Before I head into the breakdown of what I’ve learned about Impy’s ancestry and genetics, I’m going to offer up a brief history of the Painter horses. Bob Painter was one of the idiosyncratic crusty old Westerners that wanted to preserve an Old West that may never have actually existed. He grew up ranching, with […]
Impy likes to spread his hay out and eat the best parts first. Then he likes to pee on the rest. Then he stands on a pile of wet stinky pee-soaked hay, claiming he is starving nigh unto death. I’m all for peeing where you eat out on pasture. Urine offers a hefty nitrogen boost […]
My Painter Pony showed up with several names. He was born on the night of the Fourth of July, 2022. And there was a double rainbow the morning of the 5th when he was first spotted. Which does offer a lot of possibilities for creative naming. ‘Marcada por los Poderes del Cielo’ might be technically […]
Apparently I am not the only person questioning Texas A&M’s horse ancestry reports. Unfortunately, Etalon’s seven groups are based on popular perceptions of Old World European breeds. That is are not particularly useful to preservation breeders of Square and Colonial Spanish horses of the New World. Etalon has ignored Central Asian horses, Central European horses, […]
In my work I am focused on the genetics and biomechanics of Square Horse, particularly in North America. Thanks to the global equine genetic diversity project, I have enough data to seek out accurate historical provenance for the genetic profiles that appear in our CS strains of Square Horses. That I have not mentioned the […]
I am adamant that both horses wait until I have released the little guy and am leaving the round pen BEFORE they start wrassling. But I also make sure that that process is a quick and clean as I can make it. I plan for the fact that colts have short attention spans and boundless […]
Many Colonial Spanish horses, as far south as the state ofJalisco in Mexico, have American Cream Draft popping up in their horse ancestry reports. The Juras lab equine phylogenetic tree includes the American Cream Draft because they have a genetic profile distinct from other draft breeds. Although the Iowa-based registry traces their founding stock back […]
Now that Elroy’s jaw in in position and the pokey bit of bone chip is gone, he is much less reactive. he doesn;t react to touches on his face like they are an electric shock. I’ve been trying to imagine what was going on in Elroy’s head to cause his symptoms. When I came across […]
This close up of a pony nose marks a milestone! Elroy has driven me into looking at how other people train horses at liberty. Most of what I find isn’t useful because it presumes that you can handle the horse to start with, and that they are resigned to people using whips and ropes. I […]
Sadly, I have to repost this as the brother in question has erupted into another bout of harassing calls, emails etc. James Mits Annon suffered severe head trauma when he was kicked in the head by a horse about 18 months ago. Unfortunately, head trauma is not to blame for his abusive behavior. His blaming […]
sara annon 