Stylish Blogger Award-

Thanks so much to Calm, Forward, Straight and Shannon at It's Quarters for Me for the awesome blogger award!

Because I was out of town, I'm a little late in accepting and distributing this award. Thank you so much, though!

Here's how the award works:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

Seven things about me (you can skip down to the bottom if you'd like--I won't tell):

1. I have dimples. On my cheeks. On my face! (Get your minds out of the gutter, would ya?)

2. I was born with really dark hair, and then I went bald. My mom was scared that I'd be bald for the rest of my life, until she saw the sun reflected off the little blonde hairs on my head one day.

I'm really glad I'm not bald, by the way. I don't think the Yule Brenner look would quite do it for me.

3. I can't eat Pace Picante sauce because I got the stomach flu one time shortly after eating it and it came shooting out my nose.

I sure hope you aren't eating dinner right now. And in my defense, I told you to skip to the bottom.

4. I took two years of Latin and now I can only remember five phrases: veni, vidi, vici; tempis fugit; semper fi; carpe diem, and amor vincit omnia.

That was time well spent.

5. I possess the "jack of all traits, master of none" gene.

6. I can't stand the band Rush. I have no idea why. All I do know is that listening to their music makes me want to puncture both my eardrums with a rusty screwdriver.

7. I realized just how old I was the other day, when a couple of shop guys were joking with each other over one of them leaving a tag on. I thought of making a Minnie Pearl reference and then realized they probably wouldn't get it. I was sad. The end.

Awarding 15 bloggers might be a challenge as so many of the great blogs I know have already (and deservingly) received this award! Here are the few that I don't believe have been nominated yet (in no particular order):

One Old Cowgirl's View

Nicole at That's Life

Cindy at Living the Krazy Life

Amy Lou at Crazy Beautiful Life

Off to see the wizard,

Beyond Fabulous (Bambi)

This is Bambi.

She's probably the prettiest horse on the place, and I think she knows it. It's hard to tell from the photos, but when you see her in person, she is really almost stunning. She's very small, but she packs a lot on that small frame of hers, and combined with her big eyes, her beautifully strong features, and that coppery red coat, she's fairly easy on the eyes.

Bambi is currently registered with the American Quarter Horse Association as "Beyond Fabulous." Her APHA (paint horse) registration is pending. Since she's solid I had put off her paint registration. Hopefully the same name is still available!

Bambi's sire is Eddie, whose pedigree I've already detailed. Her dam is simply known as Cilla.

She looks like her momma, doesn't she?

Cilla's sire was An Encore Please, who sired some halter winners, but I've never been able to find out much more about him. His sire was An Obvious Encore, earner of 47 halter points but once again, I can find no picture of him. His sire, in turn, was the legendary Obvious Conclusion, pictured here.

Obvious Conclusion was a World Champion and sire of many World Champions, AQHA Champions, and halter-winning producers.

An Obvious Encore's maternal grandsire was World Champion Imprimis.

An Encore Please's maternal grandsire was Hard Times Charlie, who isn't really well known, but was a fairly prolific sire of all-round horses in Missouri.

He doesn't look like much in this picture, but he surprisingly sired pretty nice, correct horses. I always admired him as a stallion, despite his lack of notoriety and this poor picture.

Cilla's maternal grandsire is Beyond Measure.

Beyond Measure was a World Champion and a Congress Champion at halter. He was also sired by Obvious Conclusion (see above).

Bambi is my most "Three Bars" horse--she traces back to him 19 times. She has a lot of halter breeding, but is also a very cute mover. Because of her height (or lack thereof), I won't have the opportunity to put any breed halter points on her, but I do hope I can show her at open shows in the years to come. One day, when the timing is right, I hope to breed her to pass along these great genes, and those of her sire, but until that time, Bambi will be a career girl, and our pasture's little beauty queen.

A Fabulous Choice (Fabian)

Fabian is registered with APHA as "A Fabulous Choice," and that he is!

Fabian was sired by my stallion Eddie, whose pedigree I featured on Monday.

I traded for Fabian's dam, Seeker, back when I lived in Arizona. I drove 28 hours over the course of one weekend straight to go pick her up. She was well worth it.

Her registered name is Goldseekers Choice, and she's still alive and well, having babies in Missouri. She's a great mare, a splash overo, and she's deaf, but she's the easiest mare to handle so you'd hardly ever even know it.

Seeker is sired by Bold Dancer, who was a World Champion. Bold Dancer was sired by Bold Chick. There were two different horses named Bold Chick--one was a paint and the other a quarter horse. The paint one was sired by the quarter horse one. Clear as mud?

The paint horse Bold Chick had 86 halter points, 76 performance points and was an APHA Supreme Champion. He had 7 race points, was Grand Champion at halter 21 Times, Reserve Grand Champion Halter 8 Times, earned a Superior award in Halter, Register of Merits in Heeling, Hunter Under Saddle, Barrel Racing, Heading, and Reining. He also had points in Western Riding and Tie Down Roping. His great-grandsire was Three Bars.

Seeker's granddam was a daughter of AQHA Supreme Champion Goldseeker Bars.

Goldseeker Bars earned an AQHA Champion designation, an AQHA Supreme Champion, a Register of Merit in Performance, a Register of Merit in Racing, was a 4-time halter grand champion and a National Cutting Horse Association money earner.

Talk about doing it all! Once again, he was a son of Three Bars.

Seeker's granddam was also a granddaughter of AQHA Hall of Fame horse Leo.

He was best known as a leading broodmare sire, so the fact that he's on the very bottom side of Fabian's pedigree bodes well for his dam's producing ability.

Fabian will never have any foals himself, but even in a gelding, pedigree is important, because before you even get to know him, it tells you what kind of horse he should become. These horses did it all, and did it all well. Fabian isn't a modern enough mover to compete in pleasure, but he has plenty of speed and great character, so without a doubt, he'll go very far in life.

Filthy N Fabulous (Paula)

Paula's registered name is Filthy N Fabulous. She's registered with APHA (American Paint Horse Association), AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) and PtHA (Pinto Horse Association).

Yesterday I posted about her sire, Eddie, and his pedigree. There are lots of great horses on her dam's side as well.

Her dam was a mare that I rescued from an auction in Arizona. She was severely lame, 18 years old, and being ridden through with not a single bid. I finally gave in, and got her for $300. As soon as I started bidding, another guy did who had bought up a lot of the cheap horses. It could have been a kill buyer, I'll never know, but what I do know is that I ended up with a wonderful mare.

Larry, as I called her, was registered with AQHA as Larrys Silver Lady.


She's pictured here with Paula's full brother, The Fabulist.

Larry was sired by Dirty Larry.

Dirty Larry had two halter points and 135 performance points. He was World Champion in Senior Western Riding, had a Superior award in Hunter Under Saddle, was AQHA High Point Performance Horse Hunter Under Saddle, earned a Register of Merit in Performance, and was sire of Reserve World Champions, Top Ten World Show Champions, Superior Performance Offspring, ROM Halter and Performance Offspring, Halter and Performance Point Earners. His offspring have earned 7,318.5 AQHA Points and $18,045 in NSBA (National Snaffle Bit Association) earnings.

Dirty Larry was sired by Sonny Dee Bar, an AQHA Hall of Fame Inductee.

This is the same Sonny Dee Bar that appears on Eddie's pedigree, so Paula goes back to him twice within the first four generations of her pedigree.

Dirty Larry's maternal grandsire is Boys Ranch, and AQHA Race horse.


He was sired by Three Bars.

Larry's dam's sire was AQHA Champion Jaybo Lad (whom I can't seem to find a picture of). He was sired by Lads Image, an AQHA Champion.



Skippers Lad (earner of 23 halter points) was the sire of Lads Image.


And Skippers Lad was sired by Skipper W (AQHA Hall of Fame).

Jaybo Lad's maternal grandsire was Blondys Dude, also an AQHA Champion.

Larry's dam also went back to King P-234 (AQHA Hall of Fame) four times in the first five generations of her pedigree.

As you can see, Paula's dam goes back to a lot of old quarter horse breeding. I think this, combined with the all-round breeding of her sire is what makes her such a great horse to work with. She was the third horse I ever bred, so I feel really lucky to have had such great luck with such a young program! I'm very happy with her, and the owner of her full brother is very happy with him. I miss their parents every day, and am thankful to have Paula, who reminds me so much of the both of them.

Hustlers Fabulous Too (Eddie)

This week I'm in Kansas City, attending a business meeting. Thankfully Dad is housesitting, and crittersitting for me, but I didn't ask him to blogsit for me. However, I don't want to be neglectful, so I decided to pre-post for a few days, just in case I'm not able to get to it in between my work obligations.

The problem was, I usually post my day-to-day activities. What could I possibly pre-post that would be of any interest?

The other day Kate of A Year with Horses gave me a great idea. I sure hope she doesn't mind me blatently stealing her idea. Also, be sure to visit her blog through this week. She's an excellent writer with deep insight into horse behavior--very interesting reading!

I hope that was enough to make it up to Kate :) The idea is, that I thought I'd post a little about my horses' pedigrees throughout the week. I am an admitted pedigree-junkie. I love looking at bloodlines to see what lines cross best, what lines produce what kind of looks or movers, what sort of personality or potential a horse might have based on its pedigree and basically learning about the accomplishments of those horses that mine are descended from. I suppose it links my love of genealogy with my love of horses.

Since 4 of my 5 horses are descended from my stallion Eddie, I thought I'd post about his pedigree first.

Eddie was registered as Hustlers Fabulous Too with APHA (American Paint Horse Association) and as Hustlersfabuloustoo with AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association).

He was a futurity grand champion the only time he was shown.

I did edit his breeder from this photo. It is because of his neglect of Eddie as to why this wonderful horse is no longer with us. I felt he didn't need to be represented in Eddie's past.

Eddie was sired by Ima Hustler Too, who was an APHA Champion (meaning he met the qualifications under the breed rules for this special honor, which includes earning points in halter and performance events). He earned 20 halter points, 54 performance points and ROM (Register of Merit) awards in Western Pleasure, Barrel Racing, and Pole Bending.

When he was 20 years old and living in Colorado, he was pulling bulls into chutes at the rodeos. He also produced APHA Champions. He was a true all-round sire. They just don't make them like that anymore....

Ima Hustler Too was sired by Red Sonny Dee, who sired many, many champions in AQHA & APHA. He sired 20 APHA Champions, 50 earnes of Superior Awards (in Halter, Western Pleasure, Hunter Under Saddle, Western Riding and Trail), 95 earners of Register of Merits, 12 World Champions, 14 Reserve World Champions, and earners of a total of $ 65.916,64.

Red Sonny Dee was sired by Sonny Dee Bar, who is in the AQHA Hall of Fame.

Sonny Dee Bar was sired by Win or Lose, who was a halter point earner, an AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association) Champion and sire of World Champions, Reserve World Champions, Superior Halter earners, Superior Performance earners, AQHA Champions, NCHA Money-earners, and Race Money-earners ($26,693).

Win or Lose was sired by AQHA Race Champion Mr Bar None.

Mr Bar None was sired by the legendary Three Bars.

Going back up to Red Sonny Dee, his dam was Toledo Kristy, who was an outstanding producer. She foaled Superior Performance offspring, AQHA Champion offspring, ROM Performance offspring, Halter Point Earners, AQHA offspring Record with 386 total points earned and 46 halter points earned out of six registered foals.

To make a long story short, Toledo Kristy was sired by AQHA Champion Toledo, who was sired by multiple champion producer Petit Homme who was sired by Little Man who was sired by AQHA Hall of Fame Inductee Old Sorrel.

Going back to Eddie's sire Ima Hustler Too, his dam was Cutie J Bar, a three-time APHA Champion producer and an APHA Champion in her own right.

Cutie J Bar's grandsire was Sugar Bars, earner of two AQHA halter points, an AQHA Race Register of Merit earner, an AQHA Hall Of Fame inductee and a leading sire, including:
Sire of Race money earners incl 2 Race Honor Roll; Connie Reba & Vanna Bar
Sire of AQHA Chs and Arena ROMs incl Honor Roll Reining; Jays Sugar Bars
Honor Roll Halter; Sugar Leda
Hi Pt Calf Roping Gelding; Bar Room
Superior W Pleas; Apollo Girl, Hesa Sugar, Sugars Cookie
Superior Eng Pleas; Bit O Sugar
Superior Reining; Jays Sugar Bars, Sugar Bar Dell
Superior Halter; Bar Flit, Bit O Sugar, Counterplay, Mr Cabin Bar, Otoe, Sugar Capri, Sugar Leda
Sire of NCHA Money earners.
Sire of 867 foals
50% FQH, 38% NFQHA

Sugar Bars, of course, was sired by Three Bars (see above).

Eddie's dam is Fabulous Too, an earner of 13 AQHA halter points.

Her sire was Luck Too, who placed 3rd at AQHA World in Halter and whom I've never been able to find a picture of, unfortunately. He was sired by Impressive Too, another AQHA Champion and he, in turn, was sired by Impressive.

Impressive goes back to Three Bars three times.

Luck Too (Eddie's grandsire) was out of a granddaughter of both AQHA Champion Poco Pine, and Zippo Pat Bars, pictured below.

Zippo Pat Bars was an AQHA Hall of Fame inductee and sire of Zippo Pine Bars who is also an AQHA Hall of Fame Inductee. Zippo Pat Bars was sired by Three Bars.

Fabulous Too's dam was sired by Jackie Bee, a recent AQHA Hall of Fame Inductee.

I'll stop there for now, but Eddie does go back to many of the great old horses, like Leo, King, Norfleet, Old Joe, Peter McCue and Oklahoma Star. If you'd like to see the breakdown of his pedigree, check out his entry on All Breed Pedigree.

Eddie had a really great pedigree, but he was also a great horse. He wasn't famous, like so many of his ancestors were, but he was loved more than most horses by the few that knew him.

My friend Vicki said it best when she described Eddie as "a human trapped in a horse's body." He was wise beyond his species. You could always count on him not only to exceed your expectations, but to make you laugh, and even, on a few occassions, to save the day.

His breeding was no accident, but it's because of an accident that he ended up in my life. I will forever be saddened by what he went through, but honored and grateful that I knew him.

London

London is my favorite city. If I couldn't live out in the country with my horses, London is where I'd want to live.


I've been there twice and have TONS more photos than what I've posted here, so hopefully sometime I'll get those scanned in and post about my more specific experiences in London. But for now, here's what I already had saved to my harddrive--a few highlights of this fabulous city.

Back when I was married, I my last name was Baker, so this was particularly fitting.

This is an Underground sign. The Underground is London's subway system, and by far the easiest and cheapest way to get anywhere in the city. You can visit London without ever renting a car. The Underground runs all the way to both Heathrow and Gatwick, so you hop off the plane, go through customs, catch a train, and you're in central London!

One of the most amazing things about London is all the historical, grand architecture. This is Parliment:

Here's a little up-close view of one of the many statues that decorate Parliment.

This is Tony Blair's car.

Just kidding! I mean, it could have been...I don't know. Jennifer and I just thought it was a cool car and assumed the PM would have a cool car.

That's like a law or something over there, right?

Here's the one shot of Westminster I have. They don't allow any photography in the churches.

And here's a view of St. Paul's.

Believe me, it's a really cool picture when it's a proper size. I took this before I even had a digital camera, back in the days when my Kodak had a cool "panorama" feature.

If you're planning a trip to London (Annette :), I highly suggest the London Walks tours as well. The Jack the Ripper walk is especially entertaining, but only go to the one given by Donald Rumbelow, who literally wrote the book on the Jack the Ripper murders.

Here's a list of my favorite places to see in London (with links):

St. Bartholomew the Great Church

--A 1,000 year old church seen in many movies, such as The Other Boleyn Girl, Shakespeare in Love, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. It's off the tourist-path so it's sort of a hidden treasure. Fun (aka gruesome) Fact: not too far from the entrance of the church cemetery is where William Wallace was dismembered.

The Globe

--See a play here. Get one of the floor tickets and you've instantly been transported back to the 17th century.

The British Museum

--See the Lindow Man, the Rosetta Stone, and thousands of other amazing relics in this wonderful museum!

Victoria and Albert Museum

--Like art and design? This is a different kind of museum, which honestly I thought I wouldn't really like. I went, though, and discovered I not only liked it, but LOVED it! It is one of the best museums I've ever been to, and I can't wait to get to visit it again!

St. Paul's Cathedral

--This is truly one of the most beautiful churches in the world. Be sure to climb to the very top to see a magnificent view of London, too!

Harrods

--Shopping at it's finest. Even if you don't want to buy something from the Cartier counter (yes, I'm being sarcastic, especially if you're a horse (aka broke) person), this is a store like no other, and it demands a visit.

Of course the Tower (mentioned before) is a must-see, along with Buckingham Palace, shopping the antique stores in Notting Hill and seeing a show in Picadilly Circus. There's just so much to see and do--it's a lovely city.

And one more London tip--if you get a hankering for food a little closer to home, the Mexican Food restaurant (0nly one I could ever find) is at the Covent Garden tube stop :)