The year started off with heartbreak, the death of Buck under the care of the “trainer” we entrusted him to and the starvation of Rafer by the same “trainer”.  I am happy to report that Rafer is once again thriving and back to his old self, showing no lasting effects of his ill treatment, but I will probably never quite forgive myself for sending Buck off to his death with someone I mistakenly trusted.  I suppose it was a  hard lesson of live and learn.

Once Rafer was home, being fed and on the mend, the year began to look up.  We had acquired our up and coming stallion; Larkin; in the fall of 2010 and we now had the time to start to enjoy him.  He is a 2010 homozygous grullo tobiano with exceptional bloodlines.  We will be test breeding him to a few mares in the spring if he is ready and cannot wait to see what he produces crossed on our girls.   Along with Larkin came Bree; a 2009 double homozygous black tobiano mare.  She is pretty and wow look at those bloodlines on that girl!  She is to be bred to Rafer in the spring for a guaranteed double homozygous foal in 2013 that should be drop dead gorgeous!

We had a sudden dip in mood with the loss of Keeley’s filly in April at just 24 hours old.  She was a gorgeous grullo who had offers on her the second she hit the ground.  Shamus certainly did produce well with that cross.

Then breeding season came along… Twist and Illusion were both bred to Rafer for Late May 2012 foals while Emma was bred to Shamus for the same.  Spook was elusive with her heat cycles and it was decided to hold her over to be bred to Larkin this coming spring. 

September brought the newest addition to our family AND the beginning of a new division of Broken A Ranch -  Broken A Great Danes.   Ripley was purchased from CaesiaDius Great Danes in Fairfield, IL.  I probably drove Barton and Kathy half crazy with questions before picking her out at 5 weeks old in the beginning of August, but they were patient and I consider them to be great people to work with.  I made the 10 hour round trip a second time on the first of September to bring her home and its been chaos ever since!  She now weighs nearly 80 lbs at 5 months old and I cannot imagine life without her.  Kota however can ~laugh~ It is somewhat of a love/hate/leave me the hell alone puppy/ relationship between the two.  Blue could really care less.  She just lies down when she sees the freight train Ripley coming and Ripley just shoots over the top of her.  I have plans to get our feet wet in the show ring hopefully this spring, and possibly to add a new addition to the family in the summer.  That is if Kota doesn’t catch wind of it and kill me in my sleep.

The decision to move came VERY easily as we were eager to leave behind a place & neighbors that just constantly sucked the life out of your soul.  Who knew that blissful peace and happiness could be found less than 20 miles away?  Moving day was in October – or I should say moving 2 weeks.  I swear that moving 20 miles is nearly more difficult than moving 1400 miles.  All the details and running back and forth made me crazier than normal, but in the end it is well worth it.  We are surrounded by 30 acres of beautiful views, have terrific neighbors and the horses and dogs are thriving in the new environment and we couldn’t be happier.  Goodbye acres of swamp and hello green pastures!  A wise decision if I do say so myself LOL

Let’s see.  During the moving phase Painted Glory Ranch purchased Keeley.  Christine had been in love with her for a while and finally we just decided to make things happen.  At the same time, Sophie ( her page is coming soon)  came to live at the Broken A.  She is a 2009 double homozygous black mare and she is slated to be crossed to Larkin in the spring for a guaranteed homozygous tobiano black or grullo foal in 2013.   This baby should be a serious performance contender and we have already had inquires on a possible sale of the match.  I am thinking though we had better get her in foal first before we have such discussions ~laugh. 

Wrapping things up here.. I know its been lengthy.   We have decided to geld Shamus in the next few weeks.  Our program is moving into mostly homozygous tobiano pleasure and performance horses, and honestly I don’t have anyone left to breed him to.   He is for sale and will make someone an exceptional riding/game day/ trail buddy and just all around awesome horse and partner.  Make sure you take the time to check him out.  You will not regret it.  I promise you that.

That pretty much sums up 2011 for us.  Some LOW lows.  Some HIGH Highs but all n all- we survived it.  Goodbye 2011.  I can’t say that I will miss you all that much, but hey you can’t have everything.

Hello 2012 – What took you so long to get here?

Contact us for more information at sales@brokenaranch.com

http://www.texaswildfirehorses.com/

We Will Never Forget

Its a late breeding season for us because of the horrible weather and the desire to NOT foal out in the deep mud. I made some last minute decisions. I decided to leave Keeley open until next year and see if I cant get at least 30 more days of riding on her. Twist & Illusion have been bred to Heza Dun Dreaming (Rafer) for 2012 and I am just waiting for Spook to come into heat. Emma was bred to CR Merlins Majac (Shamus) for a hopefully red dun foal next year and then we are done with breeding.

I am going to spend the rest of the summer conditioning the boys and getting some things in shape. We are going to be in definite need of more gravel for the stalls if we winter here again and some other things need doing as well.

Anyway.. Have a great first day of summer!

We began the year by finding out that the trainer we had entrusted with Buck and Rafer was unworthy of that trust. Rafer was returned from her care 450lbs underweight and in horrible condition. Buck sadly enough, never made the journey home. We were told that he colicked and died but proof of death was never provided, despite repeated requests for it. I suspect we will never know what happened to Buck and my heart is broken because of it. Wherever you are my loyal friend, know that my thoughts are always with you.

Rafer has made a full recovery from his emaciated state and is finally back to his old self. He was given the year off from outside mares but will be covering Spook, Twist and Illusion in our own barn for 2012 foals. We have decided to pull Shamus from the sales list and keep him at stud. He produced an amazing grullo filly in 2011 with our mare Keeley, we are hoping to duplicate the process in 2012.

Selection has begun for mares for Larkin in 2012. At this point we will be giving him Darby and Molly unless they are sold before spring rolls around. I think they will both produce a solid cross on him, so watch for his offspring in 2013.

The year is half over and yet it feels as though it has just begun. I am thinking good things are yet to come for us. In the meantime we have horses to breed and fit for sale. Lots of summer projects to complete and a few new things in the works if it ever stops raining. I swear Missouri is the rainiest state I have ever lived in – not to mention the muddiest LOL I gave some serious thought into just giving up, but then I decided that it would just be too easy to do so. We are here to stay. Our 10 year anniversary is in November, its hard to believe that so much time has passed and yet so much potential is still in our future. I am excited about what is to come and will learn from the past to better our future.

Liz

This summer was interesting, MUCH wetter than I expected so I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked to but I did have time to make 3 EXCELLENT additions to the program.

Join me in welcoming Larkin. He is a 2010 line bred QT Poco Streke, Homozygous Grullo stallion prospect that I have BIG hopes for. I have already chosen his first mares for a few years down the road and I believe he is going to be one for the competition to watch

Bree is joining the broodmare band, after we get her into the show ring. Her grandsires are A Tru Rolex and Nite Time Fantasy respectfully and her pedigree is just packed with champions. She is a 2009 Double Homozygous black mare and should cross excellently on both Larkin and Rafer in time.

Last but not least by any means is Neila. Granddaughter of the mighty Hold that Cow, she has greats like Zippo Pine Bar and Holidoc right on her papers. Neila is a 2010 grey quarter horse and is heading toward the ring before she does anything else.

We are thrilled about the additions to our program and are going into winter in good shape  The one sad point of the recent month was when Illusion lost her Rafer foal.  So once again we wont have any Rafer babies this spring, however – I am sending both Twist and Illusion to TN this spring when I send Molly and Maggie for training.  They will both be bred to Rafer ( as well as Maggie if she doesn’t sell before then)  so I should have at least ONE Rafer baby in 2012.   Spook, Molly and Emma will all be bred to Shamus in the spring.  Molly is for sale and the breeding should result in a painted grullo or black baby since Molly is homozygous for tobiano.  

So I am hoping for an easy winter this year since last was a bear.  Check out our horses for sale!  I think there is something for everyone in our selection.   You will see that I have sorted them for easy viewing  and remember that payment plans are always available with 25% down.

That’s all that is news at the Broken A.  As always feel free to look us up on Facebook or contact us with any questions that you might have – we love chatting about our horses and hope that we have JUST what you are looking for.

One of the NEW pics of Rafer (Heza Dun Dreaming) – I updated his webpage with new pictures this morning and I am sure there will be more to come. Who do you want for your mares in 2011?