The Next Best Thing To Ownin' the Horse....

[Carol Nelson]

Is Ownin' Her Son... :D
This is the dam of Rojo Tejas, the lovely and versatile La Castellana de Casta, a double Castellano granddaughter, owned by Beverly Frick, of Conroe, TX!
Here she is herding cows:

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931DSC01265.jpg

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931CharlesCastellana.jpg

towing a "calf":

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931DSC01410.jpg

and participating in a mounted shooting competition:

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931Charles_shooting.jpg

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931Action_shooting.jpg


In Bev's own words:
"So far she has been a show horse, a trail horse, a cow sorting horse, a horse at the Houston Airport for the Airport Ranger program (ride in the restricted areas) and maybe now for mounted shooting."
And who ever said Paso Finos can't "do it all"???? :D

[Laura S]

What a good girl. She is beautiful and sounds like an awesome horse!

[Pasogirlz]

Awesome post! I might have to share it!

[CarolU]

Castellana is indeed a wonderful horse...Bev didn't have 'broodmare' on that list, but Castellana has also foaled some VERY awesome horses. She really is an outstanding mare.

[Carol Nelson]

Carol, it wouldn't be right not to congratulate you in this thread on your marvelous article in the PFHW magazine titled "Is Your Paso Fino Cow Savvy???"
I was careful to check with Beverly and wait til your article came out before using the photos of Castellana so as not to use the same photos that you were using.
It's a fantastic article detailing the rules of Cow Sorting and Team Penning.

Castellana is also featured in the article on Cow Sorting by Micheal Feinberg.
For me, it's exciting to have the mother of my stallion be such a tractible, sensible, versatile horse as I've always known his wonderful temperament came from her!

[Beverly]

Carol Nelson sent me this link as she knows I don't get here to visit with you all.

La Castellana de Casta has given me 6 foals and I've only managed to keep one. Most were sold as weanlings. She is in foal now to "Petro" (owned by Cathy Starbuck) a Charlie son with Castellano & Capuchino on the dam's side. This will be a chestnut foal, a full sibling to last years colt who was sold at 3 weeks of age to a lady in Ohio. I expect this foal will be sold early as well.

My friend, in these photo's, had never ridden a Paso Fino and had not ridden in over 30 or more years. At 70, I don't think he planned on riding ever again. His comment when he first rode her was "this is like riding a cloud". He should know as he is a pilot, among other things. His first challenge was to get her to walk relaxed as she always acted like she was in the show ring. Castellana had not been ridden in maybe 4-6 years yet stood perfectly still for mounting. She never goes out of gait, she is Performance. She never spooked at anything, even the first time she saw the cows. I thought the jets landing and taking off about 300 yards away might bother her but they don't. At the Mounted Cowboy Shooting clinic, (I was out of town) I was told that she was the best (behaved) horse there .... except for the horses belonging to the people putting on the clinic. She gave him a nice flat walk with a loose rein at the airport last weekend and we were delighted. He had been concerned that shooting off her back might make it hard to bring her back down again but it didn't. Now he is addicted to riding, another convert! Maybe I'll have to find him a gelding so I can't breed it but he does love Castellana. She is a very feminine mare.

Her granddaugher, by JLM's Jaranero, is getting ready for her first show under saddle in Oct.. They are all sweet hearts.

Thank you for all the nice comments, I am blessed to have her. Richard Ledbetter picked her out for me when she was a 2 year old long ago and then trained her.

Beverly

[Barbwire]

Welcome Beverly!
http://www.jammerbabe.com/flotilla/images/smiles/happygroup.gifhttp://www.jammerbabe.com/flotilla/images/smiles/happygroup.gif

[Carol Nelson]

Yay, Bev!!! Thanks for stopping in!!! :hello

[Pasogirlz]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/16.gif

Hey Bev, I used to live in H town. My sis and her family still do. I'll have to tell her there are some Paso folks close. 8-)

[Beverly]

Hey you guys, are you going to pull me in here? I don't get anything done anyway.

Tell your Houston area friends to come visit me, I always have a cold Coke, etc. in the refrig. in the barn and I have plenty of Paso Fino video's to enjoy. I'm just North of the Woodlands.

I'm still riding Ocho at 18, he does not get to retire. IF I can HANDLE a single action 45 pistol, I might try the Mounted Cowboy Shooting with him. (I'm not a gun person) This is a pretty neat sport. The cow sorting is a blast though. I love a challenge. The Jaranero filly might be my next riding horse after she has some miles on her. I like her looks and action but, sigh, I should show her first.

Think we will put Castellana in her first parade next month.

Beverly :?:

[Pasogirlz]

My mom is considering getting into the cowboy mounted shooting sport w/our colt Echo. 8-) She has a dead on eye for a target.

[baileyholc]

Welcome Beverly

[Terry Wallace]

Welcome Bev...and have you been riding any endurance lately?
Is Betsy about? A big hello to her too!

[Beverly]

Hi: Wish I could keep up with this BB. I don't know if we will do the Cowboy Mounted Shooting or not as you have so much equipment to buy. Bet I'd be a pretty good shot if my hands are strong enough for those 45's. I think our group is going to have a 3 buckle series for cow sorting. My Jaranero filly will make her saddle debut in Oct. Not sure I'm ready to show a 2 year old (3 year schooling performance) myself. Think I'd like more miles on her.

No, I've not done any more CTR's - last one I did, I broke my neck (C-4) and rode 22 more miles with a broken neck. People do weird things when they are in shock. Came in 3rd and am lucky I didn't become paralized. There are just too many fun things to do with our Paso Fino's and if we get spread too thin, won't be able to do any of them justice.

Betsy is training in Conroe. She likes the hot weather, I'm suffering.

Beverly

[Terry Wallace]

Holey smokes...broken neck....YIKES...did you have to get it fused?

Hope you will recover....wow, how lucky was that....? That you actually rode it out and could do so... Did you hit your head? Suffer a fall of horse & rider....that is so scarey....

[DebbieS]

Welcome Bev!!

Carol, I can't remember - is Rojo Tejas under saddle? .... I'd love to see him do some of this stuff!!

Great pictures!!

[Beverly]

Terry, it was 2001 when I broke my neck (C-4). We were making the first five mile loop on day 2 of a CTR in Louisiana. It as been raining a lot and we were trying to make some time. Think we were cantering and the ground just opened up under Ocho's front feet and we both did a summersault. I was told it wasn't pretty. When I hit the ground, I said "I'm hurt" but as I laid there I could tell that my legs worked. So when the safety riders came on their 4 wheelers (teen agers) I got them to sit me up and then to stand up. Everything worked except my left arm from the elbow up. I saw a stump and had the guys push me on. I was in shock and a lot of pain. When I eventully got back to camp, people could tell I was not "with it" and the judges allowed someone else to clean up my horse and present him. He finished "Sound". The pain just wouldn't go away and three days later I went to the doctor. I'm pretty lucky that I'm not paralized. About 2 weeks later I posed for a couple of photo's wearing my helmet, neck brace and arm sling. A friend put "Come Ride With Us" under the photo. Since I was banned from riding for 6 months, I took advantage of that time to have orthoscopic surgery on my torn knee.

Ocho is now 18 and I rode him 4 hours today at the big Houston airport with the Airport Ranger program. People can't believe his age and he still is full of it. Our horses have such heart.

This is long but it makes me reflect on a 60 mile ride we did in the Ozarks. Ocho finished with a 95 out of 100 and did not place. They place through 6th place. But a horse that was going to be 30 the next week did! Made me realize that with care a horse can be useful for a long time. That horse was "Elmer Bandit" and they have made a Breyer model of him. Elmer Bandit is a mix of several breeds but last I heard was still competing in Open at 32 or 33!

Beverly

[dana]

Wow! what an amazing story, Bev. thank you for taking the time to share it!

dana

[Carol Nelson]

Wow...missed this thread lately...
You all should meet Bev in person, she is quite the lady!
Debbie, unfortunately we have not kept up with riding Red (although he is broke to ride) but I've just recently met a young farrier/electrician that is begging me to let him put him back under saddle so I just might let him do so. I have no doubt that he could do as well as his mother does...as he has the same sweet temperament as she.
Me being 52 and Doug is 60 and neither of us are quite willing to crawl on the back of a stallion that has not been ridden for awhile... ;-)

[CarolU]

I'll second what Carol said. Bev is one of the highlights of my life. She is fun, funny (especially when rolling around the airport shuttle bus) exuberant, and a great ambassador for our breed.

Oh yeah...she breeds some REALLY nice horses too.