Sunlight Moments - January 2009

Beginnings
Elk Creek was founded in 1957. From the beginning we have raised and trained many of our horses. More than half of our present herd of 60-plus horses is "ranch grown and trained." At first the bulk of the training was done by family members, but increasingly ranchers are joining the staff in the work. One of our first fillies was Fancy Free. The picture of Fancy and her mother, Lilly, was scanned from a slide, but the photo may still evoke some fun memories for our most senior alumni.

Punch's First Summer
Past readers may remember the photos of Punch's first hours and the story of his mother Sunny's successful efforts to rouse him for feeding. Punch went on to have a great summer in the gentle care of the ranchers. He was handled every day and halter-trained. Ranchers got him used to ropes, blankets, and noises in a process called "sacking out." He also just got loved to death, with brushing and currying. It is a tough go for the young horse at Elk Creek!

Cirque's Second Summer
Cirque is a two-year old Fjord, which, not surprisingly, is a Scandinavian breed. Fjords are hardy, cute, even tempered, and just the tiniest bit stubborn. Cirque has been a character from day one, sticking his head fearlessly into all kinds of horse and human business. The ranchers have had a great time training him. The second summer process extends all of the work from the first year, and then moves into more work with the feet to get ready for the ferrier, preparation for saddling, ground work with neckreining, and lunging work in the round corral getting used to verbal signals. All of these efforts remove, or at least minimize, the drama and fear for the three-year old facing his or her first moments with a rider.

The Summer of 2009
Punch and Cirque will be joined, Mother Nature willing, by two new colts this spring. To add to the mix, the ranch, spurred by several Ridgway girls, purchased two "rescue" colts from a ranch in central Wyoming. The owners, aged and hit by serious health issues, left their herd of youngsters untended for a year and a half. By the time folks intervened to help, the young horses were badly malnourished and untouched by man or woman. Hap and Susan are now spending a part of every day working with the colts trying to settle them down and get them caught up on the training routine. They are very skittish, so we are moving slowly. Hap tried to push things one day and got an Arkansas sleigh ride around the snowy corral! We are making progress and think the ranchers this summer will enjoy participating in this Elk Creek rescue effort.