I was delighted to read Bonnie Gruenberg's research that showed how what were then called "Chickasaw Horses" were brought into the Outer Banks in the early 1800's and bred into the Banker stock. Dr. Phil Sponenberg had always suggested that the Choctaws would be a good match to breed into the few remaining Corollas to help prevent the extinction of these historic horses.
This Sunday we will leave home at 6:00 am to travel to the western part of the state to pick up two Choctaws for our program. One is a sweet natured, beautiful little mare. The other is a Palomino Choctaw of Gilbert Jones stock who has not been handled and shows no interest in being handled.
I will catch him, halter train him and get him on the trailer. I have done this twice before with horses who have not been handled and were for all practical purposes wild. One took a few hours, the other took a very long day.
We shall see Sunday.
By bringing in straight Colonial Spanish horse genetics from the closest living relatives to the Corollas and adding slight bits of that breeding into the program, while working vigorously to keep out the outside blood of any modern breeds, we will be able to prevent the extinction of the Corollas. At the same time we will be bringing the Shackelfords, Choctaws, and Marsh Tackys before the eyes of the non horse owning public.
The off site breeding program will not only work to save the Corollas it will help resurrect the horse of the frontier at a time when that frontier did not extend to the Mississippi river.
These are the Genesis horses of our nation and we can't let them go the way of the passenger pigeon.
Twister, shown above is a loving young Choctaw who is simply anything that a family could want for a family horse. Don't be deceived by the pictures that you see in horse magazines. Only a small portion of the horse world participates in shows and other competitions as the primary purpose of their horse ownership. More people are looking for family horses.
And we are bringing back the perfect family horse.
For the record....hour and a half. Steve roped him and gentled him to halter in about 45 minutes. He handed him off to me and the mare to Chris...Chris and I worked those two for about another 45 minutes....with minimal backing amd filling...got them loaded.
ReplyDeleteBut that is not the point.
The point is...we were each prepared to take all day to help the horse get it right. It was a very satisfying day.
"If you act like you only have five minutes..it will take all day. Act like you have all day..it might tale five minutes." -Dorrance
They are here...they are gorgeous, and they are going to get a whole lot better.
Troop on over to the Mill Swamp Indian Horses llc facebook page...should be some pictures on there soon. At any rate...if I can take Black Elk out of context..."That would be a good place to be." -Lloyd
That one sentence from Tom Dorrance should be necessary for anyone who is fortunate enough to be around horses. I remember seeing more disasters from having to do something "right now"! Not preparing the horse or yourself ahead of time. THATS abuse!
ReplyDeleteMaggie