I took a ride to Pembroke, New Hampshire recently to check out Gelinas Farm, a great place owned by Joanne Gelinas-Snow and her husband Artie Snow.
The couple's farm has mostly quarterhorses with many beautifully well-kept pastures and paddocks, spotless indoor and outdoor arenas and a few dozen stalls. Their horses and boarders stay outside nearly year-round. They also raise several dozen head of cattle for Wolfe's Neck Farm.
They were hosting Tom Curtin, a Montana horseman who spends most of the year on the road with his wife Trina, their dogs and five horses.
I just had to photograph his rig (see below right). It's 45-feet long and he hauls it with a Peterbilt semi!
Over the course of a week at Gelinas Farm, Tom ran several multi-day clinics on Ranch Versatility, Colt Starting, and Horsemanship.
Curtin sees a return rate of 80 percent or higher for his clinics. I guess you could call them satisfied customers, all right.
If you happen to visit his website,
www.TomCurtin.net check out the Winter Camp. Bring your horse and hang out in Madison, Florida. Maybe move some cows and work on specific skills.
Riding your horse in Florida and escaping Maine winter -- What could be better!
As NickerNews readers may know, I have become more and more interested in Ranch Versatility as an appropriate and compelling sport for me and my horses. Seems like I may have
caught a highly contagious bug.
Joanne agreed that it's an up-and-coming field. Just within the past few years, several organizations have sprung up to promote and focus the field as well as give horse and riders plenty of chances to compete:
American Ranch Horse Association, Ranch Horse Association of America, Eastern Mountain Ranch Horse Association, National Versatility Ranch Horse Association, etc., etc.!!
Many require a registered stock horse (usually a quarterhorse or paint registry) but some, like the EMRHA event at Gelinas Farm next month, welcome all, even mutts like us.
I was unable to attend the Curtin clinics but nonetheless enjoyed visiting.
Like so many operations, the place was buzzin'! While I was there, they installed a fantastic wooden ranch archway, moved horses from stall to paddocks, worked on fencing, and geared up for the afternoon clinic.
At right, Beverly Carroll of Marshfield, Massachusetts works with her quarterhorse mare.
Gelinas hosts Adult Horsemanship Camps (complete with nightly campfires!) each summer and assorted competitions and shows. For more information, check out
www.GelinasFarm.com