Hi! And welcome to our fun page. A lot of things always happen with our family and beloved Appaloosas, so I thought it would be neat to build a page for fun things we do, besides the horse showing and the foals. As I come across pictures I will add them to this site, along with a little commentary.
One thing we became involved in was Ride 4 America. A group of guys started horse back riding from the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 2002, the seven year anniversary of the bombing.
Joe and I started riding in endurance rides in the middle of May, 2002. The Appaloosa Horse Club offers a medallion to every horse that completes 350 miles in sanctioned endurance rides in a calendar year (December 1st to November 30th), and that had become a goal. Joe rode Star Fire of Rose, our Tennessee Walker mare, and I rode our stallion, Secret Mr BarReed.
Kim on Mister, Joe on Rose, Jason Summers,
Gary Conger, Sonny Malone, and Tim Myers
Their final destination was Manhattan, New York at the site of the twin trade towers on September 11, 2002, the one year anniversary of the tragedy there. Their main goal is to collect donations for the children who have lost parents due to these two tragedies.
The group Ride 4 America rode through Missouri during May and into June. My son, Joe, and I cuaght up with them on June 3rd and rode with them on the 4th and 5th, joining them to receive a proclamation from the state of Missouri on the 5th at the steps of the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri. It was such an honor!
As of July 6th, 2002 Mister and I had completed 150 miles! We have ridden in Ilinois, Missouri, and at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. We rode 50 miles in a day with vet checks at least every 16 miles, or so. The vets will pull you in a second if they do not feel comfortable with the health of your horse. That way no one kills their horse. I have nothing to fear, for I have always finished last, up to this point! Lisa Sargent Stein Norris has been a large help thanks to her several years of participating in this crazy sport.
To finish is to win!!!!
Mister and me at the Dead Dog Creek ride in Illinois. We had a fall, with him face first into a large amount of mud! I landed in a blackberry bush. The mud on me is from wiping it out of his eyes.
Tim Myers, on the left, was caught shaving.
I am sure it's a good thing!
On the right, Denny the cook, Gary, Tim, Larry Summers, Jason Summers, and Sonny Malone posed next o the saddle that only carries donated
badges from police and fire departments along their journey..
On the left, here, is part of the group lining up at camp for the ride on June 4th. On the right is another picture in front of the Missouri State Capitol with all of the group, only. Two of their trucks and the trailer behind
them were donated for the trip by supporters in Oklahoma.
**** Sadly, Tim Myers passeed away of a heart attack while at work March, 2005. He'll be greatly missed.
This is us at the West Peoria, Illinois ride. This was the last one we finished, which only brought us to 200 miles for the year. As much as I wanted to earn a medallion in this category, I have decided to let it go, for now. I enjoy jumping a lot more than the endurance riding, and Mister's legs need to be fit to do either sport. So, jumping it is!
This was a photo I took on March 17th, 2002. From closest to farthest;our mare Prince's Bonanza Bar (Dolly), our mare R Plaudit's Calico Cloud (Calico),our gelding, Gavelin S. S. (sadly put to sleep July 29th, 2003 because of a broken leg), and our stallion, Secret Mr BarReed (Mister).
Mister seemed very proud standing next to the bronze of his great grand sire, Secretariat, at the
Kentucky Horse Park on October 11, 2003.
Mister received a trim before his official debut.
The Peter Stone Mister models were lined up so nice with all the other ICAA models. I think the jumping Mister was the best! Mister did, too!!
On October 11th, 2003 Lola Abeln, Carla Adams, Joseph, Mister,and I were in Kentucky at the Kentucky Horse Park for the debut of the Peter Stone model of
Mister on the pebbles mold and the one of a kind
award on the jumping mold at the ICAA meeting.
This is my son, Joe, and our cat, DC, riding double on Mister around January 3rd, 2004. Joe has started riding English on Mister, and he started over fences on Mister, and on Jewel, about January 12th. I have to say he is doing a tremendous job! DC chooses not to try to stay on while Mister is going very fast, unless he's being held. He happens to be very comfortable on the horses! I do apologize for the orange color of the photo; I will get to fixing that some time in the near future. ;)
The next morning we headed out to ride in the May Fest parade. After the parade I caught up with Peter Stone and asked him if he would pose with Julie Keim, me and Mister, astride, for a couple photos. He did, then took off for a nice walk down the parking lot and was enjoying himself so much we had a hard time convincing him to dismount. We finally convinced him to hand Mister over so he could go, and he took Joe and Paulette with him for a public tour of his company. Later we were honored to sit with Peter and relax; it had been a great weekend. We headed for home that night and arrived in the driveway about 10 AM Mother's Day morning to a beautiful new red dun blanketed colt. What a great way to end the weekend!
On May 7th and 8th Joe, our friend Paulette Sedmak, and I loaded up MIster and went to Shipshewana to help Peter Stone and his company with their Stone Horse Country Fair, held during the May Fest. Shipshewana is such a wonderful town; it's an Amish and Mennonite community where the English have moved in and been welcome. For every car there was at least one horse and buggy. Definitely my kind of town!!!! We stayed at the infamous Mrs. Brown's (in Bristol, Indiana) and fell in love with Candace's and Mom's place! Mister was bedded down in Wap Spotted's stall ("Teddy" was away for the week), and Mister fell in love with Teddy's stall and companions. Friday morning we met the breakfast club at Mrs. Brown's, then headed into Shipshewana to help set up and take care of the altered model contest, managed by Candace Brown. Paulette manned the post while Candace took me to visit the Peter Stone Model Horse Company and to meet Julie Keim, Mister's model artist. After that she took me to visit the International Colored Appaloosa Association office and receive Mister's Versatlity High Point awards.
On April 23, 2004 Joseph and I, along with our horses, Mister and Jewel, participated in the Land Between The Lakes endurance ride, which was filmed for an Appaloosa promotional film, to be shown in July on a horse channel. It stormed very heavily starting at about 2:00 AM and ended about 12:30 PM, when the ride for us was almost finished! Joe rode 10 miles and pulled himself, and I finished the 25 we had signed up for. Jewel was "QQ" and Mister was "RR." How appropriate!! We left that evening and arrived in Peoria, Illinois early the next morning for an Appaloosa show where the two jumped like they were so full of energy. I understand we made it into the film. Did you see us? ;)
On May 15th and 16th, 2004 Joe, Jewel, Mister and I went to our first competitive ride of the year, trying, again, to earn a medallion, except we earned medallions on two Appaloosa horses! This ride was an NATRC ride at the Sand Ridge Forest State Park in Illinois, between Springfield and Peoria, where we finished 60 miles. We were fortunate enough to hook up with and ride most of Saturday with the NATRC legends Mary Anna Wood and her 33 year old horse Elmer Bandit; what a joy! Mary Anna taught us a few things about plants, and they both taught us several things about the trails, the pace, and how to beat the goblins!
On the weekend of May 29th and 30th Joe, Jewel, Mister and I attended the Sand Springs, Oklahoma Indian Territory competitive trail ride. Joe finished 1st in the open youth division, and I placed 8th in my division. It was a beautiful ride, and we escaped tornadoes and bad weather the whole weekend and were never rained on. I need to thank Paula and Swiss Mocha for allowing us the honor of riding with them. It was a great birthday present for Paula! ;)
The photo on the left is me and Mister, Joe and Jewel, and Bill Wicklund and Pratt's Toby IV. We were being judged riding down the hill; it was such a beautiful ride! The photos in the middle and on the right were taken when we were asked to canter, then stop. We did an exemplary job, of course!
We ended up 2004, in NATRC, with Joe fourth in the nation, Jewel fourth in the nation, fourth in the Appaloosa division, and Joe and Jewel second in Region 6 in their division!!!!! Yes, I am a proud mother!
On January 2, 2005 we had friends in from Germany. Duke, Tracy and Leilani Manera were here for a while, and we took advantage of the weather and Duke, Leilani, Starla and her daughter went riding. It was a great time!
In July, 2005, Karen Richardson (our friend we purchased Mister from) and her horse, Mister's son, Chief, Joseph and Jewel, and Dolly and I packed up and hauled to Oregon to ride on the Chief Joseph Trail Ride. It was such an awesome trip, and we were so fortunate to meet so many wonderful, interesting new friends!!!
On June 4th Jeff and I flew to Las Vegas, Nevada, to meet our friends Rob and Mark, from Leicestershire, England. We had a total blast!!!!
On March 18th, 2006 Mark and Rob were married near Rearsby, England, and Joseph an I were there to help an participate! The 18th was also the last day of the legal fox hunt in Cottsmore, Mark and Rob were married that morning. On the 17th we went to Jim Dobson's, Centaur Stud, to meet him and his family, and to meet some of Mister's relatives. Jim stood Mister's dam's brother, First Draft, and I was offered to jump one of First Draft's sons, First Class. I sadly turned the ride down so I would be fully ready for the next day's events. When we arrived back at the barn house, Joe and Rob left to fetch the fariy cakes and wine glasses for the next day's celebration, and I took their 17 hand warmblood, Rebel, out for a ride and some jumping in their fields. Later several of their friends stopped by and arrived to stay the night, and we had a fun party while we cleaned, braided and banded the horses that night. Joe became the official photographer with their video camera, and did an excellent job, I must say! We headed out early the next morning, Rob and Marks' wedding went beautifully and was heavily covered by the media, and the Cottsmoore fox hunt was a blast. Everyone was so warm and helpful. The hunt lasted over four hours, I rode Rebel (the bundle of energy) for three, and traded Dave Matthers, from Ireland, for his horse, Vanda (who was a great girl from Ireland!) for the last hour, and for most of the jumping. I need to dig up some of these photos! As a foot note, Jeff, Joe and I flew to Las Vegas in August and met Mark, Rob and Dave for another wonderful 4 days!
We had a bon fire on October 28th, 2006, and many friends attended. Two year old Chad Thompson saw his mom, Barb Welling, and Paulette Sedmack trying to put a bridle on Jewel. He looked around, found a halter within reach and did a great job trying to put that halter on Jewel, who was actually being rather helpful for Chad. How more precious can you get than this?
While I attended college (one semester at Rolla, to be exact) I co-authored a paper that was submitted for publication or presentation,a nd was accepted t\for both by the Institute of Transportation Engineering. In early August I took a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to present the paper, then went to Washington D. C. to check it out. I had not been there since I was 9 months old; oh, how things have changed! I contacted my friend, Katy Pistole (who happend to be a wonderful author), whose parents live in D. C., and I was able to stay with them while I was there. I then moved on to Bumpass, Virginia to visit Katy, and would you believe Bumpass is right next to Spottlesville, Virginia? I tried to get a picture of the Sheriff's car so you could see it for yourself! It's an Appaloosa kind of place!
