Enya do Summerwind born - last Mangalarga Marchador of 2010!

Born on the coldest day of the year in AZ, this little girl was strong and sturdy from the get-go, breaking through the birth sac on her own!  The daughter of Chanel de Miami and La Paz Jivago, she will make a foundation broodmare for any prospective Mangalarga Marchador breeder!  She is offered for sale for now at $9,000, but we like her ourselves, so hurry! 

She will mature a dark dun (dorsal stripe), 15 hands and be very, very smooth.  She is laid back and unexcitable, but learns really fast.  Big deep eyes and already a lady - she takes after her mother most.

                               Feliz Natal! 
From our family to yours, we wish you the joy of the season!  Have a safe and memorable Christmas season.
                                      John and Lynn Kelley 

                             Summerwind Marchadors and SW Future Foal

Mangalarga Marchador - A Breed Without Frontiers

Nomade de Clarion, MM stallion in Brasil

This was a popular tagline for the ABCCMM for many years.  We forget, because the Mangalarga Marchador breed is so rare here in North America, that it is known and prized around the world, but especially in Brazil!

In its native country, the Brazilian Association of Breeders of Mangalarga Marchador, the ABCCMM, currently has 5,000 members and 400,000 registered horses that live in approximately 22,000 farms!  This generates 43,000 direct jobs and 200,000 indirect jobs. 

In Brasil, Marchador horses break records in agribusiness, selling about $60 million (U.S.$) a year in only 75 auctions across the country. 

Xingera do Krieswald in the Netherlands

The broad scope of the Brazilian Association may be measured by their representation, with two affiliate associations in the United States and Germany, and it is present in the main Brazilian states through 53 centers that foster marketing and distribution.

Beethoven do Summerwind, one of 5 MMs now in Canada.

Caboclo da Piedade and Seamus da Boa Fe in the US.

The ABCCMM reports there are populations of Mangalarga Marchadors in 10 countries: Brazil, United States, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Canada, Israel, Peru and Uruguay.   (However, I personally know MM owners in Slovenia, Italy and France, so the number of countries is even higher)

The Brazilian National show, held every year in July for 11 days, is one of the biggest equestrian events in Latin America with 1500 purebred MM horses competing.  (I have heard that it may be the largest single breed show in the world, but could not verify that.)

  

Just this week, the ABCCMM exported 5 stallions to Europe to represent the Mangalarga Marchador breed in shows, expos and for breeding.  The first big event is EQUITANA in March 2011.  Last year, the ABCCMM was unsuccessful in getting horses into Europe on a temporary basis just for the big show.  This year, they would not be denied!

Patek de Maripa, MM stallion exported to Europe for breeding and expos like EQUITANA 2011

Sensation saddles - the name fits!

I love riding bareback!  Once you love it, often a saddle can feel confining.  With a large leather saddle, I can’t feel the horse move (one of the joys of riding!) and sometimes I can hardly pick the saddle up!   So, I have ridden a flexible or treeless saddle for a long time. 

I was thrilled to demo 2 Sensation saddles from Nickers Saddlery in Canada in November with Kristy Everson.  Two saddles demoed; 2 saddles bought!  I feel like the old Remington shaver commercial.  “I liked it so much, I bought the company!”  Hardly.  But I will become a sales rep.  It’s a saddle I can be passionate about.  If you are interested in hearing more or trying one yourself, send me an email or give me a call!

G3 Hybrid with Dressage flaps

Harmony Element with English flaps

I met Dana through a mutual friend, the Mangalarga Marchadors and Facebook in 2010.  She is a horse lover, rider and a horse health professional.                  

 From their website: http://www.nickerssaddlery.com

Dana Johnsen, President, Nickers Saddlery, made the first treeless saddle of her own design in 1994. At that time the concept was just beginning to be noticed. Dana persevered with the designs, believing the concept to be often superior to what some riders had available to them - to truly fit their horses in comfort.  The Nicker's treeless saddle design, now known as the Sensation Ride, has been refined in materials and design. 

Westlish Rebel 

The Sensation Ride Line includes other innovative tack designs - geared toward ease of use, practicality and efficiency of function.Each Sensation Saddle is custom made to suit your needs. You can choose the components of English and Western design that you like best and combine them to create your perfect saddle.  You can be flashy, with Hot Pink if that’s what you like. Every horse and rider is different and Sensation offers a wide variety of options in Leather, Seat Size, Flap shape, cantle and pommel sizes, rigging adjustments, etc. Almost anything is possible. 

Western Sport Trail 

Sensation Ride Saddles are designed to fit a wide variety of horses - but they are particularly popular for short backed, round horses, especially breeds such as the Icelandic, Haflinger, Fjord, Draft Breeds, Arabians, Gaited Breeds, Quarter Horses and Stock Breeds.

Vicosa is a grandma!

Amethyst do Summerwind as a foal in AZ 

Amy at 15 months before she was sold to MI.

Vicosa de Itajoana's first foal, Amethyst do Summerwind just had her first foal!  Born yesterday in Michigan to Great Lakes Marchadors owned by Jay and Susan Bryan, it was an unexpected surprise this time of year.  Mother and son are doing fine.  We will post pictures when we get some.

Sire is Oxum do Vale da Prata, a black Mangalarga Marchador stallion, also imported from Brasil.  The foal is bay with 2 hind socks.
Congratulations, Jay and Susan!  and Amy too!

Vicosa is now in MT, owned by Rox Rogers, Haras Cayuse.

Weaning foals

Weaning is often an event that causes breeders or owners to worry.  Most foal injuries, accidents and loss of condition happen during weaning.  The mare also suffers a loss and is often uncomfortable with a lot of milk in her udder.

Vedete de Itajoana and foal

When should it be done?

There is no set timeframe, but the usual answer is 4-6 months.  In the wild, the mother will often let the foal nurse until the next foal is born.  However, at four months, much of the foal’s nutrition is coming from grass, hay and grain, not mother’s milk.   The weaning timeframe may depend on the situation.  Often, if you have more than one foal, it makes sense to wean them all at once, so some may be 5 ½ months old and some 7 months old.   Weaning sooner is also situation-dependent.  We had one foal that seemed to be lactose-intolerant.  Although healthy, he had bouts of diarrhea.  It was in his best interest to wean early.

How should it be done?

There are many approaches to weaning, but this is our approach.  We found it to be humane to both mare and foal.  There was little or no stress to them and therefore, we were happy too.  Perhaps our timeline could be shortened, but it worked for us.  We use a method called fence-line weaning.  Fence-line weaning is an option in which mares are moved to one side of a strong fence while foals are left on the other side

For the first week, we separate the mares and foals for eight hours in abutting pastures.  Our fencing allows the foals to nurse.   The mare needs to cooperate to make this event happen, so we have seen that the mares only approach the fence when their udders are full.  But the foals can see, smell and hear the mares and vice-versa.  During the second week, they are separated 24/7, still along a fence where they can nurse.  During this week, I really watch to see how much nursing is still going on and how full or empty the mares’ udders are.  In almost every case, they have stopped nursing.  Week 3 they are separated by a pasture, so they are still visible, and if any nursing was occurring, they can no longer nurse.

A study at Texas A&M University showed that foals weaned in this manner showed less whinnying and running than foals separated by other methods. Levels of cortisol, a hormone that indicates level of stress, were lower in fence-weaned foals than in foals suddenly separated completely from their mothers.