees of racing, tracing back to such famous Thoroughbred sires as Bold Ruler, Native Dancer, War Admiral and Man of War.

In his youth, Guinness had a very short track career, starting in just a dozen races and winning close to $1,500. Under his registered name (Twosie Ensign), he raced at Arlington, Calder, Gulfstream and other top tracks.

He never placed higher than fourth, even with such skilled jockeys as Earlie Fires.(Maybe that's why he's still strong and sound and raring to go at the ripe old age of 21.)

But Guinness places first in Sarah’s book.

This saintly off-the-track-Thoroughbred (OTTB) peacefully packs diapered toddlers for pony rides, kindly carries non-horse-savvy  boyfriends for lead line strolls, lopes lovely lackadaisical loops for Sarah's sister Rachel and tolerates a bit of dressage for their mom, Lindsey.

He also jumps the moon for Sarah.

Guinness has won ribbons in the dressage and hunter rings and taken scenic trail rides.

In 2011, Guinness put on a show in the Liberty Presentations at the Midwest Horse Fair in Madison. 

He also tried his first trail class in the Wind Rider Challenge, performing most respectably and even crossing the horse-eating bridge. Turning on the forehand in a plastic hula hoop was significantly more scary, though.

That fall, Guinness earned his first Western Pleasure and Speed Class ribbons as well. Who knew an OTTB could compete in barrel racing and plug classes?

Barn hands have fondly tagged Guinness as “El Santo,” and the Ramsak family has to agree.

Go, Guinness.

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Guinness photos provided by the Ramsak Family

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A to Z horses – Finding Fancy and Following Frog

Fancy’s back in action.

Rescued from a slaughter pen as a yearling, Fancy Bonanza Doll is an American Quarter Horse, now adored by Wisconsin equestrian Becky Ellis.

Initially, the 2003 sorrel mare was nicknamed “Wheezy,” as she was sick and frail to start. An Ohio woman adopted her, but returned the young horse to the rescue organization.

“That’s where I found her,” Ellis explained. “I got Fancy when she was four and spent a year getting to know her and doing ground work.”

Approximately one year later, Fancy suffered a traumatic shoulder injury after another horse kicked her in the pasture. 

After several veterinary consultations and a month of stall rest for Fancy, Ellis sent the horse to the Wisconsin Equine Clinic and Hospital in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, where she underwent shoulder surgery (see video, below).

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Fancy recuperated for 60 days at the EquiSpa of Bristol, Wisconsin, before returning home. Finally, some six months later, the mare enjoyed her first pasture turnout since the accident.

Today, Ellis enjoys riding Fancy on the trails and at horse shows. The horse even has her own Facebook fan page.

“She has had it rough in her short life,” Ellis recounted, “but she is a trooper.”

Frog is a prince-to-be.

Frog’s real name is He Honor’s Texas, but the yearling Quarter Horse is growing by leaps and bounds and living up to his pet moniker.

The 2011 sorrel stud colt, owned by barrel horse trainer Robin Jerdee Schmidt, is a favorite at Robin’s Bay Station Ranch in Eagle, Wisconsin.

(Watch for Schmidt in the Gaming with the Stars competition at the 2012 Midwest Horse Fair in Madison, Wisconsin, later this month!)

“Frog is a love around the farm,” Schmidt commented. “We have a few young girls that have adored him from day one.”

In fact, Schmidt was so captured by the devotion of one of the barn kids that she allowed the girl to lease Frog for six months for just $10.

 

The colt was tagged as Frog because he stuck close to his dam, Lilly,” when he was born. As he grows, Frog is likely headed for the racetrack before hitting the barrel circuit.

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Fancy photos provided by Becky Ellis

Frog photos provided by Robin Schmidt

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A to Z horses - Behold Blackjack & Bentley

The Mane Point features two special horses today, both offering hard-luck stories with happy endings.

From BLM to prison break before better times

Blackjack is a 29-year-old Mustang mare, descended from the original Kiger herd and rounded up almost 25 years ago on Oregon’s Riddle Mountain. She was sent to a Wyoming prison to be broken, where she put several prisoners in the hospital, perhaps before she turned three.

“Needless to say, she broke the prisoners,” explained her owner, South Dakota police dog training expert Jonni Joyce. “She was not broke when I got her in 1986. She was tough when she was young.”

Over the years, Joyce patiently worked with the mare. Eventually, she even put 4-H kids in the saddle on Blackjack.

“She never hurt me,” Joyce said. “I think she has mellowed tremendously in her old age.”

In July 2011, Blackjack was retired to live on the peaceful farm of Rob and Kim Weber, of Weber’s Retired Horses in Princeton, Kentucky.

“[Blackjack] talks more than any other horse I have ever been around,” observed Kim, who has spent decades training horses and teaching equestrians. She’s … a lovely little mare.”

From the track to the show ring

Young equestrian McKenna Calabrese loves to draw and paint horses, and her favorite subject is an off-the-track-Thoroughbred named Better Than a Bentley. Calabrese leases the five-year-old retired gelding from Kathryn Kowalczyk.

Bentley retired from racing in February 2011, and he has gone from jumpy to jumping.

Arriving at a Union Grove, Wisconsin, boarding stable, the seal bay horse was extremely thin, but Calabrese and Kowalczyk have nurtured him and nudged him into the show arena. Just a few months after Bentley left the track, Calabrese was proudly displaying his horse show ribbons.

“We went to a few open shows over the summer,” Calabrese recounted. “We did very well, placing in a few jumping classes and even a Western Pleasure class.”

With each new month, Bentley continues to approach a healthy weight and to regain a lush coat, even as his hunter training continues.

“I can’t wait to see how he does in the 2012 show season!” Calabrese exclaimed.

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• Thoroughly Thoroughbreds - What's the Horse of Your Dreams?

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Blackjack photos

From Kim Weber - Used by permission.

Bentley Before-and-After

From McKenna Calabrese – Used by permission.

Bentley at 2011 Lake County

Mounted Posse Horse Show

Linda Ann Nickerson - Nickers and Ink

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Weekend Roundup: Feb. 18-19 horse highlights

Wisconsin equestrians and Midwestern horse lovers are enjoying a warmer-than-usual winter season, and this weekend carries this recreational respite forward.

What will you do with your horses this weekend? Here are several exciting equestrian options for the third weekend of February.

• Mandt Equestrian presents winter fun horse show February 18th
• UW – Madison presents Horse Conformation seminar February 18th
• Haflinger sleigh rally opts for wheels on February 18th

 Other weekend events for horse lovers include:

• February 18^th – Mandt Equestrian Center Winter Fun Show – Oregon, Wisconsin
• February 18^th – Cattle Basics Workshop – Boyceville, Wisconsin
• February 18^th – Heartland Stables Beat the Blues Horse Show – Custer, Wisconsin
• February 18^th – Chism Trail Ranch Team Roping/Calf Roping/Breakaway – Merrill, Wisconsin
• February 18^th-19^th – Showtime Arena Winter Series (barrel racing and pole bending) – Deerfield, Wisconsin
• February 19^th – Rock County 4-H Tack Swap – Janesville, Wisconsin

Are you headed for one of these fun-filled events, or do you know of another? Please leave a comment and a link! Or tag me on your Facebook event page for this weekend’s and future events (for possible press coverage).

Or do you plan to spend time with your own favorite horses this weekend? What are you up to this week, equine enthusiasts?

Please be on the lookout for these missing horses!

Friesian show horses reported stolen overnight in Spring Grove

Four young Friesian sport horse mares vanished overnight from a farm in northern Illinois. A widespread search is underway in Illinois, Wisconsin and even nationwide. Breeder and barn owner Claudia Haugh, of Royal Ebony Friesian Sport Horses, stepped outside Friday... (Click title to read the rest of the story.)

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Winter Horse photo by Pete Markham

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