Some horses are breathtakingly beautiful. This Friesan stallion, Mintse, is one of them. I first saw him at the World Friesian Extravaganza near Dayton, Ohio, in 2007. And I sort of followed him around for during the event. You should see him competing in Dressage! And you should see him in the Liberty class! And you should see him just walking from the barn to the arena surrounded by a crowd of fans!



When I decided to travel to Michigan…

So I had a pic of Ruthie in my pics. And apparently it's the new icon for when people forget to put their own picture. Yay! lol :)

We are always looking for new and inovated ways to keep kids and adults interacting with horses on all levels. What ways have you used that works? Remember, our goal is to promote the "good" side of the horse industry, by building horse lovers into horse owners one hoof print at a time!

Hi Guys,



You've probably heard lots of discussion about whether or not to work your dressage horse "deep." There are a variety of opinions on the matter. Some riders warm up and cool down their horses "long and low" to stretch and loosen the muscles. Others always school in a balance and frame appropriate to the level at which they are working; they never stretch their horses. Many trainers school in a deep frame only during the movements when the horse habitually comes above the…

Our cams are up and three of our stalls are filled. Our list of expectant girls and their suitors can be seen at http://www.mulligansrun.com/Expecting.php



We have in Shandy, Unforgettable and Sugar Baby



Unforgettable will be 300 days on 1/27/09 and 320 days on 2/18/09. Last she went 319 days and is a sneaky foaler - always during the day. This will be our first foal by her and Dream. We're excited to see what she…

Next week's To Do List includes a famous Will Rogers quote about horse racing.



And if you are a horse racing fan, you might enjoy this website dedicated to the Triple Crown Trail.

The painting is of Prepstress, a Thoroughbred mare, whose sire is is the famous Skip Away. Read more about Prepstress; her painting is part of my "Beautiful Horses of Ohio" series.…

Sara nominated her Paint horse, Hot Streak, for the Beautiful Horses of Michigan project writing, "She's a big girl but is truly a doll....Her beautiful coloring and wonderful talent catch attention from everyone -- in the showring and out." Sarah also told me that her 4-H club had voted Hot Streak the "prettiest horse," beating out 50 other horses.



You can see from the painting above, Hot Streak deserved that honor!



But…

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. – Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.



Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire. She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.



She said her father…

Capricorn - December 22 - January 19



Happy New Year dear Caps! This will be a stellar year for your

career,gather up your forces and get out there and meet as many people

as you can.

I see you travelling quite a bit this year as well, and even though

last year was a year of great distance travel, and you thought you

were due for some stay at the barn for much of this year, I am going

to have to burst…

An article on theHorse.com today caught my eye: "Kentucky Horse Farms Go Green with Composting." According to the article, over 50 horse farms in Kentucky are composting. Click here to read the article.



We've been composting that special horse by-product for well over a dozen years, and it's so easy! We simply constructed a four-bin composting area (downwind from our house -- although…

Check out the group 'Quality Horse Breeders' where we have posted the news release from Equine Canada regarding the CEM (Contagious Equine Metritis) outbreak in Kentucky that has now been found in Idaho stallions that stood at the Kentucky facility, and possibly in mares in Alberta and Ontario where semen was shipped this past breeding season.



While this outbreak involves Quarter Horses…

This painting is about contrasts: the contrast between organic and geometric shapes, the contrast of bright white against bold orange, the contrast of a voluminous paint horse against the flat planes of the buildings, straight lines and curves.



Paint horses often remind me of abstract art, and "Blossom" was no exception with her striking color. She was a beautiful example of the breed.



Denise, her owner wrote, "She is a playful spirit....The spirit…

Hi Guys,



Your horse's weaker hind leg is the leg on his soft side. There's nothing wrong with your horse! Almost every horse has a weaker hind leg because few horses are ambidextrous. The weaker leg is the one on your horse's "soft" or hollow side. The stronger one is on his stiff side.



The weak hind leg doesn't step directly underneath your horse's body. Your horse displaces it slightly to the side to avoid carrying weight with it. On the other hand, the hind leg on…

My favorite horse :-) This is Podge aka Provence, my baby Hanoverian in his 7th week under saddle (he managed to get a couple of weeks on the subs bench with silly knocks in the field).



He is so much fun to ride & I'm not looking forwards to Monday when it's back to work & no more weekday day times spent cantering around on the stubble fields :-(



I'm consoled slightly by the big buying fairs coming up in Feb.…

Last week I introduced my free, weekly To Do Lists and shared the artwork that appeared at the top of that first page.



This week, I thought I'd give you a peek at the format for each week's printable pdf page. The To Do List is 8 1/2" x 11" for easy printing. Here's a picture of what the To Do List for next week looks like, and a list of its features:







Click here to open and…

After the heady success of what was to be our first fundraiser, Colleen and I agreed that we wanted to keep it going - and so, Special Horses was "born." We kept the site, and began designing our next fundraiser. We decided it should coincide with Rolex and the Kentucky Derby (so, just about a year ago), with the tag line, "They are all Winners." The hook - we would open up the site to entries, for a $10 donation, payable directly to one of four participating groups (True Innocents Equine…

Skippin on Cloud 9 was grazing in a grassy pasture filled with sparkling daisies with a backdrop of tall blue spruce trees. What a cheerful setting for this blue-eyed beauty!



Her loving owner writes that this buckskin paint mare "literally takes your breath away when she aims those baby blue mascara eyes at you. She has a way about her of easing the day's tensions and you find yourself smiling. To watch her in motion is a whirlwind of…

Goals: When you begin to start thinking about making a musical freestyle or Kur for you and your horse, you should have some clear goals in mind before you get started. You must be able to answer some questions.



1.What will this musical freestyle be used for?



2. What level will you be competing with this music?



3.What type of competition will you be competing in? ( Local or USDF or FEI or National or International?)



4. Have you ever competed with a…

We have 15 mares due this year. The first two, Unforgettable and Shandy, will be 300 days at the end of January. We will start watching them shortly after the New Year.



We have 10 cams up at our farm, but not all are on at the same time. We currently have cams 1-4 on in the main barn 24/7 just to keep an eye on things. Cams 5-9 will be on when needed and 10 & 11 are in the baby barn - used if the mares back us up and we run out of room. LOL Last year we had alot of mares that…

This is what the spirit of the season is all about...



MCBRIDE, British Columbia – Two frostbitten, emaciated horses were recovering inside a warm barn on Saturday thanks to volunteers who spent the week before Christmas digging the animals out of snow in the mountains of northeastern British Columbia.



Birgit Stutz said Saturday that she and other rescuers cheered when they finally finished digging a half-mile escape route through the snow for the animals. The horses had…