Curly Horse Teoc's Crossing Jourdan

The best decisions are made from the gut

She came to us with our first import from America as a four month old curly pinto tobiano Curly foal. Teocs Crossing Jourdan alias Chihiro caught the sight and heart of Curly horse breeder Petra Wolf before she even came to Germany. All she wanted was to cuddle with Chihiro. At that point it was not yet to be realized how or if they could have a future together.

They both grew used to the responsibilities that they gave one another. Play, respect, skill, patience, intelligence and creativity. The ground work was so suspenseful, unique and simply wonderful. Now out of Chihiro the cuddly curly foal has become a three and a half year old, long legged, and playful but very self confident teenager.

Crinkly bags and jackets, umbrellas that open on their own and gymnastic balls raise her curiosity more than her fear. From her bone and joint build she has become very strong; actually a very good time to start slowly breaking her in. Some things can be decided just by a gut feeling. Here is what happened on the 9th of September.

Spontaneously Petra Wolf sat on her beloved horse Chihiro without a saddle and a snaffle. As if nothing were any different Chihiro let herself be trained through ground work practices without it letting bother her one bit that there was someone on her back. The same ground and communications training was being converted one to one from on top of the horse instead of beside it. Petra Wolf beamed from ear to ear.

Whirlpool and the Curly boys

Rather bathe than ride?

It is a wonderful relaxing feeling to sit on the Hollywood swing and watch our Curly horses from our porch as they happily graze, playfully kiss each other, play together, greet our riding guests, walk to the pond for a drink of water, noisily check out new matters on Ranch Wolf, lay down for a rest, wake up to the sound of our children playing soccer or attentively watch us work.

We deliberately let our Curlys out of their fenced in pastures in groups to let them graze uninterrupted on the whole property. Every time they manage to get a smile or a “oh look at them” out of us when they inspect the dog food in our house, or come into up to the house over the porch to look through the screen door to see what we are cooking.

Or the last time when our young stallion group inspected the whirlpool and almost fell in. We have already bought the according swim and diving gear for them to use! Every time we hear a rumbling or stomping we know that our beloved Curlys are on the porch. They love our porch and we are happy to invite them up anytime.

Despite the cold, warmth is felt in and around the heart

Ground and communications work on Ranch Wolf

It was a very cold, cloudy and rainy Saturday. I woke up at nine-thirty and drove to the stables. As I went into the stables to go get Diamond out I noticed she was very tired and spiritless. That changed quickly. She noticed that today was different as any normal day. All horses were allowed to go onto the pasture in the morning, only she was not. That was weird or not?! I think she was not very impressed by this but I was in a good mood and after a while I passed my good mood onto her. I convinced her that this day would be different but wonderful.

We went out to the riding area. Since Diamond had never done any communications work it was the first time for her to be wearing the knotted halter and to obey the rope and stick. I didn’t know much about the ground work either but had been showed the one thing or another. I have not had official training just like Diamond.

I first became the knotted halter laid onto my arms so I could get used to the feeling of it and how to work with it. I learned that you only have to move the rope a little bit to get the horse to react to the pressure. Then I tried the whole act with Diamond even though both of us had never done this exercise together. As I learned how to work with the stick and developed some patients and feeling I tried some other exercises with Diamond to build her trust. Since Diamond is a very dominate mare I was very astonished to see how well she reacted to the exercises. She listened to all the commands, gave it her best effort to do everything correctly. She was very relaxed and calm so I was therefore able to tell that she felt well during the exercises.

Then I also learned how a horse can cross its back and front hooves with the slightest help. Diamond and I mastered this exercise. It was so interesting to see how Diamond with the least of help reacted and how much effect my voice, feelings and body language helped guide her.

It was a wonderful day. I learned a lot of new exercises which Diamond and I are diligently learning and practicing together so that we will soon be able to take on newer and bigger exercises and challenges. We both had a lot of fun and enjoyed our hour of training.

Thank you to Petra for the great organization and for the extra clothes she offered to protect me from the cold. It was very wonderful.

Your Carlotta

Two Wonderful Personalities

I waited a long time for this course and was so happy when the day finally came. There was only one problem, the weather did not co-operate at all. It was rainy and cold, exactly the type of weather that is not called for on a day like this. Despite the outdoor factors all participants arrived punctual at 9o’clock in good spirits. It was great to move about people who all share the same hobby and love for horses. First of all it was very interesting to hear what peoples explanations were for taking part in the course. For some it was curiosity, bad experiences with other a like courses, and some just with the hope to understand the horse more than they do. Of course this course could only offer a small insight to the complex teachings of communications work. Although everyone only had one hour in working with the horse it could be seen that everyone quickly developed the feeling for this original training. Certain tricks were learned such as how to avoid certain things that would result in a wrong movement or a shift in domi- nance. It was great to watch the other participants work with the horses to see what else could be learned to your own technique.

When I put Misty in the ring I got an uneasy feeling. I had only worked with Misty during riding lessons and I know her as a very loveable yet nervous horse, although that could be because of the nervous rider! On this day I also showed that nervous feeling, which affected my work with Misty. She could hardly sink her head; she moved in choppy steps and seemed always to be on the move. After a few minutes we both became calmer. Through stick movements I got Misty to relax, sink her head, respect my area and follow me to all the weird objects on the riding area. The best part was when Misty let me guide her backwards between two beams. She followed my directions blindly without any hesitation. All in all it was a great day that brought me another step closer to horses.

I would like to thank the Wolf Team, especially Petra for organizing the event. You are on your way to building up something very wonderful; a warm atmo- sphere for humans and horses in a cold and hectic world!

Impressions from a „Ground Work Saturday“

My first time working with horses I was able to spend a wonderful and lucky day on Ranch Wolf. I am glad to have found a way to near the topic of “ground and communication work” with horses.

Just like anything it starts with good contact. It was good to see how the horses could be steered and lead with a slight contact. It was great to try it myself with direction. Only after one hour (it was the second training for me) it was fabulous to see what difference it makes to have a good contact with the horse and how I could communicate to the horse what I wanted from it. All anxieties I had to these large animals quickly disappeared.

The atmosphere was great despite the rainy weather. Many interesting people open to learning. We were all spoiled with hot tea and a small snack in between.

At night I was simply happy.