*Prince's Shalyandra
SOLD!!!!
**** Andy has been gone for a month or two now. I still miss seeing her happy face in my field at feeding time. But I know she has moved to a fabulous new home that will give her more attention and use her special talents more then I was able to in the last few years. I still have several of her babies here though, and her last foal Twizler is very much like her mom. Lots of fun to have around and play with. ****
Andy was one of my first two Curlies.. I got them at the same time, bought them without seeing them except for photos and a short video. When they stepped off the trailer, I was immediately drawn to the other one as he was prettier and more eye catching. Andy being a "plain brown mare" was cute, but not a horse that immediately got my full attention. I actually had to haul them another 6 hrs from the place I met the seller, so into my trailer they went.
Upon
reaching my place, I had my first introduction into what a truly special horse
Andy would turn out to be. 
I unloaded the other Curly, he was big eyed and on
his toes (he was also a young stallion), then I went back for Andy (who, by the
way, had just turned 3). She walked off the trailer and stood there, just
looking about.. She walked calmly beside me into the field beside the barn. My
young daughter who was 5, came up and wanted to pet her and lead her about..
Hmmm, not something that I usually let Anne do with a strange horse in a new
place, especially a horse so much bigger then Anne's 10.3 h Shetland pony. But
Andy was quiet so I let her try. The mare was absolutely perfect.. She kept her
head down nice and low for Anne, stopped when she did, and showed Anne that she
positively LOVES to be scratched on the neck (still does, by the way).
Six month's later I decided to start
Andy under saddle all by myself.
I had never started a horse before but thought
she would be a good one to learn on. We hauled down to the local fair grounds
where there was a indoor arena. In the parking lot we were approached by a lady
interested in their curly coats.. She asked what we were going to do that day,
"break her to saddle" was my reply. "OH. you can't do that
without a round pen you know" was hers. Hmmm, Well, 45 minutes later , I
was sitting on her bareback, riding her in a halter.. The next day we added a
saddle, the day after that I let Anne ride her. Andy never once took a wrong
step, or offered anything that would be scary to ride for a small child.
Andy gave birth to a little brown
colt, not unlike herself. Marq shares Andy's wonderful quiet nature, and fun
loving mind. Andy is a very strict mother and so Marq has learned manners from
a very early age. 
Even
while nursing, we occasionally would take Andy out riding, just putting Marq on
the pony line. Andy continued to show her good sense out on the trail. Later
after Marq was weaned, Andy became the horse of choice for any guests or
beginning riders that visit the farm. I once was out with her and a TB we had..
The TB came positively unglued at the noise and sights coming from the cow barn,
Andy looked at him and just walked straight on, no spooking, or even putting her
head high.
A second "little brown foal" followed the first. This one a filly and one that would eventually turn grey (courtesy of Sioux).
Andy
has been used to for lessons as well as being Anne's current mount for Pony
Club. They have passed their D 1 rating and are working on their D 2
rating. The photo at left was taken out in the desert of
Monument, OR at "D Camp" this summer. Wow what a BIG jump!
Andy is taking one more year's time to contribute her incredible disposition to our pony program. She is bred to a fantastic stallion in hopes of producing a "keeper filly" for our breeding herd. Then she will continue on in her role as Anne's best buddy!! Well she is still Anne's best buddy, just that their riding time may be a bit interupted.
Each
year I use Andy for a most important and unusual job. We head out into the wood
behind our house to find a Christmas tree. As we travel a few miles away from home
and the area is inaccessible to cars, we take a rope with the intention of
using the horses to pull the tree home.. The first year we were somewhat undecided about
which horses to use.. "Andy will pull it , I know she will" was my
comment. So we took her along with two others.. Well the perfect tree was found
and cut down, as we pulled it over to where the horses were, two got big
eyes, and then there was Andy, with her ears up and her nose out as if to say
" Oh look, a nice Christmas tree". We got our ropes attached and proceeded
to set off on the trip home.. It lasted about 30 seconds, as the horse Sarah was
on got scared of the noise and sight of that tree right behind her.. She had to
let her rope go. Andy, once again, never blinked..S0.... Andy got the honor of
pulling the tree home all by herself, with me still on her.. it took about 30
minutes and was a load of fun. The other horse did get used to the tree back
there and was happy to pull it the last little way for Andy.
Over
the few years that I have owned Andy, I have taken some grief about her. She
still is not the prettiest of our horses and she was the smallest of the
ones we are keeping (this of course was before we started breeding ponies too!). Every time I go thru the herd needing to cut back, I get to
Andy and stop. Sell or keep? Some in my family used to say "sell".. I
would always argue for "keep".
She is small and plain, but probably
one of the best we have. She is trustworthy, calm, affectionate and so many
other things I can't list them all. Time and time again, she has proven to me
her worth and has earned herself a long term home here. In my mind, the ability
to take care of my kids, or drag a tree home are more important then a long mane
or pretty head.
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