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| Cat, Nickel, Mercury, and Cowgirl. |
Anyway, The Scharbauers were always fond of good horses and fast horses. Alysheba was theirs. When horses finished on the track they often found their way back to the ranches. They were good friends with the King ranch people so a lot of their champion bloodlines are crossed in the Scharbauer horses.
They don't even break mares. If they aren't planning on breeding them, they sell the fillies as yearlings. My middle son, Cody was working for them when he was in high school, so they asked him if we'd be interested in buying some of the fillies. We jumped on it and bought five of them. Four of them were granddaughters of a champion cutting horse and one was a granddaughter of Dash For Cash, one of the most famous Quarter running horses in history. Their pedigrees top and bottom are royal with cutting and race champions.
We, in turn, bred the mares to complement their strengths and hopefully come up with a good all around arena horse.
The babies were imprinted at birth so they were always used to being handled. That's usually a good thing except when you're trying to do something and you've got a dozen curious heads in the way, trying to see what you're doing or stealing tools, gloves, instructions, what have you.
In the picture is Cat, Nickel, Mercury, and Cowgirl.
Thought I was looking in the mirror there for a second.
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ReplyDelete^ha.
My dad retired from a life of boats, and settled in Oregon where he and my M.I.Law raised Cutting horses. Very beautiful creatures Julie.
cheers.
The pictures render as thumbnails in Feedly, which is what I use to list and organize the blogs I read. I was like "That's a horse butt!" *clicks* "yup."
ReplyDeleteOf course these are Julie's beautiful creatures ^^ I'm thankful for the time I've had around horses, but always always felt like it wasn't enough time. It makes these stories even better for me.
Love this and love that you love them.
ReplyDeleteWait wait wait... don't tell me... I can guess Opie here... it's... ummm... let me think... knows horses, tells stories, has a horse called Cowgirl, has a son called Cody... it's Donna! No, wait.. it's... Craig? How about Michael Seese! Or maybe Sean Ferrell..? (Didn't he write that book, Horse in the Empty Saddle?)
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Of course, it's our own dear Julie W. Thanks for sharing! :D
woot! horses! I think Julie should do a follow-up pic of their faces, all poking in to see what's going on :)
ReplyDeleteLOL Colin!
ReplyDeleteLovely post with the photo, Julie :)
I had to laugh at Julie's last paragraph. Vivid image i my head of horses getting their heads in the way of a project/task that needs doing. And sounds like the horses have a wonderfully (or would that be exasperating) mischievous sense of humor if they steal things you need for your task.
ReplyDeleteWhat an extraordinary way to think of life with horses. I have truly missed out.
Beautiful horses!
ReplyDeleteHorses! Julie! Almost makes my head stop hurting.
ReplyDeleteI just got back from Hell. A demon was trying to cut off my feet and I only barely escaped. Now my head is killing me. Horses and fur friends make it all better.
Aw, look at these lovelies! I'm familiar with King Ranch but had never heard of the Scharbauers. Interesting story. Thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeleteWonderful picture and wow, what a great history behind these horses! Would love to learn more about the Scharbauers, too.
ReplyDeleteYay, horses! My lifelong love.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting story about the Scharbauers. Thanks for including it.
Beautiful horses, Julie! Learning some West Texas history was pretty cool, too, so thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteAnd because it's horses today: Frau Blücher!
The horses are beautiful and I loved the story. A little snippet of history, a little snippet of current day life. A nice start to the day, thanks!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful horses with very fancy pedigrees! Thanks for sharing them.
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ReplyDeleteGorgeous!Enjoyed learning about them.
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ReplyDeleteBeautiful horse-butts (and the rest of them, too)!
I'm always interested in historical bits, and of course our Julie can tell those stories better than anyone. But I most enjoyed the mental picture of the horse heads getting in the way, watching and stealing.
Thanks so much, Julie!
I have always preferred the other end. The one where those big limpid eyes are. The ones that look at you so placidly while they attempt to gnaw the ends of your fingers off for not bringing them an apple.
ReplyDeleteAt least this end isn't doing what it seems to do almost constantly. If you have ever mucked out a stall you would think it happened constantly.
I saw this pic in my feed, knew immediately it was from Julie, and SO hoped it came with a story or two. Happy day! Love the mental image of curious horses sticking their noses in and stealing stuff.
ReplyDeleteHey, I've got an idea. Seeing as how Julie has insisted she's not going to write a memoir, next time Janet has a blog hiatus, I vote that we have Julie just tell us cowboy stories for the entire month. *evil grin* Maybe she and Kari Lynn Dell can take turns.
Ah, these gorgeous horses, and no matter which end is facing us, I find them lovable, and lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt comes as no surprise there was a great story included with a picture from Julie.
The photo reminds me of the time I came second place in the county ploughing contest.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the Scharbauer history, Julie. It's a tidbit of Texas history I didn't know. Now I must research them more.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you added a story to your photo, Julie. Would have felt short-changed if you hadn't =)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful horses, even from this end. Of course, for quarter horses, the rump may be their best feature.
ReplyDeleteI spent my girlhood reading about horses, and finally got one of my own when I was fourteen. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I have no talent for riding. Still, I loved riding my horse badly and taking care of her, although she was neither as beautiful nor well-bred as yours.
Happy trails.
'A dozen curious heads in the way'
ReplyDeleteAs a concept, that is really cute, in a goofy gentle-giant sort of way. As a reality, I've got no friggin idea how you convince 12 half-tonne creatures to back off!
Beautiful horses.
I knew almost immediately that these had to be Julie's horses. Thanks for the horses and thanks for the stories. I always wanted a horse when I was young, and occasionally I got to ride one, most often the year I worked at a YWCA camp. Then for about 12 years I was horse nanny for my landlords.
ReplyDeleteI second kdjames' idea that Julie tell us stories the next time Janet needs a break.
Hope this doesn't send me to Carkoon. I do not like Kale.
Beauties!
ReplyDeleteThey're gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteOh, horses!
ReplyDeleteY'all are very kind. I didn't think horses would make it until later in the year. Yes, they all had very distinctive personalities. When I couldn't sleep I'd often go out to the arena and walk at 2 or 3 in the morning. We kept the mares turned out in the arena much of the time rather than in stalls even though our stalls were more like pens. The other mares would ignore me while I walked, but Skidboot made every step I did like a faithful hound. Well, Ma, if you're going to walk in the middle of the night, I guess I will also.
I very much miss the herd.
My horse butts picture has kind of a history. I use a picture of Cowgirl as my avatar normally. However, when I'm in a crappy, horse butt mood, I'll switch out to horse butts. The horse butt facing the camera has a six on it if you look close.
Beth,
ReplyDeleteYes, for Quarters, a nice hip is very important, but these mares were very balanced and had massive, deep chests, and little baby doll heads to go with the hips.
Woof, woof.
ReplyDeleteThat;s all I have to say on that subject.