Gypsy Horse Open House, BFSGH, December 2006

Report of our Big Gypsy Extravaganza Weekend
(Lots of pictures, please be patient while page loads)

Wow, what a fabulous weekend we had during our big "Gypsy Extravaganza" event Dec. 9-10, 2006. Thru the course of the weekend, with most attendees on Saturday, we had over 150 gypsy horse enthusiasts stop by and partake in our open house that offered free clinics, demos, seminars, and a catered luncheon. When the load of 15 additional horses arrived at our "quarantine farm" down the road, there were actually over 150 SALE horses on hand for everyone to enjoy! It was all so much fun and such a big hit that attendees are already making plans for next year and have suggested that September might be a good month to schedule it (this one was a spur of the moment event!). We got lucky with the weather, although we had endured snow the week before that was melting and making mud and muck, but at least we had beautiful, sunny Colorado weather, with temps reaching 60 on one day, and in the 50's the other day! It was simply glorious! We had numerous clinics and seminars, including a couple sessions with our driving and judging expert Todd Draheim from Wisconsin, our vet specialists Dr. Jeff Weinberg and Dr. Celeste Hill, and demos from our farrier/number one ranch hand, Brady Davis, one of the few people in the USA who can say that he's worked with literally hundreds of gypsy horses in handling/training as well as in farriery and shoeing! We were SO proud of our clinics and demos team, and the rest of our crew; we couldn't have asked for a better mix of people and horses all coming together in one place! Michael Vine from England decided to pop over for the weekend and he had a great time sharing with all who attended his lifelong experience breeding these horses! People truly enjoyed getting tips and hints from our gypsy horse and show-horse team; people who do this day in and day out. We loved being able to share our experiences with friends, clients, and many, many new-found friends. Thank you so much for all who came to make this event a piece of gypsy horse history that will go down in the "books" (when someone decides to write one, that is :), and be remembered as one of the foundation gatherings of our great breed in the USA! You were all part of this history-in-the-making!

Friday, BFSGH was mainly closed, we were gathering up horses from the surrounding farms where we have had the extras "stored" in leading up to the event. The mud really put a "damper" on our original arrangements, so we needed to bring up and wash MANY more horses than we had originally planned. On the dry days or good snowy weather days, the horses look fabulous just out in the fields, but with mud, no gypsy horse can show at it's best. We all put our noses to the grindstone and washed up over 40 of the horses. We then kept them in dry places for the days & early evenings until the ground froze outside at which point they were turned out for the night. This worked reasonably well, although we hadn't ever had to do it this way before (again, we were all writing the "book" on "how to pull off a BIG gypsy horse event in the USA"). Unfortunately, many horses were just going to have to be wet and muddy, we couldn't get them all clean and dry. Maybe next time we won't have mud, and we can see them outside in their natural great-looking pasture state!

At 4pm on Friday, we agreed to let a few people who had traveled a long way, come out to have a quick peek at the horses. Before we knew it, there were 30 or more people wandering the barn and paddocks, and we were all still trying to scramble to get all the last minute things done. It was nearly dark in an hour, so we graciously asked that people please go get comfy and warm for the night and come back in the morning. We had a BFSGH crew meeting with most of our helpers, and then pulled an all-nighter to get the paperwork finished for the packets (much of it couldn't be completed until we put the horses into their "show positions", which we had been doing all that day. Everyone was exhausted and needed a rest, but there was still MUCH to do. As all of us knew, when we made plans for this event, we expected around 50 attendees, at best. When the RSVP numbers soared to over 150 people, we had to shift into a completely different "gear" in organizing a BIG event like we had never even come close to doing before!

Saturday , the BFSGH crew was up at dawn getting horses in off the fields before they were to thaw (and get muddy). We kept around 60 horses in the barn tied throughout the show days, for people to see them close-up. The morning's program started with everyone signing in and receiving their folder full of information. Then Jeff (and Christine) gave an overview of what we were doing, and how we, by and large, planned the days to proceed. We were fairly 'loose' on the schedule, as we didn't know which direction people would want to go. In the folders were about 15 sheets of literature pertaining to what we think are helpful things for gypsy horse people to know. First, a welcome letter from the BFSGH crew, then detailed maps of the farm and a few sheets of general information. Then a schedule sheet, with what we hoped to get accomplished throughout the days. We also had a 7 page spreadsheet with every horse on the farm (around 180 on the whole sheet, some were on farms nearby, as we have too many to keep them all up around the barn right now!). There were several printed articles in there, one good one from the Draft Horse Journal on general feathered-horse conformation, and a custom gypsy horse diagram done by our personal artist Kathy Dopita (supported by a clinic). There was harnessing information (supported by a clinic), and some reproduction articles (supported by a clinic on Sunday). We also put subscription information in for the aforementioned Draft Horse Journal, as we feel it's a publication that can really help out cob enthusiasts. They have been dealing with articles and information on all types and sizes of draft horses and cobby horses (like Fjords, Halflingers, etc) for decades, and are an infinite source of information and knowledge about differences between these breeds and "light" horses. After all, our gypsy horses have their roots in draft breeds and we find them to be MUCH closer to the big drafts than light horses, in all ways, including reproduction, feeding, temperament, conformation, and just about all other fields. These ARE little draft horses (which, in literal terms, is the definition of "cob").

Back to the Saturday events: After the event introduction over coffee and muffins, Todd Draheim (see bio page) did a very good clinic on "Conformation in the Gypsy Horse". We wanted to get this clinic in first, to help people new to the breed to see what to look for in the horses they were going to see throughout the days at the farm. It was well received, about 50 people partook in this clinic, while others went out looking through the available horses. After that, we had a short break, then went into a discussion on general veterinary matters with Dr Jeff Weinberg and Dr Celeste Hill. We had intended to then do a grooming clinic, but people decided that everyone wanted to carpool down to the river where about 30 more of our horses live. It's a long hike if you walk it, so we used a few pickups and vehicles to get around 40-50 people down to meet the gang of mares and fillies that live down there. After returning, we all had a fabulous BBQ lunch from Bumpa's BBQ.

After lunch, our clinician Todd got to work again, and did a nice harnessing and driving demo using Jessica Blue, the great driving mare! She charmed everyone with her patience and Todd did a great job of showing people how and why things are done when driving horses. Just after Todd was done with his indoor clinic, Jeff and Gary Smith had Dinah hooked up to the green 4 wheeled dray to show driving "traditional gypsy style". Several of the kids took a ride on the dray down the road a bit, and fun was had by all. Dinah was perfect as usual, but we didn't want to make her work too hard, as she is many months in foal. She took a few trips around then we harnessed up some others to some traditional vehicles and drove throughout the rest of the afternoon, while other things were going on. During the afternoon, we did a short "stallion parade" as people requested that they get to see the boys out and moving around. After this, Brady Davis, our number-one farm hand who is also a certified farrier, did a nice footcare clinic that people seemed to really enjoy. Around 4 pm, we finally got word that the 15 fresh import horses had arrived and gotten settled into our "quarantine" farm, which is just down the road. Dozens of people hopped into vehicles and headed down there to see the "fresh horses". It was dark by the time we made it back (around 5 pm), and it was getting cold fast, so we decided that was enough for the day.

Saturday Evening: Many people met for dinner and socializing at the hotel that evening, it was truly a fun time that we wouldn't have missed for the world! It was fabulous.

Sunday - We started the day with coffee and muffins again, then went into our breeding demonstration. We did a collection, with a few different stallions giving it their best try, then analyzing the collection (from The Lottery Horse). After finishing this, we all went to do ultrasounding with Dr Jeff Weinberg, and discussed foaling and related topics. We had a break after this, then went into driving of individual horses that people wanted to see working. Todd drove about 7-8 horses for people, and Kim, Brady, and Jordan rode about a dozen horses that people were interested in seeing work. This went on for most of the afternoon. Mid-day, we realized that many more people than we had anticipated had stayed for the event, so we decided to order pizza for everyone. It was a big hit, and the warm weather made it beautiful to sit outside and eat once again. We hooked up a few more horses to different American and English gypsy vehicles for the day, and just had sort of a "play day" with horses all around. It was a much more informal schedule than Saturday, but it was fun, and hopefully everyone got to see what they came for.

It was such an event-packed weekend that it is hard to put it into words, but we here at BFSGH mostly want to be sure to THANK everyone that made the trip to Colorado to be a part of this history-making event. We all made many more friends, and got to know old ones better, and I think that the camaraderie in the breed was better than ever. This was a weekend without politics, and paperwork, just scores of people who love this breed of horse, and enjoy getting together and chatting/learning about them, and getting to know their fellow breeders and enthusiasts. It was well-worth the effort and challenges!

We also would like to say thanks for those who bore with us while we were feeling our way blindly through putting on an event of this caliber. We will all have a better idea of what to expect the next time we do this, and each subsequent event will get bigger and better! (Yes, we do plan to do it again, we just aren't sure when yet, but it will happen!).

Thanks also to all that helped out. Be sure to check out the Bio's page to read about the wonderful crew that made this weekend what it was!

Literature from the weekend: (items printed and contained in attendees packets)
DHJ = Draft Horse Journal

*Welcome Letter (Word Document)
*Bio Page
*Schedule (Word Document)
*Shoeing Article (Word Document)
*Reproduction Article from the DHJ (PDF file) - please excuse the file quality
     Repro page 1
     Repro page 2
     Repro page 3

*Conformation of the Gypsy Horse diagram
*DHJ article on Conformation (PDF file) - please excuse the file quality
*DHJ Subscription - visit www.drafthorsejournal.com

Also included in our provided visitor packets were farm maps and legends, general order notes,
visitor information sheets, and a few other items.

* * * * *

DVD - We have a DVD available of the clinics from our event. Price is $15.00 plus shipping.
Contact the office for ordering - info@gypsyhorses.com

CLICK ON SMALL PICTURES FOR LARGER VIEWS!
(use your back button to return after viewing pictures)

Friday - luckily it was warm weather, so we could wash horses outside. Big BFSGH secret here, a hot-water pressure washer does wonders on gypsy horses! That's Todd doing the washing (being quite the trooper here, he didn't "sign on" to do this sort of thing when he came in for doing clinics and training!). I think Todd set the world record for the number of horses washed in an afternoon! He's a pressure-washing fool!

Young stock pen. Around 25 colts and fillies were tied in the back of the arena for inspection.

After a long day, many of the babies "made themselves at home" and just laid down to sleep, even with all the commotion around.
Gypsies are mellow!

Mares Lineup, and the mares get a visitor to give them good scratchies. That's Goldie the chocolate mare enjoying the company.

The mares lineup from the other view. This is just a fraction of them, most were still out in their fields.

Horses of a different color! Just so happened that this group were tied together.
Very diverse in their looks! Who says gypsy horses are all black and white!

I like to call this photo "Count Um". They are all the way around. I don't have a clue how many were tied in the barn, but it's about this many!

Shannon from Grace Ranch, Michael Vine, and Linda Brown from Texas take the legendary stallion Nobby out to the grass for a few nice sunny pictures.

Nobby makes his way back into the barn through the people and tables after lunch.

Jessica Blue and Judy make their way back to the stalling area after a drive. That's Harley Troyer in the white hat. Harley runs the Colorado Draft Horse Auction (one of the largest sales in the west), and Troyer Harness Shop. ( www.troyerauctions.com )

Chow line, and some people sitting outside to eat in the warm Colorado sun.
"Bumpa's BBQ" was delicious!

Lots of views of Todd using Jessica Blue for the harnessing and driving demo. Judy and Debbie are helping out. Debbie was also our "ringmaster" for the weekend, keeping things moving along and doing our announcements. Thanks a bunch to Debbie for keeping us all in line!

Some of the kids are eating lunch gypsy-style, over the campfire! One of the vehicles is away out driving at the moment, and the other cart was to the left of the picture. We still have a flatcart and 2 drays available for sale!

Thomas, first thing in the morning, is setting up the campfire. He has his English "bobby" hat on, as he was directing traffic into the parking area before he took his "tea" break! That's Celeste in the back, she was helping to set up camp, she brought all the newly arrived vehicles up from Texas (where they shipped into from England) for us the night before the event! Good timing Celeste! That's also Nathan, intern at the CSU reproduction lab helping her out (Nathan also helped with the breeding demo on Sunday, naturally!).

Galway Warrior, the legendary Drum Horse stallion acts like a young man (Warrior is 24 years old in 2007, ancient on draft horse standards, but he still thinks he's a youngster when it comes to the ladies!

Arkan, one of our homozygous Lion King sons talks to "Phanny", our old percheron "jump mare". Arkan is about 3 hands shorter than Phanny, but was willing to give it a try!

The also-legendary "Lottery Horse" talks to Phanny. Lottery gave us the collection that we analyzed.

Candi sets up the microscope for everyone to see the swimmers.

People line up to see the little guys go!

Jeff and Gary hook Dinah to the 4 wheeled dray. This dray is the one featured in the Hockensmith book, that Jeff drove to Appleby in 2005 (in 2004 he drove our wagon, then in 2005 he drove this dray, as our wagon was already in the USA).

Judy and Todd take a lovely Sunday drive with Miss Babydoll. Todd still has to get the hang of driving on the "gypsy" side of the cart!

Views of the recently restored red flatcart. This cart is for sale $7500. Fully restored by the legendary Bob Olson of Olson Carriage. (Bob also does a fine driving school for those who want to learn about driving). See them at www.olsoncarriage.com

Yes, we did it! We actually got Bob Olson to take a spin around in the gypsy flatcart that he had restored this spring! That's Gary Smith helping him out, and Jessica Blue in the shafts. I think Bob was about to take the whole lot home (even Gary :>) <grin>

Photos of the gift shop set up and run by artist Kathy Dopita. Lots of people got their gypsy horse Christmas shopping done!

Piling on the trucks for a trip "down to the river". About 30 more horses down there to see, and it's a long walk, so everyone loaded on for a few trips on the "BF shuttle service".

Pinky was a weekend favorite, he was used for many things including driving, riding, and even the footcare demo.

Folks watching something interesting in the arena. I don't recall what it was at this time, but I know it's not a clinic from Todd, as Todd is standing in the back of the picture! Maybe Brady's foot-care clinic??

People watching test-drives and rides of some of the horses. Pinky and Todd were on deck this time, looks like there is a saddle on a mare, maybe Ariel. This was Sunday afternoon.

Todd drives one of the big mares in the days before the event. He worked most of our driving horses. The big black mare is Emily, mom to our drum horse twins, (Emily is for sale).

Gary and Sparky about to take a drive in the Meadowbrook cart (not shown). Sparky enjoyed giving people rides around the farm.

End of the day on Saturday. Michael Vine and his 2 new Colorado buddies Brady and Jordan take Babydoll for a spin in the green dray. I think they were looking for gypsy girls (except Babydoll that is, she was just looking for treats).

Many horses still available, some of the best ones never made it to the barn to be cleaned up, so they are still "untouched" by prospective buyers! Pictures and info on these to come thru the month of January and early February.