Everyone.. stop by here and say hi.. Intros!

[Mary Ann]

Hi, Neeners! I'm glad you joined us

[orangehorse]

Hello! Just to introduce myself...

My name is Alenka, I'm a 24 year old horse nut. I currently have one, a 19 year old Quarter Horse Gelding (Orange of course!) named Tripper. I've been riding since I could walk.. and enjoy every minute of it! Trip and I have done a bit of everything, though I'd say he loves working cattle most, (and only amuses me when I take him to shows)

I'm looking for a project, so I can retire Trip to working cattle in a couple of years, and so that I may continue showing saddle club, and possibly higher end shows. I enjoy training, and I'm looking forward to bringing home a youngster-the trick is finding that special one.

Trip and I


As for home life, I live my with Future Hubby of 2 years Bryan, and my Future Step son Brad (Bry's 6 year old son). Brad took to trip like glue, and was an active Junior C showing Trip in Barrels at our saddle club last year (walk only of course.. smallest kid on the biggest horse! LOL). They're cuter than heck. I was going to bring home a pony for Brad to start riding, but have decided against it, as Trip takes good care of him.

Brad and Trip doing Barrels




I enjoy singing, playing guitar and drawing. I actually do equine portraits as well (graphite sketching). I'm an early childhood Educator and love my job.

Well, that's all about me! Looking forward to posting!

[rhapsody]

Welcome to EquiFriends, Alenka!

Awesome pictures, too. You AND your horse are gorgeous and the photos of Brad on Trip are wonderful. Those kid-safe horses are worth twice their weight in gold, aren't they?

My youngest, Joshua, is Brad's age. My oldest will be 8 in early January. Where HAS the time gone . . . ?

I'm in NW Florida, DH (John) and I each have a chestnut Arabian gelding (his is 9, mine is 4), and I'm a mechanical engineer.

This is John's horse, R A Revere:





And here's my Anastazi RV (aka Taz, aka Taz-Man):

As a baby, just a few weeks or so before winning SHIH 5&Under at the Crabbet Celebration (out of a field of 13) in 2001:


In 2003, as a 2-year-old:


And a head shot from last year (please excuse the dirty face and, yes, it was a tall fence!):

[Mary Ann]

Hi, Alenka! Welcome to the board! I have a couple of orange horses, too. I look forward to hearing more about you and Tripper, and the things going on in your life.

Have a cup of something warm, pull up a chair and join us. I'm so pleased you'd come!

[orangehorse]

Rhapsody, your horses are Gorgeous! I loff your arabs! Nice to hear about your sons! Brad and Tripper have a bond.. but it's different than my bond with Trip. I think Tripper understands that he's a little guy, and while he is to be respected, he also needs to learn a few things. He's patient, and a good sense of selective hearing comes out when Brad's riding! (eg: Go Trip Go!! *thump thump thump* Trip: *yawn* pardon?) Hah! Kid proof horses rock.

Maryann, nice to see you again! I'll be posting!

[Chrisnstar]

Alenka, I'm so very glad you found us!

chris

[brian]

Rapsody ; that R.A. Revere is the best of both worlds - refinement and sturdy athleticism rolled into one. Gorgeous horse.

[rhapsody]

Thanks, Brian! I'll tell hubby what you said about his horse! We've had Revere since he was a suckling. He's 9 now (almost 10) and living the life of leisure as a mostly pasture-pony. And fat? Oy! I asked John this past weekend when his horse was due! LOL! Revere can look at food and get fat! He barely gets any grain - his "bulk" is predominantly due to grass and hay. We're hoping that after we build our house next year and get the horses moved onto the property with us, we'll be able to ride and get these horses exercised and fit (us, too). He's a good horse - very sensitive - but a good horse who will try hard for a person who understands him.

[kerryc]

Hi Everyone,

Mary Ann suggested that I come over here and post. I’m not exactly new having been around since the Acme Board. I don’t post often, but enjoy reading and seeing everyone’s pics! As a kid I took riding lessons and was pretty good before I bought my first horse. Before I could graduate to jumping classes I had to be able to ride bare back keeping a quarter under my knee for the entire lesson including being able to post. I have had 2 QH mares, a bay roan and a sorrel. In those early days I was a speed daemon and ran the cans. I liked polls too, but the roan hated them with a passion. We packed a lot of miles trail riding...until the city closed in and we lost our trails and boarding stables. Both these girls taught me a LOT about horse ownership. I have been horesless for about 20 years now. I still have 1 english saddle and bridle set, guess I need to sell those....someday. I enjoy keeping up with what is going on in the horse world.

Now raise and show English Budgies (the larger parakeets). I’m an Intermediate Exhibitor having no desire to rush to become a Champion anytime soon. It’s a LOT easier to take 20 birds to show than 20 horses! (Especially when you jump on a plane and go.) I still have, but don’t breed Moustached Parakeets and Barrabands, the market for the larger birds still has not recovered from 9-11. I tried to get out of breeding Ringneck doves, but I still have that “Sucker” label on my forehead that can not be wash off, can not say no when someone gives me more birds. I breed and show a few of these “token” birds for very young children.

Kerry C

[Chrisnstar]

Hi KerryC ! We're glad you're here! Hey, we'll loff pictures of Budgies too. We like all critters here!

chris

[Mary Ann]

I'm with Chris; there are clearly varieties I've never heard of! I'm so glad you'd speak up and come out of lurkdom; and I had NO IDEA people flew places with their birds! How the heck do you do that??!

[kerryc]

Well I am totally clueless when it comes to posting pictures. From what I gather you also have to have a link to a photo web site to put your pics before you can post them too.

Here is a link with lots of pics of Moustached Parakeets.
home.wanadoo.nl/psittaculaworld/Species/P-alexandri.htm

There are 8 subspecies of these birds which only 3 made it to the U.S. when importation was allowed - Java, Fasciata, and Major. I prefer the Fasciatas. I have a pr that are pets only and 2 breeding prs.


Here is a link to the Barraband Parakeet also known as the Superb Parrot
www.centralpets.com/animals/birds/parrots/prt2897.html

I use to have a mother and daughter "team" that would always finish in the top 3 or 4 at every show I took them to. I really miss my Noel, she was such a hoot. I hand fed her as a chick so she was pretty bonded to me. As a baby I use to call her Baby NO. She was like a hyperactive child on a sugar rush. As she got older she mellowed just slightly. I could call her and she would fly to me in the aviary. You have never sees such a fuss she would put up when I would grab her to hug and kiss, but she always came back for more and she never bit me.

How do you take birds on a plane to show??? Well for the budgies we put them in one of those "flat" wire top, under the seat carriers and buy a pet ticket. The airlines have gotten a bit more difficult just recently.

In October 5 of us went to the Grand National Budgie Show that was held in Las Vegas. We shipped the birds air cargo to try and make things a bit easier. I had a crate built just in case we needed it. It is about 4 feet long and not quite 3 feet wide with 6 individual compartments. Let's just say it JUST fit in the back seat of a compact rental car! 2 of us shipped out 20 bird for show to Vegas and 4 of us shipped 56 birds back home. They yo-yos in Vegas air cargo tried to come up with new rules for us to ship back. One REALLY has to understand each airlines guidelines for all species when shipping, because they sure don't! It doesn’t hurt to take a printed copy along to show them what their web site says for shipping.

[Mary Ann]

WOW, they're startlingly beautiful! I'm assuming you have them hand tame....

I bet your Baby NO has a lot of presence; she probably shows very well.

[kerryc]

kerryc said:

I really miss my Noel, she was such a hoot.

I lost Noel about a year ago to a very bad infection. We worked for a week trying to combat it, but she lost out in the end. I was terribly heart broken.

My pet Moustached 'keets had a blast with the family there all day long. They think company has arrived JUST to see them.

Kerry C

[troylynn]

Welcome kerryc! Equifriends is a cool place to get to know people who really love all kinds of animals and I've learned a lot of useful information from the posts.
Troy Lynn