The Amazing *Kreskin

His story as told by his current owner: "I recieved a call from a stranger in Eastern Iowa that said there was a Curly Stallion there running amuck thru all the neighbors yards trying to find a bite to eat. He had went thru a fence more than once and cut himself up pretty bad. His owner was not feeding him and the mare that he kept with him (and any offspring from the two that hadn't been sold). He said they only had old rainwater in their trough, and there was nothing but black, moldy hay from sitting in the rain and sun, sitting in an old non working truck parked there. But he never fed it. The caller wanted me to come and snatch him, I told him I couldn't do that because of the rarity of the breed and I just don't steal horses! I told him if he talked to the owner, please let him know I was interested in buying him.

I didn't hear from this man for a year, then suddenly received an email from the Owner. He wanted to sell Kreskin or he was going to take him to a sale. I emailed and told him I would buy him and we went out to get him. He had him at another farm that looked more like a old junk farm than a working farm. There were piles of old junk lining the drive clear back to the house and barn, which was also surrounded by junk. Kreskin was at the far back of that old barn without any light or windows, no sign of feed, hay or water. When the guy brought him out he immediately dove for the few blades of grass between the junk piles. You could tell Kreskin didn't like the guy. The halter he had on was held together with wire. The owner climbed on him to show that he rode, and after he got on him he spied a pile of corn and he made a bee line for that. I thought for sure he would buck that guy off when he yarned him away from that pile of corn. He was absolutely frantic for something to eat! The guy got down and I took him over by the our horse trailer and put the new halter I bought him on, then just showed him the pile of hay in the back of the trailer. He just self loaded! His nose stayed in that hay the whole way home, even when we stopped for gas his head never lifted. He was a bit gaunt when we got him home and his one back leg is bad from his accidents with the wire fence. He has settled in here really well and his offspring are the best. He is homozygous for Curl and quite a few of his offsping have been also. I have never regreted going and getting him! We call him "The Amazing Kreskin" because he managed to live thru all of that and still be a kind and sweet boy!

Bazy

Bazy is a very well-bred broodmare who was used in an endurance breeding program. She was found on a feedlot, untouched and feral. A group of individuals pooled their resources and purchased Bazy from heading to slaughter, where she is now living out her days on a horse farm in Arkansas.

The Story of Paladin -

Paladin, an 11 year old Curly gelding, came into my life as many before have done; surrendered by a caring owner who could no longer afford to care for him, but wanting him to stay safe. Little did I know how much I was to learn from him!

He came with a history of being bred by a veterinarian, trained under English saddle, but having not been ridden by his current family as they are mainly carriage drivers. I immediately fell in love with his sweet & playful personality and was sure I would be able to place him in a good, forever home quickly.

Which is exactly how the story went - a friend of mine was looking for a Curly for her husband with allergies, so it seemed the perfect fit. Due to winter weather, I was unable to get him tested under saddle before he went to his new home, and being experienced horse-folk, they felt they could handle the tune-up needed to get him back into riding. Unfortunately when they attempted to get on his back he went ballistic, bucking violently, a totally unacceptable reaction for this family with 3 children.

Contact with the original breeder and the trainer involved brought tears to my eyes......as well as outrage towards the owners for not being truthful about his past and thus risking serious injury to folks working with him........Paladin had been deemed "unsafe & unpredictable " and given by the breeder to the folks from whom I had taken him, to be used as only a pasture buddy as he was
unsafe to ride.

Fortunately, I had kept an old email from a gal looking for a "project horse" and wrote to her about Pal. Long story short, she came to meet him, fell in love with this special boy, has adopted him and will be using her Natural Horsemanship training to try to help him through his issues.

We are all hoping his re-training will be successful, however should it not be, he will have a forever home as a pasture buddy & will be forever safe.

And that is my wish for all of them. No matter what their breed, age, or training level, I have learned that any horse can be in danger of winding up in a very bad place. Even these very special horses known as Curlies!!

I hate to think what may have happened to this sweet boy had he been passed on from one owner to the next, or worse, end up at an auction. So you see, that's why, even though they are truly a unique & treasured breed, there remains
an on-going need for folks dedicated to protecting them.

Susan Churico
"Humble Hearts Haven"

A Tale of Three Horses

It began May 12th, 2001, in Prince George, British Columbia when my friend, Melody, went to look at a six year old, registered Bashkir Curly mare being advertised for sale. When Melody arrived she found a total of seven emaciated horses being kept in deplorable conditions in a paddock much too small for them. While they were all in bad condition, there was one horse, a gelding, with a terrible infected wound on one hind leg. As I am already an owner of a curly horse and Melody and I are good friends, she called me and we discussed the horses. Melody didn't want a starving horse and yet felt compelled to do something for them. We decided that she and her sister would go and look at them again, and they made arrangements with the owner. The night before they were to go and see the horses, the owner's mother passed away. Of course, this unexpected event postponed seeing the animals for a second time.

May 22nd Melody called him again and at that time he admitted that at least one horse had died on his property, probably a foal. Melody and I discussed calling the S.P.C.A. at this point, but we decided to wait until she could get out to see the horses again, and also it was our opinion that the S.P.C.A. probably would do nothing as there was moldy hay on the property.

May 23rd. Located the mare's registration information through the internet, and found out that she was actually 15 years old, not six. The owner denied knowing that she was 15 years old, said he thought maybe she was 9 years old (he was advertising her as 6 years old).

May 28th, with the owner's permission I contacted the veterinary office who had originally cut the gelding out of the barbed wire that was wrapped around his leg. The vet's office faxed me the report on the injury, which occurred in JUNE OF 2000, in other words this injury had been untreated for almost a full year. The horse was lucky though, there had been no damage to the tendon or ligaments. However, it had been allowed to close with dirt in it and then fester, over and over again.

May 29th, Melody, Anita and another friend went to look at them again. They figured that the gelding was probably a write-off, his condition had worsened since Melody was first there, he was very thin and his coat was falling out. His leg was swollen and he was favouring it. The other horses were also in very poor condition, and it was hard to tell which ones might be okay. The old Bashkir mare had a nasty cough and was wheezing too. During this visit, Melody took photographs of the horses for me and so we have pictures to document the condition of these animals. The owner would not sell the horses at a realistic price, he had some notion that they were worth money. He had not come to terms with the fact that they were starving.

May 30th, Melody and I decided that it was time to call the authorities. Melody told the S.P.C.A. that; "I initially went to look at the horses two weeks ago…was shocked at their condition, but believed him that he had them vet checked and they were being looked after now". The S.P.C.A. said that they had already been notified of the horses' condition and had already been out to see them. They claimed the owner was in fact taking care of the horses. Melody then showed the pictures to them, and the S.P.C.A. agreed that maybe they should take another look, which they did on June 2nd. They told us, again, that the owner was feeding the horses and that they thought their condition had improved. This was not what had been observed by Melody who had seen them over two weeks prior, in fact their condition had worsened.

At this point I contacted Critteraid who agreed to help me if I were to go ahead and buy the horses' way out of there. With their support behind me I went ahead and made an offer to the owner for the old mare, the injured gelding and one other young mare who he claimed had curly breeding. I offered more than I had originally and he accepted. Next, I had to have a coggins test done to ensure that they did not have this dreadful, fatal equine disease. The veterinarian who had been involved since the beginning went out to do the test for me, charging me full price. During this time, the S.P.C.A. continued to monitor the situation and checked on all the horses again on June 15th. After waiting a week we got negative results on the coggins, and I immediately had the horses moved to Melody's place, where she began loving "foster" care.

During this period, I spoke to the owner a couple of times and I inquired about the other horses. He told me that one sold to someone else (I suspect that someone "bought" it's way out of there), and that the other three were going to be put on pasture soon. When the trailer arrived to pick up the three that I had bought, they were the only horses left there. I spoke to the S.P.C.A. about the other three and they told me that they are satisfied that they are okay, I can only hope that this is true. I do believe that the S.P.C.A. is no longer monitoring them.

With the input from Dr. Proudfoot, here in the Okanagan, we began treatment on the gelding's leg. It was in very bad condition. Melody said that she could see the tendon inside his leg and it was draining black stuff, which we assume was infection and dirt. She continued to keep it clean and put medication on it every day for the two weeks that he was at her place.

June 24th, the three made the long journey here to Summerland. Many thanks to Dianna Marchiel, equine chiropractor, for taking such good care of them. Hats off to Dianna and her husband for taking on these three horses, two who have hardly been handled, and bringing them 12 hours in a trailer. They even stopped once to let them out for a rest. The gelding, Red, was in very poor condition. His first day here he fell down three times. The old mare, Babe, looked like a jersey cow her hip bones stuck out so much. The young mare, Gracie, fared the best, she's a bit of a pushy thing and this allowed her more of the food than the others. All three had muscle wasting, which means that they had a loss of muscle due to malnutrition. They will need a lot of food and TLC to bring them back.

July 25, 2001, I am happy to report that we are now seeing significant improvement in all three.

Red's leg is doing extremely well and is actually healing. He will always have scar tissue, but he is thankfully going to be sound. In fact, he can now run, I'm so pleased for him! He's going to be a beautiful example of the Bashkir Curly breed, he is super curly, even in his ears. I have also learned that he is actually a registered animal.

Babe is beginning to fill out and the hard edges are gone around her bones. She now seems alert and I saw her running recently in the pasture. She still has a cough, although the wheeze seems a lot better. While searching for information on this mare we came across the name of a previous owner. Seems the horse came from California, has excellent bloodlines, is from foundation stock, and has had at least seven foals. We have been in contact with this previous owner and learned that this horse was starved once before and also was a PMU mare for three years. At 15 Babe now deserves a life of lazy pasture days, wouldn't you agree?

Gracie is doing very well. The person I bought the horses from didn't think she had any value as she did not show the classic curls of a Bashkir, but he was so wrong! A dark bay, she is a natural beauty, a delight to work with and she has a long and beautiful stride. I have learned also that she is eligible to be registered with the Bashkir registry, seems that both her parents are registered Curlys.

The next step will be to bring them along to meet their potential. I will start the young ones under saddle and then they will be for sale. Gracie will likely be ready before too long, but it will be many months, perhaps a year before Red will be well enough. Babe I think I might just keep, she looks good as a lawn ornament. We've got lots of pasture and four kids who, with supervision, can learn a lot from her.

Curly horses are a special, hypoallergenic, ancient breed of horse. They are most renowned for their curls, of course, their hardy dispositions, and of course their incredible, remarkable love of people. Even after all these three have been through what they want most is loving attention from people. Babe will stand alongside the fence for as long as you will pat her. Gracie and Red will vie for attention like a couple of kids. They are all happy to come out on a lead line, just to be with us. May these three never want for anything again – if I have any say in it they never will.

A footnote:

I started Red under saddle and he has since has been re-homed to a superb home in Vermont where he is the much cherished and talented riding horse of a young lady.

I started Gracie under saddle and she has become my all time very favorite riding horse – she is good at just about everything, from trail horse to show horse to preferred lesson horse for beginners – she takes her jobs seriously and she is just wonderful. She has a forever home with me.

Photo Copyright Carien Schippers

Babe remains my pet – she is healthy and well – with proper feed, care and treatment she has completely recovered from the heaves that we thought would be chronic, and she no longer limps from the shoulder injury she sustained while she was a PMU mare – that glucosomine is great stuff! Babe will live out her days with me.

Shelly White