Videos from the weekend

Had a great but short trip. Here are some videos we took - just having fun but they came out pretty good!

Criadero la Laguna

I'm on my way to Guatemala for the weekend to visit my boyfriend. We will be spending the weekend at the farm, since their regional show was moved to July. A weekend with family & horses on a beautiful ranch - what could be better?

Here is a picture taken by Andres of his mare GCLP Maringa. Click on the title link to see the ranch website with lots of great pictures!

2009 Artistry in Motion workshop

The two boys, MCD Coronado+ & RDS Fastigio, and myself were once again invited to the Artistry in Motion Equine photographer workshop held by April Visel & Sharon Sheppard. Last night we did photos on Summerland beach. For being a born & bred Texan, Coronado sure likes the ocean! He goes right into the water with no fear. He was really great, putting up with all the crazy things I asked him to do. Fastigio, who is 17 years old, has never been to the beach before, and wasn't too excited about it! As it gets later, the waves get a lot bigger and are very noisy as the tide comes in. I had to rush him into the water a bit since the light was fading. He eventually got used to it, and I was able to walk him into the ocean pretty deep. That was hard to walk with huge waves hitting us both.

This morning, bright and early at 6 am was the liberty shoot at Tierra Alta, a peruvian ranch in Los Olivos owned by Louise Clarke & John Carbon. They have the most amazing views of the entire valley from the mountain top pastures. Of course the boys are supposed to run around with lots of sexy hair flying in the wind - Coronado instead decided that he would rather take advantage of the lush pasture grass! I was hoping Mattie would help chase him, but she decided it was much easier to just hang out with the photographers and watch what was happening. Fastigio was a bit more accommodating, and ran around without a lot of me having to run after and chase him! And of course, he stood and posed in his famous ways!

Tonight is the riding shoot at Pacifica Arabians. Several different costumes in the trailer - will have to see what comes out later!

2009 Fiesta of the Spanish Horse Show

Phenom Farms does it again!

MCD Coronado+:
1st Crystal Class Breeding
Champion of Champions Amateur Performance Stallion
Champion of Champions Performance Stallion
Champion Breeding Stallion
Champion of Champions Breeding Stallion

KLP Sedona:
1st Place Open Attire Performance

Unfortunately, Sedona got a little stressed and didn't make the championships. Coronado was ON for this show and performed better than ever! I'll update later with pictures of the neat trophies we won!

The newest edition to Phenom Farms

Last week I adopted 4 hens and a rooster off of craigslist. They have been living inside the barn in a stall, as I needed to finish off a coop. Its not a fancy coop, but in the spirit of earth day - very "green"! All materials are recycled, reused or scrap. Hence the pieced together look! The nest boxes are kitty litter containers screwed onto a board, perches made of bamboo. At this point its just fancy enough to have a place for the hens to lay, and to protect them at night from the various forms of wildlife I have here. I'll have to see if I can still hear the rooster crowing now that hes a little farther away from my bed (I live in an apartment in the barn). He is right on time I have to say - starts crowing about 2 minutes before my alarm goes off at 5:30 am, and had the decency to wait until 6:45 on Saturday and Sunday, after I had already woken up from my weekly routine.

So far the hens have names, but the rooster is working on earning his. He's big and beautiful pure white. Dad suggested BBQ, which I wasn't too fond of until he attacked me Sunday morning out of nowhere! He spurred me, drew blood, and left a nice bruise below my knee before I drop kicked him across the barn! The girls are Rubia, Blanca, Zamba & Peliroja, and after Sunday, the roosters current name is Almuerzo for LUNCH! He was very humble today when I was chasing and catching them all - hung upside down from his spurs he wasnt so tough!

My beautiful mares

Enjoying a Sunday afternoon, out eating grass!

More getting ready for the show season

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day - 75 degrees, slight breeze, lots of sun. Although I did make it out for a trail ride, I've been working most of the day on a the show premium for the Gold Rush Classic Show. I have been helping this fabulous show in Las Vegas for three years now as the Publications and Promotions chair. Its a double regional show, which means that there are two judges and two ribbons given in each class. The show is held in the South Point Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Everything is under one roof - the hotel and the barns and arena! Even the horses have air conditioning!

This is one of the best shows for the Peruvian Horse world wide - exhibitors from a dozen plus states and Canada, spectators from literally all over the world - for the Peruvian horse - THIS show is EXCITEMENT! Plus tons of MONEY! The GRC is one of the few shows which awards a ton of cash - over $40,000 in the last two years alone. Its a great way to promote the horse, and such a great place to compete with the best of the best.

See more information about the show here at www.goldrushclassic.com Sponsor a class or take advantage of our awesome cheap hotel rates and come watch!

Preparing for the first show of the season

May 1-3 is the Fiesta of the Spanish Horse show in Burbank, CA. Its one of my favorite shows to go to because there are multi breed shows going on at the same time. They have shows for Andalusian/Lusitanos, PRE, Paso Fino, Peruvian Pasos, and this year Fresians also. Saturday night there is a big extravaganza where they sell tickets to raise money for cancer research. Lots of spectacular acts and entertainment! I think Coronado and I will do the Champagne challenge again this year - we have won the last 2 years.

I have been working on getting KLP Sedona and MCD Coronado+ ready for the show. Spring is here and its so much easier to do with all the extra daylight hours! BUT this crazy wind that we have been having the last few days has made it impossible to ride. I'm hoping is a little calmer tonight. Andres is coming up to the show and is going to ride Sedona in a few classes - hopefully they can repeat their championship performance from last year!

If you want to find out more about the show, see www.fiestaspanishhorse.org

My dad and his gelding!

Just had to share this great pic of my dad on his gelding RDS Tapado. He's a super sweet horse, and really flashy too!

Halter training

Tentacion had her first halter training experience on Sunday. She wasn't too happy...I brought her and Torcasa into the foaling stall so it was nice and safe, caught her up and put the halter with lead on. She kept trying to get away, but wasn't stupid - just basically pushed mom in circles around the stall, then would stop and try to hide. She is quite the little diva - very different from her bro Elegido. She was wonderful with all the handling - doesn't mind her legs, ears, head touched. Tentacion is 5 weeks old today and very big and strong! Elegido is a month today - his halter training is next!

In Arabian Horse World

One of April Visel's fab photos!

Spring Riding!

A friend, Kimerlee came over for a trail ride, and her first ride on a Peruvian. She is riding MCD Coronado+ (not a bad way to test out a Peruvian - on the 5 time national champion of champions!) and you can see the ears of my mount, KLP Sedona. Beautiful afternoon for a ride.

First trims for the little ones!

Master farrier Coco Fernandez was here today to trim some horses. He always starts trimming foals at 2 weeks of age. By trimming them correctly from a young age, you can shape a healthy hoof for the rest of their life. Below are pictures of where he trimmed KLP Elegido's heels for more support:




Here you can see how high the heel is, and how with every step he was rocking back and forth and putting stress on every part of his leg and tendons.



Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures of how his hoof looked after trimming, but these pictures show how important it is to trim those hooves from an early age. Without this trim, he would have been rocking back and forth on the heel with no support! Coco has lots of case studies and photos on his website at www.cococaballo.com

Finally...some decent pictures of KLP Elegido!

2 weeks old today!


Anyone looking for a future National Laureado Performance horse?? This flashy little guy is a son of **TWO** US National Laureado Performance horses! He is for sale, but not for long!

Website updates

I've been playing with some new things on the website at www.phenomfarms.com
New photo galleries are up, as well as updated sales pages. I've been trying to keep the videos updated also. Trying to use all the wonderful pictures I have is hard - I have so many favorites. Check it out and let me know what you think!

KLP Elegido arrives!

KLP Elegido
(MCD Coronado+ x MCD Elegancia+)
Chestnut colt with 4 white socks and a blaze

KLP Tentacion - 7 days

Enjoying the new filly!

Yesterday afternoon I took Torcasa & Tentacion out of the barn for the first time. It was such a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny, and I figured Torcasa would like to eat some grass. Tentacion was a little worried at first - she stuck by mom's side and wasn't sure what she could do in all that open space. She gaited around a little and then figured out she could run! Of course mom got a little worried with that, and Tentacion was a good filly and came back to mom's side. I turned them out in a paddock for a few hours so Tentacion could run around - she definitely enjoyed that! Tomorrow they will go out for the day to enjoy a little more space and the sunshine.

2009 Centroamericano National show, San Pedo Sula, Honduras

Last week I was in Honduras for the only international show in the world - the 2009 Centroamericano Nationals. This show rotates around 4 different countries, and breeders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras & Nicaragua bring horses to compete with each other. Below are some pictures of the Produce of Dam class. I was riding SBA Minerva, owned by Frankie Marcucci, and Andres is riding his mare SBA Venus. They are the offspring of Criadero La Lagunas SBA Oro Pesa and won first place. SBA Venus was also the winners of the mares pisos class!

KLP Tentacion has arrived!

Born Feb 17, 2009
KLP Tentacion (MCD Coronado+ x RDS Torcasa)